Happy, HAPPY 10th Birthday to one of the best dogs ever in our lives, FIN! It’s hard to believe 10 years have passed by since you were born. We love you so much!
Almost 20yrs ago, a very special baby we named Campbell (Sherick’s Sweet Carolina Girl, MT) entered our lives and started it all. She had a very distinct look to her that as we fell in love with our new puppy, we undoubtedly fell in love with too. Though she was never bred, we owned her litter brother too, one of the world’s best dogs ever, named Willie (Sherick’s Sweet WM The Great).
Willie was Michael’s special boy, the boy he got for himself to add some testosterone back into the girl filled house. He came to us at 8mos old. He too had a similar look. Willie hated dog shows, we never forced the issue. We didn’t care b/c he was perfect for us. On a whim, before he was neutered, b/c he was so special to us, we decided to have him collected and took him to see Stacey Toro Hathaway. In the back of my mind, b/c he wasn’t a big champion show dog (though worthy of the title had he enjoyed it), there was probably a snowball’s chance in hell it’d ever get used. Fast forward several years, after Campbell and Willie were gone,Tammy Wirth approached me about using it for her beautiful girl Dharma. We agreed. That litter produced ‘Pebbles.’ Pebbles went to live with theKocars out in WA. It has been fun to follow her and her siblings, though we didn’t take one for our own for various reasons at the time. The Kocars bred Pebbles and produced a liver/tan girl we fell in love with named Roxy. Willie’s grandbaby Roxy has been special to us and has a soft spot with us. Just before Roxy’s litter was born the day after Christmas, we found out that a very special breeding we’d planned and worked hard on to get (to Roxy’s beautiful uncle) did not work. It’s one of the more frustrating moments in ethical breeding that we hit from time to time. God has his plan through the whole thing, sometimes it’s just not clear in the moment. Yesterday it became very clear.
On a 48hr round trip visit to Puyallup, WA this week, I met this very beautiful baby girl. It was afterMichael and I had pretty much decided on her that it hit me. There she was – the treasured great aunt Campbell. It’s like she was staring back at me. Time warped me almost two decades back in an instant to when we first laid eyes on our most beautiful baby Bloodhound coming out of her crate from Kansas that met us in RDU’s Delta cargo.
Breeding, I should say ethical breeding, is full circle. It’s so special to see in generations the dogs you knew and loved come back out in the progeny. It’s what drives us onward through the highs and lows that it brings with the journey.
Tina and Frank, thank you. Thank you for allowing us to bring Sterling into our lives. She not only will be part of our family, she is Michael’s next working partner.
Michael has named his new baby girl from the Kocar’s Hillbilly litter. Introducing …
Kocar M&M’s Living In High Cotton – ‘Sterling’
(Mary Sterling was a cotton plantation owner in Louisiana)
We look forward to her coming home next week!
Pictured on the right is Sterling at 8 weeks old and on the left, her great Aunt Campbell also pictured at 8 weeks old.
We had a lovely day today, the high in the 70s! It’s a spring tease! Grace enjoyed being outside playing on such a beautiful day!
Everyone’s mornings should be as peaceful as this!
We had such a scary time recently! Barrett, our gorgeous up and coming show special and sweetest boy, was bitten by a brown recluse at the base of his tail. The infection from this spread like wildfire and we were faced with possibly losing him or amputation of his tail. We are SO thankful that Barrett is going to be okay and though it’s very disappointing for him to lose his tail, and his budding show career, we are grateful to still have him in our lives. He’s sporting a new fashion statement with his new ‘bob tail’ and the cutest but you ever saw! 🙂 Barrett is doing great!
Here’s a fun ad that I made for Barrett’s new Champion title that will be run in the American Bloodhound Club’s bulletin that is issued to members quarterly.
We, crazy folks that we are, decided that we’d DRIVE to our National Specialty in Ocean Shores, WA this year. Um, did I mention that we live outside of Charlotte, NC? 😉 We packed up Barrett and Ms. Grace and drove out to this event. We had so much fun and what a week it was! We came home with Grace getting her MT (mantrailer) title. Barrett out did himself and won Winners Dog to finish his CH (champion) title AND he was given an Award of Merit. The next day, the day of the Regional Specialty, his first time in the ring as a young special, he was given another Award of Merit! We also enjoyed a great time with extended Bloodhound family and meeting and making new friends. It was a great event week, thank you to the Pacific Rim Bloodhound Club!
Barrett & Bob Dowd, his best friend and handler, after his big National wins!
Molly & Grace – new MT!
It has been a YEAR since we’ve posted an update here in our ‘news’ section. We plan to be doing some updating in the upcoming weeks ahead all over our site. We’ve been tied up hosting the American Bloodhound Club National Specialty which took most of my free time last year. Now that I’ve gotten some of that time back – I hope to start updating our site with our last litter, born almost a year ago, more working dogs and photos, show wins and just all around fun stuff with the breed and dogs we love so much. Stay tuned! 🙂
We are so very excited about our next planned litter. They will be here before we know it! The circus is coming to town!
It is always a happy day when you have a Bloodhound live to be an old dog. Every day is a bonus day. BUT their birthdays are extra special! Happiest 12th Birthday to one of the very best around. We love you Nolan! And Happy Halloween!
