Mood:  celebratory

2011 has proven to bring many changes for Tree Rizin'.  First of all, just one day after my last blog, we lost the HUB of our kennel.  GRNITECH GRCH AKC CCH NITECH 'PR' Key's Outlaw Razor Red DNA-P died in his sleep on Feb 4, 2011.  He lived a great wonderful long life.  He was 13 years and 8 1/2 mths old.  The impact that Razor has left on our kennel, our lives, and our hearts will stay with us forever!  RIP Razor!

The loss of Razor inevitably has brought changes to our kennel.  Fortunately, I see some beautiful bright things happening that have us excited for the future.  First of all, we are happy to bring into our Tree Rizin' family, Chris Condon.  Chris is as much a part of Tree Rizin' and our future as Rob and I and our commitment to Chris and his hounds is equal to the commitment that he has given us.  

With this merger, Tree Rizin' has our new stud dog, GRNITECH GRCH 'PR' Tree Rizin' Razor Sharp Spike DNA-P.  Spike is a Razor son out of NITECH Butternut Shady Lady (Razor's Niece).  Spike will head up Tree Rizin' for most live breedings at Tree Rizin' and he and his sire, Razor (by way of frozen semen) will continue the Tree Rizin' tradition.  We are SUPER excited to have Spike in our kennel.  He has taken over his daddy's kennel and we feel that someday, he may offer the breed the same TOP QUALITY offspring as his dad.

In show news.... Wrath & Angel won big last weekend at BBCHA Bluetick Days.  Wrath beat 15 other open males to take Best Male of Show and then Angel won a class of 11 Champion females.  Wrath is just 5 pts from Champion now with all of his wins at State and National Level events.  It's going to be a great year for these two young dogs!

Several Razor pups have added wins this month including:  Tess (who finished to GRNITECH), Spike (who finished to GRNITECH), Abby (who picked up another 2nd place win), and Bullet (who finished to NITECH).  It won't be long before Razor takes over the #1 spot on the Reproducers List.  There is no more "what if" but rather "when" at this point.

For the next few months, you will see Chris & Rob working several Razor pups in the hunts.... there are 4 in the works:  Dolly, Sebastian, Ransom, and Abe.  Watch as the list of NITECH's grows!

Kat will continue in the ring with Wrath, Angel, and some cameo appearances with Gossip and will add some of the young blood later in the year.

That's it for now.  Keep 'Em in the woods & on the bench! 

Posted by Kat at 8:44 PM EDT

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Mood:  rushed

In late January, Wrath, Gossip & I hit the IABCA (International All breed Canine Assn- based in Germany) show ring.  What a BLAST... expensive... but a BLAST nonetheless!! First, I'll give you a breakdown of the weekend & then, for those interested in trying one of these International Shows, I will give you the scoop of how to get started.

First of all, it was a 2-day event- four shows total.  On day 1, I showed both dogs in both shows.  Both Gossip & Wrath won their respective breeds.  Wrath also took a Hound Group 1 in the Bred by Exhibitor competition.  In show two, again- both dogs won their respective breeds & Wrath took a Hound Group 1 in Bred By Exhibitor.  This time though, Gossip took a Hound Group 2 in the open competition.  This was the highlight of the day because there were 9 breeds represented and MANY dogs to beat to get there! =)  Both Dogs received V-1 (excellent) ratings towards their International title.

On day two of the competition, I had Wrath sit out Show 3 because there was an additional "rare breed" competition attached to that show that was going to keep me busy with Gossip.  Gossip won his breed, took a Group 2 in the Open class, and a Group 1 in the Rare Breed Hound group.  This took us to the Best In Show Rare breed competition.  I am quite PROUD to announce that Gossip won Reserve Best in Rare Breed Show!!!  Again- both the group 2 AND especially the RBIS were huge-- many, many dogs were beaten to get there.  SO proud of my Gossip boy!

Finally, show four:  Gossip & Wrath both won their respective breeds again, and Wrath took Best Bred By once again!  This time though, it was WRATH that placed in Group.  He took a Group 2 win (again, there were 9 breeds represented & many dogs in those classes).  SO proud of my young dog! =)  Again, the boys ended the competitions with V-1 (excellent) ratings. 

When we walked away from that show, both boys had completed their IABCA/UCI International Champion title and we had several nice placements along the way.  All-in-all, a very nice experience for our first ground show.

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Interested in showing towards your dog's International title?  Here's the jist of what you need to know:

Cost per show is $31/dog/show (unless you get in on the holiday special @ $25/show- which is available around Christmas).  There are generally 4 shows/ weekend.  You will also need to register your dog with IABCA either before the show or within 40 days thereafter.  Registration is $30.

