LEXI GETS HER SENIOR HUNTER TITLE

CH Piroska Toldin's Shooting Star SH

"LEXI"

( Toldi/Pele 4th Edition Born June 29, 2006 )

Here is Email from Lexi's owners Ken and Joan Hunter. I want to post full text about what Ken wrote about her. Lexi is going to be 3 years old on June 29 and she is already Senior Hunter and working on her Master Hunter! That is awesome on many levels. Shows not only great hunting ability, but also the dedication of her owners. We are so proud of Lexi and thank Ken and Joan for letting her shine in the show ring and in the field.

Dear Hilarie, Barrie, Frank and Martha,

I am pleased to be able to report that Lexi completed her requirements this Saturday for her Senior Hunter title. This has been a very strange season for hunt tests this spring. All of the tests scheduled for March and April were snowed out. It seemed every Friday we would get a vicious snow storm with heavy snow. The tests were either canceled or rescheduled for later into the spring. So we ended up running in mid May and early June.

Lexi is living up to her potential. She has a lot of natural ability in the field. She received mostly nines and a few tens on each of her four legs. At one of her tests she found five birds in the bird field. She easily exceeded the requirements for passing. In four of the six areas they score, Lexi is performing at the Master level. We need to keep working on her retrieve so that it is absolutely to hand. They are very particular about that out here and will not pass any dog at the Master level that is not bringing the bird back to hand and holding it until commanded to release. I have even seen judges fail dogs if they drop the bird and pick it back up and continue to bring it in. But there is no doubt that Lexi has the ability to earn her Master title. That is the goal and we will continue to work on it. Everyone out here is now out of birds so it will be a month or so before we can continue her training to get her ready for the fall hunt tests.

The last leg on Saturday was run in particularly difficult conditions. The wind was blowing very hard and the cover was waist high in some areas. They were planting Quail which were nestled down deep and therefore hard to scent. Many dogs went birdless. Only 3 out of 8 Seniors passed. On of those three was our Lexi to finish her fourth leg.

I have attached a few pictures of Lexi in the field. I have many more pictures and in a day or so will have some that were actually taken of her in her final hunt test leg. I think if you saw her you would be proud of her. I know we sure are. She is a beautiful girl with the sweetest temperament. She is just a pleasure to live with and to have in our home. At the end of the day, all the titles are nice but what is really important is that she has a kind and loving nature with a heart as big as Montana. There is not a single day that goes by that we do not say how very lucky we are to have our Lexi.

Ken