PNWBC Board member Laurie Beck and Page DID IT! Breed history is made in Ridgefield Washington!
Thursday, December 4, they got the last points needed to earn the first AKC OTCH for a Briard - Page, OTCH CH Briardale's One For the Books de Lebec UDX2 (etc), bred by Jeanne Lorang, owned by Laurie and Justin Beck, completely trained by Laurie Beck. Page had earned the UKC Obedience Champion title (not sure if she is the first in that) a couple months ago, but Laurie wouldn't let Jeanne do any bragging until she got the AKC OTCH. She also is the only Briard with a UDX2. Page is 10 next week. Briards now have herding champions, agility champions, and an obedience champion.
Jeanne reports "this has been such a long journey for them both. Laurie made some mistakes early on, Page took advantage of them as only a dominant, smart Briard can, and she came very close to being euthanized for biting. But Laurie fought for them both to get better and learn, and they became a team. There were stretches where the points were just not coming, Laurie was hurting, Page was distracted, etc. Then this summer, Laurie called me in tears sure that Page's career was over, as she could no longer do jumps due to pain. It turned out an infection after dentistry had spread to Page's bones, and it took massive doses of antibiotic over a long period to get her healthy again. And they started picking up those last points, and today she reached 104, with a first place to boot! It's hard to understand how much work Laurie and Page put into this, unless you've followed the whole journey, and Laurie never would let me brag about what she was doing."
Last year Jeanne commissioned Carol Wolfram to make one of her beautiful glass pieces that said "First Briard OTCH", and Carol and friends have been carting it from show to show, waiting for the day. Today Carol was there to watch and give Laurie the plate. "I am so happy for Laurie, and so proud of Sassy's daughter. She'll probably be pissed I bragged before AKC confirmation of the title, but I don't care! No way I could wait! I just wish I could have been there to watch" said Jeanne.
According to Mary Weir a much more dramatic tale is in order......
Carol Wolfram said "the judge had 4 Q's out of the class all present in the ring. Laurie's obedience friends had figured she needed to get 1st or 2nd to finish. The judge announced the 4th place....... doggie walked up got ribbon. The judge announced 3rd place....doggie got ribbon. Drum roll!!!!!!!!!!! judge announced 2nd place... doggie walked up and Laurie had tears in her eyes as she knew she had gotten the title. THEN judge announced 1st and PAGE and LAURIE won!!! The crowd went nuts and the judge hadn't a clue what was going on."
"....and actually before that, the judge asked what legs people were working on. One team just got their 19th UDX leg (towards a UDX2), another their first X leg and a third their 7th leg. She then turned to me and asked what we were there for. I replied, 'oh, we're just here.' She didn't know what to say and everyone laughed" reports Laurie.
What a wonderful way to do it, with friends cheering you on. The judge marveled that Page was the first Briard ever for an OTCH. And Laurie is worried that she didn't comb her hair for the picture. Congrats to the team on a once in a lifetime win!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In retrospect, Laurie writes: "Page has been feeling so good lately that I didn't have a chance to get nervous before we showed. We were the last exhibitors in utility. We went into the ring, she worked with attitude and before I knew it, we were done. Going back into the ring for ribbons I got so nervous, I thought my knees might give out. "
"The commemorative plate that Jeannie had Carol Wolfram make is stunning. Now I understand why for the last few months Carol and friends were always asking how many points Page had. I didn't have a clue!" said Laurie.
"I've been so lucky to have had Jeanne to lean on whenever the chips were down, my trainer, Lori Drouin to call on when something broke (and believe me, when you're trialing for as long as we were, everything broke more than once), a friendly face outside the ring, Carol, to support us, and all of you to recognize our efforts" remarked Laurie.