Once you have achieved a title, you will need to pay a $40 title processing fee.  Remember, this is a title based out of Germany so your paperwork will pass through many hands (and a country or two) to make it's way back to you.  I suggest that you turn in your V-1 ratings (you will need 3- V-1 ratings/title) at the show so that they will print you a temporary title certificate (quite nice) right on the spot.  It will take 8-12 months to receive your actual title paper work back from Germany.

There are 18 tiers in IABCA so once your dog has achieved one title, he may begin working on the next leg. =)  Happy showing.

Posted by Kat at 11:19 AM EST

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Mood:  happy

Happy New Year!  2010 is behind us but it's impact will stay with us well into 2011 and beyond.  For the Childers' family, 2010 brought many changes.  Two of our children, Cassi & Dakota graduated from high school.  I finished my Bachelor's Degree at Wright State University.  & our daughter Cassi joined the Army National Guard & got married to the love ofher young life, Zach.... lots of changes! 

Over the summer, my daughters Kadie & Courtney and I flew to Washington to tour the home of Twilight ~ Forks, WA, La Push, WA, Port Angeles, WA, and Seattle, WA.  It was amazing!  We also spent a day at the Hoh Rain Forest.  It was a vacation we will never forget and if the coonhunting were better, we would be pushing Rob to move to the area.  Temperatures stay between 40-80 most of the year around.  That sounds much better than Ohio winters!

For the hounds, 2010 brought us several new titles on the hounds.  First off, Razor picked up 4 new NITECHs and increased his "Historical Sire" standing to #2.  It shouldn't be long now before he secures that coveted #1 spot.  We're pretty proud of Razor.  He has treated us well over the years and we are blessed to have him.  He's 13 years, 7 mths, 2 wks, & 3 days old today and still holding on. 

Next- our daughter, Kadie hit the show ring in 2010 and claimed Angel as her own.  She picked up several nice wins including Best Female of Show at AKC Ohio State Youth Championship and picked up a few AKC Overall wins.  She finished Angel to Champion in UKC and AKC.  We are extremely proud of her and look forward to more great wins for the two in 2011.  Our daughter, Courtney, also showed Gossip a time or two in 2010 & in their very first event together (and Court's very 1st competition show!), they won Best Overall Dog of Show & brought home a new jacket.  Very proud of my girls!

Joining the 2010 titles were:  Chase & Dolly (both making Champion), Ariel & Jade (finishing to Grand Champion), and Speed (finishing to NITECH). 

Gossip won many big events in 2010- taking several overall show wins & finished the Purina Race as the #3 Treeing Walker in the nation.  Not bad considering we were not actually running the race. =)  That puts him in the top 3 TW hounds in the nations, two years running.

We also had a few really nice litters of puppies in 2010.  Our newest is our Boo X Haze cross.  We are super excited about this cross as well as the pups out of Razor & April (X and Dream) that Rob has retained.  Look for these puppies to be our next generation at Tree Rizin'.

Looking ahead to 2011 ~ Rob's competition lineup will include Ransom and Dolly.  Both are top hounds and I'd venture a guess that Ransom has become one of Rob's all time favorite young hounds.  He gets that excitement about him when he hunts Ransom that pushes a 30+ year veteran to the woods night after night.

For me ~ I expect 2011 to bring me to some ground shows.  That's my newest interest.  We'll probably start the year off with Gossip and Wrath and see where it takes us.  I'll also be looking forward to introducing Tiara to the show ring by mid-year.  Since my Grad Program begins this month with WSU, I expect to be super busy finishing up my college career so you may see me staying a little closer to home than usual. However, I have some great things planned for the year and hope to make the most of the time I have.

Kadie & Courtney will also be a big focus for us this year.  Courtney is competition cheerleading.  Kadie is in dance.  They both show continued interest in the hounds so we'll continue to support them and get them to whatever events they'd like to do.

All in all, we are excited about 2011.  May it bring as much happiness and joy into our lives as 2010 did.... and more.

Posted by Kat at 10:44 AM EST

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Mood:  happy

It's been a while since I've added to the blog.  I apologize for that and firmly blame WSU for my lack of commitment.  This quarter is very high maintence!

Yesterday, Razor celebrated his 13th Birthday!  This is quite a feat for a redbone.  We are very blessed to still have him with us.  Even more remarkable is that Razor is still siring puppies naturally and we expect his newest batch of babies in early June.  It will be a linebred Grand-father to Grand-daughter cross to Jade that should produce brains, ability, and looks.  Exciting!!

Razor continues to climb up the reproducer's lists!  He will fall off of the Current List soon because he has reached 13 but watch him continue to climb the historical list. :)  We are so proud of him.  In hunting news, another Razor pup climbs her way to her NITECH title.  Congrats to Chris Conden & Amber who are now sitting pretty with 2- 1st place wins!  Can't wait to hear about the next win that will make her Razor's newest NITECH!

