Beau-D’s love for field trainingchanged my mind. I decided toattend a couple of field trial seminarsgiven by Pat Burns and Carol Cassidy.With their encouragement, I decidedto enter Beau-D in a couple of Quali-fying Stakes leading up to the 2014GRCA National Specialty. He didn’tpass either one of these tests, but Ilearned so much from the experi-ence. I was beyond thrilled whenBeau-D finished the GRCA Field TrialQualifying Stake and earned a JAM(Judges Award of Merit) and two stars.This accomplishment placed him inthe Golden Retriever history books.He was also awarded the CH Tonka-hof Bang*** Trophy.

Along with our love of field,Beau-D and I share a mutual love forobedience. He is a very happy work-ing dog, and a joy to train and show.Five months after earning his MH,Beau-D earned his OTCH. He’s hadmultiple Highs in Trial, High Com-bineds and a perfect 200 from theOpen B class. In July of 2014, heplaced fourth in the Super Dog divi-sion of the All Star Obedience Tour-nament. We also qualified for the2015 AKC National ObedienceChampionship (NOC) by being thehighest scoring team at the Region 2Qualifier event. In March 2015, wetraveled to Purina Farms to competein my first NOC. To my amazement,Beau-D and I placed tenth overall,competing against the top obedienceteams in the country. He qualified inall 20 trips into the ring. It was a gru-eling, thrilling event. We surpassedmy goal of placing in the top 50.

Beau-D has also shown a lot ofnatural talent for agility. He’s earnedhis NA and OAJ so far. However,agility is pretty much on the backburner while Beau-D and I concen-trate on our obedience and field venues.

Cortney Corral expertly handledBeau-D to his breed Championship.When she called to tell me he’dearned his first 4-point major, I justcouldn’t believe it. Two days later, Iwas able to watch for myself as heearned the second one. I became abeliever and, within a short time, Ihad my first Champion. At the 2013

GRCA National Specialty, Cortneyand Beau-D won Best in Gun DogSweeps from the Master Hunter dogclass. I don’t know who was moreexcited, Cortney or me!

Beau-D has already accom-plished so much, but he’s not doneyet! One goal for 2015 is to earn thefinal two MH passes needed to qual-ify for the 2015 Master National. Ournext goal is to qualify and competein both the AKC National ObedienceChampionship and the AKC MasterNational in the same year. Also, nowthat Beau-D has two stars, it wouldbe nice to add a third one and earnQualified All-Age (QAA) status. Thiswill not be an easy road, for sure, buttogether we’ll work hard, buildingthe skills we need. And along theway, Beau-D and I will have a greattime, as we always have.

I am extremely fortunate to havea supportive husband who acceptsmy being gone on many weekendsand coming home late in the eveningafter training. It has been a challengeto be able to accomplish all that Ihave with Beau-D with limited funds.Fortunately, by doing all of Beau-D’straining myself, as well as carefullypicking where I show and trial him,I’ve been able to make it work. I amso excited for what the future holdsfor us.

Beau-D was born February 19,2010, and was bred by Marc andCarol Lowy. They bred their “Jolie”(MACH3 Wilt’s Morgen AuroreanJolie CDX RE MH MXB2 MJC XFWCX OD VCX CCA) to Kathy Fla-herty’s “Brogan” (CH Mirasol NoseNo Blarney RA JH OA OAJ NF WCOS VCX CCA). I am so thankful toMarc and Carol for doing this breed-ing and involving me in the process.In addition, a huge thank you to myfriend and field training partner,Carol Young, for all of her help andsupport. I very much appreciateeveryone who has been followingBeau-D’s journey thus far.

Beau-D is an incredible dog and I am so blessed to have him, as wellas the dogs who came before him, inmy life. Each dog brings new experi-ences, more knowledge, and greatjoy. The journey continues. ❖

Beau-D’s Journey into the Record Books, continued

I’ve always been a goal setter, and I have the willingness towork hard to achieve them. In my professional life, I am cur-rently a reading intervention specialist, working with first andsecond graders. Teaching my students and training my dogsparallel each other. Building skill by skill, developing a solidfoundation, is a major component of what it takes to be suc-cessful.

It also takes a very special dog to make breed history in theway that “Beau-D” has. His pedigree speaks for itself, withmany strong working dogs, along with a nice mixture of con-formation champions. In addition, his strong desire to please,his no nonsense attitude and his athleticism bring together allthe ingredients for quite a journey!

Beau-D’s performance career began with a TD at just sixmonths of age. He is a strong tracker, and it is something wemay go back to in the future. We began our field training earlyon and Beau-D showed a good deal of natural ability. I am

proud that I’ve been able to personally do all of his field train-ing. While it is very time consuming and makes for some longdays when I train after school, I wouldn’t trade it for anythingin the world.

Beau-D finished his JH and SH quickly so I decided to giveMaster a try prior to the 2012 GRCA National Specialty. Train-ing went well even though we failed a couple of tests along theway. I decided to go ahead and enter the Master test at theNational Specialty. Beau-D was the youngest in our flight andthe only CH to make it out of the first series. I was ecstaticwhen we were called back to the third and final series. Hislack of experience showed up on the last series and we failed.No matter what the outcome, I was so proud of him for makingit to the third series of this difficult Master test. The followingsummer, his Master training came together and by August, heearned his MH title and my first DDHF.

To this point, I’d never considered running field trials but

Beau-D headstudy; photo by Tanner Congleton

Beau-D finishing his OAJ title.

Finishing 4th in the Super Dog Division of the All Star Obe-dience Tournament . Photo by Steve Surfman Associates