Bo'Darc Dixie Fiddle
"Dixie"
This is the gal that started the line that I have today. Dixie had it all, brains, beauty and personality. Dixie was a completely finished gun dog, broke steady to wing and shot and force broke to retrieve. After first acquiring Dixie I began to run her in some NSTRA field trials. She gave the judges a lot to ponder and think about. Let me tell you of two different occasions where Dixie “stumped” the judges.
For some reason, I always got very excited and nervous in the blind right before the breakaway. Dixie was able to pick up on this “nervous energy” that I was feeling and she seemed to raise her energy level accordingly. The very first trial where I ran Dixie, about 4 minutes into the brace, she pointed. I had an apprentice judge that was in training, tagging along with my judge at this point of the trial. I walked in front of Dixie, flushed the bird and shot it. Now with her being broke steady to wing and shot, she just stood there like she was carved in stone, something that is NOT a common sight at a NSTRA trial. The bird fell behind a large ticket out of the sight of Dixie. After the bird fell, I turned to her and released her with a “Fetch” command. She exploded from point with a vengeance and blazed around the thicket. Peering through the thicket, I saw her pick up the bird, at which I commanded, “Here” and let me tell you, she had “here” on her mind. At that moment I laid my gun down and dropped to one knee. I could see in her eyes that see was about to do, what I fully expected she would do. With her charging towards me at full speed, at about 7 or 8 feet from where I was knelt, she leaped from her feet sailed through the air and slammed into my shoulder, knocking me over backwards. While I laid on the ground on my back hugging her and telling her what a dynamo she was, I overheard the apprentice ask the judge, “Do you give them extra points for flying and knocking over their handler”!
At another trial Dixie was hunting about 100 yards east of me, when she saw the other dog in her brace on point. She froze, honoring her brace mate, who was pointed about 100 yards south of her. My judge was riding his 4-wheeler next to me. I picked up my pace trying to get to Dixie. Now common courtesy for this situation is for the other handler to wait until I reach my dog before he attempts to flush. The property where this trial was being held was an old wheat field they had allowed to go back to “nature”. It still had the terraces running throughout the property. The dilemma was, when I was still about 50 yards from Dixie, the pointed quail got nervous and started running on the top of the terrace. The dog that was on point started moving very quickly towards the departing quail while the handler started very hastily towards both of them! The quail was put to air by its pursuers. A shot was fired and the bird fell. Now I’m still about 20 or so yards from Dixie, who by the way, still hasn’t twitched a muscle. Upon arriving at my “still on point” dog, I reached down and ran my hand under her collar and asked the judge if we could go on and try to find some birds for ourselves. He said that we needed to give the dog and the handler, a “reasonable” amount of time to make their retrieve. Well after about 3 or 4 minutes, which seems like an eternity, I asked if we had given them their reasonable time. The judge told me I could go on, but to hold on to my dog and make our way over to another area of the field before releasing her. The three of us started moving away from the “retrieve” and was about 75 yards from where Dixie was honoring, when I tripped. I had two choices to make as I was falling very quickly face forward to the earth, let go of the gun or let go of the dog. I took the “safest” choice and let go of Dixie just before I piled into the ground. She took all this commotion as her queue to go make a “retrieve”. I called to her… but she was on a mission. Now mind you, at least 5 minutes had now passed since the bird had been shot, with the other dog and handler searching desperately for their bird. Dixie blazed directly to the downed bird, picked it up and brought it to me in a whirlwind. I just shook my head and told how proud I was of her. After time expired, my judge rode up to me and told me that was the finest piece of dog work he had ever witnessed. The fact that she honored so far from the other dog, never moved without any commands, stood for the other handlers shot and attempted retrieve, all the while my judge and I were feverously trying to reach her. Then after at least 5 minutes had expired, she remembered her “mark” on the dead bird and completed a 75 yard retrieve to hand. The other handler made his way over to me after the brace and told me how much he did not appreciate my dog “interfering” with his retrieve. Go figure…….