Our newest AKC SENIOR HUNTER
CH J&A's QUIET COURAGE SH, NA 107 PRIZE 1
Sire: CH J&As High Caliber
Harris Special SH
Dam: J&A's Dreams Come True of
Acton JH
In
our previous post I shared that John and I had the pleasure of
watching both Bullet and Wilson working at the New York hunt tests with
Kira handling Wilson to his first Senior Hunter leg. He finished the
title with Dave Molyneux handling him. I heard it was a
"performance one would expect out of a Master Hunter." Thank you so much to his owners and our friends Pete Sipperly and Kira Lajeunesse for recognizing all the potential and ability within Wilson and giving him every opportunity to shine.
We're also proud to share the news that his daughter (with
Pippin) "Ellie" has been working towards her AKC
Junior Hunter title this fall in New Jersey. Just shy of
her first birthday J&A's Desire of the Heart met is halfway
to her JH title. Congratulations to her owners Stan & Linda. Wilson & Pippins daughters Belle and Brooke are also half way to their titles. (Wilson is available for stud service to approved bitches.)
John and I continued to be very busy
following our New York trip (see prior blog-post). Knowing it
was a matter of time before my right knee gave out I tried to do as
much as I possibly could. We took a day trip to Smithfield
Maine for Sebasticook Chapter of NAVHDA's fall tests. We
met Maryann, Ayden and Toph there who was testing for her
Natural Ability title. Toph is out of Hemi & Luna.
She earned an impressive Prize 1 score with Maryann
handling her. It was Maryann's birthday and her husband
surprised her by driving up from Connecticut where he'd been
working. We had an impromptu birthday party and cake much to her
charging. David then presented her with her birthday
present, a brand new shotgun! Several of Toph's littermates
were also tested by their breeder (and our friend!) Philip Thayer, Jr. of Birch
Spring Brittanys. They ALL earned their Natural Ability titles!
The
next weekend was divided between hunt tests and field trials.
Toph ran in her first field trial, and placed 2nd out of
7 in Amateur Derby with Maryann handling. Proud mom here.
Thistle gets a shout out too! Julie handled her to a first place Walking Hunting Dog. After all Thistle has been through we just have to thank God she's back to being Thistle the Pistol for sure. Way to go Julie!
The very next day Maryann and I
headed to Hopkinton where Toph successfully finished her AKC
Junior Hunter title with Maryann handling! That particular hunt test weekend is one
of my absolute favorites. It is often like an ATB family
reunion. Over the two days there were about 10 or maybe even
more Brittany dogs there that are from or related to our line. Talk
about being proud. We all just have so much fun, arriving with
our E-Z ups, coolers, dog paraphernalia, and more. I like sharing these times with John, our daughter, our friends.
Such a really fun atmosphere no matter
what plus we enjoy everything being with the Northern New
England Brittany Club where Maryann, John, and I are members.
Ammo, Dory, and Charlee from Bullet & Thistle's pups
tested that weekend with Miss Charlee earning her JH title.
Zuko earned his at 6 months old. Quincy is still working towards
his. That will make 5 pups from that litter with a JH title - and it
will also earn Julie the AKC Breeder Award of Merit.
Bullet's full brother Lil Jack earned his 3rd leg towards his
JH title. He's a really nice boy. His owners bring him out for
the event once a year, they are really lovely people! I may have mentioned it already but several pups from Hemi & Lunas litter also finished their AKC Junior Hunter titles that weekend.
Also, Parker and "Rocky" are working towards his Senior Hunter title and doing very well. Rocky, sired by Jack is out of Merrymeeting
Brittanys. They were all there on Saturday and did very well,
Littermates Rockstar Rocky (Bullet and Brandy) and Argos also finished their
titles. It's all about the hunting for us, and we love to
encourage owners to get involved with hunt tests because it's a lot
of fun and so rewarding especially just before the real deal of bird
hunting season. "Woo hoo" let's hear it for our close
working gundogs and their owners who support our program!! If you're
reading this and have never tried hunt tests think about joining us
in the spring 2015, I'd be happy to give you more info about them,
especially the April tests in Kennebunk, Me. In the meantime everyone keep up the good work, we are so proud of you all.
