CH. Rush Hill’s Next Seattle Slew

The most precious, beautiful, scrumptious puppy came to me in April of 2001 at the age of 9 weeks. Carter was the blue boy in Tonya’s “Race Horse” themed litter. I had met his sire, Bistro, and dam, Blossom, at a show in Carmel the previous year, and I was very excited and honored to get a show puppy out of this breeding.

Carter was a wonderful, fun dog. He loved chasing after tennis balls, rolling in mud, swimming in any body of water, and he was great to cuddle with. He definitely had an on and off switch, and that made him such a joy to live, travel and compete with. He was the most gentle dog around our other pets. It became particularly evident when my daughter’s chameleon climbed up his shoulder.

Carter was very people oriented, and he was convinced everybody couldn’t help but love him back. Those who were afraid  would simply have to be converted by him. Well, that plan didn’t quite work with our neighbors, a wonderful family from India. It was Halloween, and we had a bunch of trick or treaters stop by. Carter was mingling with the children when he suddenly noticed that our neighbor’s door was open, too. He ran across the cul-de-sac, up to their house, followed them inside their house while they were trying to get away from him. My then husband ran after this dog that was now on a mission and completely deaf. He later told me that it had been extremely tough for him not to burst into laughter when he happened upon the scene of five people huddled together on top of their dining room table. He wasn’t growling or barking…  Carter was just standing there wagging his tail.

Especially as a young dog Carter was full of himself. One of my fondest memories takes me back to the 6-9 months class at a show in Del Mar/CA. Ms. Pattie Long Smith was the judge. While attempting to do a down-and-back Carter flew up my left arm, grabbed the arm band and shredded it right there in the middle of the ring, in front of everybody. Needless to say I was extremely embarrassed. The judge kindly gave us a second chance and ended up awarding us our first RWD.

Carter was very fun to show. He literally showed himself. All I needed to do was hang on to the lead. Our win/placement that still means the most to me was a fourth place in the regular 6-9 months class at the national in Albuquerque where Nancy Talbott was judging. I was beaming with pride.

Eventually I handled him to 7 points before Tonya took over and finished him with back-to-back majors in one weekend. This made him my first champion.

… Sabine Warner