Welsh Terrier Bear (competitor #102) scored 197.5 out of possible perfect 200. The soundtrack is out of synch with the video.
CH Rubicon’s Sugar Bear, ME, OA, OAJ, CD,CGC, CG, and a certified therapy dog. (1989-2006) Yes, he was 11 years old in this video.
This judge was great. He was tough but fair which made it even more thrilling to get not just a passing score but a really high score.
Many thanks to my trainer Diane Bauman for teaching me about focused attention!! And all the rest of my obedience work!!! She is a GREAT trainer!
And also many thanks to Pam Rubenstein for breeding such a magnificent dog and allowing him to be mine after he retired from the show ring.
Bear was a multiple group placing former top 5 welsh terrier dog in the show ring before he retired and came to us. We brought him out of retirement once to have him shown at the WTCA national specialty at Montgomery and he won an Award Of Merit.
We didn’t get around to obedience till he was much older (too busy doing earthdog stuff) and only showed in obedience three times over a three day weekend when he was 11 years and 3 months old. Over that weekend he earned scores of 196, 196.5 and 197.5 out of a possible perfect score of 200…and defeated over 70 dogs. He even had a small cheering section of total strangers, I think because a professional trainer from canada had come down with Canadian top ranked advanced obedience dogs (golden retrievers) to compete in the Novice A classes for 2 days of this American three day show weekend. People were hoping a real novice would beat him. We beat one of his dogs and the other one just beat us by half a point in the class on this video. So that was fun too. All I had wanted was to get passing scores and Bear was magnificent the entire weekend even though I was very nervous and probably didn’t help him as much as I could have.
In the test on this video, We lost one point on the heel on lead exercise because I made a very rounded right turn. And one point on the heel off lead exercise because I made a very rounded right turn again. 2 points off because of my sloppy walking on the turns. Not blaming the judge at all for marking us on that, Bear was capable of making a sharp right turn with me but I had a momentary lapse in my attention. (The dog had better attention during this test than I did:)
3 months later he debuted in the agility ring at 11 1/2 years of age. He did earn his AKC open jumpers and open standard titles in spite of having an unathletic and complete novice for a handler and competed in
AKC agility at the excellent level for several years at a very advanced age.
He was also an AKC Master Earthdog (that is as far as the AKC earthdog titles went back then) and earned his
AWTA certificate of gameness and even did a little bit of hunting out in the field with other dogs.
Bear was also a certified therapy dog and visited nursing homes. And at a senior age, his hips were rated good by OFA.
Sometimes people ask if you can form a close bond with a dog that you get as an adult rather than a puppy. Bear didn’t come into my life until he was an adult and I think it is pretty obvious from this video just how close a bond he formed with me. He was the ultimate companion and will be forever in my heart!!!
2 Comments
IMPRESSIVE!
Wonderful little dog! I have a Welsh too and know just how special Bear is. My Dylan is a great dog, but is determined to work WHILE surveying the ring for dangers! Still, we have a Utility leg and are scouting for more! He loves agility too–agility was made for Welshies, I think!