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Fern Hill, Fall and Winter 2002 and Spring 2003
Contents:
• Shows and Coursing
• Litters
• Other Events: “Centre Fold” , Veteran’s Birthdays, The
Deerhound Book
Shows and Coursing
When things cool down in the fall we venture out to the show circuit. Because
we had puppies we limited ourselves to the Eastern Regional Specialty
which attracts the biggest entry of Deerhounds in North America next to a national
Specialty. It was in Virginia in October 2002 and we were pleasantly surprised
with Tyee’s Winners Dog placement for a nice major
under Ms. Lynne Schanzle. Roslyn repeated her Reserve Winners
Bitch placement of 2001 when she was a puppy, for a “close-but-no-cigar”
ribbon again in 2002. It was pleasure watching Indy’s (Ch. Fernhill’s
Turbulent Indigo) daughter out of Ch. Fernhill’s Encore,
Nancy Mirantz’s Ch. Pennant’s Reign win Best
in Specialty. At the Specialty dinner, Richard presented a slide show of
some of the art works collected for our Deerhound book and it was wonderful to
see these prints on the big screen..
Fernhill’s Tyee (Ch. Fernhill’s Torquil x Fernhill’s
Camille) (Photo : Shot on Site)
Above is Tyee at the National Specialty 2003
“blowing away” the competition. He placed in the ribbons over stiff
competition, mainly because, as you can see in this great shot, the really fast
Deerhounds bit the dust. It was superb coursing ground for Deerhounds!
At the same event, his great grandmother Ch. Fernhill’s Electra
at age ten and a half was also tearing up the turf.
(Photo: Shot on Site)
Ch. Fernhill’s Electra at Fitzhugh F.Ch. (Ch. Fernhill’s
Wyvern x Lyonhil Echo O’Fernhill) at age 10 plus
It was also exciting at the National Specialty, to see how well
the next generation is doing with Jeanne Frye’s two youngsters out of Ch.
Fernhill’s Thistleglen Tenille’s, Ch. Thistleglen Margot
(a consistent group winner) almost receiving an Award of Merit and Thistleglen
Musetta Glenhaven (Frye & Call) winning the tough Bred by Exhibitor
class as well as Paula Pascoe’s lovely “Z”
pups out of Fernhill’s Tacey of Lehigh by Ch. Lehigh
Yuill, (a Torquil son). Our pups from that line, Fernhill’s
Atticus and Fernhill’s Amelie out of Tacey
and Tenille’s sister Fernhill’s Dulcinea
(Ch. Lehigh Urquhart x Ch. Fernhill’s Electra at Fitzhugh) born September
28, 2002 were only a few days over six months, not leash trained and amused the
crowd by doing cartwheels about the ring. Amelie, before she
lost it totally, did go Best of Opposite Puppy in the Futurity.
Fernhill’s Amelie pictured below at 11 weeks.
and then Amelie at 6 months at the SDCA Specialty
in May 2003. Remind me to leash train before I show puppies…
It was also nice to see my UK import from Mary Girling, Ch.
Pyefleet Nonesuch win Best of Opposite over such a huge entry
with his breeder to witness such a prestigious win. Back on the home front, congratulations
as well to Sharlene Lazin in British Columbia, who managed to capture the two
top placements in Deerhound coursing in Canada with Fernhill’s Gabriola
and Fernhill’s Hawkeye Pierce
Litters
Fernhill’s Dulcinea, Simone and David Ross’s girl
and one of the most gregarious, smart, funny Deerhounds ever, did it again.
After producing such a nice litter of five with our Indy
on February 15, 2001, she gave us this time on September 28, 2002 (…surely
you remember that day forever-etched-in-the-Canadian-psyche back in 1972? ..the
night Paul Henderson scored the “Goal of the Century” with 34 seconds
left to play in the last game of the Canada/Russia hockey series…) an effortless
litter of almost two full teams, six dogs and five bitches.
A day to remember…September 28, 2002 when Duclie
and Indy scored!
What could be more beautiful than a two week old “smallie”
face. Here are some of our favourite shots from this event taken by Richard when
the smalls went out for their first real walk around the farm at 6 weeks:
We kept from this litter our Atticus (pictured
below at 11 weeks) …
Fernhill’s Atticus (Ch. Fernhill’s
Turbulent Indigo x Fernhill’s Dulcinea) at 11 weeks
and now, several months later at 9 months
and the wicked little Amelie who is pictured
with Richard in a quiet moment pretending to be a “goodlet” while
she thinks of more trouble to get into.
