As a young man I got to tag along each year with my Dad on the opener of the pheasant hunt.  My Dad didn’t use bird dogs and the pheasants were plentiful.  We would take a walk for an hour or so and he’d shoot a couple of birds.  I looked forward each year to hunting pheasants with my Dad.  When I got older, I finally got to carry around his old full choked Winchester 1897  he called it a “Long Tom”.  I shot a lot of pheasants with that gun, but I still had never hunted with a dog.  One day I watched a group of hunters show up with a pair of German Shorthairs.  I stood amazed as I watch those dogs work the field and 5 hunters shot their limit of birds in no time at all.  It was my first experience seeing a bird dog work and I have always remembered that day.

When I got married, we decided it was time to get a dog.  Here was my chance!  I wasn’t going to get just any dog, I had to have a bird dog.  I went to the local classifieds and found some “Pointing Lab” pups and brought one home.  She was a great dog, a soccer ball retrieving expert and the best family dog you could ever ask for.  The time finally came where she was old enough for me to bring her along on the annual pheasant hunt.  I was excited to have a dog to help find and retrieve birds.   30 yards into the hunt, birds came up, 3 hunters took 2 or 3 shots each, and I ended up with a gun shy Pointing Lab parked under a sage brush for the rest of the day.

I learned the hard way that there is a proper way to train a bird dog.  Several years later I had the opportunity to hunt behind a nice English Pointer named Dexter at a hunt club.  I had never seen a field bred English Pointer before.  This dog pointed and retrieved bird after bird all day for us.  On that day, I decided that an English Pointer was the way to go.  So much class, and pure desire to find birds.  I remember that as one of the greatest days I have ever spent in the field.  I started doing research on English Pointers, I now had the internet to help me.  I learned about Bob Wehle and Elhew Pointers.  I found online communities of people interested in training and hunting with bird dogs.  Research led me to a very nice Elhew Pointer.  I studied, read books, and asked for help.  I didn’t want to screw this one up.

I found the Greater Utah Pointing Dog Club and began training for and competing in National Shoot To Retrieve Trials.  That was it, I was hooked.  I found some success in competing and eventually became a NSTRA Field Trial Judge.  I ended up with another pointer, this time with some Honky Tonk lines and I began to have more success competing in trials.  During this time I launched www.utahbirddogs.com, a place to share the experience and learn with others.  I have forged great friendships with others who share my love for Upland Hunting and Bird Dogs.  Recently we launched www.wildwestgundogs.com, an online community specifically sharing the Upland Experience in the West.

Simply put, I love hunting with Bird Dogs.  At this point in my life I would rather hunt without a gun than without a dog.  I have found that competing with Bird Dogs gives me the opportunity to hunt or prepare for hunting year round.  I experience great joy in training bird dogs.  In the last couple of years, I’ve started competing in AKC and American Field Trials, both walking and horseback.  My dogs have earned placements in each field trial venue.  I’m looking forward to many more days spent in the field chasing bird dogs.  I am a small kennel.  I will have a litter available from time to time.  My interests in Pointer lines at this time is dogs stylish dogs with incredible noses from Fiddler lines, Addition’s Go Boy, Nell’s Rambling On etc… crossed to current big running All Age dogs like Miller and Erin’s dogs.

My dogs are our family pets, they get to come inside and they are part of our family.  My 5 children ensure that they get plenty of attention and socializing.  Thank you for taking the time to view my web site.  And finally, I offer a bit of advice for those just getting started.  The best thing I did was to find others locally who were already training and experienced with bird dogs.  Find a mentor, get some help.  Don’t start out like I did with my first lab.

-Rob Ashby