Wavemaker Hula Popper
“Hula”
UWP Am-CH U-GrCH Wavemaker Hula Popper CAX CGC
August 29, 2010
Black Brindle
Sire: Sabahouse Touch of Class at Zoellies
Dam: Cazomic Look Busy at Wavemaker
Some dogs become important because of what they win.
Others become important because of what they leave behind.
Hula has been both.
Born August 29, 2010, Hula grew into a compact, athletic 15-inch Stafford who represented so much of what we value in the breed: strength without heaviness, enthusiasm for work, intelligence, and an enormous willingness to participate in whatever came next.
Now more than sixteen years from the day she was born, her story spans several generations of Wavemaker.
An Athlete at Heart
Hula loved to run.
She competed in AKC Coursing Ability Tests during the early years of the program and went on to earn her CAX — Coursing Ability Excellent title.
Hula and P-Nut were among the earliest Staffordshire Bull Terriers to reach that level, at a time when performance opportunities for Staffords were only beginning to expand.
It suited her perfectly.
Coursing demands speed, determination, fitness and enthusiasm—the very qualities that make the Stafford such a remarkable all-purpose dog.
Hula also earned her CGC, along with conformation and performance titles through multiple venues. Her achievements reflected something we have always believed strongly at Wavemaker: a Stafford should be more than a beautiful dog standing in a show ring.
It should be able to do things.
Soundness Matters
Hula was not only successful—she was sound.
Her health records include OFA Good hips, Normal elbows, unaffected patellas, PHPV unaffected, correct dentition, and L2HGA and hereditary cataract DNA tested clear/normal for both L2-HGA and HC by blood draw.
Those things matter to us every bit as much as titles.
A breeding dog contributes far more than appearance. Health, temperament, structural soundness and longevity all become part of what is carried forward.
And longevity became one of Hula’s greatest accomplishments of all.
The Dual-Sired Litter
Hula became especially important to Wavemaker through one remarkable litter.
Using frozen semen from two different sires, Hula produced a four-puppy dual-sired litter.
Two were sired by Baysend Nice One Cyril:
Wavemaker Crackity Jones – “Finn”
GCH Wavemaker Here Comes Your Man CAA NW2 CHIC — “Francis”
And two were sired by Bustabones An Reice Gaelach:
CH Wavemaker La La Love You- “Derby”
Wavemaker Surfer Rosa RA FDC NA NAJ CAA FCAT6 MBDCH-G CGC ATT FGDCH— “Sage”
That litter became an important part of Wavemaker history.
Francis went on to become an AKC Champion and Grand Champion, a multiple Best of Breed and group-placing Stafford, as well as a successful performance dog.
Sage built an extraordinary performance career of her own, earning titles across flyball, Fast CAT, coursing, agility and other sports.
Through those dogs—and the dogs who came after them—Hula’s influence continued.
That is perhaps the truest measure of a breeding dog.
Not simply what she achieved herself, but what she passed forward.
A Well-Earned Retirement
Eventually Hula left competition behind and spent her retirement deeply loved in her home in Georgia.
For many years we remained in contact with her owner and received updates about Hula and her Stafford companion, Abbaz.
In November 2025, we received what would unknowingly become our final message from Hula’s owner.
Abbaz had passed away.
She told us that she and Hula were doing okay, but that they were both sad and lonely without him.
It was a simple, heartfelt update.
We only recently learned that Hula’s owner herself passed away the following month, in December 2025.
We had not known.
Where Hula Is Today
The last information available to us is that Hula remained with her owner’s family and was believed to be living with her son in the Winder, Georgia area.
Because we have not been able to independently confirm Hula’s circumstances since her owner’s passing, we do not want to turn what we last heard into something we present as current fact.
What we do know is that Hula reached an extraordinary milestone:
sixteen years old.
And we very much hope she remains comfortable, safe and loved.
Until we know otherwise, this remains exactly what it has always been:
Hula’s page.
Not a memorial.
Not a goodbye.
Her story simply continues beyond the part of it we currently know.
Sixteen Years of Hula
Sixteen years puts a remarkable amount of history inside one little Stafford.
Hula belongs to an earlier generation of Wavemaker. She was here before many of the dogs whose names now appear throughout our pedigrees and before much of what Wavemaker has since become.
She showed.
She worked.
She ran.
She produced.
She helped create the generations that followed her.
And eventually she became something even more important than any of those things:
someone’s beloved old dog.
That is what every breeder should ultimately want.
The ribbons eventually disappear. Titles become letters in front of and behind a name. Pedigrees move forward another generation.
But somewhere, if we have done things properly, there is a Stafford stretched across someone’s sofa, sleeping in someone’s bed, following someone from room to room and simply being loved.
For Hula, that life lasted for more than sixteen remarkable years.
And whatever chapter comes next, she will always remain a very important part of Wavemaker.
UWP Am-CH U-GrCH Wavemaker Hula Popper CAX CGC
Athlete. Producer. Foundation bitch.
And always, simply, Hula.
