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My Dogs

Gala    Finn    Puzzle   Busy



photo by Stephanie Stout
Finn, Gala, Puzzle & Slice
January 2007
I currently have four dogs in residence - two border collies (Gala & Puzzle), a rescued border collie cross (Finn), and a small mixed breed (Busy). 
Gala - BTO New Year Gala, ONYX
Click here to visit Gala's Photo Gallery
[MACH VX CHX CH Mihran Black Tie Optional CDX HX MX MXJ U-AG1 AHBA-HTD1 CGC x Abbie]
AKC# DN05083601    ABCA Reg. #230457    DOB: 07/18/03

Gala is a 4 1/2 year old old Border Collie.  She is a black tri color rough coat (meaning she is black and white with tan points and has a longer coat).  Her father, Jeffrey is an amazing dog.  He has advanced herding titles, obedience titles, his breed championship, and his MACH (agility championship).  You can visit Jeffrey at www.cathylester.com  Gala's mother is from very strong herding lines with several dogs imported from Ireland.   Gala has been training in flyball and has dabbled in agility and herding.  She has been competing in flyball just over two years now.  She loves running as start dog & we've managed to get several 0.00s and multiple 0.000s.  Her fastest time, is a 4.02, but she regularly runs 4.1 - 4.2.  She was recently spayed and is excited to get to compete in flyball full time now.  Her Photo Gallery has some pictures of her in flyball, herding, swimming, and hanging out with the labs.  She's been a wonderful addition.  She is so fun to train that I am going to have a very hard time thinking about getting a lab again! 

Here's an explanation of her titles:

  • ONYX:  this is for earning 20,000 points.  This means Gala has also earned the following titles: FD, FDX, FDCH, FDCH-S, FDCH-G, FM, FMX, FMCH.  Her next title will be at 30,000 points.

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Finn, FM
Click here to visit Finn's Photo Gallery
DOB: 10/04/2003

Finn is a four year old Border Collie & Miniature Australian Shepherd cross.  She is a red tri color rough coat (meaning she is red and white with tan points and has a longer coat).  Finn came to live with us in July 2005.  She was living in a nice home in Boulder, but one where she didn't have a job & her high drive caused increasing problems.  She's quite petite, measuring in at just about 17 inches and 25 pounds.   Finn is acclimating quite well.  She and Gala have lots of fun playing together!  She's done fairly limited racing in flyball and is looking great.  We took some extra time to fine tune a few skills.  So far she looks like she'll be pretty speedy, especially for being such a little one.  She is primarily running as backup and gladly hops in where needed as she gets more seasoned.  We're continuing to work on socialization skills and she's making huge progress.   She'll actually run up to people to solicit attention now.  That's a vast improvement!  She has several pictures in her Photo Gallery of her swimming, at flyball practice, and hanging out at home.

Here's an explanation of her titles:

  • FM:  this title is for earning 5000 points.  This means she has also earned  the following titles: FD, FDX, FDCH, FDCH-S, FDCH-G.  Her next title will be at 10,000 points.

 

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Puzzle - Offspring's Missing Piece, ONYX
Click here to visit Puzzle's Photo Gallery
[Bailey, ONYX x Alibi, FGDCH]
DOB:  11/15/2003

Puzzle is a four year old Border Collie.  She is a black and white rough coat (meaning she is black and white & has a longer coat).  Puzzle is an amazing dog from Lee & Angie Heighton with Spring Loaded in Michigan.  She's just hitting her stride in her flyball career and shows great promise.  She comes from a long line of great flyball dogs & is pretty darn speedy herself.  Her fastest times are 3.864 (in start) and routinely runs in the 3.9s.  She has also run some low 3.9s in the lineup.  When she's not running flyball, she's quite a character around the house.  She loves to watch TV & movies (her favorite is the remake of Planet of the Apes), knows tons of fun tricks, like to cuddle, and delights in shredding towels & other bedding.  Puzzle has several pictures in her Photo Gallery.

