Showgsd-l

OBEDIENCE

The Mother Daughter Act
BY:    Jill * Kathi

In June of 1995 the German Shepherd Dog Club of Manitoba, along with the German Shepherd Dog Club of Canada, hosted 2 Specialties, the Central Region Futurity Show and 2 Specialty Obedience Trials. Our Manitoba club has a number of annual awards available to Club members in recognition of their accomplishments; one of the most coveted yet seldom awarded is the Dual Award - for dogs who achieve the highest qualifying score in obedience
and place in their class in the Specialty. This year we had decided to offer the unofficial Veteran's class in Obedience, as there we a fair number of great old dogs around and their owner's had expressed some interest in having some fun with them at the Specialties.

The Veteran's Class in Obedience that year had 7 entrants; each one of which was a Can. CH, held at least one Obedience title if not more, most had been TT, a few TD and HC as well. Of the 7 who competed in Obedience, 5 were also entered in the Veteran's Class in the Specialties. The Obedience judge was brought to tears on the long sits, where 7 beautiful, Champion multi-titled German Shepherd oldtimers sat in the bright sunshine patiently waiting one last time for their owners to return.   It was truly a fine representation of the versatility of our show dogs, companions and friends.

High score in the Veteran's Obedience Class was earned by CH Linhort's Kahlua Kiss To Jaslin, CDX, TT, ROMC, with a score of 191. She went on to win a second place in the Veteran's Specialty Class, being beaten only by a dog more than 4 years her junior, as Toddy was eleven and a half that
summer. For the first time in recent memory the Dual Award had been earned. That evening, at our annual awards dinner there were few dry eyes as her owner Jan was presented with the Trophy.

The following day was the German Shepherd Dog Club of Canada regional Specialty, and emerging from the field of Obedience Veterans to win with a high score of 190 was CH Jaslin's Turbo Boom, CD, TT. Not only was she a veteran of seven and a half, she is Toddy's daughter. Unfortunately the Dual Award was only offered on the first day, so Boomer just had to settle for a High in Class. But Jan and I were both proud mommas that weekend to see our old girls out having fun, a mother and daughter competing together
in the Veteran's classes, and each having their turn at winning.

Toddy passed away the following winter, having left a legacy of other CH, multi-titled dogs. Three of her daughters were Champions, two of which had U.S. CD's as well as Canadian CDX; a son a regional Futurity Victor, also
with a CD, and other High in Class and High in Trial Obedience winners. A number of her progeny also are TT. I was very fortunate to have been able to know such a wonderful representative of the breed, and to have aquired
her daughter Boomer to carry on such a tradition. I believe that Toddy, born in January 1984 was one of the last daughters produced by Grand Victor CH Langenau's Watson.

Shown in the photo: laying down - CH Linhort's Kahlua Kiss To Jaslin, CDX, TT, ROMC and sitting, her daughter CH Jaslin's Turbo Boom CD, TT with their High in Class awards