Montage dogs, co-bred dogs (BasqueLaine), and owners had a great time at the ABTC 2006 National Specialty in Carlisle PA! Unfortunately, I myself was only able to go to one day of the herding trial and a morning of agility before the passing of my grandmother had me heading back home.
Because of this, teenage pupster Henson and 6 month old Charm kids Marie and Quest were not shown in Puppy Sweeps or the regular Puppy classes.
As for the Speed puppies, thanks to the mighty efforts of friends and puppy people who all rallied together to assist, especially Maeve Knapp who made a marathon drive to get them for me, and Rick and Kelley Hoffman who drove halfway from Ohio to hand them over to Maeve,
all made it safely to the Hotel Carlisle where new owners were anxiously waiting.
Our group of dogs had lots of Qs in herding and agility, including some exciting wins and class placements, plus some big wins in conformation. See below for details!
HERDING
The 2 day AKC Herding Trial in Berryville VA was a great success. In the Herding Started A-Course, Sheep (HSAs) arena, Montage Winters Tale at Talisman PT, CGC, TDI "Cleo"
and owner Darcy Ferrentino made their debut at trial level competition. They had a great run and came away with a Q/5th place out of a large class of some 25 all breed entries. Also in the HSAs arena for the first time,
Rob Meiners with his Terv in black Montage Mavericks Surf Break PT, RN, R1CL, R2CL, FO, CGC "Maverick" had a very nice run on tricky sheep and came away with a Q/first leg!
In Pre-Trial (PT), Maura Hogan and Mavey's littersister BPIS Can. CH Montage Surfs Up CDX TD NA NAJ (VCD1) "Malibu" made their formal herding debut. Skipping the HT test level, Maura did a fabulous job
her first time out to Qualify for Malibu's first PT leg! What makes this especially impressive, is that Maura trains without any instructor once a week at a farm several hours away. Her only help in learning how to herd has been
a couple of lessons from me during visits, and lots of emails and phone conversations. On the second day of the trial, Boo's set of sheep were very ornery. Although they did not Q, Maura and Boo gave it their very best effort
and persevered to complete the course. I am so proud of them both! Also in the PT ring, Darcy's Am. & Can. CH Montage Montrachet PT, AX, AXJ, OJC, NGC, CGC, TDI "Bandit" brought tears to my eyes in
fond memory of her mother Desi who was my first herding dog years ago. Bandit gleefully bossed her sheep around the arena and reminded me in such happy ways of her mother. She had Qualifying runs two days in a row to title for her PT!
Cleo
Maverick
Malibu
Bandit
AGILITY
We also had lots of success in the agility trials. Unfazed by their 1400 mile drive from Texas, Rusty Pearson and ADCH NATCH U-AGII BasqueLaine-Montage Secret Agent MX, MXJ, TM-Silver, JCH, O-EAC, EJC, O-EGC, O-TN-E, WV-E, TG-O, SJ, SS, WETT, HIC, CGC, TDI
"Maxwell" began with a smokin hot run in Exc B Standard for a Q/1st place and 52 MACH speed points! He knocked a bar in Jumpers but littermate BasqueLaine-Montage Secret Passage MX, MXJ, EAC,
EJC, EGC, TN-O, TG-O, AAD, ASA, AS, AR, AJ, PD1, RN, CGC, TDI "Merlin" and Marti Wiseman picked up the ball and took a Q/4th place win! The second day of the trial, Maxwell took another Q/1st place in Standard and
a Q/2nd place in Jumpers for his 8th Double Q. Darcy Ferrentino and CH Montage Beach Talisman MX, MXJ, P1, PT, CGC, TDI "Charm" had a Q in Exc. B Jumpers the first day and earned a Q/3rd place in Exc. B Standard the second day.
Darcy also ran Montage Midsummer Night's Dream NA NAJ HCT CGC TDI "Summer" in Open and picked up a Q/2nd place in Jumpers for her second leg! In Novice, Susan Geers-Meiners and Charm's littersister UAG2 Montage Beach Blanket Bingo RL2,
CL2-H, CL2-F, R1CL, NGC, HT, CGC "Annette" earned a Q/Jumpers leg and 2 Standard Q's including a 2nd place for her NA title! Lots of loot was won and much fun had by all.
Maxwell
Merlin
Charm
Summer
Annette
CONFORMATION
I am thrilled to report that our dogs made a great showing in conformation under breeder-judge Debbie Dawe. Montage-BasqueLaine Genuine Risk HIC, CGC "Risky Kelda" won 2nd place in the hotly contested American Bred Bitches
class with her owner Kate Sreenan! Kate did a wonderful job and I'm told looked quite smashing in orchid and black. Kelda had just made her show debut a couple of weeks before for her first point and also had just earned a Rally Novice title. She is Kate's first show dog.
UAG2 Montage Beach Blanket Bingo RL2, CL2-H, CL2-F, R1CL, NGC, HT, CGC "Annette" won 1st place in Herding Titled
Bitches, beautifully handled by co-owner Susan Geers Meiners. Rickey Marks and her 8 year old Jazz x Ava kid CH Montage All That Jazz "Flash" had a really exciting time in the ring. They began by winning 1st place in Herding Titled Dogs.
This moved Flash up to the Best of Breed competition where he made the first cut, and then continued onward through all the subsequent cuts right to the end for a SELECT AWARD!!!!! Rickey presented Flash to perfection. Only 9 out of over 60 males were awarded Selects, and there was
a tremendous amount of competition in the ring with many of the who's who's in both dogs and people. Special thanks to Darcy Ferrentino for grooming Kelda and Flash, and for carrying me around with her in her cell phone so that I could be there at ringside via the phone for up to the second, blow by blow reports.
It was a very exciting day for me and I know it was for Rickey! Call me one proud breeder!!!
Kelda
Annette
Flash
Congratulations to our 2006 National Specialty performance and breed stars! Who says you can't look good AND be a performance dog?