Here's an explanation of her titles:

  • ONYX:  this is for earning 20,000 points.  This means Puzzle has also earned the following titles: FD, FDX, FDCH, FDCH-S, FDCH-G, FM, FMX, FMCH.  Her next title will be at 30,000 points.

Puzzle ran on both our multibreed and regular teams last year.  She helped our multibreed team win the regional championship and holds the current Region 19 multibreed record time of 18.247.  She also helped our regular team break our club record and holds a regular record time of 17.425.
 

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Busy - Offspring's Commotion
Click here to visit Busy's Photo Gallery
DOB: 01/28/07

Busy is the most recent addition to the household.  She is a mixed breed puppy from Lee & Angie Heighton with Spring Loaded in Michigan.  Both of her parents are great flyball dogs and run as height dogs.  Busy measures just under 16 inches so is a height dog herself.  So far she's fitting in quite well.  Busy is a feisty little girl who loves to tug and chase already, so I'm sure she'll be a natural at flyball.  She's progressing well through flyball training so far.  She's just started doing some limited warm-ups at tournaments.  You can see some of the most recent pictures of Busy on our flyball club's webpage - www.launchflyball.com.

Busy is quite the character at home - she loves to howl & makes some of the strangest sounds I've ever heard.  She loves to sleep under the covers.  She watches television perched on the back of the couch.  She's definitely a very big dog in a small package.

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Slice - Intrepid's Cutting Edge, SH, FM, AWC
Click here to visit Slice's Photo Gallery
[Calypso KC Masterpiece, MH (HOF), CDX, RN, MX, AXJ x Harmony's Razor, MH]
AKC# SN737328/01         03/20/00 - 04/01/08

Slice passed away suddenly in April 2008 of kidney cancer at eight years of age.  He was my last Labrador Retriever in residence.  He is from field bloodlines.  His father KC was a Master Hunter and in the Master National Hall of Fame.  He also competed in obedience, rally & agility.  His mother was also a Master Hunter and has passed nearly 60 Master Hunter tests.  Slice was a really hard charging lab.  He did huge flying water entries and ran as hard as he can in everything.  Slice finished his Senior Hunter title and ran in a limited number of Master tests before I started doing flyball full time.  Slice also started agility training before flyball took over our lives.  Slice loved flyball and posted some pretty fast times - including one 4.6 (he normally ran high 4s to low 5s), not bad for a huge Labrador.   Slice retired from flyball, but made an occasional appearance to help out the team when he was needed.  Here are the titles he earned:

  • SH - Senior Hunter: AKC's middle hunt test title.  Slice did nice work in several Master tests (the highest level), but never earned his title. He has also earned his JH (Junior Hunter) title.

  • FM - Flyball Master:  Slice earned this title in July 2004 for 5,000 points in competition. 
  • AWC - Advanced Working Certificate: a lab club field certificate offered by our local club.   Slice also earned his WC (Working Certificate) when he was five months old.

Slice was from Jeff Jordan at Intrepid Retrievers.  Slice was a wonderful dog around the house.  He was very easy going and enjoyed his harem of border collie wives.  Slice also appeared in numerous labrador calendars over the years from photographs taken by Kent Dannen.
 

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Kirby - Sadona Down N Dirty Milstead, CDX, SH, AX, OAJ, FDX, WC, CGC
Click here to visit Kirby's Photo Gallery
[CH Coalcreek's Gimme A Break x CH Sadona's Britch's]
AKC# SN057548/01    03/31/93 - 04/07/06

Kirby passed away in April 2006.  He lived to be over 13 years old, which is a pretty long life for a Labrador Retriever from show bloodlines.  He was my first purebred lab and the first dog I ever trained in field and agility.  Even in retirement, he still made an occasional appearance as a back up dog in flyball or as pick up dog at a hunt test.  Kirby had only two working titles in his entire pedigree - one WC and one CDX - although nearly every dog was a show champion.  He didn't go far in the breed ring, but managed to earn a fairly large number of performance titles.  Here are the titles he earned:

