Parker Repro and a Dogs First

[Bill Murphy]

My seven year old Wirehair puppy's first retrieve seems like yesterday. A friend and I were training on McKee- Beshers, a public hunting and training area in Poolesville, MD. We got a good point on a couple of quail and I killed one with my little 28 VH. I sent Eva out to pick up. She went about twenty five yards, coming past my hunting partner on her way back. When she came to me, she didn't have any sign of a bird. I asked my friend if she had a bird in her mouth when she went past him. He said she had a good looking whole quail when he saw her last. Every good bird dog deserves to eat the first quail of a long career. We never did see any sign of that bird. Sorry I couldn't get my 28 Repro into this story. (After thinking about it, I have to edit this post. I did not shoot Eva's first bird. I was handling and I believe my friend was shooting.)

[OH Osthaus]

some first retrieves are more work than others



And Tom - love the egg trick - I had a friend many years ago that raised a hunting line of Golden Retrievers. He used to give one dog a raw egg, and Trieve would jump up on the kitchen counter and go out the window, then run around to the back door up a few steps and give the egg back. I had one of that dog's double grandaughters, my kids would give her glass Christmas ornament with the hook on it and she would take it across the livingroom and deliver it to another kid to hang on the tree. She never cracked one.

with my current pair of setters - the older one is a very reliable retriever but he doesn't want the younger one to steal his retrieve so he can somehow get a very firm grip on a bird with out leaving a tooth mark.

[C.O.B.]

I remember Gunner's first retrieve. It was at the Haymarsh Hunt Club and it was his first season, he was 7 months old. I killed a Quail that fell into a pond. gunner looked at it, tested the water and with some encouragement dove right in and brought the bird back. I should have had it mounted.

[OH Osthaus]

Originally Posted by Rich Anderson

I should have had it mounted.

from the sound of it you did - just in your head instead of on a wall.

[C.O.B.]

I have a lot of those "memory mounts" of Gunner.

[Blind Dog]

It wasn't Ringo's first, but it was the first I got a pic of.