Edin & her sister Mabel had a difficult journey getting here. It was like seeking the Holy Grail. It took their dam, Fiona (Ch. Emerald Isle Co-R’s Fiona O’Blu Max, UD, CGC, TT, FdX, CGC) several attempts to conceive, but we finally sorted it all out & she delivered a very small litter on Valentine’s Day of 1998.
Edie was the one to do things first while ma belle Mabel sat back & observed. As a little one Edie climbed over the sides of the whelping box & landed on her head only to come right back for more. She always told me that she had no intention of leaving.
She made a point of living up to the meanings of her call name – ardent, fiery, delight, state of bliss, pleasant, & Celtic queen of the Tuatha De Danon. She also lived up to the adjectives for the breed – sometimes stubborn, willful, focused, as well as sweet.
I had an animal communicator “speak” with my dogs when Edie was a youngster. The communicator asked whether Edie had already finished her championship. I replied that she hadn’t even started being shown. The communicator laughed & said that Edie thought that she already was a champion. The communicator also said that Edie was a very old soul who was having a wonderful time in her healthy new body, & that it might take a while before she would settle down to business. Those words were prophetic. Edie was a free spirit with her own agenda in life.
Searching for championship points was quite difficult for a while, as the local IWS population dwindled. I was, however, extremely proud of her when at the 2000 IWSCA specialty she went Reserve Winners Bitch to the bitch who went on to go Best in Show Specialty. What made it sweeter was that the judge was Christine Attwood who bred & owned Edie’s grandfather Leroy (UK Sh. Ch. Hudson Chill at Doonbeg). Edie finished her championship with four three-point majors over two dog show weekends. Three of those majors were earned by going BOS over specials.
Sister Mabel did extremely well for herself too. She picked up two four-point majors her first weekend in the show ring. In the course of three more weekends, she finished her AKC championship with a total of three majors. She earned her Junior & Senior Hunter degrees, as well as her IWSCA Working Certificate & Working Certificate Excellent titles before ever setting foot in the breed ring. Mabel delighted her owner Colleen McDaniel in 2002 by going Best of Opposite Sex at the regional IWSCOPS specialty from the Field Bitch class under breeder-judge Patricia Brenner. Unfortunately, she also blew her novice obedience offering that day. But, Mabel collected herself & fulfilled Colleen’s expectations by completing her Companion Dog degree & joining her sire Gavin as an IWSCA AKC All Around Irish Water Spaniel.
Edie & Mabel decided to do things in tandem & both girls whelped litters in December of 2002 presenting their dam with over twenty grand-puppies in under a two-week period. One of Mabel’s sons by Ch. Whistlestop’s Ropin’ The Wind, VCD2, MX aka “Indy,” Whistlestop’s Hula Balloo, went Winners Dog at the IWSCOPS regional specialty in 2003 & finished his championship at just over a year old by going Best of Breed over specials. Several of his littermates also completed their championships or titled in field &/or dog sports. Balloo was used several times at stud, and his daughter “Maggie,” Realta Starwalker, out of Ch. Realta’s Supernova, CD, RN, MH, continued the tradition by going Winners Bitch/Best of Winners at IWSCA 2009. Several of his sisters were also bred and have produced well.
Three of Edie’s pups by Ch. Castlehill’s Air Jordan O’Landacre, UD, WC aka “Jordan,” were shown in AKC conformation & completed their breed championships (“Slainte,” “Glory” & “Choco”), & “Slainte” also earned her CD. Brother Clay completed several dock-diving titles. In Finland “Totti” earned his Finnish, Swedish, Danish, Lithuanian, Nordic & FCI Int’l championships. He is also the first IWS Tracking Champion in Finland, and was Finnish Working IWS for the year 2010 with the highest scores ever earned. He is the sire of a litter of eleven out of Kans, Finnish, Danish MVA, JV-03, PMV-04 Ch. Catanka Taste of the Waltz. One of the pups sired by Totti, Fin. MVA Catanka I Have A Dream, aka “Mette,” went Best of Breed/Best in Show Specialty at the Danish IWS specialty show under long-time American IWS breeder, AKC Sporting Dog Breeder of the Year, Greg Siner in June of 2010. We co-own one of those pups with Ruth Bruskiewitz of Kendall IWS, Ch. Catanka Into the Woods. Several from the Finnish litter have their breed championships & are working in field & performance. “Clay” & “Slainte” are Certified Therapy Dogs, & “Clay,” “Slainte,” “Zeke” & “Glory” have their CGCs. “Glory” also has her American Temperament Test Society TT. “Slainte’s” & “Glory’s” hips are OFA Excellent & “Choco’s” & “Clay’s” are OFA Good. “Choco” went Winners Dog at IWSCA 2006 & Best of Winners the following day for two five point majors. His first weekend out as a special, Choco went Sporting Group II & IV. Glory earned a Judge's Award of Merit at Eukanuba 2009. What pleases me most is that all of Edie’s pups are dearly loved pets & companions.
