The very first Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever qualified to be Obedience Class C only today.

Erikachen Feidhelm At Tollerice & his owner Sam Rice won their final B class today.

A massive achievement for any dog to win out of all classes, but especially with a non BC/WSD, GSD, Golden etc

Add to this as new obedience Champion that is not a WSD/BC. or GSD but a BSD ( Groenendael)Vanistica Olivia.

Nice to see very different breeds doing so well.

When my mum did obedience in the mid till late seventies until early eighties  a lot of different breeds competed it was not domenated by border collie in fact a friend worked a Jack Russell in C

GSDs dominated until the late 1950s when some phenomenal BCs(not WSD) like Dash & Zena & Megan of Monksmead challenged the GSDs with an odd other breed like Golden coming to the fore. From the late 1960s onwards the WSD & BC took over from the GSD. & roles were reversed., 

Since then because of the various popular styles of dogs working have changed so much from the beginnings that the only dogs to consistently able to cope & produce the sometimes bizarre fads(currently dogs who can do heelwork with their heads at 90° to the horizontal with the forelegs unnaturally high stepping & hindquarters almost in the sitting position are "in vogue" despite the KC rules are against this)are WSD/BC types.

Thank goodness other breeds are coming back in challenge at all levels, including Parson Russells, Standard Poodles, Goldens etc

That's why these two results are so good for obedience.

Apart from 2 Golden Retrievers wining Obed CCs at Crufts, there was also a Standard Poodle and aDoberman Pinscher.
Would love to see more variety in breeds winning obed. Ccs.!

I can remember as a young child a man who worked great Danes in obedience mainly because he was a good five to six inches shorter than my mum who was five foot ten, the dogs head were at the middle of his chest and as a young child found this quite funny, if a remember right he use to wear his arm in a sling for heel work so he did not touch the dog while working

A couple that you may have forgotton,
Joan McMillan, LabxCollie Micklyn Shandy, CDEx - TDEx. 1970. May Ray's Terveuren, Minack Red Aral, 1992, Linda Lucock's Terveuren, Hawksflight Fantasia, 2007, Suzanne Jaffa's Amberslade Buckaneer CDEx - WDEx, (but I think eventually a Dual Ch.) ASD, 2010.

> a BSD ( Groenendael)Vanistica Olivia

My first dog as an adult was a Vanistica Groenendael born Oct 1998

Haven't forgotten them but they are the exceptions. There have been a good few who are not the usual breeds who made it to ObCh. It's nice to see handlers who are not in the "circle" of "top" handlers with several dogs(well more than several in some cases), making up their dogs & being good examples & inspiring new to competition owners.

Too many beginners fall by the wayside sadly

I do wonder if the US system where most breeds seem to compete in Obedience would be more encouraging.

There's is a qualifying system for advancement, where a dog advances based on number of qualifying scores, as opposed to first Past the Post.

For those ultra competitive sorts there is still the winning element of course, but more handlers and dogs can advance by improving on their own performance.

> there was also a Standard Poodle

Toy Poodles are good at it too.

> sometimes bizarre fads(currently dogs who can do heelwork with their heads at 90° to the horizontal with the forelegs unnaturally high stepping & hindquarters almost in the sitting position

I really dislike this vogue.

The US qualifying upwards system is very similar to WT here in UK & are based on the WT originally devised by ASPADS(Associated Sheep, Police and Army Dog Society)back in the 1920s.

I'm not 100% sure but I think all the exercises are set by the AKC & allow no individual heelwork patterns, retrieve items etc that are allowed under KC rules. Even in the lower classes there are only single commands allowed in heelwork etc. A much more rigid than here.

I know when the International competition was held at Crufts, the American dogs had to undergo quite a lot of retraining especially in heelwork as their dogs work off the handlers leg


Novice US winner

I had to go back to my book of Pembroke Corgi champions for this

Obedience champion Ambrose of Kingstead born 1954 owner f. Strutt male

Obedience champion Dawnway busy bee born 1955 owner a e Hutchinson birch

in days before the rule of border collie Pembroke corgis are physically incapable of bending like them and every sit is out because of body shape, even the Americans state the corgi sit loses them points and they have to be so much better on the other requirements

There was a Rozavel OBCh but I believe he/she was a GSD.

Also a Yorkshire Terrier won at least 1 OB CC I am reliably informed.

There is a lady working Pem Corgis at the moment will have to see if I can find her details out.

If the tests are judged correctly disregarding "faddy styles" any breed/type should be able to compete on a fairly level playing field. Obviously very tiny dogs might have problems with the length if the heelwork, but then does that mean the amount of heelwork us excessive ??

> the American dogs had to undergo quite a lot of retraining especially in heelwork as their dogs work off the handlers leg<br />

And surely this is a far more natural way to work?

Nothing about any form of "obedience" is really natural TBH my collies without any formal heelwork training will walk slightly behind me, until we get near stock & then they go in front waiting to be told to work. If there's no stock around they are quite happy to following closer than others. I don't do any formal training but like to indulge in a bit of clicker stuff to keep them occupied. I find NOT being allowed to talk to your dog in the lower classes very unnatural(that's the US rules)as I chat to mine all the time, they also don't allow blind or deaf dogs to compete which is sad especially if the dog goes blind/deaf after competing in the past.

Dont forget that numbers of dogs competing in the states is much smaller than over here. I remember chatting to an American obedience chap about obedience & he was amazed that in the UK classes were split at 60 entries as they rarely have anywhere near that number in their trials let alone one class

Another cross-bred that I missed was Margaret Bradley's Coltreiver Choice, 1991, and yes, you are correct, Copyright of Rozavel,1957, was a GSD. I have never heard about a Yorkie obedience ticket winner though, will have to look into this one.
I think the Corgi lady you refer to will be Maria Carter, who also led the successful Pem. Corgi Obreedience team. Corgis do have a good record though. Nan and Ken Butler, (Wey), had a long career in Corgis, making up show champions, but also working them in obedience and Working Trials. Under the old rules, which allowed graded jump heights throughout, Sinbad of Wey qualified >TDEx, and competed in A,B and C in obedience. He also sired the first Corgi to win an obedience CC. Harrison's Bunty of Buzzard also qualified >TD, and Nan's sister Joan continued to compete in obedience into the 1980's.

Sinbad of Wey. was also trained to the gun as Ken butler shot during the season, I remember seeing an old photo of Sinbad working P.D. hanging from an attack sleeve in mid air but not letting go

Sam is a great trainer and all round nice human being. Her dogs are lovely too, I’m so pleased for her. A great achievement indeed.

Suzanne Jaffa's Amberslade Buckaneer CDEx - WDEx, (but I think eventually a Dual Ch.)

Buck is indeed a Working Trials Champion and Obedience Champion.

The Yorkie was Blue Shandy of Sherview( KCSBN 3118BG)
owner Joyce Burton, won his OBCC in 1972 & I believe was placed at CRUFTS in 1973.

Very interesting. Thanks for that Tommee.

Thank you Tomee for this post. I am so proud to make breed history with my boy Voros and hope to qualify him for ticket.