Don’t let the title fool you, all dogs are great. What I’m saying is that you’ll have one dog that all of the others are judged against. This may be the first dog you have as a child or the first dog that you and your significant other get together, or perhaps your first real hunting dog. However that’s not always the case.
We spend a lot of time in the field. We can be found sitting in deer stands, hunting big game out west, strolling the woods in the spring time for turkeys or along rivers and streams or in the flats with fly rods in our hands. While we enjoy all things outdoors, the real fun starts on September 1st every year when the dogs come out for the opening of dove season. Dove season is the official start of Dog Season where the dogs get to join in on the action. Dog season for us starts with doves, transitions to quail and pheasants and goes full steam when waterfowl season rolls around.
Around here labs are our breed of choice, always with a rescue dog added to the mix as two dogs are better than one (but 3 is a handful!). As I write this the fifth black lab of my lifetime is curled up next to me. Waterfowl season for us is officially over so that will be his spot for the foreseeable future. He’s a great hunting dog.
For those that have spent time in a blind with great hunting dogs there’s a few things you’ll notice: for starters, the dog knows instinctively where their spot is in the blind, even if they’ve never been in it before, next, they’re quiet and most importantly, you don’t have to watch for birds, you just watch the dogs eyes to know where the birds are. He does all of that and retrieves like a champion. His biggest fault…he had giant shoes to fill and he is not his predecessor.
All of my dogs are/were special in their own ways. My first lab was a smaller than normal female black lab. She loved to retrieve, primarily tennis balls, but it was before I truly became obsessed with water fowling, so she was just the co-pilot in my truck.
The second was a field trial bred female black lab. She was my college dog and first true hunting dog. Her only flaw was the lack of training skill from me as this was my first run at a working dog, but she made up for it as a great college co-ed magnet.
Next was a beast of a male black lab that we should have named him Clifford as he never stopped growing. He was our first family dog pre-children. He picked up a lot of birds but did so on his terms. That leads me to Shooter, the only dog I’ll mention by name.
What made Shooter so special? For starters, we got him shortly after our daughter was born, so we watched them grow up together and was able to teach our daughter how to respect and love animals.
As far as hunting goes, he just got it. We didn’t lose birds when he was on duty. And, he had some quirky habits that showed how much he loved to hunt. He wouldn’t eat from excitement on the mornings before hunts and the only sound he made in the blind was the whining at the end of the hunt when shotguns were unloaded.
But what truly stands out about him is the fact that his last hunt was over five years ago, and to this day I haven’t sat in a duck blind with friends when stories of him haven’t come up. It’s all about the memories and his are at the top of the list.
I wouldn’t trade my time with any of my dogs. They all hold a special place in my heart and in my truck. At Wilson Lane everything we do is about building memories. Be it with the dogs in the field, with friends at the tailgate or anywhere life takes you.
-SW
