GFTCH Island King
GFTCh Island King, "Jet", was gifted to Andy Jones as a 12 month old puppy in 1959.
Andy and Jet began competitive trialling in 1963 with instant success. Andy himself was quite a personality and a Southland newspaper article described him as follows: "Other personalities from the north for the National Championships include Andy Jones, from Central Hawkes Bay Club.... Andy Jones, a genial Maori in a notably pakeha sport, has had one of the most successful short-term apprenticeships in the sports recent history. In his four years in the sport he has won the national all breeds championship (and numerous lesser honours) three times in succession..." I am not sure that this description of Andy would meet the pc standards of today's journalism.
GFTCh Island King's most notable achievements were as follows:
1st National All Breeds Championship in 1965, 1966, 1967 (Jet was the first dog to win two successive national titles since 1947, and then became the first dog ever to win three successive titles.
1st National Retriever Championship 1965, 1968 1st NI Retriever 1965, 1966, 1967
2nd in National AB and Retriever in 1968
Andy and Jet also competed in the inaugural "Indoor Gundog Field Trial" section held at the "13th Fido National Dog Show" in 1967, coming 3rd in the RFF event. Despite this event being hailed as a success I can not find any evidence that further field trial classes were held at the national show event.
​Andy and Jet were also members of many winning Cornhill Shield teams. Island King attained a total of 35 challenge points over his career. Andy himself continued in the sport until ill health forced him to retire after more than 50 years as a competitor and judge.