Living it up in the Field
By: James Reiser

The sport of competitive trialing and non-competitive testing of the versatile gun-dog is a unique hobby that has served as a source of pride and fond memories. Since I was born, I have been immersed in a gun-dog obsessive lifestyle. The operation of Shooting Starr’s Kennels and the improvement of the German Shorthaired Pointer is a family-wide dedication. My first taste of handling came when I was eight years old and began running my dad’s puppy, Sonny, in Junior Hunt Tests. The blaze-orange vest went past my knees, and I had to take three steps to every one of my bracemate’s, but somehow Sonny overcame the handicap and earned his title in six tests. It certainly was not an elite title, but I was proud of it, and it had me hooked for life. I was not hungry for bigger and better things.

In 1995, my parents allowed me to keep a female puppy, Cory, out of one of Sonny’s first litters. My exuberance and innocent youthful arrogance drove me to tell my wiser and much more experienced father to stay away from this puppy. Whatever this dog was going to achieve would be to my credit, and any failures would be my fault. We were going to be a team. In the last ten years, Cory has never left my side. My good-natured family even found a way to get my out of the dorms so Cory could follow me on my college adventures. When I held Cory for the first time, I dreamt of spectacular days afield, but I never would have imagined the success we were about to have. After trial and much error, Cory and I earned all the AKC Hunt Test titles, two NAVHDA Utility perfect scores and, the thrill of my life, the NAVHDA Versatile Champion title. Cory was never the flashiest dog, and definitely not the best trained, but on test day she would not let me down.

My love for dogs just was not satisfied with one dog, so I convinced my parents to let me keep a puppy out of Cory’s first litter. My new puppy, Sieben, was trained much different than Cory. Instead of the “beg-and-plead” method, I took a much more authoritative and systematic approach. At just two years of age, in her first Utility test, Sieben received a prize 1 of 198 points. By three years of age, Sieben received the AKC Master Hunger title. Just this past September she matched Cory’s success by earning the NAVHDA Versatile Champion title. At age eighteen, I was the youngest handler to pass the NAVHDA Invitational; repeating that feat two years later was truly a proud moment in my life.

With the impending retirement of my two dogs, I needed another one to add to the team. A year ago, I kept a male puppy out of Sieben and Sonny, one of Sonny’s last litters. It was certainly a pedigree full of memories. This new puppy, Ozzy, is my immediate future in the sport of purebred dogs. I have no idea what the future will hold for us, but I am extremely excited. I can not predict my future involvement in the sport, but I can only imagine another hobby I would enjoy more. I do know that I will always have a shorthair, or a few, by my side. There is no greater panacea for life’s stresses than the elegance and grace of a fine birddog.