The SpanClan at Hellfire

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!

What a weekend for Team Hellfire!  Maverick really shook his tail feathers and picked up his 9th Owner Handled Group 1 and his THIRD OH Best in Show at the Roundup Cluster in Helena. Heartfelt thanks to judges Roger and Paula Hartinger for his back to back Best in Shows and Pat and Charles Trotter for giving him his back to back Group 1s in a very competitive sporting group. He now has 700 points, which should get him onto the Top 100 All-Breed list.

Ice picked up more OM points from Open B and finished his VER title. I knew it wouldn't be easy, and I am really disappointed with how his UDX season has gone, but he did get his 3 OTCH wins, had a High in Trial and is halfway through his OM points.  I was really busy this year, didn't get to train as much as I wanted to, and we will work out the training kinks over winter and hit the trials harder next year. Maverick will also be back in the obedience ring next year.

Mickey finished his Rally Novice title with respectable scores 95, 88 (my bad!) and 99 despite the small dogs he finds overly "fascinating". He is busy getting ready for his tracking test and his CD obedience debut.

Mav's third Best in Show!

Two Group 1's and a Group 2 - and TWO Best in Shows!

Meanwhile Hellfire East picked up a third place in the Amateur All-Age (with a 39 dog entry) at the Southern Tier trials in New York with Cate, a 2012 Mickey X Mia puppy. Handled by Jim Klix and co-owned with me. Cate is the third Hellfire bred dog to earn a trial placement this fall!

Hi, my name is CATE...

 

Versatile Springer

Still looking good at 13 years old.

It's official. FC AFC CFC MH RE VCD1 (TD CD NJP NAP) OJP OAP WDX Toby will join the ranks of the highest honored and is an ESSFTA Versatile Springer. So proud of him. I started out with this goal, but in the end it didn't mean nearly as much as the wonderful journey it took to get there. Honestly, when I submitted his application this year, I really didn't care if they approved it or not.

The Tobster is truly a special dog. His greatest strengths would be an amazing work ethic and a genuine love of learning. He never said no to any of the crazy things things I asked him to do, had amazing saint like patience as I bumbled through some of the newer training techniques and he always did it with a happy waggy tail. When he met his first full height teeter totter my plan was just to let him  walk around it and sniff it, but instead he jumped on, went directly to the end and rode it down like a pro before I could even run to the end to spot him! That's just how Toby rolls. 

Whether it was at a trial or hunting wild Montana roosters, in the field Toby was a magnificent bird finding warrior with relentless tenacity. I finished his WDX last fall, at age 12+ years old, in pounding rains during the historic (and scary!) Colorado floods... and he was unphased by it all. Truly an indomitable spirit.

PS: Toby had a stroke earlier this year, but he is still strong and doing great!

It's All Good

Good prizes in Missoula! Baby Maverick did his first group showing today and competed against nationally ranked, very experienced sporting dogs. It was so much fun! He even got cheers from people in the audience. I want to go again.  Ice finished his CDX and RAE. On to Utility now!

Rhythm & Blues

Ice went almost undefeated on Saturday with 4 RAE Rally wins, 2 perfect scores and then came up with a huge win over 13 Open dogs earning a super high score. What a day! Ice is now about 75% through the Utility training so I hope we will be showing in that next March.

 The Old Man Toby also did well and qualified for 2013 Rally Nationals with 3 strong Excellent scores. I'll start his RAE in the fall. It takes awhile, will probably be the last title he ever earns, and I'll want to enjoy it with no other event or training disruptions. In the meantime, he has 3 weeks of April agility to prepare for!

Feeling Blue

It came when we least expected it, but I'm glad that the red streak is finally over. On Saturday Ice earned a coveted High Combined award under judge Chris Cornell (sadly not the lead singer from Soundgarden). Today he won more (you guessed it)...reds. This was the biggest trial in Montana, and 4th place got a score of 98/100, so we did pretty darn well and beat some very nice dogs.

Things are winding down with only agility and tracking left on the 2012 to do list.

All or Nothing

 My version of mid- life crisis. :D

Toby started tracking classes and he's really good at it! Plus, it's both interesting and fun.

2012 is going to be a busy year for us.