2001 Award Winners
Illustrations and introduction by Brenda
Aloff
A friend of mine has taught her dog to go through tunnels and “work” an empty rat cage! Her dog loves it! He doesn’t care if the cage is empty! I never got a tracking title on Breanna because although she faithfully and diligently and successfully completed every single track I ever placed her on, she also side-tracked and explored every single bird’s nest, squirrel, snake or woodchuck hole and would frequently dash off the track to kill a snake or mouse, then resume tracking. So, while we had a really sensational time, (albeit somewhat frustrating time for me on occasion) I really didn’t feel that an AKC tracking judge would look upon her antics as “qualifying”. What some of our dogs do best is therapy work that brings smiles and hope to those who need it most, people in nursing homes and children in hospitals.
For those who do put in the truly long and sometimes frustrating time and all that energy to chase down those titles, we salute you! I joke with my students who are doing competitive work (very few of THEM are training foxies…) that I can take my Smooths from Novice into Veterans in the Competition Obedience Ring. Lest I get calls and hate mail please understand I am not being derogatory to the breed, I am acknowledging the fact that those of us who choose to train Smooths and Wires for Obedience in particular, as well as the other disciplines are, in fact, choosing a challenge rather than the easy way! We know that this will be a more difficult task, not because our dogs are not smart, but because they are! Show a foxie the way TO DO something, and immediately their agile little minds will develop 101 ways to DO IT BETTER! Then they present that new cute behavior to us all grins – “See! Now isn’t THIS better than the way YOU wanted to do it?” So to all of us who choose to enjoy learning more from our dogs than they learn from us – Applause! Standing Ovation! Cracker Jack! Versatility! And thank you for helping to preserve our breed for what it was meant to be – a working dog, a performing dog, a thinking dog – as well as an elegant and typey friend that we are proud to have on the end of our leash.
2001 VERSATILITY AWARDS
Awarded to member-owned fox terriers earning titles in 2 separate disciplines.
Smooth Fox Terriers
FOXHAVEN RAG DOLL CD, JE, CGC & class clown! “Rainey”
-
Owners: Joan and Mark Taggert
Rainey is our first smooth fox terrier after having only German Shepherds for twenty years. Wow! What and eye-opener. Smooths are so opposite the Shepherds who are so serious. Smooths – they just want to have fun! Our Shepherds didn’t know what to think of this wild, four-legged thing that somewhat resembled a dog. Rainey had absolutely no fear, she would tug on their tails and ears and try to keep up with their every move. Anything they could do she could do better. Rainey does have a serious side to her: at one of her first earthdog tests she started toward the tunnel, stopped, put her nose in the air and took off across the field and around to the other side of a fence. Then she came back toward us barking, “Look what I found a truck full of—RATS!” She had located the vehicle that was parked with the club’s reserve rats. Rainey is also a fighter. After going through a series of radiation treatments she came back and qualified for her CD in three straight shows. She didn’t win a Dog World award but she did win our hearts. Rainey, we love you!
CH INT CH AIMHI LUCKY LUCY, JE, CGC, SE,
ME
“Lucy” - Owner: Penny Gray
Lucy was a well-researched surprise gift, purchased for
me from Amy Rutherford (Aimhi) by my sister and mother . Amazingly, at
that time, I didn’t even know what breed of dog Lucy was! Amy handled
Lucy quite quickly to her championship.
Joan Taggart (Slyfox) thought Lucy would do well in the Earth Dog Trials
and we gave it a try. Immediately, we were both hooked! We achieved our
Master Earth Title with the guidance and support of Greg and Lesley Frances.
I want to express appreciation to anyone I may have forgotten to mention,
and an extra-special thank you to Lucy, who introduced me to the world
of Smooths.
SILVERGLEN BLACK OUT, CDX, WC, CGC, TT
“Rascal” - Owners: Liz Battista and Jim Moore
Rascal soared to her Companion Dog and Companion Dog Excellent titles with 3 legs each in just 4 shows each, all with scores of 190 or better. In 2001, she earned the AFTC Foxhunt Award for the Highest Scoring Smooth Fox Terrier in obedience, with a score of 196 to finish her CDX. Raz is a fine hunter as well, and earned her AWTA Working Certificate on raccoon -- demonstrating that she has perhaps more heart than brains! Rascal represents a fifth-generation of performance-titled Smooths, and is herself the dam of performance-titled dogs. Of all the Smooths I've worked with in the past 17 years, she has been the one who has loved learning the most, and been the one easiest to train. We're looking forward to agility, and to utility competition (we hope!) next year!
