05/22/2024
The last two weekends were insane and exhausting but also really good. So I am going to make some late posts about them.
Starting with the Beechton Beagle Club Hunting Performance Test on May 12th, and in particular starting with one dog, because I have a lot to say.
NEW HUNTING BEAGLE ADVANCED (HBA):
GCH Sureluv & Copper Sky That's What Friends Are For CD PCD BN RA AX AXJ NF SWN SIA SEA RATM CGCA CGCU HBA
Sire: Dont Let Me Down De Br Maiorca (George; Lori Norman, Luiz Armando Soares Bellani)
Dam: GCHB Peacock & Eagle Ridge Bright Future At Copper Sky CD PCD BN RE MX MXJ OF CAA SCN SEN SBN RATCH CGCA CGCU TKN (Huda)
Bred and owned by myself and Helen Hemby.
Saddiqa is the first AKC show Grand Champion to earn the Hunting Beagle Advanced title. I am so proud of her, and this is really meaningful for me because in many ways Saddiqa is the show beagle that sent me down this crazy dual purpose path.
I would like to tell the story to anyone who wants to read it!
Saddiqa was in the second litter I ever bred. When I decided to do this second breeding I did some soul searching because I wanted to breed with a purpose. I researched the conformation standard, of course, but also the history and the beagle traditional job, and as some of you may have figured out, I came to believe that not only is function equally as important as form (conformation), but that some degree of correct breed function is absolutely required for a dog to be considered a truly excellent representative of its breed.
I set about seeking out field beaglers to mentor me in the traditional breed function. One of the first ones who talked to me was Larry Farmer. Shortly after Huda had weaned Saddiqa's litter, he let me run Huda with his field dogs. LOL I am not sure he understands today how much courage in my convictions it took for me to strap that gps collar onto Huda and release her in the wild - not an enclosure! At first she just sort of dorked around, but as soon as his dogs hit a rabbit line and gave tongue she became a different dog altogether. She packed up, possibly opened up (it was hard to tell as these were fast dogs and they went a good distance pretty quickly), and stayed with the pack for about 6 miles of running!! I was so thrilled. We tried running Huda a bit more but soon found that her enthusiasm on rabbits was equally applied to deer, field mice, squirrels, birds...unfortunately a pretty serious fault.
So then we turned to Saddiqa. At a few months old Larry arranged for me to run her in a puppy starting pen well stocked with rabbits. Within a few minutes she had found and jumped a rabbit, opened up with an insane puppy screech, and chased it down. I was so proud! Until I saw the look on Larry's face and realized that killing the rabbits in the starting pen is kind of frowned upon (oops). I paid the guy for his dead rabbit and then he kicked us out, lol. Saddiqa was no longer welcome there.
Next Larry took Saddiqa on for a while to get her started for me in his pen. There she continued her cold hearted killing ways, and I learned all about purchasing San Juans from rabbit breeders to replenish his pen. Soon we switched her to running in the wild where she had to actually work for it and was unable to catch her so easily.
Another field guy that let me run Saddiqa with his field champion dogs is Delbert Erb (also in the wild, but I was gaining confidence by now). We would watch them run dogs and he would teach me all kinds of things, including how to tell the difference between Saddiqa's "I'm on a rabbit" voice and her "I am lost and don't know where mom is" voice, lol!! Saddiqa just did not have the stamina of Delbert's field dogs; she would run with the pack for a while, then come back and lie at my feet panting for a while, then get back up and join Delbert's dogs again. Nonetheless, I was so proud of my show girl that could run rabbits.
Eventually I joined Columbus Beagle Club, Perry County Beagle Club, and Huntington Beagle Club and started going to their trials. I met so many great houndsmen (and women) who were very patient and supportive of me. I entered Saddiqa a few times and the judges were kind enough to let her stay down until she started interfering with the other dogs. She was much faster than this type of dog, but I remember at least once a judge went sprinting after her to assess her performance while his partner judge stayed with the slower dogs. I was so impressed that he was giving her a fair look even though everybody knew she was my show dog and really didn't have a chance. So many great people and friends, I am afraid to name them as I know I will leave someone out!
At her prime and in favorable conditions, Saddiqa could circle a rabbit solo. It was not pretty, it was not clean...but she could bring it back around. And circling a rabbit solo is sort of the measure of whether a beagle can be hunted over.
It was inevitable that Mandy Palmer and I crossed paths and we had very similar ideals and dreams for the breed. We knew how hard it was for show and performance beaglers to even attempt to run their dogs in the field and we dreamed of a way to make fieldwork and the traditional breed function more accessible to them. And so the Hunting Performance Test was born. After YEARS of hard work, it was finally approved by NBC and then by AKC for two official AKC Parent Club titles!!!
I really wanted Saddiqa to get at least her Novice title (HBN) because I knew in her prime she could have done it easily....but she had a rough time getting started. At Aldie 2022 she was in heat and was far more interested in leaving pee-mails on every blade of grass advertising her availability, so she sadly failed Instinct!
I flew to Mesquite 2023 and so could not enter her there at the second Hunting Performance Test.
Finally at Beechton, at 9 years old, and having only run rabbits twice in the entire previous 12 months, she got another chance.
Her first run she was with some really good field dogs....none of them could find a rabbit and she was not eager enough to get into the wet brush to pass Instinct without a rabbit. Fail #2.
Her second run I was out with three other dogs in an advanced pack so a stranger had to take her out. Unfortunately the two packs crossed paths as they were headed out to the other pen. Saddiqa's displeasure at being pulled away from me and her usual running mates could be heard from quite a distance. Apparently as soon as her handler unclipped her lead she went running off to find me and wasn't seen again until the end of the run. Fail #3.
Her third run I was determined to go with her. She searched well for me and eventually the experienced hound helped jump a rabbit. And Saddiqa turned into the hunting hound of her youth! She and another Instinct dog, Crockett (bred by Mandy Palmer I think?) opened up and started running it, both opening up, working the line and working checks. They rolled through to Novice without issue and ran that rabbit for quite a while, up and down a hill. So both passed Novice as well!
Saddiqa went on to earn her second Novice Q easily; she was really re-discovering her groove!
I wasn't sure if Saddiqa was still good enough for advanced after earning her Hunting Beagle Novice title, but of course I had to try. But she seemed to be getting better every single run and held her own in advanced pack alongside some full field and part field dogs, earning a qualifying score there.. In advanced solo/brace she braced with one of her oldest running buddies, Gambit (half field), again held her own, and actually got a few checks over Gambit, proving she was a worthy hound and earning her Hunting Beagle Advanced title.
I am so proud of how she showed up for me in Pennsylvania.
Pictured below on the long car ride home. She was exhausted, but happy. She had run so hard she wore her lips raw scenting. A mark of pride, IMO!
(Show beaglers - this is highly unlikely to happen unless your beagles are hunting hard enough to be in advanced, so don't worry about messing up their pretty faces, lol. Saddiqa ran her @$$ off to wear out her lips like this)
Thanks for listening. I am so incredibly proud of my girl!
