Achievements
2008
MORGAN
Morgan passed the master at the spring trial of our home club, The Backwater Retriever Club, and thus earned his MH title exactly one year after beginning his Hunt Test career at Backwater in 2007. Each year the weather was the same, in a word Terrible. Snow, sleet, rain and wind assaulted handlers, judges and workers throughout the weekend but all held up.
Linc, Sophie and Ruff
Sophie had her litter for the year on March 7. Remarkably she had an all chocolate litter( 5 females and 3 males) sired by Ten Bears Road Trip***. Sophie will resume training about April 19 and plans are to run some FT Quals in the fall.
Ruff is due to whelp a litter sired by FC Riparian Windfall on or about April 24 and then will resume hunt test training with the goal of joining her mother, Haley, and grandmother, Mindy, in the Backwater Retriever Club Hall of Fame.
2007
MORGAN
Our main focus for this year was to start Morgan on his hunt test career. While he absolutely had master level skills, he had never seen a hunt test concept until we acquired him in October 2006. With this in mind, we began to gradually introduce Morgan to the world of hunting and hunt tests. What with actual hunting and bad weather at this time of year, training time was hard to come by but Morgan caught on quickly.
We decided to enter Morgan in back to back junior and senior doubleheaders rather than jump right in at the master level. We ran Morgan at Backwater Retriever Club ( April 13-15) and Ohio Valley Retriever Club( April 21-22). He sailed through 4 juniors and 4 seniors earning both his JH and SH titles in a nine day stretch. During this time Morgan turned many heads with his heart pounding intensity and spectacular style. Morgan will begin running master after a month or so of intro to a few more concepts while we get Ruff’s litter to their homes.
Morgan ran and passed his first AKC Master at the Madison Retriever Club the weekend of June 9. He handled on one mark which he did not get a good look at and ran 4 beautiful blinds, three of which were very technical in nature. He was the fourth youngest of 106 entries and I believe the youngest dog not being handled by a pro.
Morgan failed his second master at Ohio Valley when he did not see a fall and I failed to do my part, then passed his third at WisAm and fourth at Backwater where he was once again one of the four or five youngest dogs and I believe again the youngest not handled by a pro.
Morgan failed the Master at MTARC although he was spectacular during 690 of 700 yards! Just got messed up the last 10 yards of one blind.
Morgan passed his fourth master at Bootheel RC in Missouri the weekend of October 20 and will attempt to get his MH at Central Kentucky the weekend of October 27. That will finish our 2007 season.
Morgan also has sired his first litter, whelped October 14. The female is Anne Weaver and Mike Judas’ Mae, a well bred yellow female. Reports are that the pups are beautiful and uniform.
SOPHIE, LINC & RUFF
Linc qualified in the master at BRC, OVRC, Fort Detroit, WisAm and Backwater with no handles. Linc will now be inducted into the Backwater Retriever Club Hall of Fame in January.
Sophie qualified in master at OVRC with 3 nearly perfect blinds and one ” safety” handle on the very last bird. Soph qualified at Madison as well. She was the only dog to pin all three marks and line both blinds in the long walkup triple in the first series. She followed up with passes at Fort Detroit , WisAm and MTARC and now will be inducted into the BWRC Hall of Fame along with her buddy, Linc, Haley and Mindy.
Ruff is still with her pups and doing a fine job. She will resume her hunt test work after the puppies go to homes in late May.
Ruff passed the master at Fort Detroit her only entry thus far in 2007.
2006
We spent most of 2006 raising puppies, training and hunting. On May 19, 2006 Sophie ran her first hunt test of the year and quickly finished her MH title at Middle Tennessee. We also ran Backwater ( our home club) in September where Linc and Ruff passed the master but Sophie was the victim of ” handler error” in the first series and failed. Then she ran test dog for the remainder of the tests and nailed them. Oh, Well !! The test, judged by Ray Weaver and Sue Steffey, was one of the nicest I’ve ever run. No bird over 70 yards but challenging and a whole bunch of fun. It was what a hunt test is supposed to be!!
