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The Lucknow Sentinel, 2015-02-18, Page 88 Lucknow Sentinel • Wednesday, February 18, 2015 McCormick's Blueticks Champion Coonhounds Valerie Gillies Lucknow Sentinel Dave McCormick is more than an auctioneer with his business McCormick's Auction Service near Teeswater. He has been training coonhounds for 55 years. He competed in the World Championships in 1991, 1992 and 1993 and has won Champion Bluetick three times. McCormick's favourite hound was a female with the name and titles of World Champion, Night Champion, Grand Champion, Steele Blue Fly. She won many State Cham- pionships in the United States. When questioned, McCormick proudly describes her. "She's really pretty, but does she hunt!" She made her Night Champion Degree in 3 consec- utive hunts. "She was amazing!" Any dog in McCormick's Ken- nel must have the ability to run and tree a coon. Steele Blue Fly has become very famous in magazines as in her first com- petition at the Lambton Nite Hunters in Brigden, Ontario, after consistent night hunt training, she won the entire hunt with a score of 1,375 plus points, higher than usual scores for that hunt In 1993 or 1994 McCormick drove to West Plains, Missouri to compete at the Heart of the Ozarks Fairgrounds, one of the largest Blue Tick events in the US. There were 7 awards available to be won over the 2 day event. Showing 2 females in the competitions, McCor- mickwon all 7 awards. As well as being a competi- tor, McCormick is a licensed United Kennel Club (UKC) Judge, as a Coonhound Judge. He has judged numerous events in Ontario as well as across the US including the World Championship held in North Carolina and the Cystic Fibrosis Show & Hunt in Atlanta, Texas. McCormick is often sought out to give advice to coon- hound trainers. When he was campaigning hard and win- ning he would receive 6 to 20 calls per week from people asking for help and for point- ers over the telephone. In 1993, he made a 45 minute video entitled "Showing Coonhounds': It is an instruc- tional video on training hounds to be successful show champions. It continues to be sold in every state except Hawaii. The same year it was made, several copies of the video were sent to warships in Bosnia. Many of the young people who enlisted were coonhunters and continued to get magazines on the sport. They ordered the video through the magazines. Some copies were shipped to Australia. McCormick plans to start travelling to show his coon- hounds again. He has 2 dogs in his kennel now, with Blue Dolly being the top dog. Blue Dolly won the Best Overall Show Champion at the 2014 Canadian Autumn Open held in September in Owen Sound. The only wrinkle in McCormick's plans to show is that he has been very busy with auctions, which is a good thing. The tricky part is that both auctions and com- petitions are on weekends. Submitted Coonhound Blue Dolly poses with her award, owner Dave McCormick and UKC judge Bonnie Rowntree at the 53rd annual Canadian Autumn Open coonhound event held in Owen Sound each year. Dolly won the prestigious award of "Overall Show Champion". September 2015. Submitted Malcolm Squires admires the winning trophy won by McCormick's Blue Dolly at the Canadian Autumn Open event in Owen Sound. Malcolm is a young enthusiast who enjoys the dogs and spending time taking in events such as this with his grandpa, Doug Vincent of Blyth. September 2015. Submitted These are just some of the trophies that Dave McCormick as won over his years of showing coonhounds. These large awards were won in states such as Texas, Georgia, Missouri. When he was doing his steady campaigning, McCormick won the New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Kentucky, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Georgia and Alabama state Bluetick championships. February 2015.