Went into this season assuming it was going to be my oldest dog Paxton's last season. She turned 14 in late November. She has been semi-retired the last couple of seasons. With her body failing, being half blind and half deaf but still having the desire, she has been regulated to fair weather hunts and easy retrieves. Whipple would pick up any and all slack with pleasure and without any hesitation.

What I didn't expect was that this was going to be my youngest dog Whipple's last season. She turned 7 in late November. She has been taking over most of the duties since Paxton has been slowing down. She was rushed into emergency surgery in the wee hours of May 22nd. She passed away during recovery later that day.

Paxton has a lot of drive but Whipple would turn the dial up to 10 and then proceed to twist it off. She was a quick study and picked up on a lot of things naturally. She had that "it" factor. The only thing holding her back, if anything, was me. She was a firecracker in the field and cuddlebug around the house. She was just a joy to be around. We had a lot of fun together.

If I had known what I know now, I would have spent more time in the field letting Whipple have more time doing what she loved. I thought we would have a lot more time together.

They say the blows you don't see coming hurt the worst. I'm a believer.

Ladies and Gentlemen, hug your pups.

This season was on par with others but with the lack of water in the ponds it made it even more difficult to cool the dogs off and limited hunting areas and shots.




12-15-17

A little different kind of dove hunt...



Paxton and the gf...



Paxton with a bird...



Whipple heading out into the muck...



Whipple with a bird...



Couple of ducks dropped in...

Paxton with another...



Whipple with another...



Whipple waiting for more...



It's just a little sticky out there...



Gf doing her thing...



The birds...



The girls with the birds...

12-21-17

The decoys...





After some dirt work and some rain the smaller ponds are finally catching some water...





Whipple watching for birds while I was marking some trees...



Whipple with a bird...

Whipple annoyed that nothing is flying...



Whipple with some retrieves...





The birds...



Whipple with the birds...



The sunset...

12-25-17

The decoys...



Whipple ready for action...



Paxton was also...



This dude stopped in...



Paxton with a bird...



This guy was having a bad day...

Paxton doing work...







Whipple on a retrieve...





Paxton picking up another...



The sunset...



The birds...



The girls with the birds...

12-28-17

The decoys...





They really do exist...

Some weather coming in...



Paxton with a bird...



Whipple with a bird...



The girls and I with the banded bird...



The birds...

12-29-17

Had to mark some trees...



Whipple following me around waiting for time to hunt...



Not sure what caused this...



All out...



Whipple still patiently waiting...



It's time...



Whipple ready to go...



Whipple with a bird...



The birds...

1-2-18

Should be interesting...



The decoys...





Some ice...





These guys thought I was bringing treats...



More ice...



Whipple doing work...

More ice...



This girl does not care about fences...



The gf trying to stay warm...



Whipple with a bird...



The birds...



Frozen pie...

1-3-18

Whipple eager for the hatch to open as Paxton chills against the seat...



Ponds still frozen...





Had Whipple break some ice up...

The lone bird of the hunt...



Paxton with a fun retrieve...





Whipple with a fun retrieve...



Paxton with seed-face...



The sunset...

1-4-18

Ponds thawing out...





Cows were pretty curious...





The girls waiting for some birds...



Bird down...



Whipple making a retrieve...

Paxton picking up a bird...





The birds for the hunt...



While picking up Paxton found a lost bird from a previous hunt...



The birds...

1-5-18

Paxton hanging out by the deeks when setting up...



The decoys...







The girls waiting on some birds...



The girls looking for some hurt birds. At one point Whipple about caught one out of the air and more than likely would have ran it down if I hadn't of called her back...





Paxton waiting for some action...



Whipple waiting for some action...

The sun going down...



Black Dogs...



The girls messing around after shooting time...



Paxton...





Whipple...





Pretty sky...



The girls ready for the ride home...

Rest in peace, Little Whipple.

We love you very much and miss you everyday.

Here's to endless retrieves.


Water Walker's Dark Horse (Whipple)
11/21/2010 - 5/22/2018