Sandra Marr and CH OTCH Winsome Mavrk Copper Eclipse, UDX, NA,WDX

"Copper"

When Copper was born, most people told his breeder just to place him immediately in a pet home since Liver Roans were not very likely to finish in the breed ring nor be very worthwhile for anything other than a pet. His breeder grew attached to this little brown fur ball as she realized he had a brain & was very smart at figuring out the world around him very quickly. She insisted he go to a working home. My history within this breed is legend so even after sitting on the sidelines for almost 15 years, fate intervened & I was fortunate enough to obtain Copper, my dream dog. However, the dream would have to wait a while longer. Copper was already four months old when he came to Texas from Pennsylvania and immediately afterwards I developed a pinched nerve in my back which sidelined us for another three months. Needless to say we bonded deeply and perfected our couch potato act. So at eight months of age, in August, on an outdoor asphalt parking lot, Copper began his obedience training! We trained through Basic, Novice and Beginning Open before we finally discovered indoor daytime training classes. What a treat to work in air conditioning! On Copper's second time in the ring, we tied for HIT at our 1998 National Specialty. Even though we were not awarded this win, it was a first for our Specialty show & we gave notice of things to come. We completed our Novice title with a Dog World Award the following weekend & competed in the Pup-eroni Classic held in Houston later that year. We showed in Novice for two months total, having taken the time off from showing in conformation. Copper finished his breed CH a few months later at 22 months of age, all owner-handled!

In the process of training for Open, we discovered ATTENTION training -- what a novel idea! We showed early in Open to be steady for our 1999 National Specialty and did complete our CDX at that show where we also won 1st place in Open B, High Scoring CH, and High in Trial. We continued showing in Open B throughout the rest of 1999 with class wins & placements, which gave me the confidence to know that we could truly be competitive in the "B" classes. Our showing in the "B" classes is necessitated by my having owned and handled the very first English Cocker OTCH.

Training as we go, we began Utility training in the Fall of 1999. Again, we showed early in Utility to be steady for our 2000 National Specialty and actually obtained our UD title beforehand with class wins and placements. Steady we were since we qualified in both Open B and Utility B to obtain our first UDX leg at the Specialty and also win 1st place in both classes and Team competition, High Combined, High Scoring CH, and High in Trial. We continued showing in double classes throughout 2000 to accumulate two-thirds of our OTCH, winning several High Combineds and an all-breed High in Trial as well.

The start of 2001 brought us ever so close to our goal but we were two points short of completing the OTCH before again venturing off to our National Specialty. Copper obviously had a grander plan in mind. The only points available (two) were for a win of the Open B class. Guess who? With that win Copper became the 5th English Cocker OTCH but the first ever CH OTCH for the breed and of course, completing the title at a National Specialty was a rare, memorable and historical feat indeed. We also again won 1st place in Open B, Utility B, Team competition, High Combined, High Scoring CH and High in Trial. At this Specialty Copper also qualified in Agility and earned his Working Dog Excellent (WDX) title in the Field.

Having been ranked No. 1 for three years and finally accumulating OTCH points in 2000 got us invited to the AKC Invitational in 2001. Being a youngster of just four years old, Copper exhibited the stamina it would take to be competitive at this prestigious event and we look forward to competing at this level in years to come.

Copper has also been in Agility training these past few years and we are poised to make a run for those titles at this time. Tracking is also on our agenda and given the propensity for field work which he recently exhibited, Hunt Tests could be in the foreseeable future as well. If we can, we will. If we can't, then like I said before, we'll be couch potatoes par excellent! Actually, Copper doesn't have to do anything to be my best friend and constant companion.