Our NAVHDA Invitational Journey

by Matt Morgan

This story goes way back.  It all began with swapping hunting and training stories and photos of Pudelpointers on a Facebook group.  Our family had a new pup that was showing promise, his name is Syrus.  This guy from Texas had a new female that seemed to be an outstanding squirrel dog was doing very well on ducks and upland birds also, her name is now VC Judee. Kirk Grounds is her owner.  I became friends with Kirk and we swapped numbers, eventually I told him I’d like a pup out of Judee if he ever bred her. He did breed Judee to Jack and when the time was right on her final litter I asked him to put me down for a male. Jack is owned by an Apache helicopter pilot and seriously dedicated hunter named Luke Kennedy. 

Now I had to convince my wife that we needed a new family member.  I got photos of Judee and Jack from puppy to fully grown and pedigree/testing info and compiled a Powerpoint slideshow on my laptop. A bottle of wine and flowers were also part of the equation.  We had put our daughter to bed and Robin was getting ready for that also. I told her I’d like to show her something when she was ready. Robin did not expect this at all. She saw my setup and was quite confused, so I poured us a glass of wine and started my dorky slideshow. At the end she said “So you just want another puppy???” Of course I did!!!  She kinda laughed but she didn’t say no. She did love the pictures of Jack and VC Judee and the stories behind them both. A month later on a St George Island beach stroll we were enjoying together I mentioned the pup and she agreed it was time. His name was to be Falling Feather’s Coldest Outlaw “Tucker”.

Tucker was a smart little guy right off the bat. Always happy. Eager to train. And loved to hunt. He retrieved to hand a live wild piglet when he was 5-6 months old. This happened on a walk on my neighbors’ property. He was retrieving wood ducks at that age also. He did well on his NA test, 112 at 7 months. Tucker was our first dog up to bat on the duck opener for the fall of the 2023 season where he retrieved 21 ducks in some of the nastiest mud I’ve ever hunted. There were many more hunting trips that fall where he excelled. Then we prepared for UT. We tested him at February and he earned a Prize 2 188, part of that was handler error and I knew we could do better. Many questioned why I wanted to retest. They had not seen the things I had in Tucker.

Kyle Hough was leading a duck search clinic for our Mid South Chapter in March of 2024.  I wanted to meet him and understand his training methods so we signed up. Kyle is an excellent dog trainer and person by the way. The group had been through his presentation and examples and we wound up at the duck search pond.  This pond is a beaver and wood duck paradise, thick and muddy with tons of cover that goes back to another pond that has a similar make up.  Tucker had never seen it before. When his time came I sent him. I’d asked for all of the training aids to be removed. He went on a 20+ minute search that day and retrieved the duck to hand. Kyle was getting nervous in the middle of the search but I had a feeling what was about to happen, “Trust Your Dog” is the Mid South motto.  Latter on Kyle pulled me to the side and said he would love to know how Tucker did in his testing going forward, he was very complimentary.

The Chattahoochee NAVHDA Test Secretary, Adam Thomas, was in attendance. I knew the guys in their upcoming chapter test and intentionally asked Adam for a waitlist entry in front of one fella that held a spot.  That fella had decided to pull his dog and offered Tucker and I his UT place. I paid the entry fee that night. 

Tucker was running 5th on a Friday, we had no team supporting us that day which was fine, this was all business.  Another acquaintance I’d made was Randall Lykens, he and his Pudelpointer Creek were running 6th.  It was a perfect day for running a test, cool enough and sunny. Chris Haire was my handling judge, same as in February and a few times before with other dogs. Chris read our scores that afternoon and about half way through he said “They’re all 4s”.  Tucker and Creek smoked it that day, 204 and 201 Prize 1’s. It was a cool moment and Randall and I agreed then to take it to the top, NAVHDA Invitational. 

Kyle was one of the people I relayed our successes to. He congratulated me and said we had to come up to his Invitational training camp in Pennsylvania he holds every July. I thought to myself, that sounds crazy but maybe we could. Later through out the testing season several other Mid South members qualified their versatile dogs with Prize 1’s. Karen Krauz, Bill Snyder, Chris Haire, Adam Thomas and Walter Trussell all earned a shot at Invitational 2025. All have fine versatile dogs and more experience than myself, we now had a good nuclease of a training group.

