The MH is already a really large accomplishment. Now winning in conformation is icing the cake. Congrats to everyone involved including Jill Ickowski and Ralph Weseman for breeding a dog that can do it all, Kathy Mines for handling him so well and his owner Fred Hallett who must be puffing up his chest with pride..
Wishing you all a Conformation Champion-Master Hunter.

The remarkable thing about this story is that when Fred came to me for a puppy, he had never even handled a dog in a hunt test.

Fred handled Diesel all the way to his MH AND received an invitation to last years Master National. I am so happy for Fred...now enough of those RWD's...come on Diesel, time to get 'er dun!! ;-)

-Jill

It just shows, if you have a great dog you can both learn together. You placed the right boy with Fred, Jill. I imagine you might have guided, taught or mentored him about hunt tests. Sometimes steering an owner in the right direction with a particular puppy is all they need.

They sound like quite a pair. Congrats Fred! Good going, you and Diesel! Be proud of yourself and him.

nope...all I did was to pick out a nice puppy for Fred. I hardly know the difference between a **flyer** and a **fryer** . It took me forever to stop wearing gloves when I had to even touch a dead bird!! ;-)

-Jill

Go Diesel! I saw him at Hudson Highlands, a very nice boy. Fred did a great job getting the MH - not easy. I am sure Kathy will do it. Let's hear it for those working dogs in the show ring.

j

Jill,
The day we picked up Diesel I remember I was a little upset that we did not get to pick out our pup. You had him ready and waiting for us and told us that because we had three young children you had picked the more submissive of the many male pups. I of course wanted the biggest most rambuncious. ( that must have been Brick!)It wasnt until later that afternoon I knew you had picked us a winner! We took Diesel back to my parents place on Seneca lake and with out any help or encouragement he followed my children into the water and truly swam most of the afternoon with them. I have been proud of him since the first day we picked him up at 8 weeks old!

These majors are tuff! Altough I believe he is the best looking boy out there, it never ceases to amaze me the level of competition in the show ring. They are all handsome. Kathy mines has done a spectatular job with him. The first few times in the ring all he wanted to do was sniff the gound. Kathy ran around the ring telling him " no bird, no bird". Hopefully she can finish him soon so we can get back to doing what he loves best, retrieving.

Thank you all for the encouragement, especially Gerrie!

Fred

Fred...everyone that knows you is sending good vibes for Diesel and Kathy Mines at Wine Country shows!! We want to see another CH/MH at the 2014 Master National next year!!

When I see you at the end of the month at the LI HRC tests - Hope we have a HUGE reason to celebrate! GO DIESEL!!