Huckleberry Hound
Huckleberry (Huckle for short) was adopted from P.A.W.H.S. of Deer Lodge in August of 2000 at ten months of age. He is a Black and Tan Coonhound cross (crossed with Blue Tick, Walker or ????). He acts like a typical coonhound, will keep a cat in a tree for a very long time and has the most beautiful voice when chasing scent in the woods.
Folks have heard me use the word “Yogi” with Huckle and thought this was his name. “Yogi” means come to Huckle. I was at my wits end with Huckleberry who jumped fences, chased cats, would only come when he wanted to, until I met Linda Holenstein who talked about teaching Huckle a chase recall. With Linda’s help, five months later and with loads of tough love, I had a dog that came when called and had a high level of focus on me.
Huckle and I started agility classes in October of 2001. We worked hard and have had a blast together developing into a team working our way to the Elite Level in NADAC agility.
2008 Championship Results
Huckleberry did prove that coonhounds can be successful in agility. He was competing in the Skilled 16+ division. There were 22 dogs in this division, including Clover. Jumpers was the first run on Wednesday with a 6 point bonus offered for running both runs of Jumpers as a double shot. Huckle placed 9th in the first run and 3rd in the second run, taking 7.13 seconds off his time and earning a Q. In Touch N Go he Q’d and placed 6th in both rounds. In Tunnelers he Q’d both rounds and took a 7th place in round two. In Skilled Regular 16+ Vets jumping 12 inches, he Q’d in three rounds taking a 2nd, 4th and 3rd. His veteran team, the “Rocky Mountain Dawgs” (which include Jean McCreight and Kintla and Susan Ruzek and her yellow lab Spirit), took 5th place in Team Round One.
Plus, Huckleberry received a medal for 7th place for the Top 10 dogs for the year, for the most points earned in Elite Skilled Touch N Go from August 1, 2007 to August 1, 2008. He share this honor in a four way tie for 7th place. One of the other dogs he shared this honor with is Kintla and Jean McCreight.
Huckle’s agility accomplishments:
• Earn our first two Q’s in January 2003 at the first games trial in Bozeman.
• Earn our first two titles in Novice Jumpers and Novice Regular in June of 2006 in Butte
• Earn our Novice Versatility, January 2006 after a long struggle with weave pole performance
• Qualified for the 2006 NADAC Championships but was unable to attend due to health issues.
• 2006 Top Ten by Breed NADAC — 1st place for Black and Tan Coonhound in Tunnelers
• Attended the 2007 NADAC Championships, earning a 7th Place Hoopers out of 31 dogs in the 16-inch class and a 6th and 7th place in Team Events.
• Earned the Open Triple Superior Award by earning the Superior Open Regular Title, October 27, 2007 in Helena
• 2007 Top Ten by Breed NADAC — 1st place for Black and Tan Coonhound in Touch N Go and Jumpers
Lifetime points: 1,445
Open Versatility, EAS, O-EJS, O-TGS-E, O-TNS-E, S-OCC, WV-O and HP-O
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