Kelly Shepherd
Rainbow Setters
2375 Rainbow Trail
Waverly, Ohio 45690-9134
740.493.3419 H
740.648.8431 C
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Stud Service
2x Dog of The Year Long Gone Wally
(6x CH Stillmeadows Jim ex CH Kellys Rainbow Daisy)
Kelly Shepherd won the Ontario Grouse Championship with 66 entries as a spring derby with his Kellys Rainbow Daisey he naturally started thinking about who he would breed her to .Hall of Fame grouse dog trainner Dave Hughes had offered some of the lengendary 6 x Champions Stillmeadows Jim frozen seamen to him as an option. "Jimmy" not only won championships in all three grouse regions ( very rare indeed ) but had both The Grand National AND Invitational Championships to his massive winning credits. Jimmy not only was a winner but a amazing producer of solid grouse hunting dogs in addition to over a dozen grouse champions!
Kelly and I kept a male tri colored pup we named Wally. I kept Wally up here and although he was whelped in June, and WAY off age, I shot birds over him late that fall, and the following fall as a 15 month old pup , gave me broke work all fall on literally hundreds of grouse and woodcock. He was the easyiest dog I ever worked and broke. His pointing posture is breathtaking and he simply does NOT want to chase birds, but he loves to find them. Wally does not run real big and is very easy to handle, which means we just let him hunt and listen for the bell to stop. He is a naturally front running dog. We entered him in a puppy stake when he was ten months old and he won The New Hampshire Amateur Puppy Classic. We hunted the hell out of the poor dog that fall. The following spring ( 2014 ) we entered him in 5 derby stakes and one shooting dog stake and he eather won or placed in all of them and was awarded the New England Field Trials Associations Amateur AND Open Derby of the year awards. Wally had a very strong showing in this years ( 2015 ) International Amateur Woodcock Championship ( 3 finds ) in Debec, New Brunswick and was bumped out by his kennelmate 4x CH Long Gone Buckwheat Wally is being hunted very hard this fall 2015 here in Northern NH. Wally will be going to Southern, Ohio later in the fall and will be at Rainbow Kennels ( 740-493-3419 ) all winter, hunting and being campaigned by Kelly Shepherd. Wally is a vigorous breeder and throwing VERY nice pups.
Grand National Grouse Champion - GNC 4x CH Long Gone Buckwheat
Multiple Champion Long Gone Buckwheat with The National Amateur Woodcock Championship Trophy
and The Grand National Grouse Championship Trophy ( Oct. 2015 )
GNG 4x CH Long Gone Buckwheat is out of our setter award winner and 2x CH Long Gone Daisey. Daisey is the only dog in history to win all three wild bird futurities, on wild birds! Buck's sire is our young winner and producer, 2x Futurity and classic winner, Long Gone Murphy, he by our two time Grouse Champion, Long Gone George. Royal lineage indeed, especially if you value dogs that excel on wild birds! Buck was the litter pick by my good friend, and Bucks co- owner, Attorney Todd Kalter of Rutland, VT. Todd played with the pup and showed him pigeons at an early age and started taking him to the woods in the early summer of 2008. By midsummer Buck was here at Long Gone Kennels working on released quail and chuckers, and by early fall was pointing and holding woodcock long enough to get a shot! Todd took the precocious setter to northern Ontario to see and hunt literally hundreds of grouse and by mid season was back in Northern NH , being hunted daily on flight woodcock and grouse. We shot "A Lot" of birds over Bucks points! Buck was hunted here until the snow got to deep in late November, and Todd took him to southern VT where he was hunted daily on grouse all through December, he was becoming very proficient at finding and pointing them! In the winter of 2009 the youngster was placed with legendary grouse dog trainer ( and my best friend) Dave Hughes. Dave took him to the woods of PA and training trips to southern Ohio, to continue his development on birds, by shooting chuckers and quail over his points. The dog was not allowed to run, as he always had a real desire to run anyway, and it was not time yet! In the spring of 2009 he was entered in his first puppy stake, The Grand National Grouse Puppy Classic, the most time honored and prestigious juvenile stake in the woods. Dave handled the big black and white setter to first place, with a powerful, forward race (his mama placed second in the Puppy Classic in 2001). Buck placed in a few derby stakes also here in Northern NH and his development was steady. In the summer of 2009 the young setter was worked 4 to 5 days a week here in the thick cover of northern New England. Buck learned from literally hundreds of finds on grouse broods and woodcock. He showed alot of talent, if he did not, he would stay in our program! Bucks' first derby stake was the Bill Kearns Open Derby Classic ( which his mama won in 2001, and his daddy got runner up in in 2006 ), which he won with a forward, driving race and a broke woodcock find at 25. We entered him in The New England Open Grouse Championship not hoping to win but to see how he would run the Kilkenny Grounds. Buck scored on a brood of grouse at 14 minutes on the left of the course and had a scouted find deep to the right of the course at 21, where we looked for almost 10 minutes before finding him pointing another grouse. Buck backed his brace mate at 31 and finished with series on big, forward, out of hearing casts to the front, and was named champion!
