Ruger Dachshunds

Last weekend, our final breed show of the year, was FABULOUS!  We were at the Southern Colorado KC shows in Pueblo, Colorado.  I showed Axel, Evie's litterbrother, for the first time.  Axel (Emazing Axel v Ruger; CH Guinness ex Tania SE ROMX) lives with his people, Ute & Alan, 3 other Dachshunds and 2 German Shepherd girls.  I can't remember how many horses they have....but they all live near the Palmer Divide, which is quite a jaunt from me.  As a result, Axel has had no ring training at all.  We participated in the fun match on the Friday night before the shows and 13 month old Axel went BOV adult and earned a Group 3...and he learned lots about showing along the way.  On Saturday, he earned Winner's Dog (we were one dog shy of a 3 point major) for 2 points and then went WD/Best of Winners over his sister for another 2 points on Sunday!  We are so proud of this little cutie!  And he's so sweet, it's almost unbelievable.  Ute, Alan and I truly thought this first weekend would just be a learning experience for Axel, but he did better than my wildest dreams!

Evie JE ALMOST finished her breed Championship.  Evie earned WB/BOW on Saturday and WB on Sunday.  Some dogs didn't show up (so the major in boys broke) and she ended up with 14 points, 1 shy of finishing.  So she (read: I) is just going to have to wait until after the new year to finish her title, as there are no more shows around here until then.

CH Ryan, handled by 14 year old Saxon Marvin, earned BOS both days to CH Tucker, who went BOV both days.  Tucker also earned Group 4s both days...and these were TOUGH Hound groups.  Both of these kids are DC Maximus children, Tucker out of Athena, bred by our dear friend Carol Henning, and Ryan out of CH Mali and bred here at Ruger.  We are so pleased for Diana and Ellen, Tucker's owners/handlers.

Pictures of Evie, Axel and Tucker will be up as soon as they arrive!

EXTRA special thanks to our friends who helped us get everyone groomed and shown; Lisa Hyland, Kassey Hill and Daphne & Saxon Marvin.  We couldn't have done it without them!!  Love to you all!

New Junior Earthdog, Ever-Ready Sidney v Ruger JE!

It was just too much fun for Colorado Earthdogs the last weekend in October and the first weekend in November at Wilde Oaks in Elizabeth, CO.  Our Dachshunds did very well.  We don't have lots of pix, simply because we didn't have our camera! Earthdog is a great event, drawing pet folks, breeders, fanciers and every combination of the three!  Even when the dogs don't quite understand how we want them to play the Earthdog game, they still usually have a blast!  The Earthdog community here in Colorado is very friendly and welcoming and it's always at good time at Wilde Oaks or Rist Canyon.

Highlights:
Our homebred puppy child, Sidney, followed in the steps of her littersister, Evie (Ever After v Ruger, JE), and earned her Junior Earthdog title, too!  She earned one leg the first weekend and one the second.  Sidney is now Ever-Ready Sidney v Ruger JE.  Her dad, Shawn Lightfoot, was very happy with his 'lil Sid. 

CH Payton, who is halfsister to CH Ryan & FC Midge, finally quit staring, shaking and drooling (SSD) at the rats and instead dug and barked at them long enough to earn a JE leg on Saturday.  But then, in true Dachshund style, she went BACK to SSD on Sunday.  ROTFL!  She is so darn cute!  Tater is CH Doxikota Payton v Ruger MW (1/2 JE), LOL! She lives at Ruger and is co-owned by Pam Bethke, her breeder.

Miss Midge, the Canadian over-achiever (LOL!), earned her JE in two tries the first weekend and earned one SE leg the second weekend.  She did her recall both days, in 17 seconds the first day and in 12 the second day.  Midge, in two weeks, earned all the titles she has with very little to no training.  She is the BEST dog I have ever handled in the field (and I've handled a LOT).  Consistent, animated, accurate, and incredibly biddable.  Not to mention she consistently and properly voices on scent.  Our fingers are crossed that her breeding to DC Maximus took and we will have more little overachievers a couple of weeks before Christmas!  Midge is now FC Doxikota Malibu Midge MS, JE.  Her owner is Meghan Green in Parksville, BC.  Pam is her breeder and co-owner and I temporarily co-own her for this litter.

DC Maximus made some good progress and Evie JE is now back to barking at the rats in Senior, but she won't recall at all!  ROTFL!  CH Ryan is taking a break, as we are worried she is getting bored.  Also, newcomer Monte, Rumor's Comte de Monte Cristo v Ruger (conformation pointed) figured out how much fun it is to bark at rats and we expect he will be headed towards a JE in the Spring.  We already planned for Tania SE to take a break this fall and we will try for that last ME leg in the spring.  DC Gracchus JE has one SE leg and is getting really, uh, "creative" with Earthdog, so he is on a break indefinitely.  LOL!

