Four nationals…?
One week ago today I took Keeper back to his trainer, Gary Riddle, in northern Utah to get ready for the fall field trial season. After just seven days I’m already getting excellent reports back from Gary. While with me, Keeper had much of the summer off of training as I recovered from abdominal surgery I had on June 1st.
During the 2021 calendar year and the spring of 2022 Keeper has run extremely well for both Gary and me. Gary and he got his Open win plus 6 more points and now only needs 4 points for his Open Field Champion title. Keeper and I ran Amateur stakes in the spring of 2021 and 2022, mostly in the south and midwest, finishing his Amateur Field Champion title with a second win in a blizzard in Colorado in early March. It feels so good when both dog and handler work together for a near flawless performance!
After a quick trip to Alberta in early September Keeper will be qualified for all four North American national championships. Gary will handle him in the Canadian and U.S. Open Championships and I plan to handle him in the Canadian and U.S. Amateur Championships. Our two goals are to do well in these nationals and to finish Keeper’s FC title. We’re all three ready!
Additionally, following this spring season Keeper is in a tie in the 8th position for National Amateur High Point Dog! To be clear, there are 18 dogs ahead of him in points with several of them tied in 7 different point totals. With a high Amateur placement or two Keeper has the opportunity to jump several dogs at a time and move well up in the standings. Although our focus is on the Open and his FC title for this fall, I see the possibility of me handling him in at least a few Amateur stakes along the way. After all, why let Gary have all the fun!