Shearjoy's Unforgiven X Pine Straw Country Sunshine - Dottie has been bred

We have bred Dottie (Pine Straw Country Sunshine) to Shearjoy's Unforgiven.

Dottie is a first year All Age dog and this past year earned her first AA placement in South Dakota. In addition to being excited for her to be qualified to run in championships, we also were pleased that the placement came on the prairies where an AA dog has to show serious run to place. Dottie has always been a great bird finder, even as a little pup. Now she is a 48 pound leggy female that is fast on the ground.

Will (Shearjoy's Unforgiven) is just finishing his derby year as an AA derby with multiple placements. He is a big, proud standing dog that reportedly broke early and stayed that way. I have seen pictures of him on the internet (as you may have) and he looks good in them, but when I saw him in person, he looks even better. He is a very impressive dog. Will weighs in in the 55-57 pound range and has a leggy and athletic build.

We bred this litter in an attempt to get All Age Setters. While both Will and Dottie are early in their trial careers, they both appear to have the potential to be successful all age competitors. In addition, we like what the pedigrees bring to the table.

PEDIGREE DETAILS

Shearjoy's Unforgiven - CH Hytest Skyhawk X Prodigy's High Anxiety

Pine Straw Country Sunshine - Mult CH/RU Highground Jax Jabba X RUCH Pine Straw Katydid

In discussing pedigrees a lot of people like to talk about what a dog "goes back to", and I will elaborate on what lies behind Will and Dottie's breeding. But sometimes when I see people using the term "goes back to" I worry that it is euphemism for: "up close ain't much". That is not the case in this litter.

Grandparents:

Hytest Skyhawk - he needs no introduction, but so you know, he competed 4 times at the National and has shown to be a good producer of both winners and producers.

Prodigy's High Anxiety - she has her own ties to the National as her sire has produced 2 National Championship contestants: Stardust Chazz and Prodigy's Bonfire (a full sister from a repeat breeding).

Highground Jax Jabba - Jabba had 6 appearances at the National Championship and has produced champions with very limited breeding

Pine Straw Katydid - Katie is the only grandparent not directly tied to the National Championship, but she earned her own acclaim at a national trial, taking Runner-Up at the 2010 National Amateur Grouse Championship in a field that drew 69 dogs. Also, her sire won the grouse dog version of the big one, the Grand National Grouse Championship.


Overall Pedigree - A look at the first 8 generations:

National Championship Contestants:

This litter will have seven National Championship contestants: Hytest Skyhawk (2nd gen.); Highground Jax Jabba (2nd gen.); Tekoa Mountain Patriot (3rd gen.); Tekoa Mountain Sunrise (5th gen.)***; Hick's Rising Sun (5th gen.); Amos Mosley (7th gen.); and Johnny Crockett (winner) (7th gen.).

***While Tekoa Mountain Sunrise doesn't show until the 5th generation, he appears 19 times in an 8 generation pedigree of the litter. In the ancestor analysis of blood percentage as calculated on the Willie Walker database, he contributes approximately 24.5% blood percentage (where parents give 50%, grandparents 25% etc.)


Hall of Fame dogs:

This litter will have seven Hall of Fame Setters in its first 8 generations: Tekoa Mountain Sunrise, Hick's Rising Sun, Johnny Crockett, Grouse Ridge Will, The Performer, Destinaire, and Tomoka.


The Grouse Dog side:

I believe that successful grouse dogs have to be top notch bird dogs; and there is value in bringing the most athletic of those dogs into the breeding of horseback trial competitors. If the grouse dogs lines (or lines from any other venue) are brought in, it makes sense to pull the best. In the roughly 1/4 of the pedigree of this litter that comes from those grouse dog lines, there are at least 7 winners of the Grand National Grouse Championship: Chip's Uncle Buzzie, Stillmeadow's Jim, Grouse Ridge Storm, Grouse Ridge Will, Ghost Train, Jetrain, and Stokely's Diablo Jake.


Acknowledgements:

A huge thank you to Betty Shearhouse for allowing us to breed to her Will.

Thanks to the folks at the Willie Walker Setter pedigree database for making a lot of the information readily available. If you're a Setter person, you really need to use their database.

Thanks to those breeders that went to the effort to produce the great dogs that comprise the foundation of the English Setters of today.

Of course, now we wait. Wait to see if or how many pups we get, wait to see if they are bird finders, wait to see if they'll run, wait to see if they're classy, wait to see if they can be broke without losing that spark, wait to see if any of them have the ability and character to be a champion, wait to see if on that special day if one of them draws the right course at the right time with the right wind conditions, wait to see.......well you know what I mean.