Goochland retriever wins national championship.
Photo by Big Bark Photography
His name says it all! NFC-AFC I’m Ur Search Engine, AKA “Google,” a male black Labrador retriever from Goochland, won the U.S. National Open Retriever Championship in November 2018. Often compared to the Super Bowl, the annual competition tests the intelligence and retrieving drive of more than 100 Labrador retrievers—narrowed down from more than 1,000 retrievers around the United States by accumulating the most points in qualifying trials during the year.
The field trial championship event, held in Paducah, Kentucky, took place during eight days of mostly rain, sleet, and freezing temperatures. Each day, the obstacles and retrieves across fields, up and down hills, and through ponds got progressively more difficult, but Google pushed through the challenges and triumphed. Google’s owner, Leon Stepanian, proudly carried the massive silver trophy back home.
Not content to rest on past search results, Google looks forward to defending his title this November at the Corning, California, 2019 Nationals.
This article originally appeared in our August 2019 issue.
