Tomorrow Glenn and I head off to Hugo, Colorado, east of Denver, near Limon, for our first dog field trial. This is an AKC endorsed event sponsored by the German Shorthaired Pointer Club of Colorado to be held at the Mosher Game Bird Farm.
I will be entering my 14 month old female puppy, Elsie, otherwise known as Zaltana Showtime L.C. I got Elsie when she was just eight weeks old from my friend, breeder, handler, and trainer, Gary Metzler. Gary is a seasoned amateur field trialer and has raised some first class national Field Champions and Amateur Field Champions. Gary kind of took me under his wing and trained me how to train my first dog, Porter, over four years ago. After a lot of hard work, laughter and tears, I decided I was crazy enough, 'er, I mean ready to get a second pup. Gary agreed to sell me one of his pups, but with a stipulation. He said, "you need to agree to take her to three field trials. She doesn't have to win or even place. You just need to agree to see what it is all about."
And so the story goes. I've planned for this weekend for a long time and I couldn't be more excited. Now, however, there is a twist to the story. An unforeseen immaculate conception by Gary's new horse of less than a month has rendered it impossible for Gary to attend the event. He withdrew entries for his older dogs, but decided he trusted us enough to handle his pups in the event. So now not only are we entering Elsie in the trial, but we are also taking two of her litter mates, Cruzor and Zorro.
The three puppies will be handled by Glenn Melus, friend Kory Krahl, and me. The event for the puppies are Open Walking Puppy and Open Walking Derby. Kory will also run his older dog in two broke dog stakes. With any luck, if there is any sort of phone/ email connection in the desert of eastern Colorado I'll be able to post some photos and some highlights throughout the weekend.
It's so nice to have you do all of the research for us. It makes our decision making so much easier!! Thanks.
Posted by: MBT Shoes | July 18, 2011 at 03:51 AM