Tribute to Extraordinary Rescue Dog and His Talented Human

Judie Niece knew he was special just two weeks after the year-old chocolate rescue joined her household. He settled in with her husband and three other Labrador Retrievers in the Phoenix, AZ area and began to show his personality and intelligence.

The Arizona Humane Society had told Judie’s mother that this rescue was an untrainable chocolate Labrador who also was an escape artist but she decided to take him anyway.

Two days later, Judie’s mother announced she’d have to return this rescue to the Humane Society because he kept jumping over her six-foot cinder block wall and escaping from her backyard. Judie stepped in. She had trained a few dogs and gambled that she could train this one.

Judie spotted something in his alert eyes. “There was an intelligence locked behind his eyes.” She needed to find the key to unlock his learning capacity.

And did she!

She renamed Choco and immediately began his training. Judie and Charlie took Desert Dog obedience classes. The rescue dog learned quickly so Judie registered him with the AKC so he could compete in its events. She registered him as Good Grief Charlie Brown because he was initially frustrating to work with and out of control.

Charlie recently crossed over the Rainbow Bridge just shy of his 15^th birthday after earning 101 titles, spread among 12 performance competitions and one conformation event. Over his career, he amassed more than 600 ribbons, many blue, and lots of bling, medals, and trophies. He qualified 2,147 times to earn all his titles!!  Judie estimates that Charlie qualified about 90% of the time and attributes many of his nonqualifying scores to her handling errors!

His degrees were spread among multiple dog sports: Agility, Barn Hunt, Carting, Dock Diving, Fast CAT, Flyball, Hunt Tests, Lure Coursing, Obedience, Rally, Scent Work, Trick Dog, and the Citizenship/Aptitude elements.

 

Throughout the dog fancy and among friends everywhere Charlie was officially known as Good Grief Charlie  Brown BN CD CDX RN RA RE RAE R-N RN-X JH WC CC CA BCAT DCAT NA NAJ OA OAJ AX AXJ MX MXJ NF RS-N LS-N CGC CGCA CGCU HIT CS CI NDD NDD-V ABdFC-NDD RATN RATO RATS RATM RATCH CZ8B CZ8S CZ8G FDC TKN TKI TKA TKP FD FDX FDCH FDCH-S FDCH-G FM FMX FMCH MBD MBDX MBDCH MBDCH-S MBDCH-G MBM MBMX ONYX TF DN DNA DNX DNX2 DJ DJA DJX DS DSA DSX DSX2 DSX3 AJ HDN DDJJ DDSJ UADNJ UADNJII UADSJ SCN SEN SBN SIN SWN SCNE SENE SBNE SINE SWNE SCA SEA SBA SIA SWA ATT IRON-DOG.

THE KEY TO SUCCESS

Love was the key to the success of the Judie-Charlie team.  “So many hours spent training, bonding, classes, finding the button to unlock his potential. So many hours attending events. So many hours spent just relaxing, cuddling, and playing at home,” recalls Judie.

“Love played an instrumental part in our relationship throughout the years,” she adds.

Fortunately, Judie had retired from her corporate job when Charlie entered her life. He became her second career.

What did Judie learn from Charlie? “Patience!! If something didn’t work repeatedly, I had to find a different approach. Luckily he had the enthusiasm to learn and once something clicked there was no stopping him. He loved to work together.”

At 24 months of age, Charlie earned his Canine Good Citizen certificate and Rally Novice title and then competed in obedience.  Next, both Judie and Charlie learned and competed in flyball, one of his favorite sports. Other events followed but not without lots of training and patience.

Such was the case with water competitions. At first, Charlie hated water. But gradually, he became accustomed to water in a friend’s pool and his retrieving drive succumbed him to swim to retrieve a ball in the pool.  Fast forward five years: Charlie loved and excelled in dock diving! He earned 19 dock diving titles! And dock diving became one of his two favorite sports! This extraordinary dog taught Judie’s other dogs to dock dive. They’d watch him jump off the dock and swim. Before his retirement last year, he amassed 421 dock dives!

