Buck was handling and Booty scouting for Bootjack in the opening prairie championship of the season. The dog’s owner Fred Gray was riding in the gallery for his first prairie trial. He had bought Bootjack as his first trial dog in April and put him with Buck on recommendation from a friend.
The grounds were new to all. Buck and Booty had studied them on Google Earth on Buck’s iPad, a recent gift from his son.
Bootjack has drawn to go in the first brace with Freemason, last year’s Purina Dog of the Year. They were released at 7 AM. Both drove hard to the front and Buck and Booty feared a foot race, but from a rise to the left Booty saw them cross after coming out of a depression where they were unseen. Bootjack veered left. Booty signaled to Buck then drifted left.
For ten minutes the handlers rode the course, singing to the dogs then pleading. No dog showed. Then ten minutes more. The judges looked at their stopwatches, then conferred and agreed that in three more minutes they would declare both out of judgment. With a minute left in the grace time Freemason came in from left front and Booty reappeared from left rear. Bootjack was declared out of judgment.
Buck dropped back into the gallery, and Fred Gray followed him. “What happened?,” Buck asked Booty, with Fred close behind listening.
“It was Freemason crossed going left, I thought it was Bootjack. But when I realized that, Freemason was headed straight for the highway. So I kept after him to get him turned. Finally did, and he headed for the front.” No more was said between handler and scout.
Freemason hunted the front the rest of his hour, scored two good finds on sharptails, finished strongly. All knew the rest were seeking Runner-Up. Bootjack was found on point during the second brace, dead at the front.
When the running finished three days later Freemason was named Champion and Fred Gray prepared to leave in his rented car for the airport at Bismarck, he took Buck aside and said, “I want you to get rid of Booty. He sabotaged Bootjack, should have looked for him soon as he realized he was chasing Freemason.”
Without hesitation Buck said, “Mr. Gray you can fly Bootjack home with you in your Lear Jet. Booty did just what he was supposed to do. He and I had identified that highway as the only safety hazard on the course from the iPad my son give me.”