“George was a wedding gift from my father. Like it was just yesterday, I remember my father asked me what Alison and I wanted as a wedding gift. Of course he should’ve known I would say a dog. I came to love Bearded Collies after watching Westminster on TV in 1996 seeing “Andrew“, Diotima’s Bear Necessity. With Hawaii having a strict quarantine, we couldn't ship in a puppy from the mainland. So we arranged to get our first Bearded Collie from New Zealand’s breeder Pam Douglas of the Llanddona Kennel. George arrived as a dark mahogany fuzz ball 3 month old puppy. I had competed heavily in obedience, first twenty years unsuccessfully with Basenjis. Then, after switching over to Shetland Sheepdogs, I blossomed, achieving a number of High in Trials, causing a lot of stress to always be on top. With Beardies, I thought my life would be calm and less stressful. Enter George, he took it upon himself to follow in my Shelties’ competitive footsteps in obedience. He was the breed’s number one Novice Beardie in 2000 and number five Open Beardie in 2001 nationally. That was quite difficult to do with Hawaii’s limited trials of 6 per year. George became tired and bored of obedience, so we then turned to Agility. He did his darnedest to please me but because of health issues, from weight and hypothyroidism, was only able to complete the beginning novice title in the sport. I can still picture George’s last run at jumpers smashing all the obstacles. I guess it was his way of saying enough is enough. He retired and lived out to almost 14 years old, the most striking dark stay-brown Beardie we’d ever seen. Oh, I mustn’t forget after retirement George traveled back and forth cross country with us in our motor home, plus attended two National Bearded Collie Specialties, Mount Hood and beautiful Sonoma Valley, as a spectator and participated in the parade of titleholders. I will always remember my lovable brown teddy bear, Good Ol’ George.”
11/15/03 Novice P 16" Leg 1 97 1st/1 86.57'/83' 1/11/04 Novice P 16" Leg 2 100 1st/2 77.46'/78'
11/15/03 Novice P 16" Leg 1 94 1st/1 49.52'/44' 1/10/04 Novice P 16" Leg 2 86 1st/2 53.86'/44' 1/11/04 Novice P 16" Leg 3 92 2nd/2 52.80'/44' NJP
Off to a BAD Start