With her characteristic spot-on marking style, a 21-month-old female Labrador Retriever named “Mona” (NDC Spark Your Enthusiasm) won the 2019 National Derby Retriever Championship handled by owner Don English of Dallas. Mona delivered a solid performance and gave English his biggest career win since starting in retriever stakes in 2012. “It was surreal to win,” says English, giving credit to his training partners, John Russell and Robby Bickley, both of Valley View, Texas. “They have a lot of experience competing at the national level and helped us stay focused during the championship.” English, who bought Mona at 8 weeks of age and began her basic training when she was 4 months old, says he also has learned the importance of allowing a retriever to advance at his or her own pace from watching amateur trainer Martha Russell of Valley View, Texas. Held in October in Sedalia, Missouri, the National Derby Retriever Championship included 34 derby-age competitors. Mona is fed Purina Pro Plan SPORT Performance 30/20 Salmon & Rice Formula dog food.

A once-in-a-lifetime dog, a 6-year-old brown male Chesapeake Bay Retriever named “Hank” is the first of his breed to win Best in Show and be recognized as a Master Hunter and Qualified All-Age retriever. The No. 1 Chessie, Multi-BIS GCH Sandbar’s Hardcore Hank MH QAA is handled at dog shows by pro handler Devon Kipp of North Prairie, Wisconsin, and in hunt tests by owners Andrew Barbouche and Adam Levy of Rochester, Minnesota. “Hank stood out from the beginning with his intense desire to retrieve and wanting to please,” Levy says. “His true passion is being a hunting dog. He hunts waterfowl and pheasants in some of the toughest conditions in the Upper Midwest and Canada. On the show circuit, he is very animated and loves all people.” Hank was bred by Diane Baker of Sandbar Chesapeakes in Oglesby, Illinois. The handsome Chessie is fed Purina Pro Plan SPORT Performance 30/20 Chicken & Rice Formula dog food.

Adopting a catchphrase philosophy of “OBAAT” – one bird at a time – helped steady the focus of owner-handler Lauren Hays Curtis of Round Rock, Texas, and drive the intensity of her 5-year-old male, “Foxx” (NFC-FC-AFC Bayou Teche Swing For The Fence), to his win at the 2019 National Open Retriever Championship. Tapping into his precision-marking skills, Foxx located a difficult bird in the eighth series overlooked by 14 dogs before him. "That was the moment I got lightheaded," Hays Curtis says. "After the 10th series, I felt we had done the absolute best we could do. The judges had seen the real Foxx at his best." Trained exclusively by Hays Curtis, an amateur who has competed in retriever trials since 2004, Foxx showed promise early, running in 11 derby trials and earning 23 points. As a 3-year-old, he was inducted into the Texas Retriever Hall of Fame for Double Header Winners after winning the Open and Amateur Tejas Retriever Club trials. The gentle-natured Labrador Retriever, who is named for baseball great Jimmie Foxx, made Hays Curtis the third woman in history to win the highly competitive National Open, following in the footsteps of Judy Aycock, the 1976 winner, and Laura Parrott, who won in 1997. Held in November at Corning, California, the National Open had 98 competitors. Hays Curtis has competed in five National Open Championships with two different dogs and had two Finalists – Foxx and his sire, FC-AFC Bayou Teche Eye On The Ball, a Finalist in 2012. Fifteen of the 18 Finalists at the 2019 National Open are fed Purina Pro Plan dog food. Foxx, the National Open Retriever Champion, is fueled by Purina Pro Plan SPORT Performance 30/20 Salmon & Rice Formula.

Driving a strong quail finding and retrieving game, a 3 ½-year-old orange-and-white female English Setter named “Jill” won the National Shoot to Retriever Association (NSTRA) 2020 UKC Performance Classic in June in Waverly, Nebraska. Handled by breeder-owner John Resa of Shelbyville, Missouri, 3XCH Resa’s Mohawk’s Jill delivered a nail-biting victory, earning 1009 points to the first runner-up’s 1001.7 points. 

Topping 128 competitors, Jill excelled as she ran three 30-minute braces over three days and then a one-hour final round in the championship sanctioned by NSTRA. “Jill ran in the pretrial and the Rock Creek Triple trial before the Performance Classic, and I could see she was getting progressively better,” Resa says. “She was determined, and she did her bird work right.”

Precocious early on, Jill was named the High-Point Dog for the Midwest Region in 2018 when she was 1 ½ years old. “When Jill was a young dog, I recognized her potential,” says Resa, who has competed in NSTRA for 35 years. NSTRA began in the late 1960s to extend the upland bird hunting season from a few weeks to a longer period via field trials and championships. True to the sport, Resa enjoys hunting wild birds with his dogs, including Jill.

Naturally talented, Jill has an impressive pedigree. Her great-granddam, 6XCH Sue Maggie Sue, was Resa’s foundation bitch. Winner of the 1995 Dog of the Year trial, “Maggie” was inducted into the NSTRA Hall of Fame in 2008. Maggie whelped a male, 17XCH Resa’s Trouble Mace, who received the 2005 Top NSTRA Performance Award and won the 2008 NSTRA Grand National Championship. He was inducted into the NSTRA Hall of Fame in 2017. 

“Mace” sired 12XCH Resa’s Mazie, a female who won the NSTRA 2014 UKC National Championship and the NSTRA 2016 Purina Endurance Classic. “Mazie,” who is the dam of Jill, will be inducted into the NSTRA Hall of Fame later this year. Jill, the NSTRA 2020 UKC Performance Classic winner, is fed Purina Pro Plan SPORT Performance 30/20 Chicken & Rice Formula dog food.