For years I’ve had aspirations to own a family of canines.  To date, I’ve had the opportunity to own many different breeds, ranging in size from toy to large.  They each have their unique personalities and a willingness to please.  I had ventured through dog obedience classes with some of them and purchased others already trained for a task.  A few years ago I felt it was time to do some research to find a dog that would accommodate our families activities.  My husband being an avid hunter taught our sons, daughters and myself to hunt.

Through some research we had purchased a breed that fit the profile.  We had bought a trained bird-dog that needed some refreshing.  What better way to learn how an animal thinks and interacts with its’ environment.  It wasn’t before long that I found out about NAVHDA and attended a member training session and one of their testing weekends.  My family enjoyed it, so we made plans to test a dog the following year, 2007.

Being new to “training” hunting dogs, I surfed the web to keep up and learn about new information.  In doing so, I found there was another German pointing breed, a German Longhaired Pointer.  Much to my disappointment I found that this breed is extremely rare in the United States.  However, there was a breeder in Washington with many years of experience with this breed type.  I contacted Del Peterson via email and several weeks later received a phone call.  Later that year I contacted him about a puppy, and he mentioned he was selling a started gun dog.  We made arrangements to visit Del in February 2007.  My husband and I were amazed at what Franka could do at just under two years of age.  She was very obedient and had such a willingness to please.  Her search was outstanding, points staunch and to top it off, she was a sight for sore eyes.

We were ecstatic to bring Franka home with us.  She adjusted well to our children, us, and the other dogs.  That year we decided to use Franka instead of our other hunting dog in our first NAVHDA test.  We weren’t very experienced in testing, but we decided to go ahead and try the Utility test.  Franka pulled it off beautifully with her natural abilities and training.   We came out with a Utility Prize III - not bad for first timers considering the errors were handler related.  We also attended a breed show to qualify her for breeding and passed. 

She’s beautiful to watch in the field.  She never misses a beat.  Franka can go from hunting upland game birds to hunting waterfowl in a blink of an eye.  You can’t beat that for versatility!  We have never seen a canine athlete that can do what a German Longhaired Pointer can do.  They are easily trained, devoted, giving, gracious, strong and beautiful.  They use their uncanny abilities to search with style and determination.  After a hard days work they like to relax with the company of their two-legged counterparts.