Hearthrock Kennels English Springer Spaniels

THE CINDERELLA STORY OF FC, AFC HEARTHROCK BLAZE

David P. Miller II

Every now and then in the breeding of animals a truly exceptional specimen arrives on the scene. This occurred March 13, 2000 when Hearthrock Blaze was whelped.

It was not an accident that the breeding of Millstone Rocket to Millstone Winsome produced an exceptional animal. The genes were there, and Lady Luck stepped in and aligned them well.

Blaze’s sire, Rocket, was from 100 percent imported English field trial stock. Rocket’s sire was FC, AFC Tan-Derwin Lad who had tied as high point Open Dog in 1988. Tan-Derwin Lad was a compact, short-backed dog with lots of leg and an effortless running style. This was passed on to Rocket, and through Rocket to Blaze. Rocket’s mother was Muffin’s Badgercourt Megan who was out of a bitch that had been bred in England to EFC Badgercourt Muffin and then imported to the U.S. Rocket’s mother was never trialed. However, she had a brother, Maximillion of Badgercourt, who was a small, but very fast and hot dog whom I observed in the 1988 Amateur Nationals but who died shortly thereafter. Rocket had an amateur win and many placements but was a point short of his AFC when an injury ended his career. He was a fast, smooth running dog with an easy temperament who tended to stay out of trouble, qualities that seemed to come through in Blaze.

Blaze’s mother, Winnie, came from a never-trialed bitch whom I had line-bred from Saighton’s Scud by mating my bitch Maggie (Scud x JJ Marquis) to Brownscott’s Beaucefus (a grandson of Scud). This bitch was mated to FC, AFC, CFC Courtman’s Breezy Butch, a Canadian dog owned by Al DeFalco to produce Winnie. Butch went back to ENFC Cortman Garry (imported to Canada by Wally Stewart) and to other dogs which had been imported from England to Canada. Butch also had a kind temperament coupled with a great nose and fast, smooth running style. He won many trials, also placing second in the US Open Nationals in the 90s. Winnie placed a number of times in Open and Amateur stakes, but never won a trial. Compared to Rocket, Winnie was the “hotter” dog of the two and had a better nose, but her performance was not as consistent and she occasionally “boiled over.” Winnie passed along her nose and exceptional birdiness to Blaze.

Blaze was sold to Dick Krueger whose goal was to own a top-notch hunting dog to show off to his buddies at the hunting preserves. He had owned a Springer that did not hunt as impressively as his friends dogs, so he came over to look at Winnie. When he saw her run, he immediately said he wanted a choice female pup out of her next litter.

I named the pup Blaze as her litter name because her facial blaze continued over the top of her head in a showy way. She was the middle-sized one out of four females, and was not particularly active or aggressive in comparison to her nine littermates, just a nice looking middle-of-the-road pup from parents with good genes.

The afternoon after taking delivery of Blaze, Dick took her for a ride around his pond on a four-wheeler. After the ride I received his excited phone call describing how the 6-week old puppy had seen a song bird in the cattails in the pond, had leaped off the moving four-wheeler and into the pond after the bird. Dick immediately realized he had an exceptional dog.

Being totally inexperienced handling dogs, Dick concentrated on making Blaze his friend and companion while she grew up. This involved daily rides with him on the tank of his four-wheeler, lots of dummy retrieving from his pond, and riding around in his pickup. The result was a strong bond that developed between Blaze and her master.

The Krueger’s Christmas card for 2000 was a photo of Dick’s daughter Stacie sitting next to Blaze, indicative of the esteem in which Blaze was held by the family. Several months into 2001 Dick called and said he felt unqualified to do a proper job of training Blaze, and asked about professional training. I recommended Gary Breitbarth whom I knew was having good success training trial dogs in California. Dick stepped right up and drove Blaze down to Gridley, California to meet Gary.

Despite Dick’s enthusiasm over Blaze, I had observed her as being rather soft, possibly too soft to make the grade in trials. Gary had the same observation, which he shared with Dick by phone after having Blaze for a few weeks. However, not long after that, Gary called again to tell Dick he had started Blaze on birds and she had become a different dog (the pup that had jumped into the pond was coming out). He was confident he could train her for trials.

I did not see Blaze again until fall of 2001 when she arrived in Gary’s trailer at the Western Washington Club’s fall trial at Fort Lewis, Washington. For some reason, there were two Puppy Stakes at that trial and Blaze won them both hands down - showing the incredible speed and pattern, coupled with perfect control, which is her trademark. Under Gary’s handling she continued to win Puppy Stakes and place in Open Stakes. She even had one trial where she won both the Open and the Puppy Stake.

As impressive as Blaze’s performances in the field have been, she is a different dog in the kennel or the house. Her temperament is extremely calm, not the least bit “hyper.” She would be a superb house pet. But in the field, it is a different story. She switches to “on” and is all business, totally focused on finding birds as quickly and intensely as possible. Thanks to Gary’s early training, she always runs a perfect pattern, with great speed and style, under total control and is an excellent marker. What a combination!

Blaze has continued her winning ways under both Gary and Dick’s handling. Though Dick is learning fast, he will be the first to admit that his handling has been more of a liability to Blaze than an asset. In fact, when Blaze has failed to place in a trial, the judges’ frequent explanations are that there was a handling error on Dick’s part and the dog could not be faulted. This is a frequent problem with beginning handlers. I predict this problem will be short-lived.

It will be interesting to observe Blaze’s career. When she turned five in May 2005, she had won 5 Puppy Stakes, 6 Amateur Stakes and 7 Open Stakes, plus a CM in the 2002 US Open Nationals. Her point total to date is 103 All Age Points (54 Open Points and 49 Amateur Points). She won 2001 Western High Point Puppy, 2002 Western Open High Point, 2003 U.S. Open High Point and 2004 Western Amateur High Point. She is currently third in amateur points for 2005.

In 2004 Dick bred Blaze to FC Robinsmoor Frolic who placed second in the 2004 US Nationals and Canadian Nationals. The pups from this litter are now 10 months old and are being trained for trials with top handlers. Janet Christensen, Jason Givens, Marty Knibbs and Gary Breitbarth are all training pups from the litter. Blaze also had a litter in 2005 from Canadian National Winner CFC Rolling Oaks Sunday Bud owned by Harold Wiltse. Thus, we can expect to see some more good performances from this bloodline.

An interesting twist on this dog story is the impact that owning and handling this exceptional dog has had on her owner, Dick Krueger. In addition to his love for his dog, Dick has totally fallen in love with field trialing and has made friends with trialers all over the country. Dick is self-employed in the nursery business and has flexible time to travel to field trials. We can therefore expect to see Dick campaigning Blaze and her offspring at many future trials. Not bad for a farm boy from North Plains, Oregon who left home at age 17 to start a landscaping business. All told, this story about Blaze is as much a “Cinderella Story” about Dick Krueger and his discovery of field trialing.