Club Awards

Working Champion

The Champion Title is awarded to a dog who achieves 3 Section E passes in the water, or 3 Level 4 passes in a cart, one of which must have been achieved using unwheeled apparatus. Or, 5 Level 4 passes in a wheeled cart at 3 separate locations.

The title will appear as Ch(W) or Ch(D) after the dog’s name.

Recipients will receive a Championship Sash at a working event, and a trophy, certificate and badge will be presented at the AGM.

Distinction Award

This will be awarded to a dog who passes all three Grades of the Achiever’s Award in water, draught, nosework, or all five in obedience.  The title will appear as Dist followed by (W) (D) (NW) or (O) after the dog’s name.

Recipients will receive a Distinction Rosette at a working event, and their certificate and badge will be presented at the AGM.

Multi Pass

The Club offers 3 levels of multi-pass in Water, Draught and Achiever’s. Bronze of 5 passes, Silver for 8 passes, and Gold for 10 passes. These also apply to Veteran passes. 

Recipients will receive their multi-pass certificate and multi-pass badge at our AGM.

Centenary Badge

This badge will be obtainable for every dog, as all that’s required is for your dog to achieve 100 WNC passes and/or awards with ourselves. 

The badge has been designed to celebrate the handler and dog’s achievements at such a milestone of accomplishment, and will be awarded at our AGM.

What is a Title Really?

Not just a brag, not just a stepping stone to a higher title, not just an adjunct to competitive scores; a title is a tribute to the dog that bears it, a way to honour the dog, an ultimate memorial.

It will remain in the record and in the memory for about as long as anything in this world can remain. Few humans will do as well or better.

And though the dog himself doesn’t know or care that his achievements have been noted, a title says many things in the world of humans, where such things count. A title says your dog was intelligent, adaptable and good-natured. It says that your dog loved you enough to do the things that please you, however crazy they may have sometimes seemed.

And, a title says that you loved your dog, that you loved to spend time with him because he was a good dog, that you believed in him enough to give him yet another chance when he failed and that, in the end, your faith was justified. A title proves that your dog inspired you to that special relationship enjoyed by so few; that in a world of disposable creatures, this dog with a title was greatly loved, and loved greatly in return.

And when that dear short life is over, the title remains as a memorial of the finest kind, the best you can give to a deserving friend, volumes of praise in one small set of initials after the name. A title is nothing less than love and respect, given and received and recorded permanently.

Why do we give so many awards?

This Club has always set out to recognise the achievement of a dog and its handler.  We all know the frustration of taking a test over and over again and failing over and over again.  Because we have so many disciplines for you to attempt, it means that there is always opportunity to achieve something new – something to aim for.  If you have a dog that is good at one level of test but has a reason why it cannot do the next level, by having awards for multiple passes at that test, you have 3 awards to aim for – bronze, silver and gold in everything we offer.  We know it isn’t all about passing and getting awards, but it sure is nice when you do get them, and everyone can celebrate with you about just how clever your dog is – at any level.

The Working Newfoundland Club does not offer trophies that symbolise a dog being better than any other dog in the Club for our mainstream tests.  Few dogs get to the top in their field and that is, and should be, recognised as a massive individual achievement of that dog and handler.

We occasionally run a fun competition where a trophy might be awarded at a day event but this is always for fun and on another day, any dog could win.