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Long Gone Spaz

In the fall of 2000, I asked Dave Hughes who he thought I should breed Ch. Long Gone Agnes to. He replied “Why don’t you breed her to your own dog, Ch. Long Gone George ? “

In the winter of 2001 Ch. Long Gone Agnes whelped a litter of 9 pups. We kept a white female pup who just ran all over the house and never stopped moving. My wife called her a “Spaz”, and the name stuck!

That summer we exposed her to birds and she showed a lot of desire to run, hunt, and find birds. In the fall I took her hunting 6 days a week and we shot a lot of grouse and woodcock over her points. That winter 2002 we took Spaz on training trips to Virginia, Pa., RI, and Mass. She showed a lot of promise and was developing on time.

In the spring of 2002 “Spazy” started to be run in field trials. She placed in The Grand National Grouse Puppy Classic, Won the Michigan Grouse Dog Puppy Classic, placed in the International Cover Dog Futurity Puppy Classic and won the New Hampshire Amateur Puppy Classic. Spazy also placed in a big derby stake in Michigan with a grouse find, while still a pup.
In the summer of 2002 Spaz was broke on wild birds, and she was exposed to a lot of grouse and woodcock in the thick summer northeast cover, she attacks it with gusto! In the fall of 2002 Spaz began to run in derby stakes, in addition to a number of placements on both wild and liberated birds, Spaz won the Bill Kearns Open Derby Classic with finds on both grouse and woodcock. Spaz placed in The International Cover Dog Futurity with a find on a brood of grouse. Spaz was hunted that fall.

In the winter of 2003 Spaz was placed with the premier grouse dog trainer in the country, Dave Hughes ( 814- 765-7706). Dave did a wonderful job polishing Spaz, taking her on training trips to Ohio, Ky., RI and working her on both wild and liberated birds. Dave, and his able assistant Ryan Frame conditioned Spaz perfectly, she was ready and able to run strong, and in the heat. Spaz won some good derby stakes in PA. and placed in the National Walking Shooting Dog Futurity.

She was brought back to New England after this and I placed her in the prestigious Garfield Wall / Clifon Hale Open Derby Classic, and the next day she won the Maine Bird Dog Clubs amateur derby stake where we looked for her on point for 15 minutes, Judge Al Ladd finally spotted her buried in the brush, and the birds were still there. Spaz was worked on wild birds in the summer of 2003, and was run in just a few wild bird trials in the fall of 2003. Dave Hughes placed her in The Northeast Open Grouse Championship, with a find on a brood of grouse, and a hard hunting race. She was not run in another trail the rest of the fall. Spaz was keep home and hunted on grouse and woodcock in Vermont and Northern NH 6 days a week, and her development continued.

We want to Thank Dave for putting a championship title on Spaz at 2 years old, this would not have happened without Dave and Ryan’s knowledge, expertise, and plain old hard work. The future looks bright for Spaz, we will run her in all the wild bird championships in the fall of 2004, and plan on breeding her for the first time next winter (2004-2005). We also are very proud of George and Aggie for producing this talented young setter.

Spazzy was named runner up champion at the prestigious and time honored 2006 PA. Grouse Championship over a field of 76 of the top grouse dogs in the country. Spazz had a great showing in the 2007 Invitational in Michigan, which was won by her half brothers, Orvis and Bud !.

Spazzy has become a great producer allready, with her producing a “Flanagan Award” ( top setter cover dog derby in the woods in the U.S and Canada) winner plus several Grand National Grouse and North American Woodcock futurity winners, and this years winner ( 2008) of the Grand National Grouse Puppy Classic. 2x CH Long Gone Spazz will be bred again this winter (2009) call Thom Richardson at 603-837-2003 or here at the kennel at 603-636-2959 for details on these futurity nominated prospective pups.