The Girls

Haley

Haley stood out from the beginning as a bold and outgoing puppy. She sealed her place with us by running across the yard and leaping over all her littermates to get to Bill who was kneeling to do a group “hello.” Haley took to training quickly and enthusiastically and loved to retrieve from the start. She has never been force-fetched and was only collar-conditioned to correct a “rolling whistle stop.” Like her mother, Mindy, Haley is a natural: easy to train and easy to run.

Haley quickly earned Junior, Senior and Master Hunter titles and passed 16 out of 19 Master hunt tests before being taken out of the training rotation. Her three failures can be attributed to “handler error.”

Haley has retired from our breeding program after producing 6 litters of great puppies, and she occasionally runs a Master Hunt Test. Her daughters, HRCH Blindfaith’s Ruffian MH (”Ruff”) and Blindfaith’s Renegade Moon (”Molly”) are now doing their best to follow in her footsteps.

A loving pet, enthusiastic hunter and a great competitor, it has been a true privilege to own her.

Meg

Meg was purchased as a 7 week old pup from one of the first litters sired by NFC-AFC Storm’s Riptide Star (”Rascal”). The breeding had occurred prior to Rascal winning the ‘96 National, so the price was a steal. We had avoided chocolates over the years but decided to take a chance since the pedigrees were predominantly black. It turned out to be a very wise decision.

Meg is a beautiful 70 lb. female with impeccable temperament and a tremendous desire to retrieve. She is an excellent, close-working pheasant dog and loves to hunt ducks and doves as well. In earning her Junior and Senior Hunter titles she impressed judges and galleries alike with her phenomenal water entry.

At a Junior Hunt test event for the Bootheel Retriever Club, Meg’s performance in the water test drew an audible gasp from the gallery and a sincerely admiring expletive from one of the judges (”%$#&@!!!” - or something to that effect). We are pretty used to the way she launches herself into the ponds back home where we train, but we could hardly believe it ourselves. She sailed through the air, clearing an old log that was floating about 15 feet from shore. Every other dog had chosen to swim around it. It was a feat of such fearlessness and flair that it took our breath away - and it was as natural to her as her love of retrieving.

Meg has not competed at the Master level due to time constraints and the demands of motherhood. She has whelped 4 litters of pups with glowing results and she has been an excellent mother in every respect. Children and adults alike have been dazzled by Meg’s wonderful disposition and her complete faith in humans.

Meg is dark chocolate and weighs 70 lbs.

Meg is now retired from competition and breeding.

Ruff

Ruff was born in May of 2000 just prior to our move to Little Wappaoolah. She was our pick of a litter out of Haley( Blindfaiths Renegade MH) and Bubba( FC-AFC Hilltops Hayseed) that has done very well. One of Ruff’s sisters is Nebo’s Millenium Jade*** who is close to getting her FC-AFC, winning the open at Yuma ( 10-26-2007) and nearly winning the Am. Ruff’s training suffered some setbacks due to the many problems inherent in building a new house, kennels and farm from scratch. In spite of the delays, she quickly obtained her Junior Hunter title. We began running her in Senior, took some time out for her first litter of puppies, and were pleased to have her finish her Senior title with three straight qualifying scores.

Ruff is an exceptional upland dog and hunts pheasants with great exuberance. She is affectionate and eager to please. Ruff weighs in at 60-65 lbs. and is medium yellow.

Ruff has had 4 beautiful litters of puppies and in each case performed all of her matronly duties perfectly. Ruff is very stylish and an excellent marker. She earned her UKC HRCH title in early October and then her AKC master title in late October. She had a great year and ended 2005 by being bred to Pic for a repeat of the breeding of one we did for her first litter two years ago.  Ruff was bred to Pic once again in 2007, picking up a few additional master passes before and after the litter. She has been bred to Riparian Windfall*** for a spring 2008 litter.

Ruff needs two master passes to join her mother, Haley, and grandmother, Mindy, in the Backwater Retriever Club Hall of Fame.

Maggie

Maggie was one of our own pups, born on our farm in July 2001, and she certainly takes after her mother, Meg. Like Meg, Maggie is wild to retrieve and has a water entry that could rival many a “Big Air” dog on ESPN. Maggie is very stylish in and out of the water. Her temperament is an extraordinarily happy one and she is very loving and affectionate. Maggie is a fine upland gundog, working close and retrieving with gusto.

Maggie weighs 70 lbs and is a deep, shiny chocolate with golden eyes. She has a beautiful head and a wonderful “otter” tail. Maggie is probably the best looking lab we’ve ever had and her puppies have followed suit.

Maggie has had three litters (December, 2004, June 2006 and August 2007). The puppies were beautiful and she was a great mother in every way. Maggie will continue her handling work along with our other dogs but her work will probably be hunting and raising beautiful lab puppies that bring happiness into each and every home they enter.

Sophie

We purchased Sophie in April 2004 and we knew we had a lady on our hands. Although she had never been a house dog, Sophie’s manners were impeccable when we brought her inside to stay. The first thing she did was to pick up a pair of rolled up socks which had fallen from the laundry basket and bring them to Marcia, who held out her hand and said, “Thank you.” Sophie gave them up most graciously.

Sophie completed her SH title at Central Kentucky in the  spring of 2005 and promply reeled off 10 straight UKC Finished passes to obtain her HRCH title at age 2 1/2. Sophie passed four AKC Masters while still two and completed her MH title this spring a mere 3 weeks after her puppies went to homes. During the 2007 season Sophie qualified for the Backwater Retriever Club Hall of Fame and was inducted on January 26,2008, making Sophie and Linc our 3rd and 4th dogs so inducted. Sophie will continue running HT’s along with trying her hand at some field trial qualifyings and she will be the primary gundog of her faithful owner, Big Bill.

Sophie is eager to please and runs hard, swims hard, goes hard. She is intensely focused when she is at your side and she handles like a dream. Sophie is an exceptionally good lining dog and she ran blinds at eighteen months usually reserved for much older dogs. Sophie has numerous full siblings with hunt test titles and running in field trial all-age stakes.

Sophie has had three litters sired by GRHRCH UH Dakota’s Cajun Roux MH and Ten Bears Road Trip***. First litter is doing very well and the second is doing exceptionally well with 5 of the 7 now with professional trainers. Sophie’s third litter is still in the whelping box.

Sophie is black (chocolate factored). She weighs 60 lbs.

RIPLEY

( picture coming soon)

Blindfaiths Ain’t No Foolin’

Blindfaiths Pick A Blue Moon MH x HRCH Blindfaiths Ruffian MH

DOB: April 1, 2007

CERF: LR-50850/2008–11

CNM: clear( by parentage)

Ripley is a big( 70 lbs @ 10 months), stylish young yellow female who began her hunt test career in the junior at Central Kentucky on October 27, 2007. Ripley passed her first junior at the ripe old age of 6 months 27 days, by far the youngest dog entered.  We have high hopes for Ripley to continue in the footsteps of her mother, grandmother and great grandmother. At the present time Ripley has had her first few introductions to Illinois pheasant hunting and she performed remarkably, flushing and retrieving numerous birds. She caught on fast…so far, so good!