Walter is the president of Mid South Chapter and a contractor/dog trainer. He has become one of my best friends over the past couple of years. He has also energized and improved our NAVHDA Chapter. He invited Kyle back down to hold a 2 day Invitational training seminar for a small group that included Tucker and myself. It was hands on and one on one training to the max where every event and how to prepare for the Invitational was covered. Reading a description of the process is one thing, seeing it is another. Tucker did well that weekend so I felt we had a good base.

I’ve learned that preparing your dog for this event is all about timing. We had to balance our schedule of work, training, turkey hunting, summer vacation and family and realize that keeping this all fun for the dog is key. Boredom is an enthusiasm killer and our dogs are not built like labs. I didn’t coin any of this but I can attest that it is the truth. Our training was going well however. The advantage we have in the south is our water is always open, that is until the snakes and alligators begin to move. All summer we were constantly on the lookout for good and different blind water.  I had multiple ponds picked and a sequence I wanted to run them. Not so fast my friend. A gator would pop up here or there and that was the end of that, time to find a new spot. This happened to 3 of my ponds. Luckily we had our group and resources from them.

July 2025 found most all of the group heading to Pennsylvania to Kyle’s gathering. Nervously excited explains my mindset. There were handlers gathering from all over the United States. Some that had done this multiple times and some like me, green as a gourd. Fourteen hours and Walter never let me drive a mile of it. We were packed down with wingers, launchers, decoys, blinds, ducks, chukar, guns, and some bourbon too. Some guy even tried to buy our live ducks while we were stuck in traffic somewhere in Virginia. We gave him our suppliers name and kept inching towards Andreas, PA. 

I’m not sure if I was more nervous at the Invitational or running the different sequences in front of all of the ladies and gentlemen in PA. No-one ever wants to look bad in front of such a crowd, good thing Tucker didn’t care.  He wasn’t perfect that weekend but he didn’t have to be either. Our holes were exposed at the right time, plenty of summer left to fill them in. Meanwhile, we met and trained with some really nice folks and their talented dogs of all breeds. One dog that stood out belonged to Rich Robinson. His GSP, Blaze, was amazing that weekend and we got to know him and their story. It was much like ours, Rich had found a female he wanted a pup from and his wishes came true on her last litter. If you ever have the chance to attend Kyle’s event you should go.

Jonathan Morrow, Dan Beavers, and Justin Shiver are some of my really close friends, we hunt a lot together. Jonathan has a Small Munsterlander, Justin two Pudelpointers and we are still working on Dan but he does have an awesome property with everything you need to train for Invitational. His place was kept in my back pocket for August when we planned to sharpen our dull points.  Jonathan and his dog Ash joined me here for some brace work with Tucker.  Ash was perfect imo for this, she had been through Gun Dog Test so she wasn’t all the way steady. She is a very nice young dog but she did test Tucker’s steadiness a bit. Train over the test so test day is easy. She was also used as the retrieving dog at honor several times. 

Justin and his female Timber trained with me on our HRC club grounds known as Pine Tree. HRC work was extremely foundational to the water sequences of the Invitational. Trying to explain NAVHDA to a bunch of lab and Boykin guys is very difficult but they were always nice about it and open to our setups for the double mark, blinds and honor. Huge thanks to John Wagnon and Jeremy Flannery and many others of SOWEGA HRC Chapter. If you do want to try to make it to the Invitational level you should look into HRC with your puppy. The test day experience has always been welcoming to me and our “off” breed. More and more of these dog people are aware of Pudelpointers now.

We hit our Mid South training days throughout the summer also that way we could work on braces and field galleries. I encouraged everyone standing around to walk with us and our brace mate.  These opportunities aren’t always easy to come by, we took full advantage of them. Other weekends and weekdays we found ourselves training with many mentioned above on properties they had access to. WE SHARED! Spots, time, birds, tips, equipment, jokes, difficult scenarios, methods, shells, water, snacks, beer, handshakes (and hugs for the ladies). I don’t know about how the others felt but I became really close to these people and their dogs. That is a huge key to this journey.

Now it was September and I thought we were ready. Jonathan and I were leaving on Tuesday morning at 4am, Robin and Scarlett were flying up on Wednesday, our test day was Thursday. Truck was packed with all the needed things and on Monday I headed to work. I had not reached the end of my driveway when my daddy called. This wasn’t unusual but his voice was, “Matt I’m at Crisp Regional, they’re getting me ready for emergency surgery now, I’m in a lot of pain”. Just typing that is hard. My daddy is as tough as any person I know, when I heard him say that a lot of things and questions went through my mind. I called Robin, she called Candace, our PA friend in that surgical group, I call my brother, uncles, my boss, my coworkers, all on the way to Crisp Regional.  Candace called me with an update on daddy that she had access to through her portal. The thought was he had a perforated ulcer in his duodenum and should be in surgery within an hour. 

