I got my first Brittany at 11. My uncle had a litter of puppies, and I begged my Mom for one. After days of pestering her, she told me I could get a puppy on three conditions: 1. I had to pay for the puppy. 2. I had to buy an e-collar so I could train the dog. 3. I had to promise to actually train the dog and hunt her.

Missy started an obsession that would bring me to where I am today. True to my word, I started reading books on how to train a bird dog. I’m sure I did nothing right, and Missy became a great bird dog in spite of that. I taught Missy to run in the bar ditch along the highway, and with my shotguns strapped to my bike or broken down in a back pack, I rode miles around town to different hunting spots with my dog running alongside me.