In 2016 and 2017, Charlie was among the ten dogs in his division to be invited to the North America Diving Dogs (NADD)/Eukanuba National Championships in Orlando, Florida. In 2016, he ranked as this country’s top senior division veteran distance diving dog, and in 2021, fourth highest. Also in 2017, Charlie was this nation’s third-highest distance diving Labrador in his division. He was invited in 2020, 2021, and 2022 to the regional competitions of dock diving by the NADD, and six times (2016-2021) to the association’s nationals. He qualified for Ultimate Air Dog regionals 2020-2022 and Nationals 2021 and 2202 in Nashville, TN.

Over the years, Charlie became more mellow and laid back in contrast to his early days when he had “over the top energy of a young dog,” Judie says.

What dog food kept him in tip-top shape? He ate Purina Pro Plan Performance 30/20 kibble for most of his life before switching to Bright Mind food for the last two years. He wasn’t particular about treats because he just loved to work, Judie says.  He responded to whatever she grabbed, sometimes hot dogs, but she only used salmon and pumpkin treats for scent work.

MISSING CHARLIE

Judie misses Charlie’s companionship the most since he’s been gone. “He was my main sidekick for so many years.”

She adds: “It’s been a bit strange not having Charlie at a lot of the events. So many people looked forward to seeing Charlie also. Some people knew who he was and came up to meet him at events. These were people whom I didn’t know but they had heard about Charlie.”

Judie, trainer extraordinaire, now has her hands full with her two chocolate Labradors, Luke and Lucy, and Petey, a terrier mix inherited from her mother. She’s training Luke and Lucy to dock dive and Lucy and Petey in agility and flyball.

She smiles when she recounts a Charlie story.  As she and Charlie were about to enter the agility ring to compete, she overheard a man tell his friend “Watch this dog. He clears the jumps by a mile.” Charlie didn’t disappoint! “He soared over the jumps clearing the two-foot jumps by another two feet!” she recalls.

“Charlie was special because once he had a foundation, he was always ready for the next adventure, ” Judie says.

She’s most proud of two of Charlie’s accomplishments:  One, he earned 19 dock diving titles after five years of working with him to swim, and two, he attained his Companion Dog Excellent title in three consecutive shows, placing first place at each during the Heart of the Desert Classic shows. Several friends and acquaintances had predicted Charlie couldn’t earn obedience titles because he was such an active dog. Charlie showed them up!

How does Judie want Charlie to be remembered? “As a misunderstood pup that just needed guidance. He was an extraordinary partner regardless of the sport or venue. He was very intelligent and very loving. We were definitely a bonded pair.”

Up until the last two months of his life, he competed in non-stress scent trials. This summer other events weren’t held because of the extreme Arizona heat.

Charlie got a little upset, she says, when she worked her other dogs after he officially retired. But he’d get his special “mom” time every day whether it was brushing, massage, ball time, or snuggles on the couch.

Time with her “One-in-a-Million, Once in a Lifetime Heart Dog” wasn’t long enough. “I’m thankful Charlie came into my life,” Judie says.

Congratulations on your phenomenal and heartwarming success story, Judie and Charlie.

Judie, may your love for Charlie and his love for you always be in your heart.

RIP Charlie

2008-2023

 

RELATED ARTICLES:

https://www.caryunkelbach.com/extraordinary-rescue-dog-earns-100-titles-in-12-performance-sports/

https://www.caryunkelbach.com/the-untrainable-dog-good-grief-charlie-brown/

https://www.caryunkelbach.com/akc-sports-for-all-dogs/

https://www.caryunkelbach.com/four-generations-of-canine-lovers-competitors/

 

Charlie’s furry family:

 

Charlie’s Performance Photos

 

Flyball was Charlie’s other favorite sport. Here he competes at
the Pecos Play Day Flyball Tournament in April 2017 at Pecos Park, Phoenix, AZ (More Than a Memory – photography by Gary Michael Flanagan)