This page has information on Tara including pictures, health testing results, and a temperament description. Further, you can scroll to the bottom for pictures of past Tara puppies as well as a video of an entire litter in training.
Int CH OTCH2 RACH2 Summer Brook Nothing But Love UDX2 PCDX OM5 RM4 RAE4 CGC OBHF NAP NJP- “Tara”
Tara is our English Golden Retriever with a huge heart and the biggest desire to work and please of any dog I’ve ever known.
Scroll down to see more pictures
Birthday—December 3, 2015
Breeder—Summer Brook Acres
Show Results for Tara
Click on the link to see the title certificate from AKC. Those titles that don’t have links are recent titles and I either haven’t received the official papers from AKC or haven’t had the chance to scan them in.
OTCH – Obedience Trial Champion
OTCH2 – Second Obedience Trial Champion
RACH – Rally Obedience Champion
RACH2 – Second Rally Obedience Champion
RA – Rally Advanced
RE – Rally Excellent
RAE3 – Rally Advanced Excellent 3
RM3 – Rally Master 3
CD – Companion Dog
CDX – Companion Dog Excellent
PCDX – Preferred Companion Dog Excellent
UD – Utility Dog
UDX2 – Utility Dog Excellent 2
OM5 – Obedience Master 5
CGC – Canine Good Citizen
OBHF – Obedience Hall of Fame
NAP – Novice Agility Preferred
NJP – Novice Agility Jumper Preferred
Tara’s Health Clearances
Click on underlined words to view results.
Hips—BVA 2/2 – This is the equivalent to an OFA Excellent; see OFA’s BVA and FCI to OFA comparison chart; click on the score to verify.
Elbows—BVA 0:0 (the lower the score the better; click on the score to verify).
Heart—Clear – click here to verify
Eyes—Clear – click here to verify
DNA Health Test Results for Tara
The following health tests are DNA tests and are recessive genes. As long as one parent is clear, no puppies will be affected.
PRA1 – Tara is either a clear or a carrier by parentage (Jack is clear and Hope is a carrier). We never tested Tara since all of our males are clear. She will only be bred to a clear.
PRA2 – Clear by Parentage (Go to Jack’s page and Hope’s page to verify); when both parents are clear of any recessive gene, all offspring will be clear.
Ichthyosis – Clear – click here to verify – We tested all of the girls in Tara’s litter when they were very young. Tara was identified as Miss Pink as a puppy.
Temperament Description
Tara is an extremely loving, people pleasing, smart girl!
In the Obedience Ring
During our non-puppy times, she is my newest obedience trial partner.
In Rally Obedience
Tara had never been trained beyond basic obedience (sit, down, and wait) until she was over 12 months old. We had 3 months in between litters starting when she was 12 months old. She went through all 3 levels of rally completing her rally novice,
Tara and I started competing for her RAE title before she was 18 months. We only went to one trial before busyness with puppies caused us to again put our obedience competitions aside. At Tara’s first trial for RAE, Tara received the very impressive High in Trial.
In Traditional Obedience
In regular obedience, Tara earned a CD before she was 18 months and was trained to the CDX level before she ever competed for her CD.
The following summer (2018) we had another puppy break and she finished her CDX. Then….puppies again until the summer of 2019 when I trained her to the Utility level. She received her first utility leg her very first time in the utility ring. She finished her UD before the end of the summer and then won a first place in Utility B winning her first OTCH points just 2 weeks later. Less than a month after winning those first OTCH points, Tara had earned 19 OTCH points. Then at her last weekend of trials before temporarily trading in her job as an obedience trial winner to become a mother again. Tara won HIT (High in Trial) as well as Combined High in trial not just once. She won both of these very sought after honors BOTH DAYS.
2021 Accomplishments
Tara’s training was put on hold to raise puppies and then for Covid. However, during six short months in 2021 when we had a break from puppies, Tara earned more OTCH points putting her total to 70 points winning 10 first places in utility B and 6 in Open B. In rally, she earned 15 triple “Q” legs toward her RACH. Tara went home with the triple combined HIT in 11 of these shows. In at least one of the other trials, she was second only to our Jake.
Tara is a joy to work with and a dog who is a lot of fun. I’ve never worked with a dog that loves to work and please as much as Tara does.
Tara At Home
At home, Tara is always up for a jog or a hike or to chill at home with the family or to play fetch. Surprisingly, as happy and energetic a worker Tara is in the show ring, what visitors comment on about her is how calm she is in the house! For me, Tara is the complete package!
Pictures
Pictures of a Past Tara Litter
Videos of Past Tara Puppies
The seven puppies in the video below were raised during the Covid-19 pandemic. We trained them to this level earlier than normal because many families from across the country needed to pick up early before things began to shut down. This degree of training is exceptional. However, it is not our norm for puppies at only 9 weeks 3 days of age. This video exemplifies the training at 10-11 weeks of age. Still, this video demonstrates the drive to work and the intelligent of typical Tara puppies. Tara herself has an extremely high desire to please and is very focused and smart. She certainly passed these qualities along to all seven puppies in this litter.
