The Girls

A.D.

A.D.
  • B Faith’s Hayseed’s Bird Finder MH
  • Blindfaith’s Pick A Blue Moon MH x HRCH Blindfaith’s Ruffian MH
  • April 1, 2007 – December 19, 2019
  • AKC # SR41302302; UKC# R243-909
  • OFA: Hips Good, LR-189437G41F-PI; Elbows Normal, LR-EL63862F87-VPI
  • ECR: Eyes Normal; LR-EYE647/70-PI
  • CNM: Clear by parentage ( Sire and Dam owned by us and tested by us).
  • EIC: Carrier
  • Download A.D.’s Pedigree (63 KB PDF)
  • View A.D.’s Photo Gallery

A.D. was born here at Little Wappaoolah on April Fool’s Day, 2007. I was judging with Ray Weaver at Central Kentucky so Marcia handled the whelping of the litter by herself, with Nancy Pals on standby just in case. Truman Ellis and another friend out in Washington state had reserved a yellow female as an 80th birthday present for longtime west coast pro, Paul Shoemaker, so we put in a lot of time picking just the right pup for a “famous” client. Marcia fell in love with the pup we had labeled as the ” blue neck female” or BNF and we sent her to Paul along with the BTF which Truman later reserved for himself. Paul named her A.D. ( pronounced “eighty”)  since he had just turned 80 and he is very religious ( Anno Domini). She weighed 16 ounces at birth and weighed 13 pounds 7 ounces at 7 weeks. Marcia and I followed her progress all along ( hampered by Paul’s blindness in one eye and a bad cataract on the other) and when Paul decided to downsize for a number of reasons, Marcia jumped at the opportunity to reacquire A.D.. She arrived at the airport in Indy on Tuesday, February, 12 and has made herself right back at home.

A.D. earned her Master title at Middle Tennessee on October 13 and had a chance to win the only Qual she ran shortly after arriving here, going out on the last bird after all the other 5 dogs had handled or picked up ( I made a big error, HE, handler’s error!). She was a beautiful, very talented and hard running 70 pound female who was a joy to bring to the line. Paul did a remarkable job of training her just as he did with Tru and Ten and all the other young dogs with which he worked. THANKS PAUL SHOEMAKER!! R.I.P. dear friend!

AD passed away on December 19, 2019 with Marcia and I at her side. She left us and this world a much better place for her having been here for such a short time! Godspeed A.D.!

Sophie

Sophie
  • HRCH Ten Bears Dream Catcher MH
  • FC-AFC High Tech CEO x
    HRCH Rascal’s Chocolate Pie MH, QAA
  •  November 12, 2002 – May 31, 2018
  • OFA: LR-147352G24F-PI ; LR-EL24949F24-PI
  • CERF: LR-39764/2004–19
  • CNM: Clear
  • EIC: Carrier( see below)
  • Download Sophie’s Pedigree (120 KB PDF)
  • View Sophie’s Photo Gallery
  • Backwater Retriever Club Hall of Fame.

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

Sophie had six litters ,one sired by GRHRCH UH Dakota’s Cajun Roux MH , two sired by FC-AFC Ten Bears Road Trip, two by HRCH Mountain’s Top Watermark’n Woody MH, QAA and one by our HRCH “Morgan” MH, QAA.  Pups fro all the litters made their mark in the hunt test and gundog world as well as being fine companions to numerous families!

Sophie was black (chocolate factored) and weighed in at 60 pounds. She was small but mighty!!!

T

Tee
  • T has been sold and now resides in Macon, Ga!
  • Blindfaith’s Texas Tea JH
  • FC-AFC Bayou Teche Eye On The Ball x B Faith’s Hayseed’s Bird Finder MH
  •  DOB: September 1, 2014
  • AKC: SR84265910; UKCR261-025
  • CNM: Clear by parentage
  • EIC: Carrier by test
  • Hips: Prelims Good
  • Eyes: LR-EYE9362/18F
  • View Tee’s Pedigree
  • View Tee’s Photo Gallery

Tee was our pick from the long awaited breeding of AD to “Slider” one of the top field trial dogs in the country today. Slider’s absolutely incredible record can be seen on his website www.slideratstud.com. Most notably he has been a national finalist four times and for the past three years he has earned a ribbon in all age stakes every weekend in which he was entered but one!

Tee is coming along nicely in her training. She marks well and is running simple blinds.. She runs with great style, is very smart and loves the water. T picked up her JH easily and as of last summer would pass many Senior hunt tests. We will freshen her up in the next month or so and she will be sold to a very good home only and at a very reasonable price.

Bonnie

Bonnie
  • Blindfaith’s Stoneridge Bandit JH ( and Master at Mothering)
  • HRCH Maple Creek’s Captain Morgan MH, QAA x Stoneridge Rock N Roll Hoochie Koo MH
  • AKC DNA Profile: #V871739
  •  August 8, 2015 – April 14, 2021
  • AKC: SR89108205; UKC R261-630
  • OFA Hips Excellent ( LR-229927E26F-VPI); Elbows Normal ( LR-EL80712F26-VPI)
  • B and E locus: BBee (AG) Yellow, No Chocolate
  • D Locus: D/D, Clear of dilute gene (AG)
  • A Locus: Ay,Aw,a negative for fawn/sable,wild-sable and recessive black (AG)
  • A Locus: At/At ( Dog has two copies of the tan points/tricolor gene) (AG)
  • E Locus-EM, negative for melanistic mask (AG)
  • K Locus-KB: KB/KB ( Dominant black gene,, self colored and self-colored offspring) (AG)
  • Spotting: Negative MTF variant associated with parti-color (AG)
  • CNM: Clear by parentage and Test (AG)
  • EIC: Clear by parentage and Test (AG)
  • Cystinuria Clear (AG)
  • DM Clear (AG)
  • HNPK Clear (AG)
  • HUU Clear (AG)
  • PKD Clear (AG)
  • Eyes: LR-EYE13695/28F-VPI; prcd-PRA Clear (AG); SD2 clear (AG)
  • View Bonnie’s Pedigree
  • View Bonnie’s Photo Gallery

Bonnie has been bred to our Ten, and is due March 26, 2021. Bonnie has whelped other litters sired by our Ten and Brad Knight’s “Fred” and those pups are doing well.