When I got to the hospital room daddy was hurting, momma was confused, but the surgeon was reassuring. I work in healthcare in a different hospital system but being on the other side of this type of situation is a bit foreign to me. There was a sense of relief in knowing many of the nursing staff, pharmacists, surgeon and his PA. They all took excellent care of my daddy and checked in on us multiple times while we awaited the results of his surgery which did go well. That afternoon our family had formulated a plan on how to best care for daddy and momma the rest of that week. I reminded daddy of the upcoming test Tucker and I had in Searsboro Iowa. He just kinda laughed in his way and said “What are you going to do here, watch me sit in this bed all day, go do your best.” My family and their dedication to make sure daddy was okay enabled me to leave the next Tuesday morning. There were some guilty feelings but he said go so we did.

Jonathan and I had a mixed dog box with his Small Munsterlander Ash, my Bracco Italiano Tito, and Tucker. We claimed to be the most diverse group in the whole midwest that week. The drive up was uneventful and we had dinner in downtown Grinnell with several other Pudelpointer folks. The next day we attended the Invitational opening ceremonies where we shook a few hands, signed in as volunteers, and got a few items from the swag shop that was set up, then watched the handler and dog introduction. My volunteer assignment was for the afternoon at the double mark, so the plan was to find the training field and air the dogs really well, then visit all of the events so that we were familiar on where we needed to go on Thursday. The blind retrieve waiting area was a really interesting scene and probably my favorite of all the events locations. It’s on a lake with camping areas, plenty of shade, a spot to view the test at a distance and a pavilion with plenty of tables where attendees could gather awaiting their turn.

Robin and Scarlett arrived right in time before I was due to relieve my fellow double mark volunteer.  We gave some quick hugs and planned for the afternoon. Watching the dogs and handlers approach the double was fun to me. Randall and Creek were the first to run during my assignment. Creek did an amazing job, so did Randall. Their sequence was flawless. I handled the swiper bird winger, while the dog was out for the long mark I had to come stand behind the handler and receive the swiper duck from the judge and remain there until the second retrieve was completed. I don’t know if Randall even realized it was me, I did my best to remain inconspicuous. As Randall and Creek left the event the one of judges commented “Very well trained dog”. I relayed that message to my buddy and he responded with a thank you and that he needed that reassurance. Kyle was among the remaining handlers I was able to watch, they did very well also.

The reading of scores was like a UGA tailgating scene before a big game. Whenever someone passes it’s a big celebration in their spot in the crowd. When someone doesn’t there is still congratulations on their journey. It feels as if everyone pulls for everyone to do well. That day I was able to see Randall, Kyle and my new friend Darryl Pernat pass. Dinner plans were at a Mexican restaurant and we got to meet even more people from Facebook land including the sire owner of Jonathan’s dog Ash. Scott Greene owns 3 male SMs with one of them a VC and one qualified for New Mexico next year.  I had talked on the phone with Scott a lot about what to expect on test day the past couple of months. It was nice to shake his hand, he would be joining our little group on Thursday.

TEST DAY, 9/11/2025.

It’s funny how fate works sometimes, the first people that I bumped into at the hotel that morning were Rich Robinson and his wife Angie. I shook Rich’s hand, he introduced me to Angie, and said that he and Blaze were running that morning also. We exchanged well wishes for the day and went on about our business. The test grounds are about 15 minutes from the hotel so just as in my old high school football days Jonathan and I had to jam out on the way. Open The Gates (live version), One, Bawitdaba, Come Out and Play were cranked and we felt good. 

Running order and bracemates are not known until the checking on your running day. We arrived at 6AM and headed to the tent to find out ours. The morning was cool, upper 50’s I think. Afternoon the temps would reach 85-87. We wanted field early because it was dry and that 85-87 is pretty damn hot. We must have had someone looking over us because we drew the second brace on Field A with our friends Rich and Blaze. Rich and Angie were across the parking lot so I walked over and shook his hand again. I was glad to have them as brace mates. The daily opening ceremonies are a pretty cool event in themselves. All handlers gather in a semicircle in front of the gallery and someone from the EC leads the service with sponsor information, then singing of the US and Canadian national anthems, the introduction of owners/handlers and dogs. All the days judges walk through and shake the handlers hands and each receives a commemorative medal. This day the ceremony began with a moment of silence in honor of September 11, 2001. 

