CHARLIE
(HOPE ON PRINCE OF WALES, CD, RAE, HT, PT, CGC, FFX-OG, TT)
CH Shadowalk Trademark, ROMg x CH Hope On's Whale Song
Charlie represents so many firsts for us. Our first Cardigan. Our first shakey attempts in the conformation ring. Our first introduction to official obedience training and competition. Our first herding dog. Our first blue ribbons. And I am sure there are still many more firsts to come.
Charlie finished his Rally career with an RAE and a total of 23 placements out of the required 29 qualifying runs.
Charlie's competition obedience career was put on hold when he was incorrectly diagnosed with IVDD and a ruptured disk in January 2011 that actually turned out to be a soft tissue injury. After a year of rehab and gentle training, we have decided to retire Charlie from competition until further notice. Those pesky jumps are just a bit too much for my sweet boy. Instead, Charlie is dedicating his days to life as my "service" dog. He excels at things such as the remote control retrieve and instead of working scent articles, he figures out which of the many cell phones in our house is mine before bringing it to me.
Ironically, Charlie's false diagnosis came days before what would have been his first CDX attempt. But Cardigans are versatile, and they have taught me to be versatile as well, so I'm sure we'll come up with the best plan of action to keep Charlie healthy and happy.
We feel it is noteworthy that Charlie earned his CD in 2009 with three first place ribbons and scores in the mid-190's, which earned him a Front & Finish Excellent Gold Award -- the 8th to ever have been awarded to a Cardigan, and the first to be awarded from the Novice A classes. Charlie was the 2007 Rally Novice, 2008 Rally Excellent, and 2009 Novice High Point Cardigan. Charlie also earned his Herding Tested and Pre-Trial Tested titles on sheep in 2010, although is secret love is COWS!!!!!! (And not just for eating, either.)
