White River Golden Club Awards Banquet

Last night was our annual awards banquet for the White River Golden Retriever Club. I am on the awards committee with good friend Janet. It is a lot of hard work (like sweat) to get the trophies up those stair and get everything set out and organized, but I agree with Janet -- it's worth it! What a nice evening we had, and the room looked great with the tables decorated with balloons and Janet's special door prizes. 

I am especially grateful that this club believes in performance events and rewards them handsomely. There are "top dog" trophies in each sport, and several "combination" trophies that highlight our versatile Goldens. Our club has a lot of trackers, too. We boast two CT Goldens (there were only 26 when our second club member earned theirs), and this year we had SIX club members earn TDXs. That's amazing! As Steve pointed out, some breeds don't even have six TDX dogs! All of these dogs, plus Devon and other dogs in the club, are training VST. I have no doubt our club will become known as a serious tracking club.

And for our family's brags. Devon and another dog tied for the OVERALL FIELD TROPHY. There were several dogs working hunt tests and WC/WCX test this year, and I was quite surprised that 2-year-old Devon earned this trophy. Devon also shares the BEKENS MISSOURI TRAVELER X-TRA MILE CHALLENGE TROPHY with good friend Zoe and Dusty. This combination trophy is for the dog who earns a TDX or CDX and a WCX, not necessarily in the same year. Not to be forgotten, Connor finished his competitive career by being the 3rd place finisher for the TOP AGILITY TROPHY.

I hope you enjoy this photo taken last night with Devon's trophies and the balloons from the event. Oh, and I managed to make a wonderful ham for the banquet, in spite of the trepidation from the board when I announced I was making it!