My interest in dogs dates back to grade
school (I won't mention the year) when I acquired a Cocker
Spaniel that later became the seventh Cocker to earn a
UDT degree in obedience competition. My participation
continued after graduate school when I purchased my first
Golden Retriever-the rest is history. I soon bought a
bench champion golden bitch and the kennel name Topbrass
became a reality. I showed and titled our goldens in conformation
and obedience for several years before developing a keen
interest in field trialing. Since that time training and
trialing has been a way of life.
Fortunately, my second homebred field golden was FC AFC
Topbrass Mandy. She spurred my interest in field trials
and was followed by FC AFC Windbreaker's Smoken' ZigZag,
NAFC FC Topbrass Cotton (co-owned with Jeff & Bev
Finley), AFC Mioak's Main Event, FC AFC Stonybrook's Jersey
Devil (co-owned with Bob & Marge Meegan), and my present
dog, FC AFC Topbrass Jordache-a black lab bitch.
The ultimate goal of many field trialers is to qualify
and run Nationals. Cotton was a finalist in 3 Nationals
winning the 85 National Amateur. Jersey Devil was a finalist
in the 91 National Amateur, and Jordache has been a finalist
twice including the recent 95 National Open in Oakdale,
California.
We now breed both goldens and labs under the Topbrass
prefix and I have an equal respect and love for both
these remarkable breeds.
Hopefully these articles, published periodically by
Working Retriever Central, will help some of
the newer 'retriever believer' folks to progress and
enjoy the training and competition of our wonderful
Retriever breeds. |
