CH Nella Running Tab Passes

With great sadness I write to inform you that my champion Nella Running Tab has passed away May 28, 2010.

I have never had something that I was more proud of.  I don’t have children, so my animals are my life.  You always hear parents say about their kids that “we love you all the same”.  Well that isn’t the way it is with my kids.  Ben brought me so many things; joy, happiness, frustration, closer to my father, but most of all FRIENDS.  There are so many people that I wouldn’t have met without this dog.  The field trial community is truly a great one. 

In his short career he won the Michigan Open Shooting Dog Championship, Arkansas Open Shooting Dog Championship, R-U Champion in the Montana Open Shooting Dog Championship and a 2^nd place at the Beaver Creek Classic in the piney woods of Georgia.  All of these accomplishments in the wonderful hands of Shawn Kinkelaar.  It is a testament to Shawn to take a young dog and win in about every venue in the country.  It’s fun to see a dog on the same page with such a great handler. 

Ben was whelped in April of 2005 and was bred by Bryce Flaming, going back to his great dog, Hanna’s Elhew Lou. 

The best years were definitely ahead of Ben, which makes this so much harder for me to write. 

As my father and I put dirt on Ben’s oak box, with tears rolling down our faces, a bobwhite kept whistling, assuring us that he’s still in a good place. 

-Vagas Mathison