Treeing Walker Coonhound ‘Wendy’ Wins Top UKC Bench Shows
“Wendy,” a 5-year-old Treeing Walker Coonhound, delivered peak performances to capture impressive back-to-back Overall Bench Show Champion wins at the Grand American and weeks later at the UKC Winter Classic. GRCH CCH GRCH(2) ‘PR’ Red Eagle Second Wind truly got a second wind to win the prestigious events only months after whelping her first litter of puppies.
Handler Natalie Adkins of Browning, Illinois, who co-owns Wendy with her son, Hunter, and daughter, Isabel, was determined to get the hound in condition for the highly competitive bench shows. Shortly after Wendy’s puppies were weaned, Adkins began running her 2 miles on a treadmill five days a week. The training paid off.
“I love how balanced Wendy is and how effortless she moves,” Adkins says. “In all my years showing hounds, I’ve never had a dog so well-suited to shows. I wouldn’t change a single thing about her. I am so happy that Wendy is the hound who made my dreams come true.”
The 2021 Grand American in Orangeburg, South Carolina, was the first national show Wendy competed in since September 2019 due in part to the coronavirus pandemic. Wendy outperformed 126 hounds to become the Overall Bench Show Champion. Five weeks later, she won the Grand Champion class at the 2021 UKC Winter Classic in Batesville, Mississippi, and then was named the Overall Bench Show Champion, besting 195 hounds.
Other prominent bench show winners in Wendy’s pedigree include her great-grandsire, WSHOW GRCH ‘PR’ Cherry Creek Banjo Rick, who won the UKC World in 1999. Her great-great-great granddam is GRCH Little Walnut Tammy, one of the winningest Treeing Walkers in history and the Best Female of Show at the UKC Winter Classic in 1993, Best Super Grand Champion at the NKC World Show in 1996, and Champion of Champions Female at Autumn Oaks in 1999.
Among her top wins before the Grand American and UKC Winter Classic, Wendy was the National Grand Show Champion and took Best Opposite Sex at the UKC World Show in 2019. The statuesque hound was bred by Janis Hunter of Oak, Florida.
Wendy, the 2021 Grand American and UKC Winter Classic Overall Bench Show Champion, is fueled by Purina Pro Plan SPORT Performance 30/20 Chicken & Rice Formula dog food.