I hunt in Washington. Isn't this a hunting Washington forum? The e-collar issue affects everyone in every state.
As far as field trial trainers go, who have I put down? I've never said anything but good things about Hoke and Marquart. They both have very good reputations. The only thing I have ever said about them is that they aren't cheap. Remember when you argued with me about that? The AKC pointer national and setter National is a joke. They are suppose to be a National, yet they don't typically draw any more entry's then a common weekend GD trial, and most of the top pointers and setters aren't even AKC registered. I don't consider those Nationals very relevant because those Nationals don't attract the best dogs of those breeds from across the country. Again, that is true. That doesn't mean some damn nice dogs don't win those Nationals, it just means that it's hard for me to quantify them as real Nationals when the top dogs and top trainers don't attend them. Remember, you were the one who argued with me about AF vs AKC several years ago? At the time, you didn't even know what AF is. Hell, you thought AKC was an older organization. You even told me most of the trial Brittany's didn't even run in AKC Brit trials. You might know a lot about Chessies, labs, and all the other retrieving/flushing breeds, but you don't know squat about pointing dogs and especially, their trial venues. You won't hear me talk about lab and chessie trials, because I don't know a damn thing about them.
As far as putting down local bred dogs, I haven't done that either. I have simply said there are very few top bred pointing dogs in the area, which is true, and there are very few top AF pointers and setters, which is also true. They do exist, but nothing like other parts of the country, where pointing dogs are a big part of the culture and a huge tradition.
This is a bird dog forum, and people hunt, and trial there bird dogs in every state, not just WA. Now, back to the original post.
Aspen. Cool video.
