George Richards was a long-time dachshund enthusiast and highly accomplished trainer. Phenomenal, really, that George did not train his first dog until he was 59, yet he and his dachshunds earned the first AKC Tracking Dog Excellent title ever awarded to any breed, multiple advanced Obedience titles, and also, when George was 98, an Obedience High in Trial!
George Richards and Gretel von Bupp Murr UD TDX
From "History of Tracking Events" on the AKC website, "This advanced test, called Tracking Dog Excellent, was approved by the AKC in 1979 and became effective on March 1, 1980. The first TDX dog was a Dachshund, Gretel Von Bupp Murr UD, who passed the Tracking Dog Excellent Test on March 15 of that year. This dog was owned and handled by George Richards of Sun City Center, Florida."
I consider myself fortunate to have met George and his last dachshund Hummel, a longhair, at an obedience training seminar hosted by Gail Binder in Rochester, NY in 2005. George was 94 at the time and had traveled from Maryland with his son for the event. I found it inspiring to be around someone like him!
Today, I have added two articles about this amazing man on the George Richards page. One of the items, written by Tracy Freeling, contains a link to a video of a qualifying advanced Obedience performance with Hummel in 2009. George was nearly 99 years old!
I understand that Hummel is now living with George's son. May George and his dachshunds meet again.
I consider myself fortunate to have met George and his last dachshund Hummel, a longhair, at an obedience training seminar hosted by Gail Binder in Rochester, NY in 2005. George was 94 at the time and had traveled from Maryland with his son for the event. I found it inspiring to be around someone like him!
Today, I have added two articles about this amazing man on the George Richards page. One of the items, written by Tracy Freeling, contains a link to a video of a qualifying advanced Obedience performance with Hummel in 2009. George was nearly 99 years old!
I understand that Hummel is now living with George's son. May George and his dachshunds meet again.
