It is now mid-March and I am in my final last few weeks of my Florida winter trip. The time certainly flies down here! While I am not at the kennel every day back home in CT, I stay connected throughout the week with the kennel operations as well as weekly meetings with my dedicated QK Team. They have been doing an unbelievable job with keeping QK running smoothly in my absence.
February brought about some good road trips and adventures here in Florida and Georgia. I handled my year-and-a-half-old German Shorthair Pup, Doozy, in three days of conformation shows in Tallahassee which included four different club show events. We had a lovely time and Doozy showed beautifully! In each of the four shows we took Winners Bitch which added four more points to her career total. On the second day we also won the Owner/Handler Best of Breed series and then took a Group 4th place. That was a really fun and new experience. I am brand new to dog conformation handling, and my goal is to put a Championship on Doozy. We are more than half way there now. I plan to give her several more months to grow and fill out and then resume the show circuit in New England this summer.
Another recent adventure was my annual quail hunt at Peacock Plantation in Norman Park, Georgia. I first hunted at the Davidson family plantation after training their field lab years ago. Mr. Harry Davidson invited me on a historic quail hunt and I got my first taste of southern plantation hunting. Since then, I have referred this plantation to several friends and clients. This was my 4th time hunting there, this year the 3rd time as a guest of a dear friend and client who owns 2 of my GSPs. We hunted for 2 spectacular days over our GSPs, Elsie and Mya, now both Versatile Champions after their stellar performances at the NAVDHA Invitational last year. Our hunt this time was a bit more laid back as we allowed the dogs to really hunt hard and enjoy ‘retirement’ from competition training. There was some creeping, point stealing and breaks to flush or shot, but for the most part these girls were spot on impressive and extremely successful with their methodical work. I enjoyed 3 quail doubles with my trusted little side-by-side 20-gauge and almost had a Scotch double! Oh well, next time 🙂 I did get to see Elsie point a covey of quail on her way back from a retrieve with a quail in her mouth (see photo below). Some fun dog work for sure! Can you find the 2 quail on the log below?
For more information about hunting Peacock Plantation visit their website: http://peacock-plantation.com
