Big Sky Scottish Deerhounds 2020

(Am/Can Ch. Fernhill's Huntly d'Lux x Big Sky's Anica)

Calyx was co bred by Barb Heidenreich and myself. She is an incredible mover and extremely keen. She doesn't miss a thing, and is much too smart for her own good! Luckily, she is sweet as can be and is always a good "Auntie" to the puppies. At her first show, Calyx took Best of Breed both days from the Bred by class. We also took her to her first ASFA meet, and she did an awesome certification run with a whippet.  Calyx's sister in California (Fernhill's Cara) won Best Puppy in Specialty at the 2011 Western Regional Specialty in Lompoc. Her brother in CA, Fernhill’s Colin is a dual champion and was #1 Scottish Deerhound in both NOTRA and LGRA racing for many years. Her half sister, Lehigh-Darkwynd Flora, took Best of Winners at the SDCA National in Oregon in 2011 and her half brother, Lehigh Fortune at Champhurst, was #1 Deerhound in Sweden for 2011. Calyx finished her championship very quickly in just four show weekends from the Bred by Exhibitor class. She had one litter which was sired by our Ch. Fernhill’s Eclipse at Big Sky. From that, we kept Frey. 

(Ch. Fernhill's Valor of Big Sky X Ch. Big Sky's Artemis)

Dixie was our keeper from our 2011 Valor/Audrey litter. She has everything that we wanted from that breeding and is such a very good girl and keen courser! Dixie has a lovely outline, wonderful harsh coat, and gorgeous movement. Dixie has always been the best at helping to babysit the new hounds and the puppies, as she has a very easy, loving temperament. Regrettably, due to life being so busy, we ended up never breeding Dixie, but she is now a 9.5 year old “Auntie" to our young Hart. Luckily, a co-breeding was done with Dixie’s sister, Deirdre, so we were still able to carry on that marvelous temperament and beautiful conformation and soul. 

(Harambee Big Sky’s Utah x Big Sky’s Deirdre)

Sega was a singleton puppy from Big Sky Deirdre’s first breeding. Sega's sire, Utah, was bred by Cindy Crysdale and was the product of SDCA National Specialty winner Ch. Lehigh Ennis Carmichael and top Canadian Scottish Deerhound Ch. Fernhill’s Bailiewick. Sega had our hearts right from the start and started her show career with winning an extremely competitive puppy bitch class at the SDCA National Specialty Sweeps in 2015. She also placed in the Open Bitch class at the SDCA Western Specialty in 2017. While Sega was an incredibly beautiful girl and likely would have easily finished, it was around this time in our lives that we just weren’t able to get to many shows. Sadly, Sega was lost just a few months ago to Osteosarcoma. 

(Ch. Fernhill's Valor of Big Sky X Ch. Big Sky's Artemis)

Deirdre is a litter sister to Dixie and is co-owned with Jackie Woods. She lives with Jackie but she is always in our hearts and minds because of her endearing temperament and lovely looks. While she was only out in the conformation ring a couple times (her co-owner is more into performance events than conformation though she did do well the couple times she was out including a Breed win), she did become the #1 Scottish Deerhound in Open Field Coursing in 2012. Deirdre’s first litter was our singleton pup, Sega, but she did have a second litter of nine a couple years later. This litter was by Fernhill’s Nexus and included our keeper, Ghost, who took a Breed win over adults at his first show, as well as Archie, who took a major and Breed win his first weekend out. 

(Ch. Foxcliffe Outfoxed x Big Sky’s Frankly Frey)

Our youngest hound at Big Sky is our heart melting Hart. He loves attention from anyone and everyone and would happily lie in your lap for as long as you let him. His dam, Big Sky’s Frankly Frey was from our F litter (Ch. Fernhill’s Eclipse at Big Sky JC x Ch. Big Sky Calyx o’Fernhill). She won Best of Breed at the Hound Specialty in Greely, CO the very first time she was shown.  Hart's sire, Ch. Foxcliffe Outfoxed, who finished with three 5 point majors, is a litter brother to Ch. Foxcliffe Master of the Hunt, who was Winners dog at the SDCA National and a top Scottish Deerhound while he was being specialed. Hart quickly continued the winning legacy by taking  a 3 pt major at his first show and a Breed win at his next show weekend, but due to COVID-19 messing up the shows, he hasn’t been shown at all in 2020. Hopefully, we will have the chance to show again sometime soon, but for now, he is developing into a beautiful boy with a gorgeous outline, perfectly tiny tightly rosed ears, a great coat, tight cat feet, and light easy movement!

(Ch. Calinour's Wrinkle in Time X Caravelle's Royal Frilly Lace)

Ziggy came to us when Madolyn decided that Pugs were the breed for her. She had been showing our Deerhounds, and doing a very nice job, but I thought that she might indeed have a fun time showing a dog that was more her size.

Right from the start, they were a great team, and Ziggy took Best of Breed at a match the first time he was shown.  It didn't take long before Madolyn finished his championship (all by herself), which was such a nice accomplishment for a 10 year old, considering that Pugs are a pretty competitive breed, and she was always having to show against the professional handlers. Ziggy was a clown and a natural showman, so they always had a great time in the ring!

In March 2008, Madolyn took Ziggy to the Bluebonnet Pug Specialty in Ft. Worth for his first time out as a special. To our delight, they ended up winning Best in Specialty amongst some very tough competition. We were all thrilled! Madolyn, who is often quite serious in the ring, had a grin from ear to ear!!

After a bit of a break in the ring, Maddy brought Ziggy out again to a Toy Specialty Show, and they ended up taking another Best of Breed over a top 10 ranked special! She then started concentrating on showing Ziggy in Junior Showmanship, and they did very well together. At her first Junior Achievement Challenge, she ended up making it to the finals. They also took back to back all breed Best Junior wins at the shows in Belton, TX and also multiple class wins. Maddy and Ziggy qualified to show in Junior Showmanship for the 2012 AKC/Eukanuba National Championship too! 

In 2017, we took Ziggy to the Pug Club of America’s National Specialty in Ft. Worth, TX. He was 13 years old at the time so it was a last hurrah with Madolyn. He won his Veteran Class but more importantly had a great time getting back into the ring again for one last time with Madolyn.  Sadly, we lost Ziggy in January of this year at the age of 15 1/2 years. He will forever be in our hearts.