This litter made a lot of people happy. Below is Candice Bist
and Bruce Ley heading off with “Winston”.
A beautiful moving male Fernhill’s Azure
went with Julie McPhail to his new home in Texas. Here he is with his pal Madolyn.
Then in January, Susan Trow asked to lease Fernhill’s
Reiba (Ch. Lehigh Urquhart x Fernhill’s Camille) from us and bred
her first big Caretta litter. Reiba was bred to Ch.
Lehigh Yuill and had 5 dogs and 5 bitch puppies on March 5, 2003. “Mac”
below went to friends Kim and Don Stewart who also have Absolut Chivas
from Dulcie’s litter.
and we kept Fernhill’s Manticore, pictured
below at 14 weeks in Texas with Julie McPhail who is raising him with her bitch
puppy from the litter called Mersey.
On the first day of summer, June 21, 2003, Fernhill’s
Holly Golightly had a litter of 11 pups by Rebecca Stone Duff’s
Fernhill’s Reinagle. Pictured below at 2 and a half years, Rennie
just keeps getting better. We have great hopes for these pups and are pleased
to have an instant success in Rennie’s first attempt at
breeding, and again an easy whelping for Holly.
Fernhill’s Reinagle (Ch. Lehigh Urquhart x Fernhill’s
Camille) at 2 1/2 years
Holly, like her dam Dulcinea,
is one of those bitches breeders dream of. Gorgeous build, great coursing hound
and then able to pop out a huge litter totally on her own. Exhausting work just
watching! This will be the last litter for a long time.
Interesting Events: Indy our “Centre
Fold”, Veteran Birthdays, the Deerhound Book update.
We were excited to have our Indy chosen as “Cover
Boy” and “Centre Fold” for the January 2003 edition of the Dogs
in Canada magazine. Dave Starrett took the picture and we received
a handsome gift so we invested in a good giggle, the DVD “Amelie”,
a most amusing movie after whose heroine our very entertaining Indy
daughter is named. By the way - that’s a real photo below not a sophisticated
computer montage.
There were lots of new veterans in the Fernhill clan in June 2003….Indy
and his sister Ch. Fernhill’s Harvest Moon “Vesta” celebrated
their seventh birthday as did Elvira, Angel Fire, Luan, Niamh, Demelza.
We couldn’t resist a photo op with Indy as he has what
I consider to be one of the loveliest male Deerhound heads around.
Ch. Fernhill’s Turbulent Indigo at 7 years
Manticorn’s Hugo our Swedish import from
Bodil Andersson continues to develop nicely. Now that he is a year, we hope to
get him out coursing and to some shows.
Everyone who comes to visit falls in love with Hugo.
Richard calls it the “teddy bear “ factor, but as you can see, his
sweet personality just shines through.
Our Deerhound Book is progressing,
albeit slowly given the magnitude of the task we have taken on. Thanks to amazing
assistance from the AKC librarian Barbara Kolb, as well as Margory Cohen, we probably
have the largest collection of Deerhound articles and books in one place, now
with more than two hundred references.
We consider ourselves very fortunate indeed to be able to request Linda Deleau
(The Cu-Sidhe Studio) to create some wonderful, original art work which we will
use to introduce each section. Here are two examples: a picture of Deirdre and
her babies that will be introducing Dr. John Dillberger’s section on Deerhound
health and husbandry
and her sketch of Electra lure coursing which
will introduce a major section on that subject by Richard, Gerd Zekert and Ellen
Bonacarti.
The consideration and help we have had obtaining some of the material
for this book is heartening. Sue Loustalot of M.S.Rau Antiques, New Orleans sent
us a series of close-ups of their Chevy Chase sideboard carved by Gerrard Robinson
in 1863. This amazing piece is eleven feet tall and almost twelve feet wide with
a wonderful hunt scene (a tainchel) with deerhounds on the bottom pane that we
will be showing in detail.
(Photo Credit: Sue Loustalot, M.S.Rau Antiques, New Orleans)
We were also fortunate to have Clay Finney give us this lovely
Landseer engraving to use:
We also have received tremendous help from William Secord of the
Secord Gallery, N.Y., the AKC Dog Museum, Sharlene Lazin and others.
This book will be worth waiting for!
Greetings from all of us at Fern Hill
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