In show news, as many have already noticed, I am sporting a couple of treeing walker dogs at the big ones this year.  Angel & Gossip are owned by me and my youngest daughter, Kadie, and I am extremely pleased with them both.  Angel just lacks 5 pts to Champion now and I will hold her back a bit to make that last win pack a powerful punch.  Kadie will be showing her at the AKC Ohio Youth Championship next weekend.  CAN'T WAIT!

The REAL BIG TALK though surrounds the new love of my show life, Gossip.  G and I have bonded so much over the past couple of months and we are racking up a pretty nice win list already.  In the last 2 months, we've picked up 30 purina points and 70 top ten points.  Gossip is the nicest walker dog I've ever put my hands on and I feel very blessed to own him.  No, it doesn't mean that I am deserting my redbones- that will never happen-- but what it does mean is that Gossip and his offspring have earned a place in this kennel.  He is a pleasure to own, a pleasure to show, and a heck of a house dog to boot! :)

In other news... Rob has been hunting Edge (a littermate to Ransom) for Roger Prior lately and Edge and Ransom are becoming a great hunting duo.  Rob is just starting to put Ransom in the hunts so hopefully, you will be hearing more about them soon.

Until next time... Enjoy your hound!

Posted by Kat at 11:01 PM EDT

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Mood:  a-ok

Rob and I get calls from folks looking for hunt and show puppies, started, and finished dogs a lot.  Many times, newcomers want to know how much a dog of a certain caliber will cost so I thought I'd give you my thoughts on the subject.

Rob and I have been raising these dogs for a long time and we've seen flucuations in the market but still, there are some steadfast rules of thumb that seem to stay true through the good and bad times.  Ultimately, you get what you pay for-- I'll explain as I go.

First up:  Puppies!  How much should you expect to pay for an 8 wk old puppy? 

Well, if you are just looking for a redbone pup and have no interest in hunting or showing the pup, you will likely have a little bit of difficulty finding a pup.  Why?  Because coonhunters, in particular, will not sell to pet homes as a general rule.  This is because they do not breed for companion stock and therefore, the pups they create are bred with it's intended job in mind:  to tree coon. 

There are a few redbone kennels that seem to cater to a pet market.  My opinion is that those are NOT reputable breeders nor reputable breeding practices so their puppies shouldn't be considered.

Instead, if you are looking for a pet/companion puppy- I would look for a reputable CAMPAIGNING kennel and would likely concentrate on show stock as they will be bred with a little less instinct/drive and may be more suitable as a pet.

With that said-- costs of a companion puppy will likely be around $450-700.  A top quality show 8 wk old puppy will range between about $350-700.  A top quality hunting bred puppy will range from $350-800, sometimes $1000.

With any given litter, we generally give a price break to active campaigning homes.  This is because we understand how much time and money you will be investing to promote your Tree Rizin' puppy.

Keep in mind, that we generally retain more than one puppy from any litter that we are going to keep and once we thin those puppies back, "pick" puppies will generally cost a bit more than their littermates.  You are getting an opportunity to essentially "bump" ahead of everyone that bought a puppy before you and take one of our keepers.

Now- hunting prospects....  if the dog is "ready to start" (has had no formal training) or "lightly started", expect to pay between @ $500-1000 depending on the breeding.  If the dog is "well started"-- running and treeing steadily with other dogs and/or treeing his own coon occasionally:  $800-1200.  If the dog is running and treeing his own coon consistently:  $1500-2500.  For a competition quality hound (or a nice young finished hound), you should expect to pay between $2500-5000. 

Remember- you are paying for work that you did not have to put into a started or finished hound and at about $350/month training fees, you can see that buying a finished hound certainly has it's merits.

For a national quality show prospect that is of show age- expect to pay $750-1000.  For a proven show dog, you should expect to pay $1200-2000.  For a finished, highly campaigned show dog:  $2000 and up and a lot of times, these dogs/bitches will be sold with the breeder retaining breeding rights or a puppy back deal.

Everyone prices puppies and dogs differently.  I would expect that with the AKC market now a reality, we can expect that prices may see a break between full and limited registration and I would also remind those looking for a show pup to be sure that they are doing their homework.  Try to choose stock that is bred for dual purpose and show stock to keep the conformation where you want them.

For those looking for a pleasure hunting hound, look for breedings out of hunting bred stock rather than show stock.

Keep in mind, that the above guidelines are what Rob and I would personally be willing to pay for a dog of the caliber listed.  I hope you find it helpful as you search for the perfect dog for you.

