FOLLOWUP: How Liberty the Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever did at Westminster

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(WSB photo, February 6)

Back on February 6th, we brought you the story of West Seattleite Marcia Lyons and her Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever, Liberty, getting ready to head to the legendary Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show and the Masters Agility Championship preceding it. We noticed in today’s results that Liberty had received “select” honors in her breed category. So we e-mailed Marcia to ask for an update:

It has been an amazing but incredibly busy time in New York. Here’s a recap of the last couple days and Libby’s exploits at Westminster.

I am crazy proud of my little Liberty and her performance this weekend at Westminster. On Saturday she ran in the Masters Agility Championship. She ran well enough in the two daytime runs to make it into the top 10 of her height class (16″) which meant she made it into the final Championship that night. It was quite the spectacle, as it was televised nationally on Fox Sports. I was also one of the few selected to wear a special wireless microphone as I ran so they could hear everything I was saying to Libby as we ran. In the final round she ran beautifully and one of the fastest times of the evening, but unfortunately we made 2 errors that added time penalties so we didn’t win. But she was a winner in my book, the way she gave her all as she ran and held up through an incredibly crazy busy day.

To cap her agility success, today she displayed the beauty side of things to compliment her athletic achievements. In the dog show she went into the breed ring for Conformation, in the “Best of Breed” class. It was quite thrilling when the judge awarded her the “Select Female” prize, meaning she was his second highest pick out of the females. We are now heading home tired and happy with some lovely ribbons.

It was an amazing weekend for the little Toller from West Seattle.

We almost missed Liberty on the winners’ list because she was listed by her official name: CH Aqueus Let Freedom Ring CD BN RE AX AXJ OF CGC.

10 Replies to "FOLLOWUP: How Liberty the Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever did at Westminster"

  • Iml February 16, 2016 (10:10 pm)

    Congratulations Liberty!  Great job.

  • Cindy Craig February 16, 2016 (11:31 pm)

    Wow, Marcia! We had no idea you and Libby were stars! We must have missed the first story and so sorry we missed the broadcast. Any chance it will run again? Well done!

    • Marcia February 17, 2016 (6:53 pm)

      Thanks Cindy! “Stars” feels like a generous term. Fox Sports 1 told us it would likely rebroadcast once or twice but didn’t say when….I’d love to find out as well since as a competitor I saw very little of the action since we were off-stage.

  • JW February 17, 2016 (7:08 am)

     I missed  Liberty on tv so I will see if it is on demand. What a beautiful dog and she did Seattle proud 🐾🐾

  • Gatewood February 17, 2016 (10:16 am)

    Congratulations!!!!  Terrific job!!

  • BB February 17, 2016 (2:10 pm)

    Who grooms your Toller?  We live in West Seattle and would like to find a good groomer for our Toller.

    • Marcia February 17, 2016 (6:48 pm)

      I groom her myself, but her breed doesn’t require a lot. However, she is a regular client for her bath time at The Wash Dog in the Morgan Junction….I love being able to wash her there and have them do all the clean up! They have groomers there but I’ve only had them help with nail trimming so far.

  • Bar February 17, 2016 (3:27 pm)

    Libby was awesome in agility and wonderful to see her awarded a Select! Congratulations on a fabulous weekend. Was great to see her on TV for both.

  • John Sasser February 19, 2016 (8:33 pm)

    Congratulations!

    Are there any Toller training groups in Seattle?? Checked online and no joy. 

    I’ve got a four month old pup and we’re going to puppy school, but we’re gonna need more!

    John

  • Tammy February 24, 2016 (10:28 am)

    I need a good toller trainer in michigan I have a 3 month old. 

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