22 YEARS IN THE MAKING: FC AFC FIREMARKS ELUSIVE ONE
Written by Andy Whiteley, originally published in Golden Retriever News, 2013
“Lucy,” “Lucille,” and “Lucifer” … three names for one dog! In early 2004, “Jake” was running pretty well, so John and I decided that we needed to get going with another dog. We started the search for a female puppy with a great pedigree. After months of scouring the normal places that one looks to find a high quality field trial puppy, we learned of a breeding at Firemark Kennel. So we got it all lined out and sent in a deposit on a female puppy. We didn’t have much to choose from because there was only one female in the litter. After weeks of waiting, a tiny puppy with a big mouth finally arrived at the Memphis airport … I could hear her all the way from the door to the claim area! That should have been a clue!
The first major assignment was to give her a name. Now when you co-own a dog with another family, there are a whole lot of opinions which must be heard. We had lists and lists of possible names for this little girl. Finally, after weeks of discussion, we reached a consensus on her name. In the naming of Lucy, of course we had no idea as to the prophetic nature of her name.
As a young dog, Lucy was a handful. Her prey drive was off the chart, nonetheless she progressed very well as a pup and showed signs that she could mark. John and I shared the early training duties of Lucy as well as running her in Derby stakes. We frequently hit Interstate 55 and met half way between Memphis and St. Louis to get her into the hands of whoever was able to run the next trial. At a few trials, Lucifer simply could not fully contain her enthusiasm and broke … did I mention that she was a handful? Even the trip from the holding blind to the line was an adventure. Once when Lucy and I were headed to the line to run a Derby, I heard Joe Harp quip, “I’ve seen dogs heel on two sides, but it looks like she’s heeling on six sides!” Despite herself, Lucille ended up with nine Derby points.
As we moved up to the Qualifying stake, Lucy’s energy level remained ummm … high, especially at trials. In training, she was competently running marks and blinds that the Open dogs were running, but at some trials she would get so pumped up that she wouldn’t even find the flyer. I felt that she had the talent, but that she had to mature before becoming a true all-age competitor.
One of my training partners, Lanier Fogg, was going to a trial in Alabama to which neither John nor I were able to go, so I asked Lanier to run her in the Qualifying. Late on Sunday evening, Lanier called and told me that she had run a very, very nice trial … nearly perfect … but didn’t know if she would even get a JAM because she had stopped and rolled on the last bird – twice! – before delivering it. Thirty minutes later he called back. One of the judges had called Lanier and told him that Lucifer was so far ahead that they awarded her second place despite the rolling. That gave Lucy three stars.
Lucy hit full stride in 2010 and achieved her first all age points with an Open WIN. As an amateur trained and handled dog, Lucy’s trial schedule is fairly limited. Nonetheless, she picked a few placements in Amateur stakes in the following months and was nearing her AFC.
In early 2012, Lucy had a litter of puppies, so training was extremely limited until late April. When we got back into a regular training regimen I was worried because she didn’t seem to be able to count to three. We kept after it though. Finally, about a month before the Specialty she seemed to be getting back into the swing of things. The Specialty was our first trial of the fall season and she started it with a BANG by winning the Open. With that win, Lucy attained both the Field Champion and Amateur Field Champion titles.
Not until after Lucy earned her FC and AFC titles did I realize how truly elusive those titles had been for Golden Retriever bitches … 22 years between Lucy and the preceding one is a very long time. Hopefully, it won’t be nearly as long for the next one to come along!
B.B. King and I have two things in common … we both have places in Memphis and we both have a very special “Lucille.”
Owners and Trainers:
Andy Whiteley
John Gassner