Flat-Coated Retrievers - Trip
Our second flatcoat was Trip; he was from near Chicago and was born on
September 21, 2014, and died a few days past his 7th birthday on September
24, 2021. His official name was
GCHB CH Kistryl Clocks Fall Back CDX BN GO RM2 RAE SH CGC TKA WCX (Int CH)
[Sire: CH Flatterhaft Nike Everclear MH WCX]
[Dam: CH Starworkers Questions To Be Asked JH WC]
but we decided to nickname him “Trip” because he liked to walk between your legs; he succeeded in accomplishing his name at least twice the first day we had him. The breeders, Cheryl Kistner and Marilyn Wilcox, have a very nice web site with lots of good flat-coat information at kistryl.com. He finished his conformation championship by picking up a point just 9 days shy of his first birthday at the Santa Ana Valley KC show on Sept. 12, 2015 (he had gotten his two majors earlier: April 26, 2015 at the Lake Matthews KC show and May 22 at the San Fernando KC show).
Julie continued to show him in conformation since she enjoys it, so Trip finished his Grand Champion title (25 points required) some time in the summer of 2017. AKC's point count differed by 1 or 2 from ours, so we think he made it a few weeks before they did; either way, he became official. More recently (May 2019) he picked up his 100th Grand Champion point, so he became a Bronze Grand Champion.
He also had a few working, obedience, and rally titles - Rally Advanced Excellent (Silver Bay Kennel Club, Feb 25, 2018, after having previously completed Rally Novice, Rally Advanced, and Rally Excellent). He achieved high combined score (197) for the second to last leg for his RAE. He also had his Beginner Novice in obedience (Claremont, Sept 25, 2016) and had earned his Companion Dog certificate (Palm Springs, Jan. 6, 2018) and the CD Excellent (CDX) almost exactly one year later (Palm Springs, Jan. 4, 2019).
He finished his Junior Hunter title at the Great Western Flat-Coated Retriever Club (GWFCRC) test on November 19, 2016. A year earlier, he got scared off by a zombie duck and it took him a few months to recover. (The duck in his last retrieve that first day wasn't quite dead; it began to splash which spooked Trip, so he turned tail and swam/ran away.) He also picked up his Flat-Coated Retriever Working Certificate (WC) in the Spring of 2017.
He continued his hunt training past that and on October 31, 2020 finished his Senior Hunter title at the 2020 GWFCRC tests. After a break for more training and the COVID-19 pandemic, he picked up the first two (of four) legs toward his Senior at the Inland Valley Retriever Club tests July 18-19, 2020, and his third at another Inland Valley test on Ocobter 18. He had already demonstrated his advanced skills by earning his Working Certificate Excellent (WCX) at the Nov 27, 2018 GRFCRC WC/WCX test, so it was a bit of a relief to see him finish off the Senior title on Halloween. He actually passed a 5th senior test the next day (Nov 1), but it did not count for anything since he finished his title the day before. However, it was a fun day and showed that he still knew how to use his three brain cells.
After a few more months of training, he got the first leg toward his Master Hunter title on his first attempt on March 14, 2021 at the Inland Valley Retriever Club test. He picked up his 2nd and 3rd during a 4-day double-header test by the Labrador Retriever Club of Southern California on March 26 and 28, just two weeks later.
He nearly passed his 4th Master Hunter test on September 19, 2021, but because of his advanced cancer, he didn't have the strength to do his last water blind. He successfully retrieved 11 birds in the test, but the 12th (and final) looked like it might kill him then and there.
Unfortunately, the cancer finally took him on September 24. He had collapsed two weeks before, but was making an encouraging recovery. However, in the end it was just too much.
He was a great dog. He is sorely missed.
Trip was recorded in action on AKC.TV in August 2019, not long after he achieved Grand Champion Bronze status. He even appears on the video menu for the Sporting Group. You can check out the link on AKC.TV; fast forward to 09:30.
More pictures of Trip are located in the photo gallery.
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