CH Long Gone Buckwheat won the North American Woodcock Futurity ( as did his mama, Ch Long Gone Daisey , 2001 Grandmother CH Long Gone Mittens, 1996 and great grandmother, Long Gone Giggles 1993 ) in Oct., 2009 in Moncton, New Brunswick with Dave Hughes handling with a broke grouse find. "Buck" also won the prestigious "Miss Leslie "Open Derby Woodcock Classic in Nackawic, New Brunswick in Oct, 2009 again with Dave Hughes handling. CH. Buckwheat placed in the 65th Grand National Grouse Futurity in Marionville, PA. on Halloween. CH. Long Gone Buckwheat will be bred to select bitches. Call Long Gone Kennels at (603) 636-2959 for more infromation. The furture looks bright for the big , leggy white and black setter. We are all enjoying shooting birds over his points, daily.
CH Long Gone Buckwheat won the 37th International Amateur Woodcock Championship in Debec, New Brunswick, Oct. 11 and 12, 2014 . Buck ran a great hour and pointed his birds, with style and accuracy. We are very proud of Bucks accomplishments this year, with his RU win in the Fogg Classic on the Cape in March. His win of The Kilkenny Classic ( on both wild and liberated birds ) in April in NH, his being named winner of The Fogg Throphy, as the top open walking shooting dog of the year in New England, and now A National Championbship win on woodcock. His off spring are looking very good, with 2x RU CH Long Gone Studley leading the way, with Grand National Grouse Futurity Winner, Long Gone Conway also a credit to his production.
3x CH Long Gone Buckwheat won the 2014 renewall of the 70th running of The Grand National Grouse Championship held this year in Galdwin, Michigan. "Buck" scored on both grouse and woodcock in a very strong hour on the ground. Buck ran big, yet handled ( as a grouse dog should !!! ) for handler Dave Hughes. We could not be prouder of him. We are also proud of the fact that we have bred, won with and shot many wild birds with most of the dogs in Buckwheats pedigree, and so far back that many have "fallen off" the pedigrees. His win, is not what we call "A ONE HIT WONDER "..where someone gets lucky and wins with just one dog...but he joins a long line of solid grouse dogs that we have bred and owned that have become Champions, on wild birds, in the last 4 plus decades of line breeding English Setters. "3x CH Long Gone Buckwheat" is not only a Champion field trial competitor at the highest levels in our sport, but a wonderfull hunting dog who we kill a lot of birds over his points every fall. His disposition is loving and kind. And just for the record, we do NOT own a tracking collar, don't use one, don't know how to use one, nor do I want to know how to use one! If my dog is running so far out of control, that I need a tracking collar to find him or her....I am doing something wrong! Just my not so humble opinion. Thank you , as always to Dave Hughes for taking "Buckwheat " to Michigan and handleing him for us to this great win.