March 10/11, 2007.  Tanya Vivian and her gorgeous and talented performance Terv boy Fawkes had a rockin' agility weekend to be proud of!   Fawkes added a new title to his name, and is now more formally known as Blackcomb's Philosopher's Stone HT ADC. The ADC stands for Agility Dog of Canada in the Agility Association of Canada (AAC) organization. He got this title by getting three Qs or Qualifying scores in the Starters level of agility in AAC.  We are very proud to say that Tanya and Fawkes placed FIRST in their class while getting EACH of these Qs. Quite impressive! Tanya and Fawkes ALMOST added a second title to his name this weekend too -- SGDC (Starters Games Dog of Canada). To do this, you have to have one Q in each of the four games at the starters level. The games are Snooker, Jumpers, Gamblers and Team. Tanya and Fawkes have them all except for Team. Unfortunately, Fawkes thought for sure the baton that you have to carry was a toy for him and he wanted it!! Anyone who knows Fawkes, knows that this is entirely plausible!

In total, Tanya and Fawkes qualified in Starters Snooker, Starters Gamblers, ADVANCED jumpers and two Starters Standard trials this weekend all with FIRST PLACES!  Tanya and Fawkes make an awesome team. And to think Tanya was worried he would be tired and unable to focus after all his studley duties the week prior!  Fawkes proved like his daddy a little romancing just makes the engine run faster and smoother. ;-)  Fawkes is just over 2 years old.  He was co-bred Natalie Vivian of Blackcomb and BasqueLaine, and is from our Enchanted Litter.  His sire is Kathy Madden and Darcy Ferrentino's Charm and his mom is our Iserah (Ch Hexen House Iserah).  Fawkes' mom Serah is due to have Brenner SAR and performance pups in April.  We can't wait for the Super Sleuths litter to arrive.  There should be some awesome working SAR dogs and performance prospects as well.  Email me with inquiries.

March 10/11, 2007 - Woohoo to Darcy and Conner, BasqueLaine-Montage Save the World AX AXJ.  Conner is moving along in AKC Exc B, hot on the trail of littermates MACH/ADCH/NATCH Maxwell and MACH Merlin. At the Springfield MA Trial, with co-owner Darcy Ferrentino, he earned his 6th MXJ leg and his 2nd MX leg!  Way to go Conner and Darcy!  Conner is from our highly talented Spies'n Heroes agility litter out of our foundation bitch, Swedish import Marissa, Mahagonny's Rites of Passage HIC by Montage British import George, U-BISS Am/Can/UKC Champion Belamba Seaflower Montage CD PT JHD CGC TDI TT P-BAR.  What a litter these guys have turned out to be.  Congratulations to all their dedicated owners.

Feb 24/25, 2007 - Maxwell went 3 for 4 while earning his 6th QQ towards MACH2 and picked up 128 MACH speed points in the process on his three 1st place runs.  Rusty says he wowed the crowd with some simply beautiful runs.  Their only fault this weekend came on Sunday's Jumpers run where he was just beating up the course when Rusty took his eye off him for a split second causing him to go off course.  Even with adding an additional obstacle to the course, Maxwell's time beat all excellent dogs (all jump heights).  To say he is running like a champion would simply be an understatement!  Hopefully Rusty and Maxwell can stay in this groove for a while!  Maxwell is closing in on 3000 MACH points (enough for a MACH4).  Now to keep knocking off those Double Q's like they have been!  Congratulations to Rusty and Maxwell for another great weekend, and to Rhian too, Maxwell's house mate for moving out of novice with some smokin runs herself!  Maxwell is from our Spies'n Heroes litter out of Marissa by Kathy Madden's George.

Don't forget, the Eukanuba Agility Invitational taped in December will be aired for the first time tonight February 11th on Animal Planet at 8:00 PM (Eastern time  I think, but check Animal Planet's web site).  There's a pretty good chance we'll see Rusty & Maxwell on TV!  You have a few chances to catch it:

Feb 11 @ 8:00 PM
Feb 12 @ 12:00 AM
Feb 15 @ 8:00 PM
Feb 15 @ 11: 00 PM
Feb 18 @ 3:00 PM

Hopefully Rusty and Maxwell will get a few moments in the spotlight!

Since the Eukanuba Invitational in December, Rusty & Maxwell have been on a roll.  This past weekend the boys left Rhee-Rhee, and her and Maxwell's love child, daughter Blade, at home in season while Rusty and Maxwell ventured out to another in-town AKC trial hoping to earn some Q's.  Well, it would seem these boys are getting the MACH game down pat.  Maxwell brought home 2 more QQ's and 112 MACH speed points, earning two 2nds in Standard (they're holding their contacts until Nationals) and two 1sts in Jumpers, putting the smack-down on all the BC's down that way.   Rusty was proud of the way Maxwell ran all weekend being able to shake off the "Love Potion" that has been lurking around his home all week.  This brings Maxwell up to 5 QQ's towards his MACH2 and pushes him over the 2500 MACH speed point threshold.  They're staying in town again next weekend for another AKC trial where they will try to pick up where they left off last weekend.  Good Luck boys ... on all fronts. ;-)   Cupcake, keep a close eye on Houdini please.

