Luigi x Tira 08

Tira is from our very first litter. We always thought she was special and the judges seemed to agree with us. I thought I'd have great fun showing her in the bred-by exhibitor class so I entered her in her first shows when she was 7 months old. Much to my surprise and I must say delight, she finished in two weekends with two 3-point majors and two 5-point majors! So much for lots of fun showing in the BBE class. Just because it was fun, I kept showing her as a young champion. She did so well that despite all my handler friends who told me I was crazy, I entered her in the Westminster Kennel Club show in NYC February 2005. I showed her there myself the day after her first birthday! She got a really hard look from the judge, but she was clearly young and immature and although she showed beautifully, she didn't earn a reward. It was later that year I was diagnosed with a recurrence of cancer and that time at Westminster turned out to be my only opportunity to handle a dog there myself. Ok, life goes on sometimes even when we don't expect it to. Tira missed Westminster 2006. Professional Handler Karen Newman had been handling Tira occasionally in group beginning at seven months. After my lungs flat out refused to provide enough oxygen for me to run in the group ring in November 2005, Karen became Tira's full-time handler. Tira bloomed under Karen's hand and group judges began to take notice. Ranked in the top five, Tira accepted the invitation to Westminster 2007. On Tira's third birthday, she was awarded Best of Breed and made us all proud in the Sporting group that evening. She was a crowd favorite and my heart swelled to hear the roar of the crowd as Karen showed her.

She was a guest at the Mastiff Specialty in Houston 2007 where she earned her CGC and TDI titles. She is a very "birdy" girl who is always on the look-out for birds. We hope one day to prove her hunting ability with AKC Jr. Hunt tests, but time seems to get away from us. Even if we are unable to accomplish that goal, we know Tira does have great natural ability.

The time came to let her prove herself as a mother. Our original plan was to breed her to a handsome brown boy, Max. Unfortunately, when the time came, Max was on an extended hunting trip. Due to Tira's age and the fact that we want her back in shape and able to get back out showing, we decided we must go forward at this time. So, we used our back-up stud dog, Luigi, owned by HopeCreek & Camelot Farms, for this breeding. Luigi is the sire of Candy's last litter and we couldn't be happier with those puppies. We knew the Luigi/Tira puppies would be awesome....with one down-side. Both dogs are orange roan, thus we could get brown puppies from this pairing. We know that was a great disappointment to several people on our waiting list who dearly wanted a brown Tira puppy.

Eleven puppies were born February 25, 2008--eight boys and three girls. All have gone to their new homes, and one stayed here (Ch QuietWood Salvatore Phillip Bono aka "Sonny"). See Sonny on his own page soon.