National Field Champion, Field Champion, Amateur Field Champion Pauncefoot Pageant - "Amber" - 1993 - 2006

Amber was very special to us, not only for her achievements in the field, but also for her fun and loving personality. She represented the best of several old style field lines (now almost lost) through her grandmother, Kopper Key Ms Nellie on one side, as well as a whole lot of Brophy on the other.

Nellie was 5 years old when she came to us from good friend Faunt Ekey after he decided to give up field trialing and we subsequently obtained her Open and Amateur field titles. We bred Nellie to NFC, NAFC Brophys Mahogany Fielder, with only three pups resulting. One of them, Pauncefoot Pyromania was bred to Damika Drifter from the kennel of John and Dianne Maas in Maryland and Amber's litter was the result. We had previously seen several of the Maas young male dogs and had been very impressed with their intensity and style. There was a lot of Irish Setter history behind this breeding, FC, AFC Ivor Glen Reuben, Dr Mickey Bean, several of the Carlisle dogs including Emerald Jewel and some Valli Hi and Schnet's just for good measure. The end result for us was a litter with very strong pointing instincts, intensity and great style, it was fun to watch several 12 week old pups pointing and backing naturally. From this litter we kept Amber and her sister Jade (Pauncefoot Perennial) who also did very well until an unfortunate encounter with heat stroke.

During their first puppy season we were running three of the litter, including Amber. At this time, in early 1994, Pat and I lost our eldest son, Andrew, in a tragic accident, and I believe that the great success that these young dogs - especially Amber - were having was probably the only thing that kept me going at that time. If you are one of those people who believe that some things happen for a reason, then Amber certainly had great meaning in my life at that time.

After being broke by Jim Basham in 1995 Amber hit the winners circle big time and was a threat in all-breed competition wherever she went. She was at her peak between the ages of 3 and 8, though she could put down a great effort all through her career. I am a guy whose memory is not what it used to be but I can still recall in detail some of her great races at Killdeer. One of the other great things about Amber was that she was always honest; she might not always get things right but she would not knowingly screw things up - unlike her grandmother!

She ran in the Championships at Booneville from the age of three and always put down a good effort but with limited success. However, in 2003, all of the stars were aligned in her favor, and at 10 years of age, she left no doubt that she was the best dog in that National Championship. She was retired following that trial, much to her disgust!

She remained very fit and active right up until just a couple of weeks before she died from a very aggressive bone cancer in the pelvis. She was my dog of a lifetime and is greatly missed.

Steve Salt