Afterwards its off to the various events but Robin, Scarlett and I decided to just hang out around the headquarters for a bit. No-one was left there really so it was an opportunity to air our dogs. We found a path to another pond and strolled down it through beautiful CRP grasses and wildflowers and watched a glorious Iowa sunrise. Taking our time to snap a few pictures here and there and just enjoying a bit of peace before our field work was to start. I had gotten several well wishing texts and checked in on daddy who was still in the hospital back home. He was progressing well so that helped calm my mind.

An hour or so of taking it easy was nice. We decided to make our way towards Field A. Arriving there I met Jerry Imprevento who I have long followed and admired over the years. Jerry is a great photographer and even though he has an Irish Red and White Setter he has always photoed and seemed to admire Pudelpointers. Jerry and his IR Finn had run the previous day and unfortunately not passed but that didn’t seem to bother him too terribly. He wanted to see our dogs and said “I’m going to grab my camera”. Jerry snapped photos of Tucker and Tito with us and wished us luck. 

Time to go, we had tons of water bottles, gun, leash and met the judges, gunners, photographer and brace mates at the tent. It was all coming down to this. The photographer for Field A was an acquaintance I had met back in July at Kyle’s place, Jennifer Kellogg. Jennifer was originally slated to run on Thursday but NAVHDA adjusted her running date to Tuesday so she could use her photography talents on Thursday. Jennifer is another SM owner, she knew Scott well and her and her girl VC Denver had passed on Tuesday. She was on cloud 9 for a good reason.

Running with Blaze I knew would be good. He is a fantastic animal. As most GSPs do he lit up that field and ran bigger than Tucker. I expected this. Blaze found the first bird probably 150 yards out and over the hill. Tucker backed him immediately and remained steady through the entire sequence as he had done all summer, great back-check. Blaze found the second bird and Tucker backed again. Then he moved, wth. I stopped him on a whoa command for the sequence to play out. He was steady through the rest of it but my mind raced. The next bird Tucker found and pointed. This is the chukar I have named Lucifer. It was a runner, then a hopper, then an escape artist, this bastard had horns on its head I swear and fortunately he was no track star bc I did catch him eventually. Forty yards away from Tucker who was still on his point. I readied my gunner and tossed this satanic bird and what did it do? Flew in a line away from Tucker with the gunner blocking his view and over a bit of a hill. I’m guessing the bird fell a good 60 to 70 yards from Tucker. Now what? I guess I could have sent Tucker from where I was but decided to line him up for a retrieve. It was tough and that bird had run all the way up through the retrieving path. Tucker got a little sideways on the retrieve and we repositioned. He found it this time and delivery was good but my mind wasn’t. You had to admire his steadiness throughout this contact and it was a tough ass retrieve with a bunch of variables but he did get it done. Now we’ve got ground to make up. Next up a wild flush, Tucker stopped on a dime. Good. The middle of our run gets a bit blurry memory wise but I know his next point was spot on with a back by Blaze. Water trough visits are your friend during this hour brace. One of which my handling judge Brent Catura made the comment about the second backing sequence “That last back hurt y’all a bit, but we can make that up!” It was framed in a positive way, Brent was a good handling judge to me. He slowed me down and reminded me to breathe, so did my gunner. Brent reminded me that a whoa after an established point or back was an option that could save us. The last sequence we had Blaze on point and brought Tucker over the hill towards him. Tucker stuck the back then turned his head towards me slightly, “Whoa!” not too harsh but firm. Tucker didn’t move. The judges motioned Rich to work the bird. When he got in front of Blaze and all were steady, the judges called it. “Leash your dogs handlers”. It was not the start I had envisioned. Tucker did a great deal of nice work but that one back and the tough retrieve had me concerned. Rich and Jennifer were reassuring on the way to the truck. I congratulated Rich on Blaze’s efforts and thanked Jennifer for her talents. Onto the Double Mark/Heeling sequence.

