General

We had just completed the pre-adoption screening at OESR and were looking at one dog when a second dog, General, decided he didn’t like his foster mom’s elderly Setter … and basically tried to eat him. So General was out and was being boarded with daily visits from his foster mom. After a mad scramble and about 100 phone calls (We’re in NY and General was in South Carolina) we found a trainer at a local hunting preserve in South Carolina who was qualified and willing to evaluate and train General. 

The idea was to see if he was a mean dog (he’s not, but he is dominant with other dogs) and to keep him safe and happy while a forever home was located. And then the call came from the trainer …. Do you know this dog can hunt? Along with a picture of this handsome boy on point. Well … I hunt. The original plan was to adopt an English Setter that could tolerate gun fire so I could bring him to the club when I hunt with my lab. But damn! General was pointing!! So, the plan morphed …. dog number one went to a different forever home and General’s training was completed. Then we went south to meet him. We shot quail over him on an old plantation and fell in love. What a boy!!

General’s been home with us about 7 weeks. Our lab, Preacher, is very mellow and is happy to let another dog be the boss. They’re great friends; wrestling and running together in the yard. I’m learning how to run a pointer (very different than a flusher) and we’re going to pointer school next month. The plan is eventually to have both dogs in the field at the same time. General would point and Preacher would flush and retrieve. But that’s a ways away. In the meantime, I’ve learned to accept that slippers don’t really need laces, and that dogs lie at your feet in the bathroom. General is probably the sweetest dog I’ve ever met and is the toast of the hunting club and the best pal we could ever hope for. This isn’t his success story, it’s ours.