shooting the parker

[charlie cleveland]

PENNYwas brought to missippi when she was only 12 weeks old she had come from the dairyland statec WISCONSIN...PENNY was afemale german shorthair and her tail was never bobed...i ll never forget the first time i saw penny she was what ever young boy dreams of she was one of the gentlest dogs i ever was around. when you talked to her she would smile with her teeth showing i know you fellas seen dogs smile this way..penny and i hit it right off from the start i told my dad that i was agona make me a quail dog for sure.now mind you this is our first evening together..my dad wanted to go over and see a fello he knew well my dad let me bring the new pup with us on the way to the fellas house a big covey of birds ran across the road in front of us..i asked my dad if he would stop and see what the new pup would do so he stopped and we got out..now penny picked up the scent trail very quickly she must have trailed for 75 yards before she stopped with a pretty of a point as ever a dog could do in my eyes..as we walked up to penny the covey got up and flew on boy was i one happy boy that day and i think my dad was really impressed but he never let on other than to say she mite make a pretty good dog one of theser days.. well penny was around 8 months old when quail season kicked in if there was ever a natural penny was..by the end of the season she was as good as most dogs with 5 years of hunting under their belts..penny was so gentle that you never had to raise even your voice to her if you did she was liable to walk behind you for a couple hours before she would get in the mood to hunt again...by her secound season the fame of penny s hunting abilities had spread far people from far off started calling my dad and wanted to know what my dad wanted for penny..lots of folks came and hunted with my dad and after seeing this dog work the quail the question was always the same how much for her but my dad always said boys she aint for sale.. i sure was proud of my dad for always turning down those good offers i know he needed the money but i guess his love for this dog was stronger than money... we had many great hunts with this dog never a better dog did my dad train and he trained a plenty and penny was the only dog that never had a price on her...my dad bred her at 5 years old penny died trying to give birth to those pups..my dad cried even thow he tried to hide his tears me i was just as heart broken as was the rest of the family. no dog ever took the place of PENNY in our hearts....... charlie