My first close friend in life was a mixed breed puppy that was given to me by my Father as a birthday present. I was eight years old. I instantly became fascinated with the simple reward method of training, and how easily the dog could be taught to sit, come and put its paw up to shake hands.
Though my first pups training never went much beyond those three lessons, I took great pride in the dog’s ability to do those few things, and a few other things that I had not taught it. For example, the pup loved to swim, chase squirrels, and birds, and did so without any coaxing. On occasion he caught a bird or squirrel, and I even saw him pull a small fish he'd cornered out of the pond across the street from my home.
My Father told me that the dog did those things naturally, due to the presence of some spaniel blood in his breeding. Of course I had no idea that my Dad was eluding to the dogs instincts at the time. I eventually learned that those abilities could be attributed to hunting instinct passed down over many generations of breeding. Even in my mixed breed puppy those instincts were apparent.
A boys’ simple awe of how a dog operates in it's environment, and that warm feeling of having an unconditional companion is likely why, with few years as exception, since the age of eight I I have not been without a dog.
During my youth, I often heard my mother tell stories of how much bird dogs and bird hunting had meant to my Grandfather, and how he held any quality hunting dog in high esteem. In fact one of the few photos I have of my Granddad is of him bird hunting with his favorite setter.
Those family stories about my Grandfathers love for hunting and hunting dogs, my own love for dogs and my undying passion for hunting, and love for all things outdoors are what lead me to purchase my first bird dog in 1986; a German Shorthair from Betty Franzel of vom Franzel Kennels of Lutz, Florida. From then until 2003 I owned and hunted over German shorthairs.
To my own good fortune, in 2003 I discovered the versatile hunting Deutsch Kurzhaar. I also discovered a practicing performance-based breeding and training system that I think is the most productive system for advancing the right genetics to produce the best versatile hunting dog in the world today; the Deutsch Kurzhaar.
Since discovering the Deutsch Kurzhaar, and the ideal performance measurement system, I have dedicated myself to training and hunting over the versatile Deutsch Kurzhaar and supporting the German performance based breeding system that I respect.
My ultimate goal is to produce the most biddable, trainable, versatile Deutsch Kurzhaars possible. I With that goal as my standard for breeding I can provide a broad spectrum of hunters a superior versatile hunting dog that, when properly trained, can perform every hunting task with drive, enthusiasm, profeciency and the desire to please its master.
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