Walter pulled into the parking lot right after I had signed into the Double Mark. He greeted as he always does, big smile and a hand shake. “How’d it go, Mr Matt?”. I shrugged and explained the happenings. We did’t have time to ponder too much because Rich and Blaze had finished and we were up.  This had historically been one of Tucker’s best portions of the test. The tricky part was the heeling course, it was on a steep side hill that angled down to the water. Peter Wade met me at the start and would be my handling judge. He was a welcome site for sure. I’d never run a dog under Pete but had met him while I volunteered at a Chattahoochee test a while back. Scarlett was there with me that day. She had to be about 4 or 5 then and is 10 now. His first words to me were “Matt your daughter has surely grown up since I saw her last, she’s a beautiful young lady. I’m glad she was able to join us today!” I’ve no idea why but that put me at ease. Just the way he brought it up showed that he cared and this whole week was more than just dogs, handlers, and judges. It was about those who support us also.  Tucker heeled down to the waters edge and nailed the entire sequence!!! 

Funny to me how all of the preparation and time spent came down to one last event and it would all be over. Our small caravan was on the way to Diamond Lake for our final events Blind and Honor by Water. Historically there are two parts that are known to take dogs out of passing contention, backing and the blind retrieve. I wasn’t sure on our backing score but confident in our blind work. I mentioned earlier that the Diamond Lake area was beautiful and a neat place to relax. I found a shady spot to park the truck and then went to check in hoping our wait wouldn’t be too long. Wrong. There were 9 dogs ahead of us and the judges were about to break for lunch. Guess we were about to enjoy the camp scene for a bit.  Robin broke out the sandwich meat, wraps, and fruit. I grabbed a gallon bag of Hardy Farms boiled peanuts Jonathan brought for the trip. For all you non southerners information, boiled peanuts are a delicacy in the south. This time of year they are the best. These aren’t like ones you saw in a gas station crock pot off of I-75 on your way to a Florida spring break beach trip. These peanuts are like grandma cooked fresh straight from the field. No dove hunt or tailgate is complete without them. I started wandering through all the trucks offering a peanut to whomever was brave enough to try one. I gave them a demonstration on how to eat them and stood back to watch their reaction. Rich and Angie were my first victims. Rich was nice but was good with one or two, Angie got a double handful. Onto the pavilion which was a target rich environment. My little game was fun and an ice breaker for conversation all we needed now was some cold beers and we’d have a party going. It did help to pass the time for sure.

Finally we were on deck so I went and grabbed Tucker. Knowing your dog is key to this testing scene. One way I’ve trained is to show him a duck before the duck search. Tucker is nuts for ducks and this always brought him to the level of excitement and focus I wanted to see. So over the summer I started doing the same before blinds, it seemed to help. Idk if some think that’s kosher or not but there is no rule against it so that is what I was doing when the checkin guy found me. I thought to myself that this might get sideways for a second. The gentleman looked at me and said “I do the same thing before duck search, never thought about it before a blind. Mr Morgan you’re on deck. Good Luck!” We proceeded to our holding spot. Waited for the honor shot and then headed to the judges tent. Met Rich and Blaze on the way out. Rich’s smile was so big you could see his wisdom teeth. I was proud for them. Now it was game time for Tucker and myself.

This event was the quietest to me. NO Phone signs, no friendly Peter Wade type judge to greet us, strictly business. Instructions were given and Tucker heeled to the water’s edge. I’ve looked at a lot of water blinds over the summer in many locations and know from experience how tricky gauging the distance can be. This was supposedly 100-110 yards but it looked like twice that in the moment. Wind was fairly strong from left to right and had a nice chop working on the water. There was a lip at the edge with a step off of at least a foot or more. The landing spot and duck were clear and the duck is visible to me. I didn’t want to line Tucker upwind but know he has a bit of a right turn on his send. So I chose to aim him straight at the duck knowing his rightish veer and wind could push him. All he had to do was catch that scent. TuckerRRR!!!! is my command. Off he went, like your first born to college, there would be no controlling him for a while. The first 60 yards were great and he was on his line, just slightly right a tad. Then out of nowhere this orange leaf the size of a dinner plate drifts in like a 747 water landing 10-15 yards in front of him and floats to the right. Unholy language was running through my mind. Just focus Tucker and find that scent but he drifted more right with the leaf. There was another smaller opening to the right of the area the duck laid with a dead tree in the water and brush in between. He passed that tulip poplar leaf and exited the lake up a path and then sharp left towards the duck. Jackpot!!! His delivery was to hand and presented beautifully, I looked into his golden brown eyes and he seemed to say to me “I did it daddy, piece of cake.” We heeled our way to the honor and set Tucker on the orange X in the circle. Firm Whoa command and I went to my orange dot. Winger, duck, shot, GSP retrieve, return to Tucker and heel away past the judge. Perfection. We were done and despite the stoic environment we had our celebration together. Tucker is a happy dog and he makes me a happy owner. Our chests were puffed out far and wide on the way back to the pavilion. Time for that cold beer.

