RECOGNIZING VERSATILE COLLIES By Marianne Sullivan
W hen Collie peo- ple say Collies can do every- thing, they put “their money where their mouth” is. We’re fortunate to have a breed that has no division between the working/ performance aspects and the conforma-
tion titled dogs. We’re also lucky to have a national breed club that enthusiastically supports this concept. Th e first program designed to honor the multi-faceted Collie is the Versatil- ity Awards program. When Jim and Judy Smotrel had the idea of this program they wanted to include dogs that had “distin- guished themselves both in the breed ring
and at performance events.” Because these awards are based on various titles in degree of di ffi culty they reflect all the characteris- tics essential to our herding breed. Designing the program to please every- one wasn’t easy. Each AKC recognized title has a point value assigned to it. Needing to be passed by the CCA’s (Collie Club of America) Executive Committee, they
“A compromise was reached in that to receive the Versatility Award A MINIMUM OF ONE CONFORMATION MAJOR IS NECESSARY, with additional points for a completed championship. 268 • S HOW S IGHT M AGAZINE , A UGUST 2014
Powered by FlippingBook