Frankie became Siberian Husky number five to join us. He quickly learned he had to use his natural speed to survive playing with Jasper and Nikki. As he grew he began to hold his own and level the playing field. Frankie and Jasper became inseparable "running buddies", always hanging out in the yard and checking things out together or just side by side on our daily walks. With the passing in January 2003 of Jasper and Nikki, a new girl named Lucy joined the family in March to be Frankie's new companion. And in September one of the boys from his first breeding came to live with us.

CONFORMATION

As stated above, Frankie is our fifth Siberian Husky. He is definitely his own person...uh, I mean Siberian Husky. He has benefited from my experiences over the 7 years I handled his uncle Jasper in the Breed ring, my 18 years of experience in the Obedience ring and my 5 years of experience in Agility. Frankie kind of hit the ground running and finished his Championship at 19 months. He has several BOBs and BOSs since then. But his crowning achievement was when he received the 1st Award of Merit at the 2001 Siberian Husky Club of America National Specialty in a Best of Breed Competition class of about 120 total dogs.

OBEDIENCE

The next challenge was Obedience. Frankie likes to be on the move, so he likes Obedience. But, sits and downs were a problem (he wasn't moving...supposed to be moving) and required a lot of work. We finally worked through it and he earned his CD in the Fall of 2000. He capped off his "Novice" career with a score of 194 for High In Trial at the Garden State Siberian Husky Club Specialty in November 2000. He is the third of my four Siberians to earn HIT at this show.

Frankie earned his first CDX leg in September 2001 (he went BOS the same day). And he earned his CDX with back-to-back qualifying scores of 185 and 185.5 in mid-November 2001. For the 2nd year in a row he was High Scoring Siberian Husky for the GSSHC Specialty.

We have been training for Utility and were almost ready for the ring at the 2002 SHCA national Specialty. While he didn't qualify either day, he came within one exercise both days. In early January 2003 Frankie earned legs one and two in the same weekend, including a 3rd place at the Saturday Obedience Trial. That made it 2 UD legs in 6 trials. Not bad! Frankie had a bit of dry spell in the Futility ring (you know, the class where, if it can go wrong it will). But, he returned to form and finished his UD after only13 trials, with a 5th place in a class of 26 in late March 2003. What a very good boy he is! Now we are going to spend the Spring and Summer fine tuning his Open and Utility work before going after that UDX in the Fall.

AGILITY

Frankie began competing in Agility in late September 2001. He is very fast! As is usually the case, the handler held the dog back until the handler caught up to the dog. Even so, it was only a few shows before Frankie earned his NA and NAJ titles with 1st place wins in both classes at the 2001 Siberian Husky Club of America National Specialty. He also earned his first Open Standard qualifying score with a first place win at the 2001 SHCA National Specialty. Frankie earned his OA title in mid-April 2002 with a pair of 2nd place finishes in one weekend and followed that a week later with his 2nd Open Jumpers leg. Frankie got his 3rd Open Jumpers leg to earn his OAJ in early June 2002. During September 2002 Frankie got his first two Excellent A Jumpers with Weaves qualifying scores; the first one being a 4th place. In October and early November 2002 Frankie got his three qualifying scores (two of them were good for 3rd place) for his Excellent A Standard (AX) title.

The Spring of 2003 saw Frankie begin his quest for that elusive 3rd Q and his AXJ title; and in September 2003 he got that AXJ with a 3rd place effort. And, he has begun going for his MX with 5 Qs. And he has begun the quest for his MXJ with 1 Q. Now we need some double Qs and some points (744 to go) for his MACH (yeah, right!). We decided to finish the 2003 Spring schedule by competing in Novice B Preferred. It was in the MUD. Frankie earned 1 Standard leg with a 2nd place and 2 JWW legs with a 1st and a 2nd place, respectively. Well, we decided to finish the 2004 Spring season by running in the Preferred classes. Frankie did it in style during the last weekend of June. He was 1st in all 3 runs, earning his NAP and NJP titles. His times were pretty incredible, as he was under course times for the two Standard runs by 29 and 25 seconds and under the JWW time by 13 seconds.

"No, no. You just let me run, jump and do the obstacles and we'll be fine. You want to qualify? Stay out of my way...like a few yards behind me."

"OK, Frankie. Whatever you say."

As I said Frankie is very fast. And he sometimes gets out ahead of me just a little too far. The result: Frankie occasionally designs his own version of the course he is supposed to run and executes it perfectly! Frustrating as that might be, it is great to see him having so much fun. Just think of it this way: here is a free spirited Siberian Husky permitted to "run free" outdoors and I have no fear he will leave the ring and run away. It has been interesting and a pleasure to work with Frankie in all three venues and watch him mature and grow into a thinking, working Siberian Husky. That's the really cool part of working with Frankie.

CANADA

During June 2003 Frankie took his first road trip to Canada. We went to Trois Rivieres, Quebec where he competed in conformation and obedience over a 3 day weekend. In conformation Frankie wound up with 1 BOB with a Group 3, 2 BOSs and 7 Championship points with 1 major. In Novice B obedience Frankie qualified in his first 3 shows with scores of 196.5, 195.5 and 195.0. This included 1 High in Trial and 2 second placements in class and earned him his Canadian CD title. Pretty good weekend, don't ya' thnk!

BREEDING

Debra (Micast Redriver Debutante), owned by Pam Theis of RedRiver Siberians in Virginia and co-owned by Cindy Nobile & Jeanette Lamphere of Micast Siberians of Sparta, NJ, was bred to Frankie (Ch. Marionhill Chairman Ofthe Bd UD, AX, AXJ, CGC, TDI, Can. CD), owned by Irwin Linker of Stewartsville, NJ and co-owned by Mike & Maggie Marion of Milford, NJ, in mid-May 2003. Both sire's and dam's eyes are clear and hips are OFA excellent and good, respectively. On July 14 we had a litter of 4 females and 3 males; all gray/white. Pam has two of the girls. One of the boys (RedRiver's Travellin' Man, "Travis") is owned by Irwin Linker. Another boy (RedRiver's Stryke Force, "Stryker") is owned by Laura Briggs of Tabernacle, NJ.

Stay tuned --- there's a whole lot more excitement to come from Frankie!

Frankie's Pedigree

		Ch. Marionhill's Starr Player	Ch. Sunset Hill's Jo-Jo Starbuck Pushka's Autumn Lady
	Ch. Rockland's Starr Attraction
		Sno Sky Tru Blu Starr	Ch. Sno Sky Midnite Moe Joe Sno Sky Terry Bradshaw
Ch. Marionhill's This One's Foru
		Bo-Gerick's Sky's The Limit	Gerick's Just A Gypsy Ch. Innisfree's MS Cinnar
	Marionhill's Custom Made
		Marionhill's Casa Blanca	Ch. Aadak's Here's Looknatcha Kid Marionhill's Blonde Belle

		Ch. Innisfree's Tradewind	Ch. Innisfree's Return Engagement Ch. Innisfree's Pegeen
	Ch. Tsaji's Javert
		Foxlair's Moriah	Ch. Innisfree's Aazar Bit-A-Thor Ch. Jonathie's Sno Fame Tamarack
Ch. Marionhill's Mischief Made
		Ch. Marionhill's Pep O Ree	Ch. Kamchatka's Gray Gamble Jonathie Sno Fame Paprika
	Ch. Marionhill's Mischief Maker
		Marionhill's Blonde Belle	Ch. Innisfree's Artic Sky Bird Sno Sky's Meeka Of Marionhill