Carolyn Langdon

August 8, 1912—December 13, 2012

Carolyn S. Langdon was the trainer of both the first UDT Sheltie and the first Champion-UDT Sheltie.  In 1987, she wrote a letter to Beverly Muhlenhaupt, who was preparing a chapter on dog obedience for Charlette Clem McGowan's The Shetland Sheepdog in America.  And in 2002 and 2003, when I was writing the article Tracking The Tracking Shelties, which was published in the 2001 ASSA Handbook, Carolyn wrote me several letters in which she talked about her experiences training the dogs for tracking.  Together with her 1958 article in the AKC Gazette, these letters give a fascinating glimpse of dog training in the 1940s and 1950s.

 

The AKC Gazette Article

  • January 1958
    Tracking Adds Real Fun To Obedience, written by Carolyn S. Langdon, was published in the January 1958 AKC Gazette. It describes Carolyn's experiences with early tracking dogs.
     

The Letters

Used with the permission of Carolyn's son.

  • February 5, 1987
    In this letter to Beverly Muhlenhaupt, Carolyn describes how the family acquired both Tinker and Bairn, and mentions when they passed their tracking tests.  She talks about the friction between the "breed" and the "obedience" people, and the people who were significant in the dogs' training.
     
  • May 17, 2002
    In this letter to Alicia Keegan, Carolyn describes how Tinker and Bairn were started in tracking.  She also talks about why she made the switch from wearing a skirt in obedience trials to wearing slacks!
     
  • June 24, 2002
    In this follow-up letter to Alicia Keegan, Carolyn describes dog training at the Hartford Obedience Training Club under "Cap" Herman Schendell, chief of police in Manchester, CT.   She talks about her one day introduction to tracking under Jim Sharkey, an ex-Marine dog trainer who considered tracking to be a closely guarded secret.
     
  • May 25, 2003
    A brief thank-you note from Carolyn when she received a copy of the 2001 ASSA Handbook.
     

Obituary

 


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