2022 Inductee – “Blaze”
Owner/Handler: RJ Teuene
1004 Champion Points
Legendary Status Champion
50x Champion
6 Super Major Championships
3 Major Championships
Even though RJ loves the Vizsla breed it was time for a change. When the time came Judy and RJ made the phone call for Craig Steinbach to start looking for an EP pup. RJ was on a business trip to China when the call came from Craig that he had found a pup in Kansas. The decision had to be made quickly but we trusted Craig’s judgement. Then along came Blaze. Early on Blaze spent time at Fly-n-Gun Kennel for his foundation training. What a great decision we had made there too.
The pup had some big shoes to fill when RJ was running with a pack of dogs like Albert, Ginger & Jade all future hall of famers. And do not forget about Reb, he made the final decision if Blaze would fit. It quickly became noticeably clear that Blaze was a perfect match for the Teune family.
Blaze won puppy of the year in the Wisconsin Series running against the likes of Joey (Adam Vonhamme) and took second place with Bob G in the BDC Nationals puppy of the year by only seconds to Mike P & Ruger. Both are champion quality dogs.
Blaze was fast with the love to run and the first time they went to Alabama it was like Flight Blaze coming in for a landing at the UFTA Nationals. It was five below in Wisconsin when we left and sixty degrees when we got to Alabama and no snow, conditions could not have been more different. Blaze would run without any obstructions and no collars. He was the one bird wonder in every field that he went into except for the last day. Blaze went into that field and was the fastest run against forty dogs that day. When he was done, he just looked at me and seemed to have said I can do it dad, just give me a chance.
Blaze was easy to read in the field. When on point, if he was standing tall and proud you were going to have to look because he was farther from the bird. If his front was down and tail in the air not so far and if he was flat on the ground with tail up, he was close enough to touch the bird. And he was a natural retriever, if you even nicked a bird, he would chase it down and come back with the bird, which happened in the BDC Western Nationals. It was about a 200-yard retrieve on the last bird to win the BDC National Championship that year.
Blaze ran with many different people. Cheyanne Bell was one of them. Their first run was on a very warm day, Cheyanne hit the bird, but it fell in the pond. It took the rest of the run to get Blaze out of the water with the bird. He was a love for water and swimming that may trump his love of hunting. Blaze even competed at Craig and Teri Steinbach’s in a Duck Dog Challenge, swimming against some of the best Labs, and won. Cheyanne went on to win a BDC Nationals Ladies title with Blaze 2 years in a row. One of the same years RJ and Blaze won the BDC Nationals Masters Championship and the next year took 2nd to Nala also run by RJ.
Today, March 10, 2022 Blaze enters the BDC Hall of Fame as a Legendary Status Dog with 50 Championships, 1004 career Champion points, 6 Super Major Championships and 3 Major Championships. RJ states “ If not for a bout with cancer and a 9-month break following surgery and oh yeah, if I were a better shot those numbers would have been a lot higher, of that, we are sure.” However, Blaze did not care he was out doing what he loved best. Humans count the points, the dogs are happy finding birds, being loved and giving love back. We could not have asked for a more perfect dog in our life.