FC AFC Ebonstar Gotta Zoom

FindRetrievers would like to congratulate Burke and William Earley along with their trainer Al Arthur for the accomplishments they have achieved with FC AFC Ebonstar Gotta Zoom.  Just this year Zoom was a Finalist at the 2009 National Open Retriever Championship and has an Open Win at Blue Ridge RC, an Open Win at Tar Heel RC Fall 2009, and an Amateur Win at Wolverine Fall 2009. Zoom has earned 12 Open points and 11 Amateur points this year giving him a lifetime total of 86 All-Age points and 20 derby points. Zoom also was a finalist in the 2008 National Open Retriever Championship and the 2006 National Amateur Retriever Championship.

FindRetrievers would like to acknowledge such a fine dog as one of their FEATURED RETRIEVERS! FR asked the Earleys for a little background on Zoom and here is what Burke told us:

“Friend and breeder Denise Zimmerman called me when the original buyer of Zoom had to back out for unforeseen reasons. Denise had the idea that she would keep Zoom, but simply didn’t have the time to develop the young talent that she was seeing. Initially, I didn’t need another puppy as we, my father and I, had just bought 2 pups from a different litter. A few weeks went by and I continued to think about the yellow pup in Louisville Kentucky who had so many siblings doing great things in the field trial world. When I made the quick decision to give one of the other pups away, I called Denise to see if she still had the pup. She did, and she agreed to keep him and work with him for the next two months until he would be ready to go to Right Start Kennel and have Jim Van Eagan establish his formal foundation.

As Jim and talked during the following months, I was getting pretty excited about Zooms future. At about 20 months old, Zoom went to Chris Ledford for his transition work. He was having an exciting derby career at this point and finished with 20 points. We didn’t push too much for a lot of points, because it was obvious that his all-age work was going to be special. He ran two or three qualifying stakes when he got a second place and we concentrated on training for the next several months.

In August of 2004, Chris called me on a Sunday afternoon with the news that Zoom had won the Open at the trial in Minnesota He was three years old. Chris continued to train and handle Zoom for about another year when he was moved to Sandhill Kennel in Lincolnton, Ga.

In 2006 Zoom was Finalist at the National Amateur in Klamath Falls, Oregon. That year he also ran the National Open in St. Louis. He has qualified for 4 and run 3 other nationals since that time with Hugh and Al Arthur. When Zoom is not training and running trials he is always in the house in North Carolina being a playmate for children, keeping beds warm and honing his thievery skills in the kitchen. Sticks of butter left on the counter don’t stand a chance, nor do cooling pies or cakes. Apparently Zoom has a sweet tooth.” Burke Earley

Congratulations to all and FC AFC EBONSTAR GOTTA ZOOM!