In October we purchased a wonderful yellow male, named Morgan, from Mike Judas of Maquon, Il. After a few days to get to know Morgan he promptly lined his first land blind, a challenging hillside blind. The other three Bigs needed 1,2 or 3 whistles! Another good job of young dog training by Mike!!
2005
On October 29, 2005, both HRCH Ten Bears Hot Rod Lincoln (Linc) and HRCH Blindfaith’s Ruffian (Ruff) earned their Master Hunter titles at Central Kentucky Retriever Club’s AKC fall hunt test in Madisonville, Kentucky. Their new titles are as follows:
- HRCH Ten Bears Hot Rod Lincoln MH
- HRCH Blindfaith’s Ruffian MH
HRCH Ten Bears Dreamcatcher SH (Sophie) ended the season with 4 AKC Master passes. Since we had missed tests due to gas prices/shortages we had planned to run her in Alabama on November 11-13 but ran out of energy and cancelled. Sophie ran exceptionally well all season failing twice due to me (HE, handler error), once because she didn’t see 2 of the 3 birds down and finally, after a perfect first series, just plain had trouble on a flyer. Twice she was the only dog to line a water blind and once she was one of two to do so (Linc was the other!). She will shoot for the MH title early this spring after being bred to GRHRCH Dakotas Cajun Roux (needs one pass for MH also).
On September 10, 2005, Boomer Butikas JH became a certified Pet Partner through the Delta Society. Boomer is now qualified to go into nursing homes and schools to visit and play as a therapy dog, a role for which his friendly and gentle temperament is wonderfully suited.
Therapy dogs work their magic through simple, unconditional acceptance. An elderly person in a nursing home or a sad child who is having problems at school may respond with sheer joy when a Delta Society dog shows up. Many schools that utilize these dogs find that children who struggle in the classroom enjoy sitting down with a dog like Boomer and reading to a completely uncritical (and affectionate) audience.
Marcia is very excited at the prospect of being able to take her dog to work with her.
For more information on becoming a Pet Partner with your dog, visit deltasociety.org.
Linc and Sophie ran their first HRCH finished tests at the Tri-State HRC the weekend of March 5-6 near Madisonville, Kentucky. Both qualified each day. They were the second and third youngest dogs but they each ran very well. The tests were challenging and only 5 dogs out of 15 qualified on Sunday. It was Bill’s first HRCH event as well and he was the weak link, getting his hair sprayed as an initiation of sorts. Thanks to Cliff Romain for his attempts to give Bill credit for 30+ years of AKC stuff. Linc and Sophie will be running Finished and Master nearly every weekend this spring so wish us luck!
Sophie completed her SH title at the Central Kentucky Retriever Club spring test with a flawless performance during which she was the only dog to line the water blind.
Sophie and Linc each completed their HRCH titles by passing 7 straight HRC Finished tests while at the same time passing 2 straight AKC Master tests. Both dogs have run exceptionally well, lining numerous blinds and rarely having to handle on a mark. They have received many gallery ovations most notably Linc who retrieved 2 extra birds which were stuck in a tree and in the rocks of a shear cliff( “no birds” from previous dogs) to end Saturday’s event. It’s been quite a spring and we are thankful for the opportunity to own and run these magnificent dogs.
Ruff passed her first and only AKC Master and 2 HRC Finisheds after getting back in shape after having her pups. She has been running with great style and handling well. All 3 dogs will continue work toward titles this spring and summer.
Ten Bears Hot Rod Lincoln earned his Senior Hunter title at the Middle Tennessee Retriever Club AKC hunt test on October 10, 2004. Handled by Bill Butikas, Linc displayed his phenomenal marking ability and wowed the gallery with his signature water entry-full-tilt and fearless. Back at headquarters, Bill had to endure the traditional celebratory “dousing” (with a full bucket of cold water) that accompanies a newly earned title. Luckily, he had plenty of dry clothes back in the truck…
Bill and Linc with his Senior Hunter title ribbons
This story ran in the local paper after Bill and Haley ran in the Master Hunt Test sponsored by Backwater Retriever Club. Haley, at 10 1/2 years old, was the oldest dog running and earned her 20th Master pass. She may retire next year, but meanwhile, Haley is still running strong.
