Well, this year is starting off about as great as the last half of last year ended for me. This last season I lost my young (2yr old lab) Abbey in October, when she got loose one night, which had never happened before. I found her when I got home from work on the highway and next to a raccoon, which I can only speculate she was chasing and somebody clipped her. This was going to be her break out season, so great start.
I had just acquired an older male Pointer for the purpose of breeding him to my little Lucy-Lu, it was time to get a pup out of her before it was too late, but not until after the hunting season, (didn't want to put her on the shelf for the season with pups). Well long story short, I just laid Lucy to rest on the 13th, Cancer got her, it came on in a hurry. We finished hunting season in style, but it seemed like right after the season was over, almost to the day it ended, things changed. The Vet confirmed what I already knew was going on, I had seen the same thing in two of her littermates that my buddy had owned. Her sister had passed 2 years ago and her brother a year later. I was hoping that maybe that maybe that gene or whatever had skipped her, but I was not so lucky. That was the hardest thing I've ever done.
So now I am down to just the old male pointer, which I never really wanted in the first place, him and I are not on the same page yet as to hunting styles, not sure we will be. My buddy is trying to convince me to start looking for a new pup (Because that is just what you do...) Well that was sort of my plan to have a pup out of Lucy and get the ball rolling on having her successor. But now I'm back to square one on the Lab and pointer front (which I do a lot of waterfowl hunting as well) If not for the dogs, I don't think I would waterfowl or upland hunt near as much, for me all my hunting is to see my dogs work and the hours of training that we do together pay off, or in most cases show me what we need to work on more.
Sorry for the Vent or whatever you like to call it, just needed to do something to continue to cope with the holes in my heart
I had just acquired an older male Pointer for the purpose of breeding him to my little Lucy-Lu, it was time to get a pup out of her before it was too late, but not until after the hunting season, (didn't want to put her on the shelf for the season with pups). Well long story short, I just laid Lucy to rest on the 13th, Cancer got her, it came on in a hurry. We finished hunting season in style, but it seemed like right after the season was over, almost to the day it ended, things changed. The Vet confirmed what I already knew was going on, I had seen the same thing in two of her littermates that my buddy had owned. Her sister had passed 2 years ago and her brother a year later. I was hoping that maybe that maybe that gene or whatever had skipped her, but I was not so lucky. That was the hardest thing I've ever done.
So now I am down to just the old male pointer, which I never really wanted in the first place, him and I are not on the same page yet as to hunting styles, not sure we will be. My buddy is trying to convince me to start looking for a new pup (Because that is just what you do...) Well that was sort of my plan to have a pup out of Lucy and get the ball rolling on having her successor. But now I'm back to square one on the Lab and pointer front (which I do a lot of waterfowl hunting as well) If not for the dogs, I don't think I would waterfowl or upland hunt near as much, for me all my hunting is to see my dogs work and the hours of training that we do together pay off, or in most cases show me what we need to work on more.
Sorry for the Vent or whatever you like to call it, just needed to do something to continue to cope with the holes in my heart
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