 | |
| Congratulations to Mike Fortner and Kriegor on having the highest score at the Armbruster! |
 |
| Congratulations to the 2011 Hegwald sieger Alfred Düll with Pauline from Grubberg with 241.5 points Hegewald |
 |
| Highest score at the Armbruster! Way to go Kriegor! |
Visit this Picasa Web album to view photos of events
| CHECK OUT THE PICASA WEB ALBUM FOR HUNTING PICTURES! SEND IN ALL YOUR HUNTING PHOTO'S! |
  |
Not only are they Great Hunting Dogs they are Great Family Dogs!!
Well it’s our favorite time of year again. We’ve enjoyed our dove season here in Tennessee. Jackson went to the field this year for the first time as a shooter. I tried to lower his expectations about “dove being hard to hit”, “don’t be disappointed if you don’t kill any”. Well before I could get set up and unpacked, he was shooting, shucking shells and reloading as fast as he could. He had three on the ground before I could even get my 870 loaded. He ended up one short of a limit. Not too bad for a ten year old and I’m not sure who was more thrilled.
Mike Fortner
From our Sept. 2011 Newsletter
Isabella "Bella"
You said a mouthful about Drathaars being the smartest!
My first exposure was a German Wirehaired Pointer from Whitetail Kennels. Her sire was a vom Treborwolf Drathaar, and dame was first generation from a vom Treborwolf drathaar. She, Isabella, was the closest thing I’ve had to a daughter. Through intelligence the connection was greater than man and dog. Isabella went deaf at 14, but remembered the hand signals taught, but not used since she was a puppy. Because of that we continued to stalk hunt deer and hogs together through her last season, 2007. They say dogs can’t “reason”. Well, “they” never witnessed the progression of steps my wife and I had to take to keep Isabella out of our restaurant leftovers. Inevitably, we would be “foiled again” by her smarts. Heck, she would even close the lid on Styrofoam to-go boxes left INSIDE the fridge and microwave. The only possible reason was so my wife and I would suspect each other instead of Isabella… it worked! It wasn’t until she went deaf that we began to witness her closing those boxes. If we left a loaf of bread within reach, she wouldn’t just eat the bread. She would shred the bag beyond recognition, and carefully hide it outside. Simply eating the bag would leave evidence in the yard, but she was too smart for that. Why didn’t we break these bad habits? We were outsmarted for over a decade.
I could go on for hours about our many months in the field; the nose that allowed her to point pheasants and other “runners” from ten, twenty or more feet; how, like a child, she would bring her injuries TO me instead yelping or dropping to the ground in panicked self inspection, or the time she wouldn’t pick up a dead pheasant... As I angrily did, a live quail exploded from underneath.
When Isabella’s fifteen year old, cancer riddled body started to fail, we already had two young male German Wirehaired Pointers. It still took two years before I could consider another female to take the place of “my little girl”. In October of 2010, we chose Veronica vom Morehaus, but to us it’s Ellie Mae Yes, she is named after the Beverly Hillbilly’s own “critter getter”, Ellie Mae Clampet. As Ellie is maturing we’re noticing just how much of the Drathaar intelligence and hunting instinct has been watered down in the typical German Wirehaired Pointer. That said, GWP’s can be great dogs, but there is a noticeable difference. A difference I never appreciated until after decades with GWP’s, and finally getting back to Drathaar. There is no question; strict adherence to VDD testing is worth every minute, and every dollar to the quality of the bloodline.
I regret my work schedule prevented me from giving Ellie the training required to maintain VDD testing for breeding, and I had her spayed recently. She does lead a wonderful life even if she wasn’t given all the training Isabella got. She’s still young, and a full life of hunting and blood trailing lie ahead.
My first exposure was a German Wirehaired Pointer from Whitetail Kennels. Her sire was a vom Treborwolf Drathaar, and dame was first generation from a vom Treborwolf drathaar. She, Isabella, was the closest thing I’ve had to a daughter. Through intelligence the connection was greater than man and dog. Isabella went deaf at 14, but remembered the hand signals taught, but not used since she was a puppy. Because of that we continued to stalk hunt deer and hogs together through her last season, 2007. They say dogs can’t “reason”. Well, “they” never witnessed the progression of steps my wife and I had to take to keep Isabella out of our restaurant leftovers. Inevitably, we would be “foiled again” by her smarts. Heck, she would even close the lid on Styrofoam to-go boxes left INSIDE the fridge and microwave. The only possible reason was so my wife and I would suspect each other instead of Isabella… it worked! It wasn’t until she went deaf that we began to witness her closing those boxes. If we left a loaf of bread within reach, she wouldn’t just eat the bread. She would shred the bag beyond recognition, and carefully hide it outside. Simply eating the bag would leave evidence in the yard, but she was too smart for that. Why didn’t we break these bad habits? We were outsmarted for over a decade.
I could go on for hours about our many months in the field; the nose that allowed her to point pheasants and other “runners” from ten, twenty or more feet; how, like a child, she would bring her injuries TO me instead yelping or dropping to the ground in panicked self inspection, or the time she wouldn’t pick up a dead pheasant... As I angrily did, a live quail exploded from underneath.
When Isabella’s fifteen year old, cancer riddled body started to fail, we already had two young male German Wirehaired Pointers. It still took two years before I could consider another female to take the place of “my little girl”. In October of 2010, we chose Veronica vom Morehaus, but to us it’s Ellie Mae Yes, she is named after the Beverly Hillbilly’s own “critter getter”, Ellie Mae Clampet. As Ellie is maturing we’re noticing just how much of the Drathaar intelligence and hunting instinct has been watered down in the typical German Wirehaired Pointer. That said, GWP’s can be great dogs, but there is a noticeable difference. A difference I never appreciated until after decades with GWP’s, and finally getting back to Drathaar. There is no question; strict adherence to VDD testing is worth every minute, and every dollar to the quality of the bloodline.
I regret my work schedule prevented me from giving Ellie the training required to maintain VDD testing for breeding, and I had her spayed recently. She does lead a wonderful life even if she wasn’t given all the training Isabella got. She’s still young, and a full life of hunting and blood trailing lie ahead.
Clint
 |
| Isabella "Into the Wind" |
 |
| Isabella "Sunset" |
send to: rhilton2@shtc.net