Description
NSPC NGBC FCGD Stephen’s Pearly Blue, aka “ Rhonda” Hall Of Fame article 2024
Oftentimes we hear the words “once in a lifetime” kind of hound thrown around. We have been blessed to have owned a lot of great hounds through the years, but this was definitely our once-in-a-lifetime hound, no doubt. I got Rhonda when she was around a year old. I actually bought her for my friend to hunt and possibly trial. She wasn’t in shape and had very little running time since starting, so I began running her. She showed me a lot of hunt and desire with a big nose very quickly. The more run time we got on her, the more we liked her, and we decided to keep our $100 diamond in the rough. Decided I thought she was ready to try out in late March of that year, and took her and entered her in the Tennessee State Runoff as her first trip to town. She won her class of big females and then readily won the overall absolute, as well. A few weeks later, she was entered in the AKC SPO Nats and won her class, two of her series packs that day, she was the only dog used out of her pack. Trials in the South were done for the year. I didn’t want to hold her over the summer, so I went to Willmington’s trial in May and she won/finished. She is the only hound in history to have won the AKC National SPO and GDB titles. She accumulated 737 points along the way, which is the most points ever accumulated by a single dog in history. All of her points, besides 23, came in classes with FCs entered. She won and/or placed in all the Federation Championships she entered, accumulating 11 state titles along the way.
As much as she enjoyed the field trial game, rabbit hunting was where she truly excelled. The only hunt she missed was when she was with pups — other than that, she was in every gundog pack we had her entire life. She accounted for more than her share of jumps on every hunt, and she had never seen a race she couldn’t benefit from. She was truly a gundog supreme when taken to the woods gun hunting!
As of this writing, Rhonda has given me 15 offspring to finish for their FC title, and another has died, needing 4 points – making her the top-producing female of all time, including those from a traditional brace. Estimating another 4-5 should finish off of her. To date, she has produced 2 NSPC Titled dogs and 1 NGBC Titled dog. She produced 6 federation champions as well as 13 state champions. She was only bred 5 times, all different studs, and produced 29 living pups out of those crosses, if, in fact, she ends up with the estimated 20, only 9 didn’t finish. She produced multiple FCs off every cross, and her third litter had 7 of the 9 living pups finish — only one other female in history has had 7 finish out of one litter. It’s unlikely, but even if there were never another FC, National Ch, Federation Ch, or State Ch out of her, her title of Best Producing Female of all time will stand. Obviously, she could have been bred more times, but we figured she had given and offered us enough and already realized her offspring were producing so, we let her rest.
I’ll cut this short now and ask for your consideration of Rhonda for this fitting accolade — thanks for reading about our favorite girl!
Submitted by Todd Odle – Old Hatchie Kennels
