I am sure some folks have been following this story about "Ammo" on RTF and other places, but it is pretty incredible when looking at history being made in the world of retriever field trials. 119 Derby points and counting.

A great story and this is just one of the threads on RTF about "Ammo".

http://www.retrievertraining.n...d97d21c631a9&t=45747

"Ammo" (Upon The Wings of An Answered Prayer) is a chocolate Labrador female with a DOB of 11/6/07.
Owners: Bill and Micki Petrovish from Montana.


Keith

And yet another great story, "Robber's Stray Bullet", if you like National Derby List stories.

From RTF:

http://www.retrievertraining.n...owthread.php?t=45129


Keith

Ammo's record is absolutely stunning--yet I remain more impressed with the 95 points of Meg's Patti O'Rourke. Missy got her points in fewer trials, in an age before interstate freeways and flying dogs to distant trials. Nowadays when folk are chasing points in hopes of becoming the national Derby champion, they often look around for Derbies that start on Friday and others on Saturday--and then enter both. If they don't smack the tests in the first couple tests on the Friday, they immediately decamp by plane or car to run in the Saturday trial. Nothing like that was done in Missy's case. Lab folk may argue, but to my mind she remains the all-time greatest Derby dog.

Bill and Micki are personal friends. I had the fun of throwing Ammo her 1st quail when she was a tiny 6 week old pup. As she matured, on occasion I threw a few birds with her during training sessions. My impression was that she was very, very precocious and of course a good marker. Micki is the best trainer of pups I have ever watched. Bill is an exceptional athlete, retriever field trial trainer and handler. Bill and Micki have been exceedingly commited and dedicated in achieving their goal of high point derby dog. They have my heartiest congratulations. However, I have to agree with Tom that Meg's derby record of success in regards to total points earned for number of trials run is still the outstanding derby prerformance of all time. Tom do you recall the total number to trials run? I know that the number of trials she ran was much lower than the number of trials run by the few derby dog which have topped her record in the many intervening years.

I don't recall, Jim. If I can find it somewhere, I'll pass the information along. It is something that should not be forgotten.

What would you do??
A 2yo choclate female has accomplished a historic feat.
Do you breed within the next year? or Do you continue on concentrate on her field development?

Tim

If I had the time and funds I would keep on trialing and working. Just for curious sake what would Ammos pups sell for $? Figuring she got another great dog as the sire.

Dan don't want to discourage you but time and money are not enough. You need a very very talented dog. Everyone on the top tier has time and money and are trying for those Derby Points. Hell when I ran Derby with Larry I was just happy to get a Jam watching the other dogs run they were so much better trained it was amazing.

Her pups would bring such high prices it'd be tempting, but if she were mine I would seriously consider putting off breeding. Breedings can be a disaster.

I think FC-AFC Gator Pt's Sweet Potato Pie's chocolate puppies were priced in the thousands, three maybe, or even more. She was "just" an FC-AFC, not with a ton of points (but threw nice puppies). A chocolate record-breaking Derby dog? I bet they could get $10K without advertising. Maybe a lot more.

Amy Dahl

Bill and Ammo were supposed to come train out at our place when they were running up here. I was pretty pumped but they ended up canceling. Amazing feat for sure. As far as how much her pups would go for I have a feeling if you have to ask you don't have enough.

Tim your question is a tough one I don't know what I would do. If she was a chessie I would breed her. I think it comes down to if you are in it for personal gratification or betterment of the breed and money would also play a role. You never no she might bomb out as a all age dog, but I doubt it from what I have heard about her.

quote:

Originally posted by Craig Klein:

You never no she might bomb out as a all age dog, but I doubt it from what I have heard about her.

IMO, this will be interesting to watch. She may just get burned out running so much as a young dog.

I'm not sure she will burn out. But remember training was put on hold to run Derby.

Oh yeah don't forget Banner - high Derby dog and next year high all age dog.

To me what is really amazing is that she was able to run every weekend and not come apart, she must be a fairly tractable dog. I'm betting she will do well in all age stakes.

Knowing the dog, Bill and Micki as trainers I would be willing to bet that Ammo will do very well in all-age competition. She was taught to run straight lines at a very early age. I will not conjecture as to the owners' breeding plans.

quote:

Originally posted by Michael L. Moscowitz:
I'm not sure she will burn out.

Neither am I. That's why it'll be interesting to watch as Ammo moves forward. If she holds it together and runs the AA stakes well for years to come, than what a truly amazing animal she is, beyond her current amazing accomplishments.

I had the pleasure to train one afternoon with Bill, Micki and Ammo. I am happy for them. They are super nice people. Like James said, Micki really has a special way with pups.

James can correct me if I'm wrong, but I think Micki and Bill said they had only trained one other retriever. That dog got his titles and ran a few nationals.

Bill had a big black Lab by the name of Brute. Brute earned his FC AFC titles and ran in 2 or 3 Nationals. Brute was an excellent marker and Bill's personal hunting dog. Brute passed away at age 13.
The story of Brute's last chukar hunt is in my book Buddies Afield. Micki had a chocolate Lab female she trained, hunted and ran in some trials I believe with some success.

Big congratulations to Bill & Micki, but what a huge commitment!! Brute (FC AFC Brutus of Widgeon Creek) seemed like such a nice dog too & ended up with 22 Open & 26 Amateur points.

Checked the 1981 edition of "The Complete Chesapeake Bay Retriever" & found this about FC AFC Meg's Pattie O'Rourke:

"Missy" ran 27 Derbies and placed in 26, was the 1958 high point Derby dog, was Dr. F.A. "Bud" Dashnaw's first dog, he had Rex Carr train her, and she was a finalist at 4 of the 6 Nationals she ran in (3 Ams & 1 Open). Bud's health forced him to quit running trials in Missy's prime. She was only bred once, to her full brother DC AFC Meg's O'Timothy CDX.

That is awesome info Karen, thanks for posting it! I wonder what happened to that litter?

Juli