In 1970 a little white and orange setter by the name of Johnny Crocket won the All Age National Field Trial at the Ames plantation. Forty three years passed before another English setter won. Shadow Oak Bo, handled by Robin Gates won after running a near perfect three hour heat.
All life-long setter people rejoiced. Well some of us did.
When my tri-colored setter female, Dolly, came in heat I called Robin Gates to confirm the date to have her there. When I told my wife what day I would be leaving she said, “That’s the day we have about 20 people coming over. You have to be here.”
A friend of mine, Robin Barrows, was wanting a pup out of Shadow Oak Bo and Dolly. He had hunted with Dolly and knew she was a good bird dog. When he heard I could not go on the day I needed to, he offered to take Dolly to Georgia. That was no small thing. Google said it was 2000 miles round trip.
I decided to have my vet, Dr. Becker, run a test to see if Dolly would be ready on the day I had planned. When the test came back Dr. Becker said we should wait another three days. With the change in dates I could take her.
Robin volunteered to go with me so early on Monday morning we loaded Dolly in the dog box and started east. We drove all day with stops to air Dolly out every two hours or so. We got a room south of Atlanta late that night.
After a quick breakfast the next morning we were back on the road. We arrived at Robin Gates home about 9:00 am. His kennel was close and along with Shadow Oak Bo there were several other all-age champions.
Robin had a front end loader working around his place and he really needed to be working, but he took the time to show us around, tell us about some of the other dogs, and get Dolly and Bo together.
There was some empty kennels there so we were able to leave Dolly in one until the next day. Robin Barrows and I eat a lot more craw fish that evening for dinner than I had ever seen at one time.
We got to Gates kennel about 5:00 am the next morning. Robin Gates was going turkey hunting so we got Bo and Dolly together again, shook hands with Robin and wished him good luck hunting.
With the early start and the time difference we were able to drive all the way home that day even with all the traffic we hit in Atlanta and St. Louis.
On June 7, 2013 two females and two males were born. Most of Bo’s litters are bigger than this, so I think we possibly bred Dolly a day or two to early.
Then the fun starts. I really enjoy having pups around.
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