Mike Heard and Dusty

 Mike Heard accomplished a lifetime dream of having a field trial champion at the Treasure State Retriever Club north of Butte, Montana, on July 12. He and Dusty placed 2nd in the Owner/Handler Amateur stake giving him a total of 17 Amateur points and his Amateur Field Trial Champion Title. Dusty is out of FC AFC Yellowstone’s TNT Explosion and Dust Devil’s Maxximum Risk.

Here is what Mike had to say about Dusty: “Dusty is my first field trial dog. I spend a lot of time training with professional retriever trainer Bill Totten of Nightwind Training. Bill is the closest pro in my area of SW Montana. Bill not only helped train Dusty but also molded me into a good trainer/handler as well over the last eight years. I have an excellent training group out of Bozeman Montana, and we train hard all year long. Dusty completed his AFC title with a Second place finish in the TSRC field trial in July. Last year Dusty took second at the same trail and won the PRTA trial Open in 2008 which qualified him for Amateur National in 2009. We only run Dusty in about 6 to 8 field trails a year because I am not retired and have limited vacation time. He also does very well in the hunt test game, but I have found he loves to run in field trials and thus we spend most of our time on the field trial circuit. I plan on finishing his Master Hunter title in 2010. Dusty has been one of the most exciting dogs to run in my short career as a field trialer becuase he works so well with me on line, and if you ever watch him run, its neat to see how he locks in like a laser on marks and blinds. I hope I have the privilage of owning another dog like him in the future.”

AFC Dusty

Congratulations Mike, Julie and Dusty!

Click the following link to view AFC Dusty’s page: AFC Dust Devils Black Blizzard SH