Testimonials

Hey Greg, Thought I would finally get an update out to you guys after seeing your Facebook post. Cal is doing really good. I have been out quite a bit with her but the last two weeks have been consumed with deer season and she is getting the bird itch. Commands are going good and she is really learning every time we go out how I want things don. I don’t really need any correction for distance and she cuts the field up pretty good when out with a couple people. The only annoyance I am having is she finds more field mice than a cat would and she likes to dig but it’s not that bad. It’s pretty easy to break her with a hey or a buzz on the collar but do you suggest anything to really get her off the mice fetish? She knows when we are going hunting when the guns come out and is pretty birdy which is surprising on how fast things clicked for her. However, I still can’t get her into the water, will have to wait till the summer. I am very impressed with the dog she has become, I will be back next summer and hopefully make it to some seminars. Thanks again! Jacob Gatz

Greg & Carla, Thank you for forwarding us the information on the Youth event from the St. Croix Valley Brittany club yesterday in Milaca, MN. My son Reed took Mikko up there and put on a show. They ran 2 dogs at a time and quail were replaced as they were flushed. Mikko and I waited as Reed followed the first pair of dogs to see how it went. There were 2 quail pointed, one by each dog. Reed was impressed and was anxious for his turn. Mikko was next released with a “field trial-seasoned” Brittany-because she was an expert and Mikko was so young! Ha, Mikko pointed 4 quail and held tight on them until Reedo flushed them up. The more seasoned “expert” brit pointed one quail and was absent for 5 minutes and took off for another 10 minutes while Mikko was holding a bird. The trainer there kept telling Reed how impressed he was with his dog and was asking me if I was going to field-trial her, because she is so fast-Greg’s “pocket rocket” Reedo then took scores from each of the other handlers and their parents and found that Mikko had 4 quail and of the other 5 dogs, 2 quail was the top pointed. He was so excited and made 4 phone calls on the way home to tell relatives and hunting partners how Mikko had done. We are so happy with her and how easy she is to handle out in the field. Michelle and I are so happy with her, and are looking forward to this season. I am not sure if we are going to field trial her, but if you or Greg could let us know what that would take, I would appreciate it. Thank Suzy for our wonderful dog, we are very happy! Rich and Michelle Kadrlik Farmington, MN

Greg: Chilly has now had 12 full days of hunting since she returned from camp.  She has been on two separate trips to the Harvey area of ND, and one game farm hunt at Traxler’s yesterday.  There have been some ducks, but the majority of the work has been on roosters.  I have not kept precise track, but conservatively I would say she has flushed close to 200 ringnecks.  She’s retrieved about 20 mallards from cut corn, and 3 from the water. All I can say is: “WOW!” I could not be more pleased with how she’s doing.  Her bird work on pheasants is terrific.  She hunts close and never gives up on a bird once she has winded it.  There have been a couple of times where the roosters have run and I haven’t kept up well enough to get a shot, but other than that she has always provided my hunting companions and me with great opportunities to shoot.  She seems to understand that we are hunting as a team, and that it not all about her. I would have to say that the best thing about hunting with Chilly now is how she responds to the e-collar.  A couple light taps to turn her or to bring her in a little is all that is required.  No yelling, pleading or whistles.  I have hunted with some guys this season that spend their whole day doing this, and it certainly does detract from the experience. After the shot, her retrieves have been great as well.  Having a dog that will heel and then retrieve to hand is the best!  I must admit that I was skeptical as to whether or not she needed to go through the trained retrieve process because she was doing an adequate job in her first season.  However, there is just no comparison to the quality of her work now. On waterfowl, we are not as far along. To a great extent this is just because we have not spent as much time or seen as many birds.  On the positive side, she is well behaved in the blind.  She stays at heel while calling, doesn’t take off running every time a shot is fired. Her first experience with mallards was in cut corn, and it was quite a shoot!  It was one of those deals where the ducks could just NOT stay out of the area we were set up.  We would whack them for awhile and then send the dogs out to retrieve.  At first she would run out and sniff a duck, and come back.  I would cast her again with a stern command to fetch.  She brought birds back eventually, but certainly not with the same joy and enthusiasm she has for ringnecks.  Do you think this is just the way she is, or will it grow on her as she gets more experience? The next day we were shooting over decoys in a fairly good sized pond.  The bummer was that over night that water had frozen and there was about an 1/8 in layer of ice.  You know Chilly loves to swim,…

Hey Carla, Luci had a pretty good year. She had aprox. 40 quail shot over her. She didn’t get any wild birds over her, Where we live and hunt the pop. is just so low we can hunt for days and not see a thing. I didn’t think she was quite ready to hunt with a larger group ( of dogs or people). So on our trip to SD I would set aside an hour or two a day to work her by herself. I really wanted to drop a big juicy rooster for her wrestle with, but we didn’t have too great of luck. I forgot to bring a long lead with me, so we tried to hunt without. Kind of funny story we started into this field and she started getting birdy bumped some hens and off to the races. While she was at full speed, a rooster flushed in front of her and they crashed into each other. She sat up like what happened and when she realized what it was she was about 1 tail feather off his ass across the whole field. My dad was with me and said “I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a dog cover so much ground so fast”. But hunting late season SD can be frustrating for a pup, lots of birds, just not a lot of close birds. So we still need to work on the basics, as you know whoa, and come can be a little tough for a young, bird crazy dog. This puppy sure is a lover/snuggler, but also a naughty lil shit most the time. But it seems to be getting better, I think. Matter of fact she should be old enough for an ecollar don’t you think? That should help (a little hearing aid). I attached some pics of her. If you have any questions or input feel free to message. Also we like to see the info you send on your kennel, and competitions. Keep in touch.  Thank You, Todd Morris