Quarter Horses were the love of my life for 20 years. In 1976 my great 2 year old mare, Opie’s Raquel and I won the World Championship. Thinking about something a bit smaller, I purchased my first Smooth Fox Terrier, Zeta from Virginia O’Connor she was to become Ch. Laurelton Time And Again. And sired by Dover and although I purchased Zeta primarily as a pet to keep my old Doberman company, I did promise to finish her.  And then the fun began...

Zeta was 4 months old when I took her to Sara Melichar (now Lopez) to get ready for her show career. Sara was a great Doberman handler from Colorado who had just moved to California to show Judy Bingham’s Electra Dobermans. Sara accepted Zeta into her show string thinking Smooths were wash and wear dogs like the Dobermans. I had always showed my own horses, but felt I was too old to even attempt to learn all the nuances of showing dogs. June 200I, Zeta being 6 months old, we went to our first smooth dog show, it was called Great Western. I have to say that our darling Zeta needed a little help in the grooming department. She actually looked like she had been groomed with a lawn mower. She placed in her class, but that was all we could hope for on that day.

But as fate would have it, entered at the same show were Tux, Ch. Broxden Best Dressed, who won Best of Winners shown by Amy Rodriguez (now Booth) and Ducky, Ch Trackways Just Ducky, was awarded Best of Breed presented by Amy Rutherford. I knew I was hooked, These dogs were my cup of tea, little miniature conformation Quarter Horses. Needless to say, Sara learned the art of grooming Smooths and she is now among the best of them. Sara and I have remained partners in the breed for over ten years. Zeta finished her Championship quickly. It was time to pick a stud dog for my girl. I knew that both Tux and Ducky were both sired by CH Broxden Able at Pennfox, out of different bitches, I asked Joan and Dave Galbraith if they would bring him to a show so I could see him. The moment I saw him move I knew he was the dog I would breed to Zeta, He was a big dog, but beautifully balanced and smoothly put together. In horses they say to breed to the sire of the winner, not the winner. And to top things off, it would be a line breeding. My World Champion Quarter Horse was one of the very few line bred horses at the time.

Zeta had six beautiful puppies and we finished four Champions out of the litter. The most well known Ch Lil’Itch Send In The Clown, Circus. He was Reserve Winner’s Dog Montgomery in 2004. Circus was the sire of Best In Show winner Ch.Lil’Itch Circus Legacy. Circus is now in Sweden and at 8 years old was just BIS VCTRAN and Group Three at the same All Breed show, shown by his owner, Jenny Skogsberg.

Zeta’s 2nd litter was also by Ch. Broxden Able At Pennfox, My motto “If It Ain’t Broke Don’t Fix It.” This is the litter that produced her most famous son Ch. LiI’Itch Game On, Rugby, as well as two other champions. Zeta had 4 litters in all and 12 Champions, making her a Dam Of Distinction. Ch. Lil’Itch Game On has gone on to be in a world of his own making. He was a good show dog with group wins and placements, He was Best Opposite Sex at the 2007 Eukanuba National Championship, defeating the # I dog in the nation. But his get have surpassed any dreams we could have ever hoped for. Rugby was named by AKC “High point producing Terrier for 2010” with 13 Champions for that one year.

Suzann Fiedler Hoesman & Sara Lopez

Lilitch@verizon.net - Saraprohandler@yahoo.com

Breeders

Lil’Itch Smooth Fox Terriers

Rugby with some of his Get: left to right, Ch. Lil’itch Game On, GCh L’Cobe Komosabe Vigilante Justice, GCh. Lil’Itch Steeplechase, Ch. Bellewoods Bonhomme, GCh. Sunlyn Living Legend, Ch. Decorum Touch The Clouds, Ch. Bellewoods Lumiere JE, Ch. Sunlyn Soon To Be Famous

Rugby is the Sire of GCh. Jacobe Kemosabe Vigilante Justice, Dodger. Number One Dog All Breeds For The Year 2010, With over 105 Best in Shows. A record never before achieved by a Smooth Fox Terrier. Dodger was bred by Bill Dalling and Stacy Turner and owned by Sandra and Howard Hoffen and Phil and Amy Booth. He was shown to these amazing achievements by Amy and Phil Booth.

2010 was also a good year for many of Rugby’s offspring — Best In Show Winner GCh. Lil’Itch Cheerleader, bred by Cindy Pritchard and owned and shown by Whitney Perry; Best in Show Winner GCh, Frenchpark Moon Of Wintertime JE bred by Mary Lynn Machado, Trudy Haines, and John Killeen and owned by Jerson Valle., and Multiple Best In Speciality Winner GCh. Lil’ltch Steeple Chase bred by Suzann Hoesman and Sara Lopez and owned by Madeline Aroney and Trudy Haines and shown by Madeline Aroney. We are very proud of these dogs and their talented breeders, owners and handlers.

All of the breeding and showing decisions are made as a team. Sara and I may disagree occasionally when grading a litter or deciding on which one to show where or when, but the one thing we do agree on is that she does all the work of showing, grooming and travelling and I have all the fun!

We have been very fortunate to have the very best of the terrier world to turn to when a learning curve is needed. For me personally, it is my BFF Mari Morrisey of Brookhaven Wires fame. For Sara she turns to Gabriel Rangle, Amy Rutherford, Danny Sackos, Amy Booth and Jackie Penny, breeder of Ch. Trackways Pennfox Wicked Brew and Ch, Broxden Able at Pennfox. They all have been wonderfully helpful on the professional level.

As with most breeding programs, we started small with one good bitch. However after breeding and whelping litters in a residential setting, it became apparent in order to grow our program we would need a kennel.

Sara and I searched for about a month before hitting on a really nice 5 acre property with a new home located in Pioneer Town, a unique valley at 4000 ft. altitude in the Southern California High desert. This area is known for the filming of old western movies. The icing on the cake to have the experienced Smooth breeder and handler, Trudy Haines move in as kennel manager. With Sara as handler and Trudy as manager, my job is naming puppies!

And there is a method to my madness — numerology. When I started naming I would use numerology and would use only names which would add up to a certain lucky number. I have had so much good luck, I am afraid to change. But I was running out of possible names. So I started adding and subtracting letters until I got the right lucky number. Crazy? Maybe, but it takes a bit of craziness to breed and show dogs! We want to thank everyone who has come to us to breed their good bitches to our dogs and to all those who own and show our puppies and bloodlines. You are the ones that really make the magic happen.

So, I’ve saved the best for last...about our kennel name “Lil’ Itch”. I made my living as a sculpture of horses. My most popular piece, was a little colt scratching it’s nose. It was called Little Itch. I just shortened it to Lil’ Itch. If you have an itch about something in life, you have to scratch it to make it happen!