It's still a ways away for my God-given progeny, but my other pride and joy -- my 16-month-old pointer LuLu -- is headed to charm school today. She's been a terrific young dog and a pleasure to train with a ton of natural ability. But I'm smart enough to realize that I don't have the time, knowledge, patience, or wild birds to help her reach her full potential.
Enter Nolan Huffman. I was introduced to Nolan and his wife Danelle last fall while chasing birds last October up near Lewistown, Montana. But his reputation preceded him. A season before, I had the treat of hunting in Aspermont, Texas on Rick Snipes' ranch, and he proudly told me his string of pointers had been trained by Nolan. So it all kind of came together for me.
From there, he'll head up to his training grounds around Lewistown, and he'll have LuLu until we come up to hunt in October. I am expecting great things in the next four months (no pressure, Nolan).
It's a sad time (not so much for the kids, who are the primary turd shovelers), but also an expectant time. Wish us all luck!
Nolan has a fine line of Brits coming out of his kennel and a solid reputation. Actually I'm kinda envious of Lulu, spending the summer on the MT prairie and all. Whoever said our dogs have it better than we do was on to something.
ReplyDeleteI've always found the choice of sending a dog off to be trained vexing when compared to working with the trainer and my dog. More often than not, I typically find I'm the one that needs the training (on handling). I'm very interested to learn how this experience goes for you. My dog starts some year two training on August 1st that I am required to participate in as a part of the program. Perhaps we can compare notes later in the year. I look forward to learning of LuLu's progress!
ReplyDeleteDont worry Ted....I'll keep an eye on her for you! ;)
ReplyDeleteWe sent Cap'n Pablo my boykin puppy this week. We sure hated to see the mischievious little sumbitch go!
ReplyDeleteWell, we got LuLu dropped off... it was kinda sad to see her go. I think there's definitely something to the assertion that our dogs many time have it better than us, Mark!
ReplyDeleteGary, that's probably worthy of a blog post -- there's definitely more than one way to train a dog well.
Hey Brad -- I figured you'd probably keep an eye out for her. Looking forward to getting up there and hunting with you again.
Cap'n Pablo... do I detect a REK influence here???
Oh, and congrats to Nolan -- he and Bull placed 3rd out of a field of 128 dogs.