We have one more show weekend this weekend and then nothing until February.  In the meantime, some of my brood will be working on obedience and the others on tracking over the winter.  I have to kick myself in the behind and get going!!

DC Jay and CH Ryan, both DC Maximus kids, had loads of fun at the October Field Trials in Roscoe IL.

These trials were held by Badger Dachshund Club and Minnesota DC the first weekend and by Wolverine DC and Madison Area DC the second weekend.  I made the 1000 mile trip from Colorado to Illinois with 14 dogs.  It was a busy two weekends.  Leigh Kamens, owner of Sisko & Monika JE (DC Maximus kids), flew out the first weekend to run her kids and to help out (and boy, was she appreciated!) and my 12 1/2 year old nephew, Alek, came up the second weekend to help out and to run his dog, Grover.  Alek was a big help and did a fabulous job of running his boy, Grover, who earned his first point placement on Saturday; a 3rd!  Go, Alek & Grover!!

An extra big thanks to Laura & Anna Knoll, who helped Pam and I tons with the dogs and puppies we had along.  We love these girls and I am just sad that I won't get to see them until next year.

All the dogs did very well.  For the young ones who didn't place, they did learn a lot about putting their noses to the ground and really grew up a lot during the two weeks...having a myriad of people handling them, getting used to an entirely different sort of situation than they normally deal with...it was absolutely the best kind of socializing there is.  Special kudos to Susan and Ken Highfill, who own baby "Pearl" (CH Cosmo ex Tania SE ROMX) and even though she is their only dog, sent her along on the 2 week trip.  Pearl was just 5 months old and this trip was wonderful for her.  She learned control, got to be handled by and loved on by tons of really great Dachshund people and all around grew up in a way she couldn't spending the same amount of time at home.  Thanks to Susan & Ken, who are one of the many fabulous homes who "get" why I do what I do with my Dachshunds.

Click here for Pictures (these pix are from the first weekend; second weekend pix will be added later)

Placements for Ruger (Mack) and Doxikota (Bethke):

October 4th, BDC:

• New DC Doxikota Brick Beachhouse MS, "Brick", 1st OAAD, 26 starters, Best Open, Absolute, 106 dogs (Bethke)
  
• Sunrise Lightly Tanned MS, SE ROMX, "Tania", 2nd OAAB, 36 starters (Mack)
  

October 5th, MDC:

• DC Sunrise Ruger Gracchus MS, JE, "Gracchus", 4th FCD, 18 starters (Mack)
  
• CH Doxikota Lydia MS, "Lydia", 3rd OAAB, 38 starters (Bethke)
  
• CH Doxikota .jpg v Ruger MW, "Jay", 2nd OAAD, 22 starters (Bethke)
  
• Doxikota Lucky Wolf MW, "Wolfie", 3rd OAAD, 22 starters, owner Amy Tetmeyer (handler P Bethke)
  

October 10th, WDC:

• Doxikota Malibu Midge MS, "Midge", 1st OAAB, 43 starters, owner Meghan Green (handler DR Mack)*
• New DC Doxikota .jpg v Ruger MW, "Jay", 1st OAAD, 20 starters, Best Open, Absolute, 105 dogs (Bethke)
• Doxikota Lucky Wolf MW, "Wolfie", 3rd OAAD, 20 starters, owner Amy Tetmeyer (handler P Bethke)
  
• CH Rumor's Liqur Is Quickr v Ruger, "Guinness", 4th OAAD, 20 starters (Mack)
• Rumor's Quick On The Draw MS, "Sisko", NBQ OAAD, 20 starters, owner Leigh Kamens (handler DR Mack)
  

October 11th, MADC:

• Doxikota Malibu Midge MS, "Midge", 1st OAAB, 38 starters, owner Meghan Green (handler DR Mack)*
• Doxikota Lucky Wolf MW, "Wolfie", 2nd OAAD, 23 starters, owner Amy Tetmeyer (handler P Bethke)
• Doxikota Muppet Puppet MW, "Grover", 3rd OAAD, 23 starters, owner Linda Mack (handled by Alek Mack)
• Rumor's Quick On The Draw MS, "Sisko", 4th OAAD, 23 starters, owner Leigh Kamens (handler DR Mack)

• New FC Doxikota Malibu Midge MS, "Midge", 2nd OAAB, 36 starters, owner Meghan Green (handler DR Mack)
• Rumor's Quick On The Draw MS, "Sisko", 2nd OAAD, 20 starters, owner Leigh Kamens (handler DR Mack)
• Doxikota Lucky Wolf MW, "Wolfie", 3rd OAAD, 20 starters, owner Amy Tetmeyer (handler DR Mack)