Lucky died today. Lucky was Gunner's dam, Ch.Calico Ridge Sat Nite Special, also dam of Wendleboe's Kimba, Ch Calico Ridge Hero's Firewater and Van Wetter's Dede, Ch Calico Ridge Princess Diane J. She was also the dam of California, CH.Kimani's Calico Ridge Jetset and littermate Max, Ch.Calico Ridge Secret Agent.

Lucky lived almost to 15 years of age. She had bumps, was incontinent and started to get stiff in the joints but she was happy. I had to be very careful as she loved to sneak past me at night when I was cleaning out her dishes. She would then disappear into the tall grass and I had to go out and literally beat the brush to find her. Did no good to call as she was deaf as a door nail. Wouldn't have come anyway because she loved to disappear. I would finally find her and was always amazed at how far she had gotten and how fast. All I had to do was tap her on the butt and then she would turn around and go back to her run. She was playing hide and seek with me.

Lucky will be missed by her "playmates" Jack, Strutter, Belle and Sugar who dove under the fence and visited her on a regular basis. She was a good dog and an excellent producer. She left her mark on the breed.

HOW LUCKY GOT HER NAME
Lucky was from a litter of 10, 6 of which were still here. The gate of the pen they were in opened in and not out because of a post in the way.

Lucky and her littermates started that fire. They pulled on an electrical cord attached to a heat lamp. They couldn't pull it down because I had nailed supports up to thwart those attempts. They did turn the lamp towards the wood though and a 50 year old wooden barn makes for a ripping good fire.

Five of Lucky's littermates died in that fire. Lucky was the only one to survive. Four were already gone to homes. She was scarred for life from the blast of heat from the fire which caught her as she was leaving. The heat went under the haircoat and crisped the skin. It went right over the ridge with no damage as that hair was turned the other way. Her ears got crisped all along the edges, the hocks were singed and there were several drips from the tar on the roof down one side. She carried the scars for the rest of her life, not as severe as we had first thought but definitely there. Her ridge was outlined with bare skin on one side. The telltale drips down the side and the ears were just a tad smaller all around.

Batsons had brought their first RR bitch, Amber to be bred and she was one of the dogs that was turned loose because of the fire in the barn. People ran in from the street and just started turning dogs loose. Amber had to get out of the pen she was in but she was in no danger. I caught her and put her in the van in a crate along with the other bitch that she was with. I had set up a temporary pen in the front by the house several weeks earlier and by the time it was over, I had 15 dogs in that one pen, including 4 stud dogs and the van was loaded, 2 dogs to a crate.

I was catching dogs as fast as they were turning them loose but could not get back there to stop them. It was catch dogs or kill the guy and my priorities were to catch the dogs. I did finally get back there and informed the person doing the releasing that if they did not stop and leave immediately, they would be doing so without the future use of their testicles.

They could not comprehend that turning dogs out of pens that were 50 feet from the fire was not a good idea. The dogs that were close had already left. One bitch went over the six foot fence as if it was not even there and she was 8 weeks recovering from a double fracture of the rear leg. She left along with her kennelmate and I watched them go out the gate and down the road. They returned 4 hours later, just trotting right smack up the middle of the road like they had a license and a car with the right to be there.

The grandson of the fire chief found Lucky when they came back to check on the cause. He actually had decided that I was growing weed in the barn because of the heat lamp and the coils from one of those fiberglass heating pads for puppies. The guy that had the property before us had definitely been growing something as there were hooks for hanging things to dry. So he brought his grandson along and told him to look in the outbuildings to see if there was any marijuana hanging there. He was ready to kill the kid when he found the puppy hiding on the porch behind a bar-b-que. Then the kid found Smokey in a dog house that was left here by the former owners and too small to use in a run. I thought he was going to hemorrhage, his face was so red. Needless to say, the search seemed to have focused on puppies and the 'purpose' the kid was brought there for was forgotten. I told the kid to go and look for more dogs as I was still missing 4. Gramps got even redder and the kid was thrilled.

All the dogs came back, one at a time. Only one 5 month old stayed out overnight. I got a call from the neighbor saying he was on her backporch on the laundry but split when she tried to call him. He came back home but was scaired to cross the road. I went over and brought him back.

So that is how Lucky got both of her names, Firestartter and Lucky. She outlived all her littermates and many of her kids.