I grew up in South Dakota and developed a passion for hunting at an early age.  As I grew older and more experienced, I found that hunting upland game birds behind good dogs was type of hunting I enjoyed the most.

I grew up with golden retrievers.  My grandfather was one of the first golden retriever breeders and field trialers in North America.  At that time - late 1930's and early 1940's - retriever field trials were begun in southeastern Minnesota, southwestern Wisconsin and northeastern Iowa by avid duck hunters who wanted meaningful off-season retriever training for their dogs.  My grandfather was very involved with this effort, serving as president of the Winona, MN club, doing demonstrations of retriever training at other sportsmen's clubs in the area and was featured in the June, 1940 issue of Sports Afield magazine in an article with photos about retriever training.

I had several very good hunting goldens beginning in college and continuing into my early thirties.  Friends had decent pointing dogs of several breeds and I became increasingly interested in getting a pointer.  I did a lot of research looking for a breed that would have not only excellent hunting instincts, but also a temperment similar to that of golden retrievers.  Most of the pointing dogs I'd seen were wired more tightly than I wanted.  Our dogs are house dogs and having a hyperactive dog bouncing off walls and driving my wife and I crazy would not have been a positive addition to our household!

I had pretty well settled on getting a wirehaired pointing griffon and had joined the Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Club of North America.  I was impressed with their breeding/testing requirements and had met a couple of low-key, affectionate griffons that we really liked.

Just before I was ready to order a pup, there was an early fall article in Gun Dog magazine about German Longhaired Pointers.  I hadn't even heard of that breed before reading the article, but was intrigued by the description of their working abilities, personality and the photos of good-looking dogs.  Del Peterson of Yakima, Washington was featured in that article as the resident expert on the breed in North America.

I was already planning a December hunt in central Washington, about an hour east of Yakima.  I filed away Del's phone number and decided I'd give him a call when I got to Washington - which I did.  I arranged to meet Del and his outstanding female longhair, Indra, in Ellensburg late one afternoon where he was to speak that evening at a Pheasants Forever meeting.  We scheduled a half-day hunt later in the week where I could see Indra in action.

I was very impressed with Indra, the first longhair to get a Prize I in NAVHDA's Utility Test and qualify for their Invitational.  Del put me on his list for a pup out of Indra's next litter, which she had the next spring.  I ended up with the only female from that litter, a pup I named Trista after an outstanding female golden my grandfather had in the 1940's.

Almost everyone thinks their dog is a wonderful hunter and companion, regardless of how others might judge the dog.  At times I'm as guilty as anyone else in this regard, but with Trista, I truly was blessed with an outstanding hunting dog.  She loved the water every bit as much as any retriever I've seen, was an exceptionally staunch pointer and a fabulous tracker, did a super field search and had a sixth sense sort of connection with me at times and a bird savy that I've never seen in another dog.

She was a marvelous field dog that hunted 15 species of upland game birds and handled each very well (although there was a short a learning curve at times, especially with Mearn's quail).  She excelled in hunting tests as well as other field competitions (like timed hunts our local NAVHDA chapter did as fund raisers).  I was extremely fortunate to begin my pointing dog career with an outstanding dog that taught me a lot about hunting birds with a versatile hunting dog. I currently have 3 longhairs, all are capable field dogs with calm dispositions that make them good house dogs as well.

Over the years, I've come to appreciate the good looks of the breed as well, and get a lot of pleasure seeing a dog with a long, fully feathered tail standing on a stylish, staunch point.  As I tell my bird hunting friends, especially those with fuzzy-faced, dock-tailed dogs, "Life is too short to hunt with an ugly dog!"