Moose Jaw is home to a recently famous golden retriever.  

Tripp is owned by Shelley and Gary Overs and as of March 19th he was inducted into the Canadian Kennel Club’s Golden Retriever Club of Canada Agility Hall of Fame. The highest title of golden retriever in the country.  

The Overs’ brought Tripp to Moose Jaw from Arlington Washington. He was the product of North America’s top show golden retrievers.  

“So, in the golden retriever world, there’s two kinds of golden retrievers. There’s a confirmation golden, they’re the ones that prance around the show ring. They're not super high drive but they’re able to do some work. Then there’s field goldens and Tripp is a field golden which means he is a straight working dog. So, everything about his being is that he wants to work,” says Shelley Overs.  

Before Tripp was trained in agility, he was doing rally obedience trials, he received his working certificate which tests the natural hunting ability of the dog, and doing hunt tests which is another form of fieldwork.  

When Tripp was 7 years old, he began taking agility lessons with Overs and he trained for about a year and a half. He trained with local organizations Furever Fun and the Moose Jaw Dog Club.  

“Agility is when you’re out on a course and depending on what level you’re working at there’s anywhere from 14 obstacles upwards to 21 obstacles. These obstacles can include jumps, tunnels, a wooden A-frame that the dog has to climb up and go down the other side,” says Overs.  

That’s only to name a few obstacles. As Tripp progressed through the levels, the skills he had to require became more difficult. 

Since Tripp started competing in agility trials, he’s won over a dozen different titles including some of the highest-level titles in agility trials.  

Overs shared that the titles he’s won required him to go through a large number of trials which he had to come out with a perfect score on multiple accounts.  

By the time Tripp was 11 years old, he was the third-best golden retriever in Canada for agility.  

Now Tripp is 13 years old and Overs says he’ll compete in only a few more trials before he goes into retirement.  

Overs is currently training a new puppy, a two-year-old golden retriever named Tuck, in obedience, fieldwork, and agility.  

There is an agility trial coming to Moose Jaw over the July-long weekend. It’ll demonstrate golden retrievers of all levels.  

It’s taking place in the exhibition grounds across the street from the Western Development Museum and it’s free to attend.  

More information on the event can be found on the Moose Jaw Dog Clubs Facebook page.