Oh my This is so hard to hear. John was an exceptional individual as well as a good dog guy in the retriever world. Sincere condolences to his family and friends.
Tim, I have been searching and searching for any materials authored (or collected) by John. John was a very dear friend, and I respected him as a dog man and author. I was not aware of his passing until 2021. We did the week long Lardy advanced workshop 25 years ago, judged each other's dogs, and competed against each other. Perhaps someone would have electronic files they could email me at BruceLoe97@aol.com.
Oh my, I'm so sorry hear of John's passing. My first exposure to real retriever training was at a John Cavanaugh training day in PA some 15 years ago.
I soon became obsessed beyond recovery.
It was also a sad day when John left field trials some years ago.
I met John at the first Mike Lardy workshop I attended and was immediately impressed with his intensity, his thoughtful questions and his willingness to share information. I recall that he left the Lardy workshop every day and traveled to nearby grounds to continue training until dark. I regret that he left the game before I jumped in with both feet and wish I'd had the opportunity to know him better.
When I purchased my first labrador, I had the good fortune of being able to train with John. I was fortunate to see a lot of nice Field Trial Dogs in the groups, and I learned so much about the fine art of manning a gun station. John certainly was generous in sharing training information and I will always be grateful for his help.
My best memories will be seeing Bird Perfect - "Rocky" or Max Millenium - "Max" quartering on crispy November mornings hunting pheasants with John behind them. Those were the best of times.....
My first time to meet john was at a Qual somewhere in the East. He was behind me on the next holding blind . After I completed my walk of shame to pick the dog up John suggested to me as he went to line.
" Next time try to get your dog to look at the marks before you call for them "
Fast forward a few years and Johm and I were in a high level meeting on opposite sides of the issue.
John and I exchange glances and he asks " how's that dog doing - is it marking better "
Of course that dog was gone but it broke the ice.
He was an excellent golfer and was on Stetson university team. I believe he also flew a lot after getting out of dogs.
We started together in the mid 80's in Tampa.
John had a yellow show dog Sunny. Slow as slow could be. You can imagine how that aggravated him. I still have a ribbon or two where he would take my dog up to joes or dicks and run him just so he wouldn't have to stay home.
We hunted, fished, trained and traveled to trials together for some time until his employer, Chubb Ins sent him to Milan Italy to open a European subsidiary. Cindy finished law school and joined him. He was over there about 3 years and then came back and worked in NJ but lived in PA.
Everything he did was high intensity. I often thought of how far he came in the dog world and how much he shared.
I believe Cindy is still practicing law in the Easton area.
Condolences to his family and friends.
I was training with a group in Georgia in the mid 90s when someone noted that today would be special because John was passing through and would join us
. Sure enough everthing stopped when he arrived. John took over the training that day answering everyone's questions about what he did and why. I still practise some of the things he shared with us that day. Later I marshaled the open for him. Never met anyone so detailed oriented. We lost a special man.
John was one of the authors of the Field Trial judging manual. As far as I know Pete Simonds didn't reveal exactly who wrote what but pretty sure one can recognize John's contributions.
.
It would be nice to collect as much of his written advice as can be found scattered around the country and compile into an archive.
I am so sorry to hear this. It was because of John, Missy, Ken Ericson, and Dave Hoffman that brought me into field trials. I had played in the hunt test game for years. John was always willing to help. He was greatly missed when he left the game.
I was fortunate to spend several years training with John. He was a great mentor and friend. I could never repay him for the things he has done for me, and the lessons learned. Thank you John!
I was most impressed with John at the 2001 NARC in Virginia, MN. In the 10th series the test was particularly difficult with high cover, rough terrain and it was a very warm day. Several dogs had trouble finding two of the four birds... And John's dog was no different that day. However, he was unable, try as he did... To handle the dog to the bird. After many fruitless attempts, John finally said "here". The entire gallery felt his pain as he called the dog in and therefore was not a Finalist.
But, after cooling his dog down, John was back in the gallery watching the other dogs run. I would hope to be able to respond to that sort of "Agony of Defeat" in that way... Not sure I could. I was always impressed by the way he handled that gut wrenching pickup...
We were at that final as well and I was going to post up the same account. We knew little of the sport at the time, but could see what pain he was in and to compose himself as he did showed great character. This is all I know of him, but it speaks volumes to me of the kind of person he was.
A niche in time - Retriever Field Trials Performance Book 1997 - 2002.
John Cavanaugh
Judging All-Age Trials 24.
Top Derbies - 1998 #3 Max Millennium L.F. 55 Pts.; 1999 #4 AFC Max Millennium L.F. 69 Pts.
Double Headers 1997 - 2002 - FC-AFC Bird Perfect MH LKC 8/97; FC-AFC Max Millennium FTP 8/02.
Nationals - 1997 FC-AFC Bird Perfect MH L.F. 2 Series; 2000 FC-AFC Max Millennium L.F. 5 Series;
2002 FC-AFC Countess Olenska L.F. 9 Series; FC-AFC Max Millennium L.F. 7 Series.
National Amateur - 1997 FC-AFC Bird Perfect MH L.F. 9 Series
1998 FC-AFC Bird Perfect MH L.F. Qual. not entered.
1999 FC-AFC Chena River Chevez L.M. 6 Series; FC-AFC Max Millennium L.F. 6 Series;
2000 FC-AFC Max Millennium L.F. 8 Series; 2001 FC-AFC Max Millennium L.F. 10 Series;
2002 FC-AFC Max Millennium L.F. 6 Series.
Creative Work - Retriever Training Workshop Master Manual 2001; AKC Field Trials (One Judges Perspective).
John Cavanaugh - KNOWLEDGEABLE; CONFIDENT; DEDICATED; SELFLESS; SUCCESSFUL.
A niche in time - Retriever Field Trials Performance Book 1997 - 2002.
John Cavanaugh
Judging All-Age Trials 24.
Top Derbies - 1998 #3 Max Millennium L.F. 55 Pts.; 1999 #4 AFC Max Millennium L.F. 69 Pts.
Double Headers 1997 - 2002 - FC-AFC Bird Perfect MH LKC 8/97; FC-AFC Max Millennium FTP 8/02.
Nationals - 1997 FC-AFC Bird Perfect MH L.F. 2 Series; 2000 FC-AFC Max Millennium L.F. 5 Series;
2002 FC-AFC Countess Olenska L.F. 9 Series; FC-AFC Max Millennium L.F. 7 Series.
National Amateur - 1997 FC-AFC Bird Perfect MH L.F. 9 Series
1998 FC-AFC Bird Perfect MH L.F. Qual. not entered.
1999 FC-AFC Chena River Chevez L.M. 6 Series; FC-AFC Max Millennium L.F. 6 Series;
2000 FC-AFC Max Millennium L.F. 8 Series; 2001 FC-AFC Max Millennium L.F. 10 Series;
2002 FC-AFC Max Millennium L.F. 6 Series.
Creative Work - Retriever Training Workshop Master Manual 2001; AKC Field Trials (One Judges Perspective).
John Cavanaugh - KNOWLEDGEABLE; CONFIDENT; DEDICATED; SELFLESS; SUCCESSFUL.
And with all that experience he was never asked to judge a National event. Even as some people of status had judged more than once. I can only assume because John had more class than most to vocalize such disappointment, that this was a contributing factor to him walking away from the game.
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
RetrieverTraining.Net - the RTF
1.4M posts
32.1K members
Since 2003
A forum community dedicated to retriever owners and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about breeding, training, health, behavior, housing, adopting, care, classifieds, and more!