  • CDX - Companion Dog Excellent: middle title in AKC obedience, meaning he also earned his CD (Companion Dog) title.  Kirby also competed in utility, the highest level, but never finished his title.
  • SH - Senior Hunter: middle title in the AKC hunt test program.  Kirby also earned his JH (Junior Hunter) title.
  • AX - Agility Dog Excellent: basic title in the highest class in AKC standard agility, meaning Kirby also earned his NA (Novice Agility) and OA (Open Agility) titles.
  • OAJ - Open Jumpers with Weaves: middle title in AKC agility jumpers with weaves class, meaning Kirby also earned his NAJ (Novice Jumpers with Weaves) title.
  • FDX - Flyball Dog Excellent: second title in flyball, meaning Kirby also earned his FD (Flyball Dog) title.
  • WC - Working Certificate: a basic field certificate offered by the lab club.
  • CGC - Canine Good Citizen: AKC's program showing basic manners & training on a dog.

Kirby was known for being an escape artist extraordinaire - especially to steal food.   In his lifetime he ate over fifty loaves of bread, hundreds of pounds of dog food, countless dog biscuits, an entire garden of jalapeno peppers, several bars of soap, and a half dozen boxes of girl scout cookies.   Remarkably, he never needed veterinary attention for these sins and rarely even showed any signs of indigestion.   Several photos of Kirby taken by Kent Dannen appeared in calendars.  Last year I received a yellow lab calendar from Kent that happened to have Kirby pictured for April 2006, a fitting tribute.
 

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Decoy - Intrepid's Major Attraction, MH, NA, NAJ, FDX, AWC, CGC
Click here to visit Decoy's Photo Gallery
[Calypso KC Masterpiece, MH (HOF), CDX, MX, AXJ x Utopia Bewitched, MH (HOF)]
AKC# SN51628810     DOB: 01/06/98

Decoy is an eight year old Labrador Retriever from field trial bloodlines.  She is the first field lab I owned and it was a welcome change!  She is a wonderful field dog and was already retrieving ducks and pigeons when I brought her home at seven weeks.  Decoy spent most of her life concentrating almost exclusively on field, but also competed a bit in agility and flyball.  At her first agility trial she qualified in 4 out of 6 runs and got her Novice Jumpers title.  She competed occasionally in flyball - she was waiting for them to change the rules so she can use a bird instead of a silly tennis ball.  In the spring of 2003, she had a litter of blacks and yellows by FC AFC Teddy's Ebonstar James.  Click here to see information on her puppies.  Here is some explanation about Decoy's titles:

  • MH - Master Hunter:  AKC's highest hunting test title.  Both of Decoy's parents also have their MHs and are also in the Master National Hall of Fame.  Decoy's mother, Wiccan had nearly 50 Master Hunter passes.  Decoy has also earned her SH (Senior Hunter) and JH (Junior Hunter) titles.
  • NA - Novice Agility: AKC's first agility title in the standard agility class. 
  • NAJ - Novice Jumpers with Weaves:  AKC's first agility title in the Jumpers with Weaves class.  Decoy earned this title at her first agility trial.
  • FDX - Flyball Dog Excellent: the second flyball title, meaning that Decoy also earned her FD (Flyball Dog) title.
  • AWC - Advanced Working Certificate:  a lab club field certificate offered by our local club. 
  • CGC - Canine Good Citizen: AKC's program showing basic manners & training on a dog.

Decoy has appeared in several calendars with photographs taken by Kent & Donna Dannen.  She was on the cover of a 2002 black lab calendar called "Black Labs Rule" and on the cover of a 2004 Brown Trout box calendar for black labs.  She & Slice are in several dozen photographs in the box calendar.  Decoy was bred and trained by Jeff Jordan at Intrepid Retrievers.  Decoy is enjoying her retirement with Jerry Manzer & Sara Boyd.  She is living nearby with them and their two Basset Hounds in Greeley.  She and Jerry have hunted several times this season.  Decoy and Sara are taking agility classes.  Decoy is enjoying being the queen of the house and going on many fun filled walks, runs, hikes & camping trips. 
 

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