I was 12 when my dad got our first Brittany. Since that time, until several ago, there’s always been at least one dog around our house.
Except for a couple of pointers, several of them were Brittanys.
My wife Pat and I have been married over 47years and we dated a year before that. Since she’s been in my life, there was always one in hers, too, until May of 2022 when we put out last one down.
Up until January of 2016, we usually had a bird dog.
I’ve been extremely fortunate in my life to have three excellent Brittanys, and two of those were exceptional.
Lady and Katy were what I would call exceptional, and Maggie was also excellent in many ways.
All three were excellent hunters, and the reason I say Lady and Katy were exceptional is because of their desire to hunt. Maggie was good, too, but sometimes she just didn’t quite have the drive in the field.
Lady lived to be 11 years old, Katy was 13 when she passed away and Maggie was 15 when she died.
We had to have each put to sleep. All three had cancer.
Our last bird dog, a little pointer, we had to put down in 2016, also due to cancer.
Not long ago I came across the receipt of when I had Lady put to sleep 30 years ago.
My primary hunting partner for more than 40 years has been Steve Buoy. We shot a lot of quail over those dogs.
My wife, prior to knowing me, had never been around bird dogs. It’s amazing how each of those and others we’ve had, became so attached to her. She took care of them as much if not more than I did around home.
One of the traits of all three of these was how gentle each was and each became a family pet, even though all three were good in the field. We had our veterinarian tell us one time, “it’s okay to love on these dogs all you want. It won’t impact how they hunt.”
He was so accurate, and that was good, because all of us, including my wife, late daughter Meghan and even myself, gave them plenty of attention.
Another trait of the three was how far or close each one ranged during a hunt. Maggie was the one who ranged the farthest, Katy the closest and Lady in between. All minded well in the field as well.
Meg grew up with all three. Pat, Meg and I together picked out Katy and Meg and I picked out Maggie while Pat was on a business trip. I already had Lady when Pat and I met.
Meg and Pat joined me some when I would run the dogs before the season, and Pat went with me on a hunt with Katy. She was amazed and still talks about when I shot at a bird going over a hill and wasn’t 100 percent sure I had downed it.
When we came over the hill, Katy was coming back to us with that bird.
We’ve had a cat since Thanksgiving Saturday night in 2022, but no dog. Pat has mas mentioned recently she’s thinking she would like a small dog. We’ll see where that goes. I’ll keep you posted if it happens.