SEMPER HISTORY

 

While the Semper Retrievers (Portland, Oregon) name has only been in existence since 1988, we have been involved with Goldens since 1977 as a source for Golden Retriever Stud service and Golden puppies as well as a home for competitive field trial Golden Retrievers .  The name, Semper,  comes from the answer to people who ask how long we will be competing with Golden Retrievers in the field, "Always."  Now we have an online presence with www.semperretrievers.com. We started out with obedience and advanced dogs  to CDX.  Since our first exposure to the world of working retrievers in 1979, we have been involved with Working Certificates, before AKC tests, Gun Dog stakes, AKC and NAHRA Hunt Tests, and Field Trials.  After watching the late great FC/AFC Tigathoe's Kiowa II win an all breed Open All Age Field Trial in New Jersey and see his siblings take the other places, we were hooked.  We have titled 6 AKC Master Hunters, One NAHRA MHR, and have competed in the National Master events in both NAHRA and AKC.  More recently Maci has run in two National Championships and one National Amateur Championship, As well as being the female test dog for another NARC.  We have also had more than twelve Qualified All Age Field Trial dogs running in the competitive NW/California circuits, including Maci our home grown Field Champion.

 

It is difficult to play in the field trial world with out good mentors and advisors and over the years, Semper Retrievers has been fortunate to get dogs or advice from the best; amateurs like Torch Flinn, Jackie Mertens  and a host of top notch professionals including Rex Carr, Bill Sargenti, Clint Swingle, Bill Hillman, Rick & Patti Roberts, Don Remein, Jeff  Torrey, Jerry & Jane Patopea.  Today, we primarily compete in AKC field trials, and occasionally find time to run a few AKC Hunt Tests. In 1985 we got our first competitive field trial dog, MHR Sunshine Otis Spunkmeyer, MH***.  Otis was from the consistently successful breedings Patti DeNardo did with her FC Windbreaker Razzmatazz and AFC Yankee's Smokin' Red Devil;  he died 1 1/2 pts from his FC (at 13 yrs) having received an all-breed win in Montana. He also ran both NAHRA and AKC Master National trials. The foundation for our stock goes back to those Red x Razz breedings and comes from breedings from Wasatch Kennels.  Kai and Lexie both came from Wasatch.  Kai (OS,MH ***) passed away at the age of 13 in 2009. Lexie reigned over the household to the age of 16 after becoming an OD and earning a SH and an all breed derby win. Cooper (Kai x Lexie son with an all-breed Amateur win) and his best buddy, Casey (Derby list and 6 All age points) passed away a few years apart.   They both left marks on our breedings;  Cooper sired Mulligan posthumously.

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Mulligan, aka Semper Cooper's Mulligan,MH ***CCA  is a clone of his late father from whom we did a frozen semen artificial insemination and produced 9 little Coopers.  Mulligan had an abbreviated derby career, but got a JAM before stopping to study advanced work and was a regular finisher in Q. Mulligan had a Qualifying 2nd and first JAMed an Amateur All Age stake in Oregon (2015) .  Mulligan finished the 2017 Amateur at GRCA National Specialty with a JAM.  He has collected  6 MH legs with 8 attempts (mostly handler errors).  Finished his MH in 2018.  He has retired to the cheering section for his daughters and friends.  Mulligan left a legacy but he passed away in July shortly after his FC daughter brought us a new female pup.

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Maci, Semper Mt. Hood Maci, a Mulligan daughter from a Brassfire bitch always trainined with Jerry & Jane Patopea at Utopia Retriever Trainers.   She celebrated her first birthday the end of February 2016 and in limited derbies has finished 5 with one placement. During the 2017 season she had her debut in Qualifying stakes as a 28 month old, and did well.  She ran in a handful of Q's and has a Reserve JAM and a 4th place in all breed trials. We were looking forward to developing her skills early 2017 but as we wound down the season, Maci returned home from the GRCA National Specialty on the Eastern shore of the Chesapeake with a Qualifying win (78 dog entry) and an Amateur 3rd place. We were pleased and excited to get our QAA, but knew that we will be playing with the big dogs on a regular basis.  We trained most of 2018 and started the spring season of 2019 with an Open RJam and an Open 2nd.  Maci finished the 2019 season with a collection of All age JAMS and an Amateur 3rd.  Maci had an even better 2020, with an Open first at GRCA, an Amateur 1st at PRTA, an Open 2nd at Scatter Creek, an Open 4th at ORTC and  a few JAMS.  An added attraction was a last minute trip to Texas to run 3 series in the NRC.  She is also qualified for the 2021 NARC, and we made the last minute decision to head to Wisconsin after Maci won the 50 dog Open in Fallon, NV to get her Field Championship.  Since then in 2022 Maci has won two more opens and collected a number of green ribbons in both Open and Amateur.  She was chosen to be the female test dog for the 2022 NARC in Roseburg Oregon. Now we are getting ready for next years trials in California.  In the summer of 2023 Maci had a difficult pregnancy and we rescued one female pup from the litter.  

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Maci had a difficult year in 2024; she had some health issues which seems to be resolved and went through a difficult pregnancy earlier that took some time to recover from.  Now that she is back in from and running well, we hope that she will show what kind of dog she really is in the 2025 trial season.  We have high hopes!

 

Semper Tucker Duck of Fourth Coast, also at Utopia Kennels,  is starting to show his stuff.  Tucker came from Tony Zappia at Fourth Coast Kennels in New York and out of AFC The Sunday Swimmer (Wyatt) and Heads Up Winter Storm Warning *** (Ice).  He is handsome, smart and loves the water, and he is starting to  prove himself in advanced trials.  He started out derby with a 4th at the GRCA National Specialty in Missouri., and finished up with two wins and  collected 11 derby points.  In October 2019 (30 months old) he ran his first Qualifying trials and got a 3rd and a 2nd.  Since he finished with a Qualifying win in a trial where no one but he finished the last series without a handle.  A week or two later he JAMed an Open.  Fall 2023 marked Tucker's emergence as an All Age player.  He won the Open at the GRCA Specialty trial; starting the 2024 season he took a 4th in the all-breed San Jose R.C. and the Willamette Valley R.C. Opens.

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Cori, Semper Solo Coraggio (TUCKER X MACI) was born in the beginning of July, 2023; she is currently in training at Utopia retrievers.  She is showing promise, but at this age we never know what will come out in the end.  Looking forward to seeing her run some trials in California this spring when she looks like it is time.  No rush for derby.

 

We have limited frozen semen available for Cooper, Mulligan, Tucker and Reacher.

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EMAIL:   drdawg@earthlink.net (mention puppies/goldens in the subject please).  You will receive a spam message but that box is checked regularly.