Living it up in the Field
By: James Reiser
The sport of competitive trialing and non-competitive testing of
the versatile gun-dog is a unique hobby that has served as a source
of pride and fond memories. Since I was born, I have been immersed
in a gun-dog obsessive lifestyle. The operation of Shooting Starr’s Kennels and the improvement of the German Shorthaired
Pointer is a family-wide dedication. My first taste of handling came
when I was eight years old and began running my dad’s puppy, Sonny, in Junior Hunt Tests. The blaze-orange
vest went past my knees, and I had to take three steps to every one
of my bracemate’s, but somehow Sonny overcame the handicap and earned
his title in six tests. It certainly was not an elite title, but I
was proud of it, and it had me hooked for life. I was not hungry for
bigger and better things.
In 1995, my parents allowed me to keep a female puppy, Cory, out of
one of Sonny’s first litters. My exuberance and innocent youthful
arrogance drove me to tell my wiser and much more experienced father
to stay away from this puppy. Whatever this dog was going to achieve
would be to my credit, and any failures would be my fault. We were
going to be a team. In the last ten years, Cory has never left my
side. My good-natured family even found a way to get my out of the
dorms so Cory could follow me on my college adventures. When I held
Cory for the first time, I dreamt of spectacular days afield, but
I never would have imagined the success we were about to have. After
trial and much error, Cory and I earned all the AKC Hunt Test titles,
two NAVHDA Utility perfect scores and, the thrill of my life, the
NAVHDA Versatile Champion title. Cory was never the flashiest dog,
and definitely not the best trained, but on test day she would not
let me down.
My love for dogs just was not satisfied with one dog, so I convinced
my parents to let me keep a puppy out of Cory’s first litter. My new puppy, Sieben, was trained
much different than Cory. Instead of the “beg-and-plead” method, I took a much more authoritative and systematic
approach. At just two years of age, in her first Utility test, Sieben
received a prize 1 of 198 points. By three years of age, Sieben received
the AKC Master Hunger title. Just this past September she matched
Cory’s success by earning the NAVHDA Versatile Champion
title. At age eighteen, I was the youngest handler to pass the NAVHDA
Invitational; repeating that feat two years later was truly a proud
moment in my life.
With the impending retirement of my two dogs, I needed another one
to add to the team. A year ago, I kept a male puppy out of Sieben
and Sonny, one of Sonny’s last litters. It was certainly a pedigree full
of memories. This new puppy, Ozzy, is my immediate future in the sport
of purebred dogs. I have no idea what the future will hold for us,
but I am extremely excited. I can not predict my future involvement
in the sport, but I can only imagine another hobby I would enjoy more.
I do know that I will always have a shorthair, or a few, by my side.
There is no greater panacea for life’s stresses than the elegance and grace of a fine
birddog.
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