Bonnie came to us on September 26, 2015 via Stoneridge Kennels in Tennessee. Matt and Katie Griffiths had bred their very nice black female “Hoochie” to Morgan so when we found out that AD, bred to Morgan, was not pregnant we called Katie and reserved a yellow female who turned out to be Bonnie! As a young pup she is everything we want…beautiful light medium yellow, big ole ears, smart, loves to retrieve and is doing well around the house and farm. She has swam, went on road trips ( including the 330 miles from her old home to her new home, retrieved her first duck ( green wing teal drake), visited The Quarry and a county park that we train in occasionally and has fit right in to our activities.

Bonnie ran and passed her first Junior at Backwater on September 10, 2016, got two passes at Backwater in April 2017 handled by Ray Weaver and then earned her JH title at GRCI in May 2017 handled by Bill. A good start for this fine dog! Bonnie is now doing her handling work and she is doing very well!

Bonnie now does Senior level work and runs easier Master level marks. After the pups are gone we may run Bon in Seniors and Seasoned.

Bonnie passed away on April 12, 2021 leaving behind 8 beautiful yellow puppies sired by Ten along with numerous friends both human and canine!

Marcia’s FB tribute to our Dear Bonnie….

Marcia Butikas here.
I haven’t spent much time on FB for some time now– in part because I seem to have shut myself out of my account. Oh well.
But I wanted to say a few words about our girl, Bonnie, who crossed Rainbow Bridge yesterday at the too young age of 5 1/2 years old. Bonnie was a creature of rare enthusiasm and joy. She loved to run and run she did, like the wind. She was swift and she had amazing stamina. I don’t think I ever saw her tire out. And she loved her work. She was wild to retrieve.
She was also sweet natured and eager to please. She was a good mother, an excellent mother. Nothing was ever more clear than a few weeks ago when she delivered her third and final litter by c-section and it was discovered that Bonnie had cancer and it was terminal. We had known for the last week and a half of her pregnancy that something was wrong. She was barely eating and could hardly be tempted by anything (although almost to the end, she loved Milk Bone Minis). Our vet told us that she might last a few weeks. We took Bonnie and her 8 beautiful pups home, full of dread and not knowing what to expect.
Bonnie did everything she could to take care of her pups. Although she had little milk, she nursed and nurtured them with great care. She cleaned and stimulated them, taking the worst part of the job out of our hands. We began to bottle feed immediately, six times per day at first, then five, doing feedings every 3-4 hours and catching sleep as we could. Bonnie continued to do everything she could and we will be forever grateful for her help and guidance. I don’t use the word “gallant” very often. Sadly, maybe there isn’t much application for it anymore. But her effort on behalf of her pups to the end was nothing short of gallant. All heart. All spirit.
We struggled with how long to let this go on and finally decided it was time. We have always wrestled with when to call an end to the life of a beloved dog who is ill and struggling. We always worry if we have made the call too soon– or if we have waited too long. This was never more true than with Bonnie.
Rest in peace, sweet girl.

Shelby

Shelby
  • Willow Run’s She’s A Shelby MH
  • Grassy Creek’s Storm Advisory MH x Three Points All In For Michigan ( 5 Master passes and running now)
  • DOB: 6/24/2012
  • AKC: SR73728005; UKC: R261-975.
  • CNM Clear by parentage and by test (AG).
  • EIC Clear by parentage and by test (AG).
  • D Locus: DD, does not carry the dilute gene (AG).
  • B Locus: BB, does not carry chocolate (AG).
  • OFA: Hips Good, LR-219420G44F-VPI; Elbows Normal, LR-EL71789F44-VPI.
  • CERF(CAER):  LR-EYE9086/45F-VPI
  • View Shelby’s Pedigree
  • View Shelby’s Photo Gallery

 

About Shelby:

We acquired Shelby from our friend Steve Troyer in March of 2016. Steve knew that he would not be able to devote enough time to Shelby due to work on his doctorate.  His sadness at parting with this wonderful girl has been our joy. Not only is Shelby a very talented Lab but she is a sweet and loving companion. After only a few weeks with us and limited training sessions due to weather Shelby is running for us as if we had been partners for years. Shelby weighs in at a solid 62 pounds.

While our exact plans for Shelby  are still flexible we probably will run her in some HRC events in search of the HRCH title and at some point we may try her in the field trial game. As far as breeding goes we have bred Shelby to our Tru last fall and that litter is doing exceptionally well. She was a great mother.  Shelby has now been bred  to Tru again and the pups are do on June 16, 2017, ready for homes on August 4. Taking reservations now!

Shelby runs as hard as any dog I have ever seen and she goes as hard on blinds as on marks and as hard coming back in as she does going out! She really is a rocket! Shelby sleeps with us each evening and is a wonderful companion. More on Shelby later so stay tuned!