RACING TO THE TOP TWO AFFEN SIBLINGS’ RISE TO FAME by KATHIE TIMKO, GIZMO AFFENPINSCHERS
as if he couldn’t fail. Linda said it was meant to be because he was born on Sharon’s birthday. For the first few months, Sharon focused on building a bond between the two of them. Then training began about six months later. Sharon just knew that he had the right stuff—and boy did he! Jag finished his AKC con- formation championship in 2 weekends and with that achievement in his rear- view mirror, he focused on his real pas- sion: performance events! Sharon spent about two years train- ing Jag before entering Agility events. While he finished as the #1 Agility Affen for 2016, she feels that it will take another 2-3 years of work to get their timing down. In the meantime, they “fill in their training time” with other performance events to prevent bore- dom and enhance Jag’s natural abilities: first his CGC title, then attending Barn Hunt seminars to fine-tune his hunting ability (side note: he has killed several rats, a squirrel and more birds than Sha- ron can count. Yuck!) And, of course, he earned his Lure / Coursing Ability Test championship. While Jag excels in running and jumping in Agility, in CAT it’s all about the chase, a natural fit for this speedster. His attitude in these per- formance events is “just put me down and let me go, go, go!!!!” When in gear, Jag is in overdrive! Jag has also demonstrated a natural talent for alerting to blood sugar issues. This was certainly a hidden skillset that Sharon did not anticipate but knew what to do to develop. The result: He is a diabetic alert dog for her. Jag clearly demonstrates Affenpin- scher versatility, a characteristic often overlooked in this fabulous breed. No matter what the starting line, Jag will race to the finish with his pedal to the metal. Meanwhile, Sally took a decidedly different road to success. While she is now known as International Best in Show Champion, AKC Bronze Grand
O n a hot summer day, August 24, 2013, a “six pack” was born at Ferlin Affenpin- schers—an unusually large litter size for Affens. Even more unusu- al—they all survived! With their sire being CH Roadie and dam CH Journey, they became known as the “car” litter. Three of the puppies went on to finish their AKC championships—Porsche, Jag and Sally. While Porsche retired to a loving companion home, Jag and Sally were just getting their engines revved up. Little did breeders, Linda Ferris and Sharon Boyd, know that their col- laboration would produce two history making Affens. You see, Jag, as he’s commonly known, is really Ch Ferlin’s Black Jaguar
MX MXJ CAX CGCA CGCU co-owned and trained by Sharon Rafferty. While he excels in Agility, he is the first and only Affenpinscher in the world to obtain a Lure/Coursing Ability Test (CAT) Championship. Backing up a couple of years to begin at the beginning. As an experi- enced Agility trainer/handler, Sharon knew the attributes she wanted in a performance Affen. In evaluating the litter for one that fit the bill, Linda and Sharon assessed the puppies one by one while Sharon ticked off her list. When they came to Jag, it was clear that he was the one: size of bone (check), atti- tude, confidence, resilience (check, check and check!). He scored very high on every aspect of the test. It was
284 • S HOW S IGHT M AGAZINE , S EPTEMBER 2017
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