Jonathan and I led the caravan back to the Big Springs Shooting Complex where our scores would be read in a couple of hours. We headed right down to the first of three pistol ranges that had a huge white wagon train looking covering that provided shade for us and the dogs. Robin, Scarlett, Jonathan, Scott and I were just chilling with all of our 6 dogs (Scott had his 3) and enjoying a few cool beverages. Jennifer joined us after her photography work ended. We swapped dog stories and future plans for training and hunting. When the traffic had picked up significantly the decision was made to find our spot for the reading of scores.

Shade was the goal again because it was still really hot. We found it behind Rich and Angie and beside my wire-haired Vizsla friend from the PA event, Connie Hansen. Rich and Blaze were the first up in the reading. Fours across the board and a max score of 200. I slapped him across the back as soon as that 200 was read. He and Angie were elated. I thought we might be next but no. Several other scores were read before it was Connie’s turn. Her dog Java was deemed “the latest VC!!!!” She cried tears of pure joy in her folding chair while everyone around celebrated for them. Jeff George and Etta were next. Etta had stayed in our home for a couple weeks basically a year ago to the date. Jeff and I talked of the Invitational in my driveway. Jeff had been close with Etta before and the blind retrieve was their hiccup. This day it was not. Max score of 200. I began to wonder if we were ever going to hear our name. Falling Feather’s Coldest Outlaw, call name Tucker, a 3 year 2 month old Pudelpointer male, owned and handled by Matthew F Morgan. Tucker earned the following scores…. All I wanted was a 3 in backing, I knew the rest was good enough for a pass. I had told Jonathan as we turned into the complex 2 hours prior that I didn’t think he would get that 3 but what the hell did I know. “Backing…3” That’s when it started, the feeling of relief, the joy of the moment we had worked so hard for, the lump in my throat, the watery eyes, I had not heard those magic words yet but I knew we had done it. “Your latest VC!!!” Jonathan dumped the bag Yeti icy water over my head as I raised my fists to the blue Iowa sky, Robin gave me a hug and Scarlett was crying in her chair when I hugged her. Congratulation came from all around, Walter, Chris, Scott, Jennifer, Connie, Rich, Angie, Kyle, Joe Bozelac and his friend Nate and plenty of others I forgot to mention and those I didn’t know. What a ride of a summer! 

After the ceremony we shook hands of those that passed and those that did not and congratulated all for just being here. I thanked the volunteers that made all of this possible. I found several of my judges from the day and thanked them. Peter, John, Brent, Curt, Sheryle, Steve, and my friend Roy Ames who wasn’t a part of my judging crew but had definitely contributed to our journey. I found Jeff and Steve Bundy in the crowd and congratulated them.  Jennifer and Jeff had trained together over the summer and she agreed to get us a few photos by the JD 4020 picture scene. I believe there were 15 of us at dinner that evening and most all of them were mentioned above. It was a celebration. The party continued in the Comfort Inn parking lot. Jennifer, Scott, Jonathan and I were the last ones standing. An S letter bottle of Blanton’s was passed around a few times. The tales got deep. I was in SM territory now and that was fine by me. Scott has an Invitational in New Mexico in a year, hopefully Jonathan and Ash can make it in a couple years. We plan to be there to support them.

There are many people that contributed to Tucker and my success that day in Iowa. All mentioned throughout this story and many more also. I hope all know that I am grateful. My main supporter is and will always be Robin, she probably doesn't hear it enough but we could not have done this without her. I know she gets tired of hearing strategies and methods that led us to this place but she loves our dogs and tolerates me. Thank you darling.

This journey didn’t end with a VC title for all of my friends unfortunately. Little uncontrollable things can wreck your day. Someone said that these dogs only have to be a VC for a day and I guess there is some truth in that. But the truth I know is that many of those dogs owned by my friends have been VCs a whole bunch of days. Some will say that the Invitational is a trainers test, others say there is nothing gained genetically through a VC title. These are all opinions and I don’t necessarily agree. I do know what this adventure ment to me and my family. Everyone has a story in this dog world and they are mostly good ones. Mine will always include one thing. All I wanted at the end of that day was a 3 in backing and just like I told those SM folks that night in the Comfort Inn parking lot, it was the best __ing 3 I’ve ever gotten. Trust Your Dog!!!

Now we get to hunt!