CH BRYAR-ROSE FOR PETE’S SAKE, JE
“Pete” - Owners: Karen and Bill Watts
Pete is our first homebred Champion, and is our second Wire to earn an AFTC Versatility Award. He is the first male Wire that we have ever owned, and has proven to be a wonderful addition to our family. Pete has a great personality, mellow temperament and loves people. He inherited his mother’s knack for ratting, and earned his JE at 9 months of age. Pete finished his Champion title when he was 2 ½ years old. We are hoping to work on his Senior Earthdog title, and would like to get him involved in agility in the future.
2001 CRACKER JACK AWARDS
Awarded to member-owned fox terriers earning titles in 3 separate disciplines.
Smooth Fox Terriers
GATEWAY’S MAXIMILLIAN CD,ME, OA, AXJ, FDX, CG, CGC, TDI—“Max” - Owner: Denise Visco
Since last year Max added agility titles to his list of accomplishments. Running Max in agility has always been an adventure because I am never sure which dog will show up that day and therefore have plan A, B, or C, depending on if the fast working dog, the very slow dog, or the class clown shows up. He has gone from doing a perfect stand for exam on the teeter in his standard run (and telling him that rats were in the tunnel and did not work), to having the fastest run in jumpers in the afternoon. He has, on many occasions, visited the crowd, the scribes and timers and has returned to finish his runs. In the agility magazine, Clean Run, handlers are asked about their first clean run and for me that was my very first run ever—it was a Novice A standard run that Max completed 20 seconds below course time to place second! My fondest memory of an agility run was our last run in the fall of 2000. Although we “NQ”ed due to dropping the top bar of the triple jump (the last jump on the course), he had the 4th fastest time of all dogs in the entire Open class and left people saying, “did you see that terrier run?” No matter what Max does he leaves an impression on people and is very true to the terrier spirit.
CH LAURELTON EXTRA HOTSAUCE CD, OA, NAJ
“Taco” - Owner: Sue Moyer
Taco finished her championship in style by winning several Best of Breeds and a Group 3. We then started to concentrate on performance classes. Although the process of training Taco has been immensely rewarding, it has not been without frustrations. She can be difficult to motivate as well as difficult to keep happy. I often need to stop back and figure out what isn’t suiting her in order to get the results that I am looking for. When I have been able to find the right combinations, Taco has performed brilliantly. She completed her CD with a High In Trial, a Dog World Award, and the 2000 Foxhunt Award for the high scoring Smooth Fox Terrier of the year. I have turned my attention to the agility ring over the last year and a half. She recently completed her AX title and has earned a leg toward her AXJ. I have learned so much from training Taco that as long as she continues to enjoy the time that we spend together preparing for competition, I will continue to find new projects to challenge us.
CH SILVERGLEN PARTY TIME JE, OA, OAJ, WC, CGC, TT, “Clown” - Owners: Liz Battista & Jim Moore
Although he was a joy in the conformation ring, earned JE easily and is a fine hunter who earned his AWTA Working Certificate on a fox terrier's traditional quarry (fox!), Clown really found his niche in the agility ring. A brilliant dog with the attention span of a gnat and some unfortunate temperament problems, Clown has been both challenging and exceptionally rewarding to train. He adores the fast pace and high energy of the agility trials; all of the running and jumping is tailor made for him! Clown is a born entertainer. Now and then, when the mood strikes him, he prefers providing the comic relief at a trial to actually working the required course. I can hardly wait to see what new tricks he comes up with to amuse everyone next year in the obedience ring!
Awarded to member-owned fox terriers earning titles in 4 separate disciplines.
Smooth Fox Terriers
AM/CAN CH DAR-LU HEAR THE COMMOTION CD, ME, NA, OAJ, “Kramer” - Owners: Michele Luther and Cheryl Marks
Kramer is simply a great dog to train and to live with.
He is always ready to try the next new “game” and he loves it
all. As his breeder I am equally proud of all of his titles.
His Championships came easily from the Bred by Classes with Specialty
Majors qualifying him for the AFTC Laurelton Trophy. Kramer has also gone
on to win an AFTC Award of Merit. His performance titles were all earned
with gusto and that wonderful Smooth Fox Terrier flair. I am also pleased
that he continues to produce Champions that are now earning the AFTC Versatility
and Crackerjack Awards.
