 Unless
you came to visit Fanfare Shelties when we lived in Fort Worth or Killeen, you never met Cory. He was my first sheltie, a
16" sable and white fella given to me when he was a mere five weeks old. My
ex-husband purchased him hastily for one hundred dollars, thus came his name, Hasty One
Hundred. At five months, Cory was in obedience school sponsored by the Amarillo GSD Club,
instructor Jim Beasley, Cory's biggest fan. By nine months of age, Cory had an all-breed
HS Dog in Match and shortly thereafter his first leg on his CD with a second placement. A
few months later, armed with a Koehler Open obedience book, Cory boarded a plane bound for
Frankfurt, Germany for a tour of duty for 18 months. At age three, Cory was back in the
states and completing his CD with a first and third placement and adding one leg to his
CDX before family problems caused him to wait another three years before returning to the
ring to finish his CDX title with placements - first, second, third again! In October of
1979, Cory became the fifth sheltie to pass the temperament test, having #TT-5-SS. In the
meantime, Cory went through protection training. Cory was one bad little sheltie! NO
obstacle was too big, no man too scary. With an "Out", Cory was his sweetheart
self again. Cory loved utility more than anything. After 3 months training, Cory was in
matches going HIM with two 198.5s and a 200. Excitement of the crowds got the better of
him to disqualify himself; like the time the judge said #3 glove and turned and retrieved
it promptly to the judge. Cory was too smart for his own good in many ways. We managed to
get through utility with two first and a second. Cory retired from the ring just shy of
his 9th birthday with a qualifying career average of 195.5 in spite of my poor handling
and crude knowledge of training techniques. It was before the "Golden" age and
before obedience was fierce competition. It was when we made it up as we went along and
everyone helped each other and we were all happy for everyone when they qualified. Scores
did not matter and everyone was happy for each other, no matter who won what. It was a
time when we worked with our dogs for fun--it was something to do together with friends.
It was a time of laughter in the rain. It was Cory's time and I'm so happy we had that
time together. He was my first buddy and now he's with all of his obedience buddies that
have gone on before him. We miss him--- |
