The First Champion-UDT Sheltie

The first Champion Sheltie to earn the TD/UDT titles was CH Sea Isle Wee Bairn UDT, whelped May 12, 1949.  Howard and Carolyn Langdon brought him home from Sea Isle at the end of a vacation that same summer.

Bairn was the second Sheltie that the Langdons acquired from Sea Isle.  He was described by Carolyn Langdon as “a tease”, whereas their first Sheltie, Sea Isle Little Tinker UDT, was very serious.

L to R: Ch Sea Isle Wee Bairn UDT, Howard Langdon Jr, Sea Isle Little Tinker UDT. Photo by R Schaller (early 1950s)

Bairn and Tinker in Dog News, Dec 1953

At the time Bairn started training, there was considerable friction between the “breed people” and the “obedience people”, with the former thinking that obedience training would ruin a dog for the show ring.  When the Langdons bought Tinker, they were looking for a dog who could perform well in both rings.

Bairn certainly met their expectations.  He finished his CD in June 1951, his CDX in February 1952, and his UD in November 1952.  His Championship was published in the November 1951 AKC Gazette.

A young Sea Isle Wee Bairn, Shetland Special Sep-Oct 1950

Ch Sea Isle Wee Bairn CD, from Mrs. H W Nichols' column, Dog News Dec 1951

From Clinton Neyman's records, courtesy of Beverly Muhlenhaupt.

Then Bairn started tracking.  According to Carolyn, Bairn was proclaimed “terrific” by his preliminary tester.  In spite of this, at his first tracking test (New England Dog Training Club, May 3, 1953), he followed a cross-track all the way to the person who had made it.  And later that same day, he wandered happily through the tracking field with no regard for where the track actually went.  But he passed his second tracking test at the South Shore Dog Training Club on October 18, 1953, to become the first Champion-UDT Sheltie.

Obedience trial record of Ch Sea Isle Wee Bairn, author uncertain

Record of Ch Sea Isle Wee Bairn (AKC publication dates), author uncertain

Sources:

• The Carolyn Langdon Letters
• Keegan, Alicia, Tracking The Tracking Shelties, in 2001 ASSA Handbook
• McGowan, Charlotte Clem with Beverly Muhlenhaupt, Obedience, in Charlotte Clem McGowan, 1999, The Shetland Sheepdog in America, 1999
• Muhlenhaupt, Beverly, Sheltie Obedience Firsts; A 50th Anniversary Recollection, in 1985-1986 ASSA Handbook