Thanks to the AFTC, Brenda and June for showcasing the versatility of
our Fox Terriers.
CH SILVERGLEN BASIC BLACK CDX, OA, WC, CGC, TT “Flash” - Owners: Liz Battista & Jim Moore
By earning her Working Certificate from the American Working Terrier Association, Flash becomes my third AFTC Applause Award winner. She also represents a fourth generation of performance-titled Smooths. Flash was a delightful and easy dog to train—so easy it's hard to believe she's a fox terrier! I've often joked that she's really a Sheltie in disguise. Flash enjoyed agility and completed her Open title in just two weekends, but obedience was her favorite discipline. She had a wonderful obedience career, twice winning AFTC' s Foxhunt Award for the highest scoring Smooth Fox Terrier , the first time for her CD and the second time for her CDX. Flash also made lovely babies, and produced three Champions for me. Now nine years old, Flash has retired to a much-deserved place on the sofa.
CH KILWINNING’S HAPPY SHADOW, CD,
ME, OA, OAJ, NAC, AD, CGC, CG, TD INC
“Kili” - Owners: Karen C. and John R. Lockhart
Kili is now ten years old.
Showing her in the breed ring was a pleasure. She was a natural and loved
every minute of it. She then gave us a bonanza litter of 11 puppies! Unfortunately
for her, her “Mommy” was not very experienced and placed her
confidence in her veterinarian (since that time I have learned that even
as inexperienced as novice breeders are, we probably know better than
our vets). We did save Kili’s life, however, and four of her pups,
one being a bitch that we kept and has followed in her Kili’s footsteps.
After Kili recovered from her motherhood experience (she had to be spayed
to save her life) we moved on to obedience. I shouldn’t have shown
her as soon as I did but I was proud of her so off we went to nine shows
(she didn’t even know how to finish yet!). And, in nine shows she
brought home 9 green ribbons with an average score of 190 and several
placements including High Scoring Fox Terrier at the AFTC Specialty show
in Louisville, KY, the day after the Central States show in 1995. We then
began earth work as members of the NJ Beanfielders. Kili finished her
Master Earthdog title in short order. She has also hunted in the field
and located many a ‘chuck. We were almost ready for Open obedience
when the ability bug ran into us! Neither Wires nor myself enjoy formality
or serious training and we’ve happily left obedience behind (at least
for the time being). Kili has done very well in the short time she’s
been working. But I learned that trailing her outdoors was just not in
her abilities—over the baby gates and off to hunt! So we show indoors
and she has done very well.
This last year she played second fiddle
to her daughter in the stage play “Annie.” She has done 9 years
of Therapy Dog work and has brought much joy to many, especially her owners!
We’re hoping to take up tracking—at least this way she is on
a line and with the proper incentive; hopefully she’ll follow the
trail. RAT, hmmm, I don’t believe that is allowed at the end of the
track. But for training….
CH HAPPY SHADOW FANCY LACE, CD, NA, NAJ,
ME, CG, CGC, TD INC
“Lacey” - Owners: Karen C. and John R. Lockhart
Lacey is
the daughter of KIli and she truly has followed in her Mom’s footsteps.
Lacey finished her championship from the Bred by Exhibitor class, had
several Best of Breeds and a second group placement. She went on to
obedience and easily finished her CD. Along the way she did earthtrials
and actually finished her Masters title one trial before her Mom. Then
this little lady gave us two litters of puppies. We kept one little
bitch who is now hopefully finishing her CH.
In December we started agility training
and in her first three trials Lacey qualified and earned her NA and
NAJ. During this time she also starred in the play, “Annie,”
as Sandy. (Kili also was in the same play, but didn’t have the
lead-dog role.) Rehearsals and play times took several days a week for
a month. Lacey loved the kids and all the attention. Nine performances
and she never made an error—well, almost never. The last night
of the production, she took it upon herself to leave the stage. Annie
didn’t notice until the audience started laughing when Lacey re-entered
stage left. Boy was I embarrassed, but Lacey didn’t know anything
was wrong.
As of this writing, she only needs one
leg each in Open Standard and Open Jumpers to finish these titles. Since
she is only 7 years old, I am hoping that we can go on in agility and
get her excellent titles. She has been doing Therapy Dog work since
she was a year old. I may be getting old, but these Wires will keep
anyone forever young!