Mabel, leased by Colleen to Nancy Wiley, whelped a lovely litter by Irish import, Australian Grand Ch. Yehudi of Currabell aka “Casey.” One of those pups, “Braxton” (Ch. Whistle Stop’s Mystic Singer), under breeder-judge Susan Tapp, went Best in Puppy Sweeps at IWSCOPS 2004 at just over six months old. His sister “Whitney” (Ch. Mystic Song O’Whistlestop, CD, JH) completed her AKC championship with group placements at under a year old. Here at Hooligan, we have Mabel’s granddaughter “Jezebel,” SHR Ch. Hooligan’s Hussy Home From Whistlestp, JH, a “Whitney” daughter by “Gibbs,” BIS Aus. Grand Ch. Am. Ch. Whistlestop’s Special Agent, CD, RN. Jezzy finished handsomely with three majors and is currently working on her field titles. Her brother “Bosun,” Whistlestop’s JollyBoatsman, went Reserve Winners Dog at IWSCA 2009, and her sister Faethe, Ch. Whistlestop Oidhche Shamhna, has completed her breed championship & has motherhood whelped her first litter with a second one planned.
Colleen was kind enough to let me co-breed a litter with her out of Mabel to GB BISS Sh. Ch/Fin/Dk/Norw/Sw/Am Ch. Fynder Freethinker Finw-04, NordW-04, SW-04, aka “Woody.” While we had hoped for a larger litter, Mabel & Woody seem to have read our thoughts, as there was a dog for Colleen & a bitch for me. Unfortunately, that little girl, our “Clementine,” Hooligan’s Roving Free ‘N’ Fair, died at five+ months old of pneumonia secondary to canine influenza. Brother “Rover,” Ch. Whistle Stop’s Irish Rover, was the first of Woody’s many very successful US get.
Edie finished her CD in summer 2004 in three straight trials with high scores & was “in the ribbons” on all legs. Those scores placed her among the top novice obedience IWSs that year according to the First & Foremost & Delaney systems. She also went Best of Opposite Sex in Veteran Sweeps at IWSCA 2006.
In June of 2009 Edie started having some GI problems. We checked with our homeopath, but that wasn’t enough. I brought Edie to our vet who found that something in her bowels just wasn’t right, so they went in & resected a section of her small intestine. The histiopathy report was inconclusive, but there was no indication of bloat or torsion. She came home & started to heal -- to eat & drink again & to pass stool, then she didn’t. Infection started to set in. It was time. Ironically, she left on Father’s Day, which was somehow fitting for her strong presence.
Daughter Glory was a bit confused at unexpectedly being cast into the Top Dog role, & great-niece Jezebel missed her playmate as much as a teenage IWS can. I miss her quiet, solid strength. I miss her partnership.
I told Edie that Fi would be waiting at the Bridge to greet her. Hopefully Fi showed her the ropes. Knowing them, after a brief reunion, they are probably each following their own paths wherever they lead. ‘Safe journey & thank you, my darling, my first born, my bold warrior, my Miss Edie, Am/Mex/FCI Int’l Ch. Hooligan’s Holy Grail, CD, CGC, 2/14/98-6/21/09.
Mabel’s time came too, and relatively quickly like her sister, but also not so quickly. She started having difficulty swallowing and keeping food and fluids down. Everything was blocked. Colleen brought Mabel to her beloved Carol for a grooming and a goodbye, after all, a lady must leave looking like a lady. But Mabel had other plans – she fooled everyone and wasn’t quite ready to leave just yet. She regrouped and stayed for another eight months, but then it really WAS time. Fi, Mabel & Edie have always done things together in one way or another. Mabel left the day after her mother Fi’s birthday & was just ten days short of her own thirteenth birthday. Mabel, Ch. Hooligan’s Fair Hibernia, CD, RN, SH, WCX, touched many lives. She leaves behind lovely children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren many of whom carry her beautiful headpiece. Thank you Ma Belle Mabel, and endless thanks to Colleen McDaniel for giving her a truly wonderful life. 2/14/98-2/4/11.
I’m very proud of these two handsome girls & in their get. They matured into lovely bitches like their dam Fiona. Now it’s up to their get, from the US to the UK to Finland, to carry on.
