Monticello Live

The Master National Retriever Club Foundation is proud to announce Mary Emma Simon as the 2017 Youth Award Recipient of the ‘Handler of the Year” and awarded her a plaque and a check for $1,000, during a presentation at MHS, Thursday morning.

Mary Emma earned the first “Youth Handler of the Year, 13-17 year old” category and becomes the first youth in that category to earn the Award since the award was implemented in 2015. 

Mary Emma got her first Labrador retriever, (Cherokee Jenny’s Pistol Sadie Simon MH, call name ‘Sadie’) when she was 13 years old and Sadie was six weeks old. 

She read all the books on retrievers she could find and found a professional trainer, Ronnie Lee, Duck Roost Kennels in Louisville, Mississippi, whom she credits with much of her success. 

She then learned how to train Sadie to find downed birds the dog saw fall, birds the dog did not see fall, trainability, obedience and much more. 

She handled Sadie to American Kennel Club (AKC) titles as a Junior Hunter, Senior Hunter and Master Hunter. She qualified Sadie to enter the 2017 Master National in Tennessee Colony, Texas October 11-22.

In the final competition, Mary Emma handled Sadie well, knew all the American Kennel Club Regulations for the hunting test and exhibited outstanding sportsmanship.

 

She credits her family, sometimes thru difficult circumstances including her Mother’s cancer, and Ronnie Lee for supporting her, getting her back into training and eventually getting to the MN.

 

This entry was posted on Friday, April 13th, 2018 at 12:45 am and is filed under Monticello School News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.