The article below was one of the first things I read this morning, and it was a great way to start the day. I always try to see the best in all situations, and I work at keeping gratitude in my attitude, but as many spiritually developed people have said, "some of my wisest teachers had four legs". Here's one such story of a hound who just doesn't give up. And Tess doesn't even have a resentment at the guy who ran over her leg. ;)Loss of Leg Doesn't Stop Hunting Dog
The summer-like conditions have come to an end around here, and the low last night was 34F. I'm ready for cooler days, it seems more like August then the middle of October. High today should be in the 60s, which is still on the warm side for the date.
By DAVE KOLPACK – 10 hours ago
CASSELTON, N.D. (AP) — Pheasant hunting season brings out the best in Tess, a 5-year-old German wirehaired pointer who became a national champion despite the loss of one leg. "When you let her out of the truck, she's hunting from the second she jumps off that tailgate. Just like that," said the dog's owner, Keith Kemmer, snapping his fingers.
"She never quits. The other dogs, by the end of the day, they'll come up and lay by the truck. Not her."
It was Kemmer who accidentally ran over the dog's right rear leg with his pickup about four years ago. He said he was devastated, not only for the dog's suffering, but also because she had shown great promise as a pointer.
"I thought about it all night long. Should I put her down?" Kemmer said. "Then I thought maybe I could make a pet out of her. A house pet."
Tess still qualifies as a house pet. She's the only one of Kemmer's three hunting dogs who gets to come inside. But she's also developed into the prize-winning hunting dog that Kemmer envisioned when he got her.
Tess still had stitches from the amputation when Kemmer let her tag along on a pheasant hunt. His other two dogs, who were still in the puppy stage, had trouble finding a downed pheasant. Kemmer gave Tess a chance.
"Within five minutes, she had it," Kemmer said. "She hadn't yet learned how to balance and she couldn't retrieve. So she just stood on the pheasant."
That's when the training began.
Two years ago she registered a perfect score in the North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association's premier event. Only 100 out of about 4,500 dogs qualify for the competition. Tess was one of only 32 dogs to become a versatile champion.
Nate Larson, a dog trainer from Isabel, S.D., said many hunters in the area have heard about the story of Tess.
"You cannot train that into an animal," Larson said. "Obviously that dog came from stock ... that had just plain heart. A lot of dogs in that situation would have quit on you."
Kemmer jokes about his dog's celebrity status.
"She's kind of a showoff. She shows up on test day," he said, smiling.
Kemmer said she's even better out in the field, where she should be this weekend during North Dakota's pheasant hunting opener. Her best skill is finding birds and pointing, he said.
"A lot of dogs point at like a hot scent or where birds were," Kemmer said. "When she points, 999 times out of 1,000 there's a bird there. And 995 times it's going to be a rooster."
Although she labors at times while walking, Tess has few problems running, swimming and jumping. The only obstacles that give her pause are slippery grass and heavy snow.
"She can jump better than she let's me think she can," Kemmer said, smiling. "At the end of the day I still pick her up to put her in the pickup. I guess she has me well-trained."
The big truck will be our everyday vehicle for awhile, since the Sunbird had a suspension problem a few days ago. She has just too much rust to make repair a viable option, and as much as I hate to part with a vehicle that gets 30mpg and has only 73000 on the engine, it has to be done.
The complaint to the Better Business Bureau about the leaky oil pan was not answered by the company, which now has an "F" rating. So I contacted the credit card company about a charge-back, and that worked. I have the $45 in credit. We're still out a large chunk of change for installation, but at least we got something back. The Bird has a half tank of gas too. That and the new oil pan makes her worth more than we can get for her when she's not running.
The "new" computer is back in the shop. I picked up a wireless adapter for it last week after we couldn't get the cable to work, and the wireless didn't work either, so they will have to figure it out. They installed the drive, the software, and the ethernet, so they are responsible. In the mean time, I'll be putting a new floppy in this machine this morning. All my new POTW are on floppies, and I'm getting tired of looking at the Chinese toy recall.
Have a nice day (that graphic is on a floppy too).
28 comments on I like Her Attitude!
Add a comment
To add comments without entering your email and image verification, you must be logged in. Login or Join Blogster
Goes to show..DOGS ARE SMARTER THN PEOPLE TOO! ( Just like birds-LOL)
Tammybleu[HEART]
.....maybe the "mainstream" lukewarm press is just o-bein' cajoled by His Royal Nutiness into obsessing on the latest xenophobic infotainment in order to take our minds off the falling dollar (40% down in 4 years) and the fiasco in Iraq... [OHMY][OHMY][OHMY]
Can anyone say, "A coerced and spoon-fed press is just another Big Brotherian Tool Designed to Disenlighten Ya...!!!"????
[SMILE][LOL][WINK][GLARE][HUH][OHMY][TONGUE][ROLLEYES][HEART]
Hazel[HEART]
Congrats on being the Featured Blogger!!![THUMBUP][THUMBUP]
Congrats on being featured![THUMBUP]
Enjoy the weekend.[SMILE][HEART]