6X CH / 11X RU-CH True Confidence to be inducted into the Bird Dog Hall of Fame

CH True Confidence (Two Acre Bulldog x Bar P Annex)
Photo © Chris Mathan

The extraordinary pointer male, CH True Confidence (2009 – 2023), will be awarded a bird dog’s highest honor when he is inducted into the Bird Dog Hall of Fame on February 10, 2024. The prestigious event will take place in Grand Junction, Tenn., home of the National Bird Dog Museum. CH True Confidence, call name Bob, was owned by Frank and Jean LaNasa of Isanti, Minn.

Bob had a distinctive pedigree. He was sired by Two Acre Bulldog, a son of CH Funseeker’s Rebel out of Rester’s Tiny Dancer, a granddaughter of this year’s other elected Hall of Fame dog, CH House’s Rain Cloud, through his son CH House’s Rain Water.

Bob’s dam, Bar P Annex, was sired by Bar P Shadow, bred to Bar P Xena. Xena is the daughter of CH Front N’ Center (another dog Frank and Jean owned) bred to CH Hard Driving Bev, a multiple grouse champion.

In stature, Bob was stunningly handsome with a beautifully shaped head and perfect conformation. He was mostly white with dark orange ears and a distinguished mark on the right side of his muzzle. Bob’s temperament was a 10 and on point, he exuded confidence and poise. Never hardheaded or willful, Bob was, as his pro handler Luke Eisenhart mentioned, “a dog handler’s dream.”

At the breakaway of the National Championship in 2017, “Bob’s expression is loaded with intensity and determination to go hunting,” Frank said.
Photo © Jamie Evans

Perhaps, most importantly, Bob had uncanny intelligence—clearly evident in his keen, brown eyes. He adapted to all terrains and cover types and could find and point birds anywhere.

As a two-year-old, Bob won his first runner-up championship placements at the Region 19 Amateur All-Age and National Prairie Chicken Open Shooting Dog trials. His next three placements—two championships and another runner-up—were in shooting dog stakes.

At these trials, Frank handled Bob and Jean scouted. But when Bob was six years old, they decided to give him the best opportunities and, in 2015, placed him on the open all-age circuit with pro handler Luke Eisenhart.

Over the ensuing five years, Luke was phenomenally successful. Bob placed in 11 championship stakes and on five different birds—from prairie birds to bobwhite quail.

Bob’s tally of placements and honors is exceptional.

• 6 Championship wins
• 11 Runner-up placements
• 2 First Place and 2 Second Place honors in classics
• 6 consecutive years qualified for the National Championship
• Top qualifier in 2019 and 2020 Continental Championships

Bob rests in the shade of the horse trailer after a training run on the North Dakota prairie.
Photo © Chris Mathan

One of Frank’s fondest memories was Bob’s last trial. As usual, Bob was part of Frank’s string when he trained on the North Dakota prairie during late summer.

“In 2020, I decided I would run him in one last trial after he had a really good summer. I entered him in the Dr. D.E. Hawthorne Open All-Age Border Classic (held in Columbus, N.D.) and he placed first among 35 contenders at 11½ years of age,” Frank said.

Besides placements, another measure of a dog’s worth is what it produces. So far, Bob has sired eight champions with a 29-36-164 record. Jerry and I vouch for Bob’s prepotency and our progeny should soon add to those numbers. We bred Northwoods Comet (CH Rock Acre Blackhawk x Northwoods Vixen) to Bob in 2021 and to Bob’s son, CH Southern Confidence (call name Big), in 2023. Every puppy of both litters shows the bird-finding, style, poise, intelligence and temperament of the sires. (Interestingly, the sires of both Big and Comet, parents of the 2023 litter, are now in the Hall of Fame.)

6X CH / 11X RU-CH True Confidence
Photo © Jamie Evans

Frank and Jean retired Bob from the field trial circuit in 2021. He lived his last years in the house and even though the kennel was about 100 feet from the house, “We could never get him to get near the kennel again!” Frank said.

Congratulations to Frank and Jean on this most prestigious award for your most deserving dog, CH True Confidence.

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What is the Bird Dog Hall of Fame?
Bill Brown, long-time editor of The American Field, initiated the idea for a Hall of Fame in 1953 and simple rules were announced one year later. The first year of the awards followed in 1954 when five dogs (must be deceased) and five people (living or deceased) were inducted. Since that initial year, two dogs and two people are inducted.