Getting to it! I imagine this will be a work in progress, with the overall theme and feel of this blog developing and evolving as we go along. For now, if it’s alright with y’all, I’m just gonna start writing.

My name is Paul. I’ve loved dogs all of my life, but didn’t learn about the world of bird dogs – specifically, the Vizsla – until I met my future wife on New Year’s of 1998. She had 2 Vizslas – Magic and Ginger. We married in 2000 and welcomed the first baby of our marriage in 2002.

His name was Shooter. 🙂

And he was the best dog ever.

He was my bud. My boy. And easily the best hunting dog I’ve ever had. This is a bold statement considering I’ve had some really awesome dogs, but I’ll provide an in-depth explanation at some point – you’re just gonna have to check back until I finally get around to it.

We had many good years together. From 2002 until 2016, we covered a lot of miles, traveling through several states, from hunting grouse in Maine to quail in West Texas, (at least, attempting to hunt quail – it was a terrible year for quail in Texas. More on that later. Gasp! Another reason to check back!!!)

I couldn’t, in good conscience, start this blog talking about anything but Shooter. He’s the boy that started it all. If you ever talk bird dogs with me in person, trust me – the subject will always come around to Shooter. So many good stories and good times with him, I’ve got one that fits just about every topic. I learned how to work with dogs with him. I learned to compete with him. I traveled the country with him. And as all of this was happening, I developed a bond with him that was stronger than anything I have ever experienced.

Seeing as how I have never blogged before, I’ve been struggling with how to even get this started, and what I could possibly write about. I have a lot of memorable experiences with a lot of great dogs – but where to start, how to describe what we’ve gone through together … it’s tough to put into words, and it seems like such a gargantuan job that it’s one that is easy to never get around to beginning.

ANYWAY – let’s start simple. My first several posts will be an introduction to the cast. You’ll get to meet all my bird dogs; you already know a little about Shooter, but soon you’ll find out about Buffy, her kids Patriot, TomBoy, Emma Jane, and Jack. Then you’ll get to meet the goofball known as Ricky Bobby, and finally my crazy little firecracker – Eleanor.

Stick around.