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As many will already know Zoe died recently. She was a dearly loved companion and a pretty successful competitor. She earned her last ribbon, a 1st place, in 2007 and retired from trials shortly thereafter. She will be missed by us and by her 19 year old cat and loyal companion.

Her death caused Sara & I to reminisce about her and the other dogs we have owned. In turn this took us back to the 1960’s when we first decided to buy a Golden. This was to be a household pet for us and a hunting dog for me.

We lived in Vancouver at the time and while out walking were approached by a person who said that our dog of the day looked like a “field” Golden and asked where we had bought him and wondered if we knew about field trials. We went out to watch couple of field trials in Vancouver and shortly thereafter moved to Victoria in time to be involved in the formation of the Vancouver Island Retriever club.

Our first couple of dogs were not successes in Trials but we did begin to have some experience in training retrievers. In due course we acquired our first “Trial dog” who eventually became FTCH  AFTCH Angus of Stlilrovin. Since then we have had 5 Field Trial champions – all Goldens. Long before Gus had any success in trials we were warned that if we wished to continue in this “game” it was essential that we get a Labrador. When Gus did start to compete with some success in Trials he was the only Canadian owned Golden running in all-age stakes west of the Ontario border. Indeed there was only one other Golden running in the all-age stakes. That was Sungold Ladd owned and handled by a teenage girl from Seattle, Val Fisher (now Walker). What a difference 45 or so years make. Today we have so many successful Goldens many bred here in BC & in Alberta.

If there is anything to be learned from this tale it is that, while it is worth listening to advice, don’t always assume it is accurate.

Bob & Sara Harman

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