It is with a heavy heart that I am posting this news. My dear friend Howard passed on this week at home. He was an amazing person and one of my dearest friends.
All of his close friends and relatives have been notified, so now I am passing the news on to the retriever community. All of you know how hard working he was, what an accomplished trainer, and what a giving person he was with his knowledge. He worked hard to keep our sport going in Alaska, and helped many a new trainer get their start. I can remember when he first took me under wing, he would come to this site and complain about how terrible I was in the chat room!
The retriever community has lost a great man, and I am so sorry to have to share this. I do not know when the service will happen. This news just came today. But I will try to keep you all informed. He would certainly not want a big fanfare. His dogs are all being taken care of...
Howard, may you find plenty of awesome fields with a certain leaf or branch hanging down to put a blind under! You know, the one gold one that's waving in the wind next to the tuft of yellow grass. You brought much joy to me and your training partners. I will see you again someday!
So sad. Howard used to run the early spring Northern California trials where he was always part of the scene. I remember when the NorCal trial was held on our ranch years ago, and Howard helped Bill Drake get unstuck in his ATV. Another day, another memory, another life.
:sad: I had always hoped to visit Alaska and have a chance to meet Howard. Will miss reading his posts on RTF. God Bless Howard and family. RIP Howard and condolences to his family and friends.
Very sad news. He always gave great advice and was a gentleman about it. I remember a while back when Shane posted up video clips of a national that Howard had qualified for. One of the clips was Howard being interviewed. I remember pulling for him and thinking he just seems like a really nice guy. Condolences to his family and friends. RIP Howard.
I'm saddened by this news, as are many others. Howard was very kind, and helped a great deal with the seminar I gave for RCA several years back. I've reminded him a time or two that I owe him a Chinese dinner the next time we meet again. I'll have to do better than that my friend. Our retriever community will always be less without him.
I have trained with Howard for years. I started into field trialing shortly after he did. I still remember the last marks he had when he got his first all-age win years ago. I was out throwing and had just run my first Q. After the last set I told him he had won and he didn't believe me until somebody with more experience also told him the same thing. In fact, he only wanted to own two dogs at that time; he had recently purchased a pup from me and had purchased Pricey a bit earlier; His older male won and because of that, my pup departed his kennel to go to our other training partner. Since then he has had a lot of wins with several different dogs. I have thrown literally thousands of marks for his dogs over the years, while he did the same for me. I will miss him very much.
I never had the chance to meet him, but he would P.M.me often about my comments, and went out of his way to keep me motivated. His correspondence to me was always enjoyed. He gave heeling words during the loss of my dogs. He seemed the type of guy I would have surely considered a friend...
I will miss you Howard,,,Have a wonderful new journey...
This is terrible news. Howard became a friend over the last 10-11 months after purchasing a Emmitt X Missy pup. Our conversations started off brief. However, they grew in length with the last one lasting around 45 minutes. I will miss our monthly conversation.
Here are two of my favorite photos of Howard and Bam!
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Heck yes! I took the top picture.. Whoever got the bottom one sure captured the Bam bounce. She would do that all the way to the line. Lol. BamBaDeeBamBam is what Howie would say... 😊
Very sad. I met Howard in Calif about ten years ago. We trained togeather several times and ran trials. It didn't matter what was set up he didn't mind making adjustments to fit his needs. I always respected his desire to keep moving forward with his dogs. In my mind he loved every minute he had with his dogs. Always gracious with praise for others when they did well...in training and trialing. He is a good man that made everyone better around him. A true gentleman...we need more Howards in the game.
What an absolute shocker! My sincere condolences to his family and close friends. I met him once at a trial in California and always enjoyed his posts here.
RIP Howard
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