We are CELEBRATING some truly wonderful news.  We got all choked-up when Marti Wiseman called unexpectedly Friday, 1/18/2007, to report Merlin had finished his MACH!  In the true Spies'n Heroes spirit, stealthy Marti was entered in a trial we didn't know about, setting us up for a BIG surprise.  We thought her next trial was in March, but she snuck one in on us. ;-)   I love it when unexpected new is good news.  Merlin picked up QQ #20 with a 3rd place in jumpers and a 1st place in standard, plus all the 'new MACH' accolades and goodies.  Marti was in her home state of Pennsylvania in front a few hometown friends.  Finishing up their MACH on Friday freed them up to play USDAA agility games for the rest of the weekend, where Marti & Merlin had more great trial news to report!   Merlin finished his Master Standard title with a third place and his Master Snooker title with a first place!!   AND .... that Snooker finish brought them their third (in a row!) Super Q!!!   They also picked up a second place ribbon (and our third Pairs leg) in the Pairs Relay, a fourth-place finish and Q in Grand Prix, and a Q in jumpers.  All that's needed for Merlin’s ADCH is one more Master Gambler leg and two more Pairs Relay legs!   These two are a truly awesome team with a very special bond, and Marti is just the sweetest, nicest person you'd ever want to meet.  Merlin is Marti's first Belgian, and her first MACH. Thank you Marti & husband Ray (who has handled Merlin here and there, and is also a really nice guy!) for being such wonderful and loving owners and such dedicated trainers. Major congratulations to an agility team to be reckoned with, Marti and her Magical Merlin.  Marti is not able to trial as often as she'd like, but in somewhat limited AKC showing Merlin finished #14th in AKC Agility Standings through 11/25/2006.  We are so looking forward to the AKC National agility competition in Columbus, Ohio late March/early April, where we'll get to see Merlin and Maxwell run.

Mr. Merlin is now more formally known as MACH BasqueLaine-Montage Secret Passage MAD JM SM SAM AR EAC EJC EGC TN-O TG-O RN CGC TDI.   Merlin is the second from our Spies'n Heroes litter to MACH, finishing right on the heels of litter brother Maxwell.  Litter brother Conner is competing in Exc. B working on his MX/MXJ.  Litter brother Hero has just started training in agility.  Conner & Hero are owned, trained, handled, and loved by Darcy Ferrentino.  

For the second time in two months we all got emotional and reminisced about the cute, mischievous, very developmentally advanced litter of Tervuren puppies that brought us all so close together five years ago.  I especially remember Merlin's birth as Momma Marissa was under the bed and wouldn't come out until Merlin made an appearance.  While laying on my belly, head and chest under the bed, I was finally able to sneak the first born pup away from her and coax her out from under the bed.  In the darkness of the bat cave (Marissa's favorite and special hiding place that is all hers), I did the underside check on the first born Spy and thought it was a girl.  We moved the show to the whelping box and I put a dark teal ribbon around "her" neck and "she" was called Teal Girl.  I discovered maybe three days later "Teal Girl" was a boy, and then Merlin became "Green Boy". <g>  That's the first and last time I've done that ... so far.

Developmentally, Merlin was the first to do everything -- first born, first to get up on his feet, first to perch on the pig rail and survey the landscape below, first to show an interest in toys, first to climb out of the box, first to go through the tunnel, first to greet us when called, first to get his ears up as I recall. (The Spies' ears were all up by 4-5 weeks of age.)

With the Spies' we had the promise and commitment of some novice owners to try agility, and as expected from the pedigree cross, we had potential galore oozing out of the puppies at an early age enabling us to put each puppy with the most appropriate handler.  Everything fell into place beautifully.  Looks and temperament and athleticism are highly consistent and predictable.  Some lasting (undoubtedly lifetime) friendships were formed.  Everything about the Spies'n Heroes litter was a nick from the get-go, and very special to me and to Kathy because the parents of the litter, my Marissa and her George, are our heart dogs.  The Spies'n Heroes are co-bred by BasqueLaine-Montage.  It's turning out to be a really fun ride for both me and Kathy ;-)  Thanks for the thrills!

Huge congratulations to Patty Naimo and her incorrigible Gangster pup Vinnie, CGC.  It would appear there's still hope for the Gangsters to follow the straight and narrow path as Vinnie is the second Gangster pup to earn his CGC at a tender age.  Vinnie's brother Louie did so a couple of months ago.  The Gangster Litter is only 9 months old.  They're out of our Swedish import foundation female Marissa and Kathy Madden's Swedish import Grimm son, Thrymmie.  Way to go Patty & Vinnie!  We're very proud of you two and we look forward to more accomplishments in the future with your 'bad boy' BasqueLaine-Montage Mafioso, CGC. <g>  Brothers Mr. Big and Tough Guy send high-fives to their 'bro!  (P.S. - We don't believe the Gangsters are turning good for one minute.  We think they've got some kind of racket going.)

