Toward the end of 2022, I picked up the book A Feisty Little Pointing Dog, A Celebration of the Brittany, edited by David Webb. It is a compellation of sixteen stories written by various authors, published in 2000. The same year I graduated high school. In fairness, I’ve only made it through the first handful; it’s an awful book to read when you’re already feeling sad about the age of your first bird dog, which, for the same reasons, also makes it totally inappropriate to read on an airplane. Before I purchased the book, I didn’t know that a handful of these people were or are part of the Pennsylvania Brittany Club, the first place I traveled as a Brittany owner to compete in a fun hunt with the breeder of our first dog, Utley. This gave me an immediate connection to some of the experiences. The book got me thinking – these stories – the love that goes into raising a bird dog, the time, the connection, the pure connectedness we experience with some. There was a time in my life when I yearned for the experience – in work, in my personal life – to write stellar stories and to share wisdom. Although time fixed most of that, this book reiterated it, particularly regarding your first bird dog. The smarts packaged into a 30 – 40 pound animal is intense. But these dogs can learn about anything you have the patients to teach them. From finding wild game, being steady to the wing, or remembering the names, humans provide to each of their stuffed toys. When Utley was a puppy, I wanted all of the experience – from understanding how AKC Hunt Test worked, to ecollar training, recall while hiking, and a well-trained fly-fishing friend. I wanted the Garmin Alpha tracking collar, the collection of orange vests (for him and for me), the shooting experience to be an Upland Hunter. I wanted it all the weekend after I brough this little dog home. Until I picked up A Feisty Little Pointing Dog, I failed to understand what those skills, and the decade, would teach me. And that time, and those memories, would ultimately result in the most profound love story and pile of grief. To tell the story and have wisdom, the cost is love and loss. About two months from his 9th birthday, my heart dog lives…

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