# My story



## ChukarBob (Sep 4, 2006)

Remy, my 65 pound, one year old Yellow Lab female, has really settled into our family and is no longer a continuously challenging puppy. Also, I can say, with some relief, that she's not as hard-headed as she had been and seems much more responsive to my commands and expectations.

Remy, Hale (my 11 year old Yellow Lab female), and I have spent a number of days afield this year. We've hunted dove, quail, sage grouse, and ruffed grouse, with some success. Last week we were in northwestern North Dakota for 7 days of upland bird hunting, hunting mostly public lands. While the weather was mild and the pheasants were still scattered, we had a good trip and bagged a number of birds. It was about midway through the week when the bird hunting "awakening" for Remy occurred. You could see her begin to piece together the hunting game, recognizing the scents of pheasant, Huns and Sharptails, the excitement of the flush and the shot, and the headlong pursuit of the downed birds.

Late in the week I knew I had to give Hale a break and so gave her the afternoon off, despite the fact that she's an extraordinary upland bird dog and I had not yet shot my first pheasant that day. Remy and I went out about 4:00 in the afternoon and in 20 minutes along a cattail-clogged creek bottom, we got our 3 roosters. The third almost brought me to tears. I knocked the bird down on the other side of the creek and knew he wasn't hit hard. Remy raced to the scene and frantically searched for the bird. I crossed the creek, soaking my feet and boots, and couldn't find a sign of the bird where he had gone down. I encouraged Remy in the search - "dead bird, dead bird" - and she dove deep into the cattails. Suddenly I could no longer hear her scrambling through the cattails. I beat my way to her, about 15 yards through the 'tails, and there she stood, triumphant over a now dead rooster who had buried itself into the weeds.

I could not have been prouder of Remy than at that moment. Without her, I would never have recovered that 3rd rooster. Remy is still "unfinished", but her potential became clear to me last week in North Dakota.

Thanks to the good people of North Dakota for sharing their wonderful state with us.


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## Burly1 (Sep 20, 2003)

Nice story Bob. Thanks for sharing. If you're fortunate, you'll have more of those "I wouldn't sell that dog for a million bucks" moments. I like to remember those that I have experienced, when I'm ready to kick the dog in the butt for having one of those "hey, I'm just a dog" moments! Glad to have had you as a guest this fall. Come again. Burl


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