Posted by Kat at 12:45 AM EST

Updated: Tuesday, 31 May 2011 8:06 AM EDT

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Mood:  celebratory

Happy New Year everyone!

This is the start of my new 2010 blog.  Today's topic:  Redbones in the AKC!  As most of you probably have heard by now, AKC has now fully recognized the redbone coonhound. That means we are no longer Foundation Stock and if you haven't registered your hounds with AKC yet, you will need to go through a bit more red tape to do so.  You still have time though so get to it. :)

 As the redbone hits the AKC show ring, I expect there to be many new people seeking out the "next big thing" much like the quick craze for the American Leopard when they hit UKC last year.  The difference is going to be that the "rush" is going to be for the show market.  I've already gotten many inquires for pups and young hounds from AKC folks looking to jump on the shiny new toy-- our redbone coonhounds.

I would caution those looking to get a redbone for AKC show to do your homework.  All redbones are not built for the ring just as not all have the gear to make nice hunting dogs.  You may find yourself shunned from many of the hunters if you approach them for a pup. 

Do your research for nice show and/or preferrably dual purpose lines.  You get what you pay for & what you have studied for. Not every "winning" dog can go on to produce top national quality winning dogs. A world champion redbone may only produce nicely if bred to the right stud dog or bitch.  Some bitches will carry even a mediocre stud dog.  Others will produce a few gorgeous puppies within a litter and the rest of the litter is average.   Actually, this is more than norm than to have a stellar all-star litter - and that goes for any breed.

 My best advice to you AKC enthusiasts as you are looking for proven show/ dual purpose stock is to look at as many photos and study as many pedigrees as you can and then make SURE that you check the track record of the breeder you are speaking with.  Don't be fooled by claims of having "nationally winning" stock without a win list to accompany that claim.  One national win doesn't make a top rate breeding program.

Specifically, you will want to know how many times (and what wins) a breeder has placed at Autumn Oaks (our biggest coonhound event of the year), Winter Classic (our second biggest event of the year), and the various World Championships.  Another great question would be how many overall wins have been achieved at National Redbone Days and American Redbone Days.  These are our biggest breed specialty shows so they will also help in gauging the quality of the stock you are looking at.

Beware the kennel that boasts big wins at Redbone Sectionals.  Many times they may have been the ONLY redbones AT the sectional so unless they can show the number of dogs beaten, I wouldn't put too much weight in those shows. 

The final gauge I would look at would be the various state level or "other" coonhound breed days placements.  I would want to know if those wins were at Purina Events.  The purina point events will bring in far more dogs than a regular state or breed event. 

Now that you have the show record- look at the build of the dogs in the kennel.  If the breeder doesn't have benched pictures of their show dogs- THERE IS A REASON!!!  Don't accept ground pictures where grass covers the feet.  THERE'S A REASON the feet are not being shown.  Any winning redbone show kennel will have many bench pictures of their dogs and undoubtedly many of those will be win pictures.

Don't be blinded by "color."  That's a rookie mistake.  Redbones come in all shades of red and although the deep dark red is attractive, I will take a dog built right over a dark dog any day of the week! 

Some conformation issues to be aware of in the breed:  aside from the obvious (good tight cat feet, a nice strong top line, no hocking or pigeon toeing, presence of both testicles, and a proper bite)- there are other issues to look for on the red dogs that come up in some "show" lines.  My biggest pet peeve is a dog with a front shoulder angulation issue. The front shoulder should lay back at about 45 degrees.  You will notice some dogs that look very front heavy.  Their chest will sit out in front of the legs.  This is a fault and should be avoided.  It's the one that I will not forgive.  I hate a dog with a bad front end.... that's part of their running gear!  Another issue would be a straight rear end.  The back legs of the dog should show nice angulation.  If you don't see nice angle, there's a reason.  For some, this fault is a biggie.  For me, I want nice rear angle but I will sacrifice that angle just a bit for a very nice front end.  I will never sacrifice a front end issue.  HATE IT!

Finally, temperament is a big key.  Over the years, I have seen temperament issues prevailent in some lines.  Rob and I will not use a dog in our breeding program regardless of how nice or how much winning he/she has done if the dog/bitch is timid or aggressive.  I haven't seen aggressiveness so much but have seen timidness and some lines are definitely more apt to throw timidness than others but if the parents of your impending litter are timid, do NOT buy a pup from that breeding.  That's the best advice I can give regarding that.

Well, I think I've given you enough to think about for the first 2010 blog.  I want to wish everyone a great show and hunt year.  Check back again for the next blog.

Next time I will talk about the price tag that *I* would expect to pay for a redbone of each caliber.

Posted by Kat at 6:56 PM EST

Updated: Tuesday, 31 May 2011 8:25 AM EDT

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