MACH ADCH NATCH U-AGII BasqueLaine-Montage Secret Agent TM-Silver JCH SCH-Bronze RCH O-EAC EJC O-EGC O-TN-E WV-E TG-O SJ SS WETT HIC CGC TDI,  Maxwell and owner/handler Rusty Pearson returned from the 2006 AKC Agility Invitational in Long Beach, California where they had one heck of an incredible weekend. This was a special event held December 2-4, 2006, where only 5 dogs from each breed were invited to compete based on AKC agility point national standings. In Maxwell's 24" division there were 102 dogs.

The first day, in Round 1 Standard, Maxwell and Rusty took 1st place and in Round 2 Jumpers they took 3rd place, with their cumulative score putting him in 1ST PLACE at the top of the board for all 24" dogs! The second day, in Rounds 2 and 4, Maxwell doubled Q'd again with two 2nd places, hanging on to his 1st place standing by a fraction of a second, with Border Collie Diesel from England (UK 2006 FCI World Team member and 4 time World Champion) in hot pursuit! Only 12 from each height division moved on to the Final Round, with just one representative from each breed allowed in each height class. Dogs ran in reverse order so Maxwell went last, right behind Diesel. Diesel had an awesome run and did win the class. Rusty laid it on the line and went full out to try and beat his time, which they did by a second! Unfortunately, Maxwell missed the dog walk contact and  had a fly-off on the teeter. No holding back was the only option for them and they sure gave it their best shot. To have 1st, 3rd, 2nd and 2nd placements in the first 4 rounds and go into the Finals as Number One was absolutely thrilling for all of us waiting with baited breath at home. Just to have a Belgian in the Finals at all was fantastic, let alone to go in at the top of the pack. They represented our breed in fine form and showed the world that Belgians can compete with Border Collies. Watch for Maxwell and Rusty on Animal Planet in February when the show is aired!

Thank you to so many people, Belgian owners and non-Belgian owners too, who cheered for Maxwell and Rusty and sent their congratulations. Thank you, Kathy, for agreeing to co-breed the litter with me and for believing in Maxwell's mom, my little Swedish girl Marissa.  And most of all, thank you Rusty. It was only a few years ago when Rusty inquired about a high energy, intelligent dog to "do something" with. I am simply awed and amazed over what Rusty has accomplished with his dog, and I'm honored and humbled to be Maxwell's breeder.  Thanks, cupcake, for taking me along on this wild ride! ;-)

AKC has posted a neat video of Maxwell versus Diesel in the Finals, superimposed in overlay mode so they appear to be running side by side. Click here to go to the link. Watch Maxwell make tighter turns than the smaller BC and put the hammer down blasting out of the weaves!

Then in Wichita Falls TX, for their last AKC trial of the year 2006, Rusty/Maxwell showed 'em what they were made of once again picking up 2 Double Q's, with two 1st and two 2nd place ribbons and over 100 speed points towards their MACH2!!!  Rusty says he was only planning on having fun with his boy and working on contacts. ;-)))  Congrats as well to Maxwell's housemate Rhian (and otherwise mate, mom of the Montage Speed Litter with Maxwell) who also had some lovely runs in Wichita Falls.  Currently Maxwell is the #2 ranked AKC Terv year-to date (thru November 25th) and has over a 300 point lead on the next dog.  Maxwell continues to hold onto the #1 USDAA Tournament Top 10 ranking for Tervs.

BasqueLaine dogs and owners had a great time at the ABTC 2006 National Specialty in Carlisle PA! I was not able to attend because my daughter was seriously ill so 6 month old Marissa x Charm kids Marie and Quest from our Run for the Roses litter (pages coming soon!) were not shown in Puppy Sweeps or the regular Puppy classes. Some of our dogs who did attend had Qs in agility and exciting wins and class placements, plus a nice placement in conformation.

Unfazed by their 1400 mile drive from Texas, Rusty Pearson and ADCH NATCH U-AGII BasqueLaine-Montage Secret Agent MX MXJ TM-Silver JCH O-EAC EJC O-EGC O-TN-E WV-E TG-O SJ SS WETT HIC CGC TDI, Maxwell began with a smokin' hot run in Exc B Standard for a Q/1st place and 52 MACH speed points! He knocked a bar in Jumpers but littermate BasqueLaine-Montage Secret Passage MX MXJ EAC EJC EGC TN-O TG-O AAD ASA AS AR AJ PD1 RN CGC TDI, Merlin and Marti Wiseman picked up the ball and took a Q/4th place win! The second day of the trial, Maxwell took another Q/1st place in Standard and a Q/2nd place in Jumpers for his 8th Double Q. I am thrilled to report in conformation under breeder-judge Debbie Dawe Montage-BasqueLaine Genuine Risk HIC CGC  Kelda won 2nd place in the hotly contested American Bred Bitches class with her owner Kate Sreenan! Kate did a wonderful job and I'm told looked quite smashing in orchid and black. Kelda had just made her show debut a couple of weeks before for her first point and also had just earned a Rally Novice title. She is Kate's first show dog. Special thanks to Darcy Ferrentino for grooming Kelda.  Kelda is form our Daredevils Litter co-bred with Montage.