Joules came into season earlier than we had anticipated, sped up our fall litter plans and turned it into early July litter plans>> Joules (FC AFTW Macks X Tina) and Pod (FC AFC Sully X FTW SH Cate) - both are gorgeous, athletic, great legs, high drive, Pod is especially biddable. I have one reservation/deposit spot left for a male, then will make a waiting list.
We were unable to get this handsome fella (Zephyr x Bodhi) out of Montana, after numerous attempts...and he is ready to go now. The eye contact in this litter is amazing, and this puppy would make a wonderful obedience dog or any sport that requires an all in, team player. He walked on leash through the airport parking lot, and busy, noisy terminal like a champ. Born on New Year's Day. Puppy Cultured, socialized, crate trained, vetted, sound, great temperament and gorgeous! $1300
We can ship to some locations, but not to any in the far east or south. We can use Alaska Air for everything west. Delta no longer allows connections for pet cargo, only one destination flights, and we can only fly to SLC and MSP now. Sadly, the new shipping regulations have made things complicated for those of us who don't live near major airports offering single destination options.
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.
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!
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!
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!
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.
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.
