Winger
Winger is a do-it-all dog. There is not a sport or training that he has not taken to right away. He is extremely handler focused and a velcro dog.
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There are not enough words to describe how incredible Winger is. He is a once in a lifetime, one in a million dog! He is everything I wanted in a Golden Retriever and more. He has introduced me to a lot of dog sports "firsts" including: scent work, hunt tests, FastCAT, barn hunt, and dock diving.
Winger is from Freedom Paws Performance Dogs in Ohio. I had been following his impressive grandmother, Joy, so when I saw Winger posted as available for rehoming when he was 18 months old, I immediately knew he was the perfect dog for me. He was held back from his litter and put into his breeder's service dog program, Freedom Paws Assistance Dogs, because his temperament is so amazing. Unfortunately (or fortunately for me!), when he was about a year old his energy and drive really kicked on and he ultimately flunked out of service dog school. Getting an older dog meant that we were able to jump right into sports training!
In 2019, we began dock diving training while starting agility foundations. Agility training halted during 2020, so we focused on dock diving since dock competitions were compliant with COVID-19 gathering guidelines. Winger finished the 2020 season as the #3 Golden in Distance Jumping in NADD. He attended the very first South Central Regional Championship in Houston, TX and his personal best is 26'3".
While competing in dock diving and slowly getting back into agility classes, I was procrastinating training Winger's weaves and decided to enroll him in scent work classes. He was a natural and understood how to solve complex odor pictures right away. We blazed all the way through Novice to Master level within a year, only having to pause because I was still pursuing a Detective title with my cattle dog. In 2022, when Winger was still competing at the Advanced level, we entered the first ever AKC Scent Work Regional Championships and qualified for the Championship round! Unfortunately, the regionals didn't go as AKC hoped, so there has not been a National or another Regional since. Once my cattle dog earned his Detective, I immediately started entering Winger. He earned his Detective title in just 13 tries, all with 1st or 2nd placing runs.
Still working on agility training--Winger knocks bars (it's faster if you just run through them, right?!)--we also gave Barn Hunt a try. After a few lessons learning the game and an indication, I decided to enter him in a competition. We titled in every competition weekend we attended, earning his Novice, Open, and Senior titles in just three trials. All of our Qs were first place, High In Class.
When I finally got up the guts to enter Winger in his first agility trial, the weekend did not quite go as planned! We Qd in his first run ever--Novice JWW--but after that, Winger got way too excited and knocked bars in every subsequent run. After 2 years of competing, Winger finally earned his Novice Agility Preferred title in November 2025!
Winger passed the GRCA Working Certificate test at the 2025 National Specialty, which earned his GRCA Versatility Certificate.
In October 2025, Winger and I competed at the inaugural AKC Scent Work Master National in Winger's home state of Ohio. Over 3 days, we competed against some of the best teams in the country and ended up placing 16th overall out of almost 200 teams.