Hellfire English Springer and Sussex Spaniels

2023 Puppies

Working Springers : 

Our next breeding will be a with Speck X FC AFC CFC Toby MH RE VCD1 OAP OJP VS, hopefully this summer. She had 7 puppies from the 2022 frozen semen breeding.

I only have a few Toby breedings left and then it's gone forever. Serious inquiries  are welcome. 

We only have 1-2 litters a year, and although we are no longer competing with our springers, many of our puppy homes are and we enjoy living vicariously through their success. The quality of our dogs will ALWAYS stay high.

The 2023 Zozz X Pod mega-litter!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Note: We do not place our  Springer or Sussex puppies in any of the southern states  or with other breeders.

Our Puppy 411 Page is required reading before contacting us for info. Our puppies are raised in the house, not a kennel. Our litters are livestreamed 24/7 from birth until they leave. Hellfire is an experienced and accomplished AKC Breeder of Merit, Trupanion and GoodDog.com breeder with 20+ years of OFA health results in the public database. 

 

 

 

 

Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year

I tried to get the springer youngsters to sit still  while wearing reindeer hats for the new Christmas Card, but this ended up as the 2022 winner. 

Have a great holiday season. (Photo credit: © 2022 A Monaghan All Rights Reserved)

Baby Olive rings in the New Year

 

2022 Sussex Spaniel Dog Show Results

Despite the limited showing this year, I somehow managed to finish 4 Grand Championships:

RBISX3 MBISSX4 GCH CH Hellfires Dancing in the Dark "Bruce" 

GCH CH Hellfires Cusp of Aries "Knox"

GCH CH Hellfires Serendipity is Marvelous " GG"

GCH CH Hellfire Has Faith in Me "Margery"

MBISSX4 RBISX3 GCH CH Hellfires Dancing in the Dark "Bruce"

Fly High Faith - In Memorium

We said goodbye to Faith today. Like the kindly lady she was, she just went to sleep and then slipped away in my arms.  She was 14. This is my first Sussex to cross the rainbow bridge...and ouch, it hurts. I will greatly miss her hourly woo woos and howling. I am so grateful she passed with peace and graciously saved me that awful, last trip to the vet clinic. She was a lovely, very thoughtful dog. She was the undisputed Queen of Couch Potatoes, the perfect house diva, and I will forever be thankful to Don Krueger for sending her to me.

Faith won 10 championship points before she had to be spayed during a csection for litter #2, which abruptly ended her show pursuits. She leaves behind 4 champion daughters, MBISS GCHB Marv, CH Rogue, CH Twinky and CH Margery (Large Marge), and 10 CH grand-puppies. Her wonderful legacy of fantastically long and luxurious ears and very sweet, gentle temperaments lives on.

Fly high and be free, Faithy! I already miss you terribly. We will meet again.

Orions You Gotta Have Faith

Home Sweet Home

I get asked all the time about our "facility".  As a tiny, HOBBY breeder that only has 2-3 litters a year, I don't have a facility, I have a private residence just like you... and I am not open to the public for tours. The very idea is absurd.

We have 360 acres with plenty of room for dogs to run, explore and hunt...and they do!  We are fortunate  to have a climate controlled indoor kennel of 8 runs. We do not keep intact male springers on the property. Our dogs are not prisoners and the springers are kenneled only at night, when we are having horrible weather (muddy floors - OY!) and during heat cycles. The Sussex are full-time house dogs. Our property is gated with several security cameras strategically placed to keep track of spaniel shenanigans. There are two, one acre puppy and dog yards, and a 40 acre fenced "yard" for the house dogs.

Oh, and Yellowstone National Park is about 90 minutes away. A fun factoid: Yellowstone the TV show is filmed in Ravalli County, in western Montana...pretty far away from the real Yellowstone. I don't watch the show but I hear it's great and I sure get lots of questions about it!

Here are some pictures of Hellfire doggy life here: 

Chateau Hellfire

We have 360 acres of rolling hills and forests to run and play on

Our puppies are whelped in the house, on proper bedding...no shavings, paper or straw

 

We have 8 sparkly clean, heated/cooled indoor runs

My grooming room is used a LOT.

The puppy yard is in two parts - this is the one acre "big yard".

This is the "little yard"  - the puppies have access to it at night and learn to use the doggy door around 5 weeks old.  The lavender gate opens to the big puppy yard.

Staying cool in the summer with pools in all the yards

 

View from the kennel door - with gravel airing yard and one acre play yard

Born to run...and they do

Our little puppy yard - the puppies sleep in the HOUSE

Browns in our field

Puzzle time!

Hellfire puppies do a LOT of puzzles!

We use the Puppy Culture Workbook as the standard for age appropriate puppy enrichment and socialization. Getting those brains and super sniffers working early is an important part of our puppy rearing program. 

Note: Our puppies are raised in the house, not a kennel. Our litters are livestreamed 24/7 from birth until they leave.

 

New Hellfire Sussex Champion

Hooray, put a fork in him, he's done! Knox finished his championship with 4 straight 4 point majors, all points over other champions, over the weekend. He also picked up 8 points toward his Grand Championship. Knox is a littermate to Bruce, my lovely puppy who went BISS from the Bred By Exhibitor class.

Knox is out of "Maverick" GCHB Sundowners Repeat Fire CD RAE RATO CGC X "Gwynnie" CH Hellfires Serendipity is Marvelous and is my 13th Hellfire bred Champion. Hoping to finishing this boys GCH in the spring, because we are definitely looking forward to less dog shows and more obedience and hunt tests!

CH Hellfires Cusp of Aries "Knox"

 

 

 

 

OFA Health Tested Dogs

I hauled Sussex and springers up to the Helena dog shows last weekend to have our eyes CAER screened. Montana does not have a veterinary eye specialist and field bred springers in particular are riddled with various genetic eye conditions and retinal dysplasias. When Dr Roberts from Colorado stopped coming to Montana a few years ago, he pretty much left us high and dry, with no replacement. I am very thankful that Dr Breaux, from Boise agreed to step up and will be coming back next year! 

I am thrilled to report that Baby Gem (FC AFC CFC Toby X Zozzy) and Smudge (Pod X Joules 2020) became my SIXTH GENERATION to pass with normal eyes...and 20 years of OFA normals through the same line of bitches. Proud breeder moment. 

Four Generations of my Sussex have been eye (and BAER hearing) screened with normal results. 

A car full of perfect Sussex retinas

Six generations of normal eyes!

Hellfire Sussex Spaniels | Our Show Dogs

We had an okay Sussex Specialty in Olympia, WA this past weekend. Gwynnie, CH Hellfires Marvelous Serendipity, came home with a Select + two Best Opposites and added 15 more points toward her Grand Championship, and then her son Bruce, Hellfires Dancing in the Dark, went Best in Show from the Bred-By Exhibitor class - what a thrill! Bruce is from my 2019 litter with GCHB Maverick x CH Gwynnie. He is my second Bred-By Specialty winner. 

The highlight was showing Maverick with his two gorgeous sons in the Stud Dog Class. To see them all together meant so much to me and I hope we get to do it again! As a breeder, this kind of class is so much fun, even the judges enjoy it.

Maverick with his sons BISS Bruce and Knox

BISS Hellfires Dancing in the Dark

 

 

The Beat Goes On

For Frank's 8th Birthday, Stewie gave him his 8th Champion offspring. Congratulations Scott, we are just thrilled for you!! 

PS: There are still at least 4 Frank kids in the dog show pipeline.