She
has the longer style muzzle with the width to carry it off well. Her expression is soft
and sweet |
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Conformation
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Height at withers is 21 1/2 inches; weight is about
60 pounds; moderate bone and powerful musculature.
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Very nice overall balance with correct length of
body to length of leg and correct tail set; she could use more
angulation but angles are very balanced front and back; topline
is good but not exceptional; front is good with nice depth of
chest, although she could use just a little more length in both
the neck and upper arm; rear is great; feet are tight and correct.
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Head is lovely, with proper ear set, deep brown
eyes and excellent pigmentation. Her ears are on the larger side,
though when brought forward they do not measure out as being too
long. They are balanced by the size of the rest of her head, which
is substantial while still feminine. She has the longer style
muzzle with the width to carry it off well. Her expression is
soft and sweet.
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Coat is light gold with bright white feathering,
moderate length and density, and correct texture. Her tail is
a standout feature due to its exceptional bushiness.
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Dentition reveals her biggest flaw, since she is
missing two upper premolars. She does, however, have a beautiful
scissors bite with no dropped incisors.
Personality
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Pepper is a very sweet, honest girl who wants to
please and learns remarkably easily. She is devoted to her daddy,
although she will work well with anyone else as long as Steve
doesn’t suddenly appear! We consider her somewhat soft about
corrections, but she also doesn’t need much correcting and
recovers quickly when a correction is necessary.
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Energy level is best described as "drive on
demand". At home she is an easy-going house dog capable of
spending hours laying around in her favorite spot (our bed, of
course), yet will incessantly drop toys in our laps if she thinks
there’s even a faint hope we will throw them for her. When
in a working environment, whether obedience, field, tracking,
or agility, she is an exciting performer with exceptional drive
and enthusiasm.
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Personality quirks: Pepper prefers people to other
dogs, with Steve being the absolute top of her list; she’s
not very interested in playing with other dogs, although every
once in a while she does take a fancy to a particular dog. Her
favorite games are anything to do with retrieving. Pepper likes
to "nurse" on cloth (her bed, fuzzy toys, a towel, etc.)
and she talks...loudly! Not much of a barker (she will sound an
alert bark at the front window), when excited she will warble
in a loud, deep voice that gets progressively louder the more
worked up she gets. When she really gets going she sounds like
a bellowing water buffalo—it can get quite deafening! When
she gets into this overjoyed mode she usually finds it necessary
to grab a toy or an arm.
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Trainability: Awesome. Pepper’s strong natural
retrieve drive combined with strong prey and food drives make
her exceptionally easy to motivate. Add to this her love of affection
and desire to please and you have an idea of how easy it is to
work with her. Her list of accomplishments are only a small indication
of what she’s capable of, since she is Steve’s dog and
he is "allergic to training"! She is also an avid swimmer
with a crashing water entry and likes her birds big and flapping.
Accomplishments
(in chronological order):
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Tracking Dog (TD) certification and title both on
first attempt before her first birthday.
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Tracking Dog Excellent (TDX) on second
attempt before her second birthday. She titled while also pursuing
Junior Hunter legs, earning a JH leg one weekend, her TDX the
next, and completing her JH title the following weekend.
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Junior Hunter (JH) in 4 out of 5
attempts before second birthday while also doing advanced tracking.
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Companion Dog (CD) title with a Dog
World Award (3 legs in 3 attempts with all scores 195 or better),
2 all-breed High In Trials and 1 tie for HIT. She scored 199.5
her first time ever in the obedience ring!
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Companion Dog Excellent (CDX) in
3 out of 4 attempts after only 2 months training; all scores in
the mid-190’s.
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GRCA Working Certificate (WC).
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Agility (AKC): Pepper just hit the
agility scene with a flying start and hasn’t slowed down
since! In her first 2 months of trialing she earned her NA, OA,
and AX in 6 weekends of shows, earning 8 out of 9 legs with perfect
scores and placements on all legs, including 5 firsts, 3 seconds,
and 1 third. During the same time frame she also earned her NAJ
(Novice Agility Jumper) and OAJ (Open Agility Jumper) titles,
also with placements on all legs, including 1 first, 3 seconds,
1 third and 1 fourth. Pepper and Steve are now on to accumulating
MX legs and earning that last jumper title.
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Time off to raise her first litter
born 1/3/99 - 1 boy and 4 girls.
- Agility Excellent Jumper (AXJ) completed with perfect
scores and placements on all 3 legs, earning 1 first and 2 seconds.
- As of 5/17/99 Pepper has 5 MX legs, 4 MXJ legs,
and her first "double Q" leg towards her MACH; as of this
point in her agility career she has earned perfect scores and placements
on every qualifying run except one.
- Second litter born 9/5/00 - 4 girls and 3 boys.
- Utility Dog (UD) title earned out of Utility B
(random-order exercises) with 1 first and 2 second placements and
a 195 average for her 3 legs.
- GRCA Obedience Hall of Fame status achieved on
9/30/01, with the attainment of her 5th High in Trial.
- GRCA Outstanding Dam status achieved on 10/6/01 from the merits
of her first litter while the litter is still only 2 years old!
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As of 12/5/01, Pepper has 5 UDX legs, 7 High in
Trials plus a tie, 4 High Combineds, 87 OTCH points, and well
over the required number of first placements towards her OTCH.
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When
in a working environment, whether obedience, field, tracking, or agility, she is an
exciting performer with exceptional drive and enthusiasm. |
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