Blog

1938

May 11, 2023 | National Championship, Short Stories | Comments
It was a desperate year by every measure. The Great Depression had refused to end; war threatened again in Europe as Germany, now under Hitler’s thumb, smoldered with resentment under the punishing terms of the Treaty of Versailles; and most Americans lived in poverty, those rural who had no debt the best off because they could at least grow and put up their own food for winter and darn their threadbare garments and socks.  Read more

Characters in My Life

May 5, 2023 | Donald McCaig, Remembrances | Comments
I look back on a long, full life and remember the characters in it. By characters I mean folks who were unconventional, unusual, different, distinctive, and giving to me — of friendship or knowledge or both. I want to briefly remember a few of them, one here and others later in other brief essays.  I start with Donald McCaig, the kindest, gentlest most unselfishly giving-to-me-person I ever knew, for no reason but a shared love of working dogs, his for sheep dogs — Border Collies — mine for pointing dogs.  Read more

Some Luck

April 27, 2023 | Fiction, Short Stories | Comments
The year was 1953. They were on the prairie in Manitoba at July’s end, camped twenty miles apart. Jim Chambers was there with a string of puppies, derbies and all-ages for his employer Sid Simon, one of America’s wealthiest men. He had come up from Union Springs by train while his hands had hauled the dogs up in a two-ton truck. The horses they used stayed in Canada year-round. They belonged to Simon but were lent by him, when not in use for dog training, to Canadian farmer-ranchers who in exchange for boarding them, used them under saddle or to pull wagons, slays, cultivators, plows, harrows, mowing machines, rakes, whatever. It was a good deal for all. Read more

The Band

April 23, 2023 | Poetry | Comments
They are a band  Of determined souls  With a common goal  To make a bird dog Truly grand Twenty odd trainer-handlers  At any time across the land  Engaged full time in the major circuit all-age game  Read more

Corrections

April 17, 2023 | Field Trial Hall of Fame, Field Trial Reports, Other Things | Comments
In the report of the 2023 National Championship appearing in the April 2023 issue  of the UKC Field at page 11 (left column) the Reporter, Tessa Hughes, states: “Everyone was excited to recognize our other honoree, the well-known and extremely talented dog man, David Johnson of Lake City, Fla. Johnson is the unfailingly polite gentleman on whom Robin Gates relied for many years. He scouted champions such as Shadow Oak Bo and over 130 others to championships. He is an absolute canine genius and well-regarded by all who know him.” Read more

Escape

April 11, 2023 | Poetry | Comments
What is a perfect escape from our worries? I know but one To hunt grouse with a son And one or two bird dogs you share You do not have to bag birds You only need to go forth together Where grouse live and enjoy the prospect Watch your dogs search ahead  Read more

My Good Luck

April 5, 2023 | Poetry | Comments
I look back Across decades Of a grand life With joy and gratitude And for no part more Than my bird dog field trial life Which began modest but became grand Read more

Chain Saw Burglars

March 22, 2023 | Ben Reach, Short Stories | Comments
Timber theft was not rare in the forest lands across the rural south. In fact, it was an art form, especially where absentee land ownership was common. It’s practitioners included, among others, unscrupulous timber cruisers, surveyors, loggers and log truckers, saw millers, land dealers and managers, and occasionally lawyers and county officials. Ben Reach had observed them in action, often in concert, over a long career. He had acted to thwart them when he came upon them in time. Read more