Remembering Bob Campbell

Communication from Vancouver Island Retriever Club secretary Linda Page…

This week, I received a communication from Glenn Campbell, regarding the death of his father, Bob Campbell. Long time members will remember the Campbell family, lovely people who played an active roll in the early years of the VIRC. Bob was living in Halifax with his son and family at the time of his death at the great age of 96.I have the VIRC Junior trophy here because it was not awarded in 2022. This trophy, donated by Bob & Sara Harman, shows young Glenn and lab, Buddy winning the trophy in 1971. In 1998, Bob won this same trophy with Lucky and Glenn feels that his father was likely a club member into the early 2000’s. At the time I knew them, Glenn was a youngster with a great throwing arm and Bob and Shirley were happily settled in Duncan since Bob was an engineer at the Crofton mill. Glenn plans to bring his father’s ashes back to Duncan in the summer and a celebration of Bob’s life will be held at that time. Anyone wishing to contact Glenn may do so at glennrc@yahoo.com

Linda Page

VIRC May Long Weekend Trials

Premiums for our Spring Trial May 19-22 are live on Canuck Dogs!

Our spring trial this year will be a over 4 days with an Open x 2, Amateur and Junior/Qual held in the Black Creek Area. Our chairs, Kevin Ashfield and Debby Montgomery are flying out all 3 National Judges for the long weekend. There will be hot lunches available each day for $10 cooked up by our members and sponsored by ANW Trucking. Thank you once again to Nolan and Amanda Wannop for their continued support of our game and our club.

Over the winter the club has resurrected some trophies as well as created a brand new one. Debby Montgomery worked tirelessly on this as well as Bryan Kemper who’s wood working skills creating the new Bob Harman trophy are amazing!

The Graham Tyler Memorial Trophy will be presented to the Dog/Handler winning the Friday Open.
The Bob Harman Memorial Trophy will be presented to the top amateur handler collecting the most All age points over the weekend.
Annual Trophies will be awarded for the winners of the Junior and Qualifying stake

We are looking forward to seeing everyone!

https://www.canuckdogs.com/upload/DogShowDocs/14583613-b9eb-11ed-8944-0050569873b0.pdf?fbclid=IwAR1qlrouneypyR_KudDd1wujIt93JkFk-nuZbnYT8vnVpg1Uvlxl6BtdY2w

https://www.canuckdogs.com/upload/DogShowDocs/ced4f79a-b9ee-11ed-8944-0050569873b0.pdf?fbclid=IwAR2dwUVuEhm1oDgvy67mE2I97N6cDk3E4jG_9bZ6I3Dgpx86nP59XqsJxqM

Upcoming Vancouver Island Workshops


The Canine Acamania has super exciting events this year, and registration is open!
Please share with anyone who may be interested!All events are open for registration, and the link is posted on The Canine Acamania’s website:

Here is the link to the page with all the registration forms, and the posters with the information are attached. 

  • February 3rd and 4th – Ward Falkner will present a problem-solving workshop in Cobble Hill
  • April 1st and 2nd – Maria Soto competitive obedience problem-solving workshop in Courteney at All Things Dog Room.  
  • June 24th and 25th, Connie Cleveland-Nolan will return to Vancouver Island to present a competitive Obedience Workshop.
  • June 28th, Pat Nonal will be on Vancouver Island for the first time, presenting a one-day early transition workshop in Chemainus, BC and
  •  July 1st, 2nd and 3rd, Pat Nolan will present a 3-day Advanced workshop targeting young MH/Qual teams at Swamp Dog Farm in Black Creek, BC.

Thank you in advance for your support,

Maria Soto

“Maximize Your Dog’s Potential”
www.thecanineacamania.com

New – Organized Training Day

Dear Members, at our AGM it was decided to replace traditional picnic trials with training days for 2023. This recommendation was made by your executive who continue their commitment to finding ways of growing the VIRC through training opportunities and licensed trials. To ensure that this change would be beneficial to all, the guidelines were developed in consultation with members and with those who have shown a willingness to lead the training days. We were extremely pleased that so many members voted to try out this new format. 

Please take the time to read over the guidelines below and check out the location of these monthly events. As you will note, the majority of our experienced handlers have volunteered their time to provide handlers of every level with quasi trial experience and we thank them for stepping up. Thanks to those who are providing grounds and how lucky we are to have Swallowfields for three of these events! 

Again, I would like to encourage all members to come out and participate. Our aim is to accommodate all retrievers no matter what their performance level. 

Guidelines-for-VIRC-Training-days-1Download
VIRC-TRAINING-DAY-SCHEDULE-1Download

Two Upcoming Kevin Cheff Seminars

MASTER LEVEL – AUGUST   9 – 11

ALL AGE LEVEL – AUGUST 12 – 14

We are pleased to announce that by popular demand, Kevin Cheff is returning to the Comox Valley He will be providing us with 2, 3 day work shops.

Last year, handler spots sold out very quickly  Again, this year there  are only a limited number of handler spots and audit spots available. In addition, there  are also 4 private sessions that can be booked in advance. Fees pay for Kevin’s services, grounds, birds, and poppers. 

Kevin is one of the most highly sought-after Instructors in North America. He has a very thoughtful and innovative style and his ability to read dogs is of a very high level.  You can read more about him here. 

About | Kevin Cheff | Retriever Coach (theretrievercoach.com)

His first workshop is geared to dogs competing in the Canada National Master this year. You do not need to be competing to attend and any dog at the master level will greatly benefit from this workshop it is a prerequisite that any handler that registers be competing at the master level. Handlers of any level can benefit greatly from auditing. . 

You can register Here

2023-08-09 PRE CANADIAN NATIONAL MASTER TRAINING (theretrievercoach.net)

The Second Workshop is geared to dogs at the All-Age level competing at this year’s National Retriever Championship hosted by the VIRC.  You do not need to be competing to attend and any dog competing at the All Age/Qual level can benefit greatly. It is a prerequisite that any handler that registers be competing at the Qualifying or All Age Level but handlers at any level can benefit greatly from auditing. Kevin will send out a questionnaire and create a training plan to focus on your particular issues and strengthen your game.

You can register here. 

2023-08-12 PERSONALIZED TRAINING WORKSHOP ADVANCED FIELD TRIAL (theretrievercoach.net)

Canadian Field Trial Results

There has been lots of discussion (and confusion) around where to find  the latest Canadian Field Trial results.  Previously, there was a page on the National Retriever Club (NRCC) website, however since the website is in the process of being rebuilt, much of the information is not being kept up to date.  Until the new website is up and running, you can access field trial results through Retriever Results.   No subscription is required to view event results. 

From the menu on the VIRC home page (at the top or  right side) select  Retriever Results – Field Trial Results (as shown below in yellow).   This will open the Retriever Results search page.   

On the Retriever Results Events page, select Year (2022), then Club (scroll down the list to find the Club you are interested in).

National Qualifiers:

From Retriever Results you can also see which dogs are qualified for the 2022 Canadian National.   Select Nationals from the top of the page, then select Canadian National Open, or Canadian National Amateur to see the lists.