Hall of Fame Inductee
WARRENER'S BLACK SCOTER
Year Inducted : 2019
FC AFC CFC CAFC Warrener's Black Scoter RN MH NA NAJ CGC WDX
"Oscar"
July 27, 2001 - November 30, 2015
Bred by Vicky Thomas and Paul McGagh of Glencoe Kennels, North Dakota
Trained by Tom Ness of Oahe Kennels, North Dakota
Handled by Tom Ness and Lisa Brown
Owned and Loved by Lisa and Hob Brown
In the words of Lisa Brown:
Oscar was inducted into the Hall of Fame for his service on the battlefield. That is what my husband tells his friends. It is true. Oscar was a respected competitor on field trial battlefields across the United States and Canada for ten years, 2003-2012. He ran under many judges, in a variety of covers, competing against the best cockers in the United States and the best springers in Canada and he was always a contender.
Perhaps his greatest accomplishment was becoming the first spaniel to earn Field Trial Champion and Amateur Field Trial Champion titles in both the United States and Canada. In Canada, cockers and spaniels compete against one another in sporting spaniel trials as opposed to separate breed trials in the United States. It takes a pretty talented cocker to go up against springers and win. Oftentimes, he was the only cocker in the trial other than perhaps one of his kennel mates.
We like to think that Oscar's travels across Canada created further interest in cockers as there are many more cockers competing in trials there today. However, perhaps due simply to the degree of difficulty, to date in the entire history of Canadian sporting spaniel trials, only fifteen cockers have become field trial champions. Oscar and his progeny represent five of the fifteen.
Oscar placed in many trials and earned a number of awards in his career. We have a photo of him standing by a ribbon rack in our old office. The ribbons start at the ceiling and touch the floor. There are a total of 50 field trial ribbons plus many others for his extra curricular activities. He placed first ten times and accumulated 106 points.
Oscar had plenty of natural talent and an incredible nose. We loved the way he ran the wind and his acceleration when he scented a bird. He was fast yet smooth in style. He was biddable with a happy demeanor. He was very intelligent and aware of his surroundings. When hupped at the line, he would look to either side to check to see that his gunners were in place and then, the minute the guns clicked closed, he grew a few inches taller anticipating the cast off. He could be handled with almost no whistle. In fact, it was best to lay off the whistle, not disrupt his pattern and just trust him. He was an excellent retriever with a perfect mouth.
The titles behind his name represent his extra curricular activities as we competed in other AKC performance events when not trialling or hunting wild birds. He was the first field-bred English Cocker to earn an agility title and the first to receive the ECSCA Versatile English Cocker Award.
Oscar was the product of two English field champions, one of which later won the cocker championship in the UK and the other became a field champion in the US. He was a popular stud dog. At this point, it would be almost impossible to count the many field champions with his name in their multigenerational pedigrees. He was the sire of the following field champions:
NFC FC AFC CFC CAFC Ballymena's Irish Rose MH, "Nellie"
FC AFC CFC Ballymena Lucky Shamrock MH, "Cassie"
FC AFC Yankee Creek Island Expresso CDX GN RN MHA CGC, "Joe"
FC AFC Yankee Creek Island Piper SH, "Danny"
FC Oahe Stella, "Stella"
FC Gimme Shelter Khaya MH, "Khaya"
FC Oahe's Leotie, "Leo"
AFC Featherwood Blackthorn SH OA OAJ, "Thorn"
Oscar achieved a number of firsts, titles, and awards in his career:
2004 - Field Champion (FC)
2004 - Certificate of Completion - National Cocker Championship
2005 - Second highest point dog in US behind his best friend and running mate Penny
2006 - Gunners' Award - National Cocker Championship
2006 - Certificate of Completion - National Cocker Championship
2007 - Began transition from professional handler to owner - amateur handler
2009 - First winner of the High Point North American Cocker Trophy with 39 points
2009 - High Point Amateur Dog and second highest point open dog for the second time
2009 - Amateur Field Champion (AFC)
2010 - Novice Agility - first field-bred English cocker to earn an agility title (NA)
2010 - ECSCA Working Dog Excellent (WDX)
2011 - Canadian Field Champion (CFC)
2011 - Canadian Amateur Field Champion (CAFC)
2011 - First spaniel to earn Field Champion and Amateur Field Champion titles in both US and Canada
2011 - Certificate of Merit - National Cocker Championship
2011 - Certificate of Completion - National Cocker Championship
2011 - Master Hunter (MH)
2011 - Novice Agility Jumps with Weaves (NAJ)
2012 - Canine Good Citizen (CGC)
2012 - Rally Novice (RN)
2015 - First recipient of the ECSCA Versatile English Cocker Award