I'm
proud to say that we have two handsome boys from Bullet &
Thistle's litter knocking on the door of their AKC Championship
title. Previously I shared Quincy's photo from
the Union Me. dog shows when he won Best of Breed. Ammo has had
some success recently as well with two back to back Best of Winners
and he is pictured here. (Their brother and littermate Zuko has had limited showing due to my 10 year old granddaughters very busy schedule of Karate & Judo. She recently earned her Black Belt way to go ALana!) And thank you Roger & Marilyn for doing so much with Ammo and also Miss Ruby.
This picture is Wynne's show debut! She won Best Puppy in Specialty at the Iowa Brittany Club show. She is Tophs full sister from Hemi & Luna's litter and also has two second place field trial wins in the Midwest. Shown here with her owners Kendall & Carol Brown. (Due to the busy and hectic schedule of a young family of 5, sister Toph has yet to make her show debut. Still, we are making plans for 2016 and I really look forward to seeing her and Maryann together in the ring.)
Speaking of pups we do have some very
nice breeding plans which we hope to announce soon. In addition to our own plans, the services of our boys have been requested. We're also looking ahead to 2017. I would like to encourage you to
privately confirm with me now your level of interest as we are
getting inquiries every single day. Our goal is to have a
potential litter reserved well in advance of a breeding. We ask for deposits once the breeding occurs. Prior to that we accept
inquiries without commitments and screen for the absolute best
possible fit for pups. Of course all health clearances will be in
place before a breeding occurs and all official documents and papers are provided well in advance. It's all explained in our puppy reservation policy booklet. I've not had a chance to respond to everyone, please be patient. And for those generic inquiries who are just contacting every breeder with a web page it's unlikely you'll hear back from us. Sorry about that.
Bird Hunting! Believe it or not John and I actually got away together with ALL of our dogs. We have a beautiful new camper which we took to Moosehead Lake for a whole week at the end of October. Greenville Maine is one of my favorite places in the whole world and it was perfect. With the help of the dog topper and then converting one of the rooms in the camper for crates it all worked out. We camped at Lily Bay and had no neighbors whatsoever so the dogs could be off leash a lot of the time. I greatly enjoyed walking through the campsites with them but unfortunately as the week went on my knee just kept getting worse and I could barely walk even with using a cane. We did get Holly onto some wild birds for the first time ever, she did great finding them. Even our most senior dogs enjoyed themselves, it made my heart so happy to see them. We know with some of them time is of the essence. It was warm enough for splashing and playing in the water so all of the dogs had a blast running free at Jewetts Cove without any restrictions on them or worries on our part. I am looking forward to many more adventures with our new camper not only hunting, but also at future dog events.
So, it is one month since surgery.
I am going to out patient rehab twice a week now. My flexion was 114
when my physical therapist last measured me. I can ride the
recumbent bike for about 10 minutes. I'm walking mostly without
a cane. This is a challenging recovery which I sure know from
last year. But worth it. When I'm not doing exercises or therapy the
rest of my time I am sitting with my leg elevated and my knee iced. I
cannot sleep at night so my days are pretty messed up. Pain is
being managed. I know that I will get out of this what I put into it. When they say expect a full year to recover there is a reason.
As spring ended I was back in the field again with John and the dogs. Enjoyed the brief reprise from knee
pain right through to the fall. It was so awesome to be out
there again with my dogs and I really enjoyed the time with John and
especially Maryann. Yet, despite the fact it's all come to an end for now, I enjoy the solitude and chance to
further contemplate what the future has in store as far as J&A's
Brittanys goes. I believe we have been true to keep the
program focused on what we always wanted it to be and
are readily identified and known primarily for having close working
gun dogs. Everything else is frosting on the cake. From what I see I continue to be convinced that the best is yet to come.
Hard to believe it's Christmas. It will
be low key this year. We did enjoy a nice Thanksgiving here
with all of Maryann's family, John's sister's family, and David's mom
from England too. John took care of things beginning to end, it was
just one week after surgery I could not do much.
In closing, please keep the Blackadar
family in prayer. Their beloved Brittany "Henry" was
killed instantly this week when hit by a car. We all feel the
grief, pain, and terrible sense of loss. There are times where
there is no rhyme or reason when no matter how careful we are or what
precautions are in place an accident still happens that is out of our
control.
That sort of catches us up! We've
really had a great year on many levels. Once I actually wrote
everything out I realized quite a lot has been accomplished. As
always take care and thanks for your interest in All Things Brittanys
- God bless you and yours....I've got several Brittanys offering their therapeutic presence to me this night. Good thing it's a king size bed.
