Link to an Additional Article by Paul McGagh, 2012
Link to an Additional Article by Keith Erlandson
Vitals
DOB: 4/30/1993
Sex: Male
Sire: Maesydderwen Griffin
Breeder: Arthur E. Person
Owner: Mark Rose
Died in October 27, 2002
Lifetime points: 25 US 3 Canada
Placements & Awards
| Placement | Date | Location/Handler |
|---|---|---|
| 2nd Place | 9/27/1996 | Rocky Mountain Springer Spaniel Club |
| 1st Place | 10/11/1996 | Southern Michigan |
| 1st Place | 9/20/1997 | North Dakota Sporting Spaniel Club |
| 1st Place | 9/21/1997 | North Dakota Sporting Spaniel Club |
| 1st Place | 10/9/1997 | ECSCA (Michigan) |
| 4th Place | 4/24/98 | ECSCA (New York) |
| 4th Place | 10/31/1998 | Cocker National Championship, Michigan |
| CM | 10/1999 | Canadian National Championship, (1st Cocker to Qualify and finish event) |
| Gun’s Award | 10/1999 | Canadian National Championship |
| 2nd Place | Canadian Field Trial (??) | |
| CM | 10/29/2000 | Cocker National Championship, Wisconsin |
| 1st Place | 9/22/2001 | North Dakota Sporting Spaniel Club |
Rocky is without any question the finest dog ever trained and campaigned by Glencoe Farm during the period of 1995 thru 2002, Freckles being the finest bitch. Between the two, Rocky did not win the National Championship as did Freckles, but I think Paul would name him as the better of the two. His untimely death the day before the 2002 National Cocker Championship seemed befitting his wishes, as sad as it was. Rocky possessed all the physical abilities needed for the penultimate spaniel. His normal performance outpaced every other dog in the kennel. He was capable, on a daily basis, to mark falls and make 400 yard retrieves (his record related below). He was a joy to train. Ever poised, focused, honest and reliable. Thrilling to watch!
His remarkable abilities continued to improved over the years even to our jaded eyes. And the stories about some of his retrieves started to become legends. He made the entire process of finding game; flushing and retrieving it to hand, seem easy. Rocky was a rare and true athlete of extreme abilities.
Paul loved to show off with Rocky to prove the 1990’s perceived limits regarding Cocker performance were short sighted. At the time, there were spaniel people refering to Cockers as “second class citizens” i.e. they were limited in abilities when compared to Springer Spaniels. Gunner’s were instructed not to take a shot too far out lest the dog fail it’s retrieve.
One late summer afternoon, as was our custom, Paul wanted to run drills with the Field Trial dogs. But, on this particular day, we were having our annual “girls weekend” and so Paul had an audience. Paul had been doing the “pigeon retrieve” drill all week. This consisted of us sitting in the John Deere “Gator” which was perched atop a hill overlooking our Glencoe Stream. Mike would load his vest with 20 to 30 pigeons and walk down towards the creek. At a predetermined distance, Mike would turn around to face us, pull a wing clip pigeon from his vest and yell “Wu,Wu,Wu” to get the dogs attention. Once the dog would see him, he would throw the pigeon in the air about 6 feet above his head and hopefully it would land anywhere from 10 to 15 feet from him. Paul would say the dogs name to release and the dog should mark and make the retrieve. This drill started at 30 yards away and would continue to get longer day-by-day. On this particular August day, my memory is that the dogs were working about 50-yard retrieves or paces, which is how we would measure rather than anything scientific. When it was Rocky’s turn, Paul told Mike to go back further than the 50 yards. Mike walked to the edge of the stream ravine and looked back. Paul said, “Go back!” Mike, vest still loaded with birds, crossed over the creek which isn’t a large stream, but has a 20-yard ravine. Waddling up to the top of the ravine Mike looked to Paul again, who said, “Go about another 30 yards.” Reaching that, Mike took a pigeon out, “Wu-Wu-Wued” and threw it. Paul sent Rocky and he retrieved the bird with ease. So, Paul said, “go another 30 yards and throw another one!” and again, Rocky made the retrieve. Paul then told Mike, “one more time”! Sue, Deb, Missy and I had been counting and by this time we thought Mike had to be over 200 paces. We chided Paul that “he was setting the dog up for failure,” but Paul kept Mike walking back. Paul hollered to throw a bird and Rocky marked and made the retrieve! When Paul called Mike back, we girls counted his steps…all 250 of them.
Rocky became an early ambassador for cockers by winning the respect of many hardcore Springer enthusiasts, especially at the Canadian Spaniel Championship in 1999. He was the first Cocker to qualify for and enter the CNC and he went on to receive the Gun’s Award at this event as well as a Certificate of Merit. Several letters and phone calls were sent to the farm recounting Rocky’s performance that included at least 3 retrieves of over 200 yards.
But, Rocky had another side to his life that was his relationship to his owner Mark Rose. Mark had been searching for a Cocker pup and recalled:
“My friend, Ted Soukup” had a Cocker from Walt Cline he called Dotzie and another from Sheila Courts named Vanilla. I had just lost my Springer and Ted invited me to see how his dogs worked. I decided to give a Cocker a try. Ted’s son Mike had also lost his Cocker to an auto accident and they had been negotiating with Art Person on a six-month old pup. Mike thought Art’s $400.00 price was too high so he gave me Art’s phone number and I followed up. That’s how I ended up with Rocky. I now think the $100.00 extra was a pretty good deal. On top of that Art so believed in his breeding he made a deal with me that if Rocky made his Championship, he would give me my $400.00 back! Well, Rocky did make his championship and Art was good to his word and we donated that money to the first Cocker National championship in 1998. Signed, Mark Rose