
| Life with Shaker It all started about 3 years ago, my last child was out of the house and life seemed to slow down a bit. My son had gotten a pup (an English Cocker), which he had little time to train so I took the job. I had so much fun I started looking at the different sporting dogs to see which would fit the traits I was looking for. The Brittany seemed to be the one. Two years went by and I was still looking at pups, unsure about making the commitment to a dog for the next 12 to 15 years. So December 2006 my wife made the choice for me, a Brittany pup for Christmas. He was a cutie. We named him Shaker, cause anytime he got cold he would begin to shake. By late winter I was starting to look for a club of some kind to get into for training and to get him introduced to birds. It just so happened the GMBC was holding a fun field trial that weekend. I grabbed Shaker and headed out to Ottawa trial grounds to see what it was all about. Shaker agreed this was for him, so we signed up with the GMBC that week. It has been a great experience for both of us, we have met some great people and have learned a lot. We entered in as many fun events as possible to hone our skills and encourage his drive to find those birds. Shaker had just turned 6 months, just in time for the last hunt test of the summer. The pressure was on, would he go for the gophers, which he would chase from time to time, or stick to the birds, (the day before it seemed he was more interested in gophers). Needless to say he chose birds. He gave one of his best efforts to date, pointing 3 birds with great style. I have never been prouder of him. That was the first leg of his hunt test. Later that summer, we finished our hunt tests, ending with a near perfect score (39) and earned the Junior Hunter title. We finished just in time for hunting season, and what a season it turned out to be, I’ ve seen and shot more pheasants this year than I have in the past 10 years combined. What a year!! Shaker is turning out to be more than I ever expected, and am hoping to enjoy many more years with my new hunting partner and best friend. To end the year and start a new one we went to the annual awards banquet were we received a plaque for earning a JH title. We also entered the raffle, and much to our surprise, we came away with two great prizes, a beautiful clock and a Charles Daly O/U shotgun, and for that I would like to thank all who made this possible; this truly made this year memorable for me. Hope to see everyone out in the field. Jeff Teuteberg |
