I grew up in Colorado and had the privilege of learning to hunt upland birds with a friend, his uncle Dean, and two German Shorthaired Pointers. I'll never forget my first hunting trip with them. We spent hours walking through fields with very little action. Then, suddenly, I heard the dog collars start screaming a hawk-like sound – the dogs had gone on point. Dean got excited and hurried my friend and me into position for the shot. He went ahead of the pointers and began trying to flush the bird.

 

Suddenly, Dean yelled, "ahhh sh*&." I was confused about what had gone wrong, but it didn't take long for my nose to realize the problem – the bird dogs had actually pointed a skunk. Needless to say, I didn't get to shoot my first pheasant. We finished out the day, all of us smelling like skunk. The ride home was the longest three-hour drive of my life.

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Dean invited us on many more hunting trips where I got to watch the dogs work and point birds. Watching his dogs gave me a profound respect for their abilities, and luckily, we didn't have any more skunk encounters.

Fast forward about 12 years, Dean invited me on another hunting trip, and I was reconnected with his hunting dogs. As we walked through the last field of the day, I had my son and friends by my side, a German Shorthair in front of me, and birds flying all around.

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I decided to give my children the same hunting experience that Dean had given me. On Christmas Eve, Santa brought my kids Rogue. My family has grown to love everything about the German Shorthair breed. I hope that by breeding these wonderful dogs, we can pass on some of the same incredible experiences that these dogs have given us.