Diver var en svært spesiell hund. Les bare hva eier Kathy Kail forteller om han:
«Diver was a real character and loved life. He was also tough as nails: our field training areas flood every year, and one year one of the venues replaced the pipes between ponds with ones that were much bigger and didn’t have screens in front of them, which we didn’t know. As he was returning from a retrieve, Diver was sucked into one of these pipes and disappeared. Of course, I was out of my mind and my friends holding me back was the only reason I didn’t go in after him. He popped up on the other side of the road in a different pond, bumper still in his mouth, wagging his tail and a look in his eye that said “That was fun! Let’s do it again!” Crazy dog.
He did lose quite a bit of his hearing due to this “fun” ride, to the point that he couldn’t run AKC Master anymore, because he couldn’t hear the duck calls or a whistle at a distance, especially if the wind was blowing. Before, at one AKC test he was on his way to a mark, when he flushed a pigeon. He immediately sat as he’d been taught, watched the bird as it circled around, then when it left he looked back at me – what now? I gave him a back and off he went and got his mark. As he came back, the judges said “you must run NAHRA!”
And NAHRA (North American Hunting Retriever Assn) is what we ran then, because the distances are more reasonable so he could hear. He is still the only Curly to have earned the Grand Master Hunting Retriever title from NAHRA. He retired from the field after that, except for being test dog at the 2005 CCRCA specialty. He was invited to the NAHRA RAW Invitational three times.
So, we took up competitive obedience. I hadn’t done this for 20 years due to all the field work, and there had been many changes, but he did well. He earned 7 High in Trials and 9 High Combineds and at 12.5 years of age, he may be the oldest dog to finish an OTCh (Obedience Trial Champion). Still a tough dog, he finished with a nail broken to the quick, that he did on the way to the trial. He enjoyed obedience almost as much as field work since there were so many people to see and the upper classes have many opportunities to jump and fetch. At one trial, the wind was blowing so he couldn’t hear me when I told him to stop and sit on a go back. Like a good little field dog, he just kept going, thru the next ring (fortunately empty at the time) then out the other side and on his way to the parking lot. I was able to catch him before he made it to the cars and it was a big surprise, since lines on blinds should be stopped by a whistle, right? He was invited to the AKC obedience Invitational three times.
We went to Canada where he earned his CD, CDX & UD/OTCh with many wins and High in Trials. Then to Mexico where he earned his PC and PCX, plus two legs on the PU but then they quit offering obedience at the border show, so he couldn’t finish that. The shows were right next to an open plan zoo, so we could hear animal noises all night. One day I took Diver over there for a walk and when a lion charged its cage at him, he wasn’t impressed. I was …
We were doing agility at the same time, in a casual way, though he did earn wins and placements on all but two legs. He earned four titles there but we really didn’t have time for it and I wasn’t good at running so he had to stay close and had trouble making time. Sometimes he’d stop on a contact and look back like “let’s go, let’s go!” as I was puffing along. He wanted to go, but he always waited.
Conformation is probably the thing we did least often. He finished his Ch by going Winners Dog at the 1995 CCRCA National specialty, went to Canada where he earned his Ch there by winning Group placements, then to Mexico where he did the same thing as well as earning his FCI Ch.
In 2006, a group of friends, many who owned Diver kids and grandkids, presented us with a lovely head study. And in 2018, the CCRCA Diver Down Versatility trophy was created, co-won the next year by Diver’s great grandson.
He was a service dog, he was my travel buddy, he was very special.»