Delta’s Story

In June of 1998 some field trial/show friends of mine, Ron & Kathy Gulembo of Hudsonville, Michigan had a litter of pups on the ground.  As with all competitive breeders they really wanted to get some of these pups into competition homes.  Knowing that my only competition dog was six years old and that I would probably want another competitive dog soon, they called and offered me pick-of-the-litter. 

Knowing I eventually wanted a female to breed to my DC male (Duncan) and that this litter had a very nice pedigree (both parents were Dual Champions) I agreed to go take a look.   When they were six weeks old I went to their home and after several hours chose a female.  Two weeks later she came home with me and became “≡Bet’n She’ll Fly” aka Delta.  Why the name Bet’n She’ll Fly?  Her parents were “DC Hi Point’s Best Bet” and “DC/AFC Hi Point’s On The Fly”.  So what better name than Bet’n She’ll Fly? and boy did she! 

I started taking Delta out to run with Duncan right away so he could “show her the ropes” and it wasn’t long before she was leaving him in the dust.  At six months old when she could start competing, she immediately started winning.  Her first weekend out she ran in both the Open Puppy and Open Derby stakes on the same day - Saturday.   She ran in the puppy stake first, mid-morning.   She took off like she was shot out of a cannon and outran herself and the course and by the time she got back around to us, she was too pooped to show the judges what they needed to see, so she didn’t get anything in that stake.   Later that day, with the edge worn off and hopefully a lesson learned to pace herself a bit, she ran a great Derby race, had an almost broke find and took home the blue.  So her first weekend out and she earned her Derby points.  This was just the beginning of a GREAT juvenile career.

Delta went on to earn 29 Juvenile placements which included 12 First, 9 Seconds, 5 Thirds and 3 Fourths.  Amongst these placements were Winning the 2000 Eastern All Age Futurity and Third in the 2000 Central All Age Futurity and Third Money Bitch in the Show portion of the Central Futurity and the Dual Dog Award for the 2000 Central Futurity.  She was also the Number 1 Juvenile Brittany in 1999.

Delta earned her CH title in May 2001 and her FC title in September 2001 making her a Dual Champion at the young age of 3 Years and 3 Months.  She later went on to earn her AFC title in September 2005.

Delta has produced three litters of pups with three different sires.  All pups that have been given a chance to compete have done well.

Delta’s first litter, which whelped in January 2002, sired by “DC/AFC Kacie’s Sir Duncan of Dash MH” produced nine puppies.  Only two have seen any sort of competition at all.  One is “DC Duncan’s Place Your Bet JH” aka Dealer.  You can read more about Dealer on his page.  The other is “KDeL’s Duncan’s Soaring Eagle” aka Wanbli (Wanbli is an Indian word for Eagle). 

Wanbli’s owner likes to trial on wild birds only, so she hasn’t been given a chance to earn her AKC titles of FC or AFC and she hasn’t been shown in conformation at all either.  But she has done very well up the Grousewoods of upper Michigan.  Wanbli is an American Field Runner-Up Champion.  In 2003 Wanbli was the first Brittany ever to be named Michigan Cover Dog Puppy for the Michigan Field Trial Clubs.  Then she did it again in 2004 when she was the first Brittany to be named Michigan Cover Dog Derby.  Now in 2006, she has been named the runner-up for Michigan’s Cover Dog Shooting Dog.  Each of these awards is an All Breed recognition, again always in the past won by a Setter or Pointer.  In addition to these “All Breed” recognitions, she has been named Restricted Breed Shooting Dog runner-up twice (2004 & 2005) and Winner once (2006).  All this well before the age of Five.

Delta’s second litter, which whelped in April 2003, sired by “FC/AFC J.W.’s Gambler’s Chance Return” produced five puppies, of which only one has seen any competition.  “Aber”, like his mother, earned his Derby points on his first Saturday out and I believe took 3rd in the Puppy stake on Sunday.  He then went on to win the Puppy stake the following weekend.  Aber was 6 months and 1 day old when he ran in that first trial.  His owners have not been playing the field trial game lately.  Hopefully we’ll see more of them later.

Delta’s third litter, which whelped in August 2004, sired by “NFC/DC/AFC Gambler’s Ace In The Hole” produced ten puppies.   These pups are scattered all over the United States.  They are located in Texas, Tennessee, Montana, Illinois, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Minnesota.  Seven of the pups have seen competition on a regular or semi-regular basis.   At least five of them have their Puppy points in the field and at least four of them have their Derby points.  One of the males (Ryder who lives in Pennsylvania)  took 3rd in the 2006 Eastern Gun Dog Futurity.  And another male (Ace who lives in Tennessee) took 2nd in the 2006 Central All Age Futurity and 2nd Money Male in the Show portion and the 2006 Central Futurity Dual Dog Award – just like his mom.  And actually like his dad too because dad earned the Dual Dog Award for BOTH the Eastern and Central Futurities the year he ran.  One of the sisters (Abby – who has a page here) took 3rd in her class at the 2006 Central Futurity Show too. 

After all this, we elected to get Delta spayed and let her live life without having to worry about getting pregnant again!  I think she was really happy with that decision.  As great of a mom as she is, she’d MUCH rather be out hunting for birdies and running like the wind!!

To date, during her career, Delta has defeated 580 dogs by earning 38 placements 16 that were first, and 19 seconds.

DC/AFC Bet’n She’ll Fly, JH

1999 & 2000 Western Michigan Brittany Club ~ Juvenile Dog of the Year
2000 & 2001 Western Michigan Brittany Club ~ Show Dog of the Year
1999, 2000 & 2001 Western Michigan Brittany Club ~ Dual Dog Award
2001 Western Michigan Brittany Club ~ All Age Dog of the Year
1999 Top Brittany Juvenile Field Winner Eastern All Age Futurity ~ Winner ~ Brea, KY ~ February 2000
Central All Age Futurity ~ Third ~ Danville, IL ~ March 2000
Central Futurity Show ~ Third Money Female ~ Danville, IL ~ March 2000
Central Futurity ~ Dual Dog Award ~ Danville, IL ~ March 2000
1999/2000 Indiana Field Trial Association ~ Restricted Breed ~ Derby Dog of the Year
2001 Kentucky Field Trial Association ~ Brittany Class ~ Dog of the Year (runner-up)

Her story continues…