Greatest Show Litter 2025

Expected June 20, 2025

Once More With Feeling

"This wraps up the last of my litters to Chase", was something I confidently said in my Facebook post when announcing the Dancer's. But, if there's one thing I've learned breeding thus far is breeding is not black and white and sometimes, for good reasons, plans are rewritten.

It was a stormy night in Thunder Bay that I picked up a book I had been meaning to read which I obtained from an auction in Tennessee. I am absolutely obsessed with old literature on my breed, and my collection grows each year as I scour thrift stores and auctions at Nationals adding old books to my shelves. However, it was reading the "American Beagling" book that I read about a field beagle breeder named Hiram Card who imported his line of Beagles from England. Interestingly, Card bred a dog he named "Blue Cap" that was quite a successful hound in the field and seemingly threw his hunting ability to his Get. Due to the predictable nature Card was getting from Blue Cap's progeny, he along with many other breeders heavily linebred on him for decades to come. Many hounds of Card's day (1940's) could be traced back to Blue Cap. Even to this day as I dived into more research on Blue Cap, there's hundreds of forums of Beaglers looking to get a hold of lines that can trace back to Card and his infamous Beagle Blue Cap that built his line later called "Elora".

The framework Hiram Card built his program on wasn't anything out of the ordinary at the time. Even to this day, some of the most successful kennels we have in purebred dogs are built on influential Sire or Dams that passed predictable traits and phenotype down the line which took some guess work out of these Breeder's building their programs. It was through the Breeder's before me and their ideology of using a good producing Sire multiple times, that I began to re-think my plans.

My young program itself is built off of Dam's coming from multiple directions. While it will arguably be decades before I have my program where I want it to be, I felt confident in using a Sire who has continued to throw predictable traits for me (Solid Topline, improvement on shoulders, softens expressions but more importantly....throws amazing temperaments fit for both the show ring and pet home). Given the size of the breed pool in North America, I will have to tap in to other lines to bring traits and in turn will further dilute my pedigrees. However, having Chase in my line in multiple directions gives me the opportunity to go out, grab what I need, and come back in to line breed on a dog I very much believe in.

Breeding My Heart Dog

Before Eloise, I wasn't a huge believer in a "heart" dog. I believed there were Dogs you simply connected to more than others, ones you loved to show more than others but ones who capture your whole entire soul? Call me a skeptic

In ran Eloise - right dead smack into the middle of my heart. I truly never thought I could love a dog as much as I love this silly girl. Eloise has no shortage of character. She has been the funnest dog to date to have at the end of my lead and in turn, the most frustrating.

Easy dogs don't make you a better handler, its the difficult ones that do. Eloise, even to this day has been the most challenging Beagle I've ever had to show. To the point where even the most experiences pro-handlers have handed me back her leash after attempting to handle her with a "Good Luck with her...."

Eloise is a showman through and through. She knows her job in the ring and she does it. She is a multiple Group winner in both the US and Canada, a Best in Show and Best in Speciality winner, she lives to fly around that ring.

There has been countless times I've been told "Go Slower" with her, but for her, covering ground is effortless and I've made decisions to let her move at her pace which is often too fast for judges and lead us to a ribbonless day. However, my vision for my program is to continue to breed those dogs who do not need to be raced around a ring to open up but rather cover ground because they're built to do so. She's been found by judges who recognize the breed's purpose of being built to run it's quarry to it's death and I'm appreciative of each one.

When breeding Eloise, I weighed many options and went back and forth. It would be silly to have a dog that moves well and not breed her to compliment that. I've felt thus far with my newer litters I have yet to breed another Beagle that moves like Eloise. So, after reading about Blue Cap it brought me back to Chase - a dog with a similar pedigree including their Grandmother who I believe to be the source of their movement. It just made sense if I was hoping to breed good movers from Eloise, that to line breed on who gave her the movement would a way to bring forward that in my next generation.

So, Once More With Feeling, I bred Eloise to Chase.

BIS BISS AM GCH/ CAN GCHB FOXFIRE'S I HAVE
A THEORY AOM HBI

AM GCH/ CAN CH FLYING EARS THRILL OF THE HUNT
AT REDLAUR BCAT CGC TKN HBI CA

Linebreeding on an All Time Favourite

As I've said before, a huge goal for my program is creating a solid dam line built off of some of the strongest dam's I've seen in my time in Beagles. This is the first breeding I've been able to do this on arguably my favourite Beagle Dam of all time (GCH Shadynook You Lite Up My Life) "Phoenix".

While I never got to meet Phoenix in the flesh as she was before my time in the breed, I have seen many videos, photos and heard plenty of stories to fall in love with her. Ruth herself has commented on Eloise's movement and showmanship reminds her very much of her Grandmother Phoenix.

Phoenix was a 13" being campaigned by her Breeder/Owner Ruth Werlein in the early 2000's. For three years, Ruth walked ribbonless out of the ring as at a glance, Phoenix was not convincingly a 13" to All-Breed Judges.. She had leg under her that you just didn't commonly see in 13's and she was out moving the 15's. Judge's often wrote her off as being oversized for the 13" variety. Through Ruth's determination, eventually judges found her and she was awarded many times with multiple group placements and specialty wins for her ground covering movement and stylish outline.

Phoenix is the littermate sister to the well known National Winner "Trey", GCH Shadynook McDreamy at RK Tooker. And while Trey was praised for both his clean movement, exceptional shoulders etc, I believe Phoenix was the true Showman out of the two but being a Dam, her show career was not as long as her brother's.

Phoenix produced Eloise's Sire "Rory" and Chase's Dam Spark, both also out of GCH Lanbur Carson City. This pairing is one of the tighter pairings I've done but having linebred on Phoenix in particular, I could not be more proud and excited to have this girl, who's about as close to my ideal beagle, brought forward and doubled on with this pairing. If I could see glimpses of her in these puppies through movement and shoulders, I would be over the moon.

I will consider show-prospect inquiries for this pairing as it's very near and dear to my heart and would love a couple pieces, if fitting, to be in the breed pool. Serious inquiries, please reach out to me on my personal Facebook Account