[Kurt-MO]

Been a long time since we had one of these posts. Seems like lots of new folks have migrated in. Hopefully they'll chime in and let us know who they are....

I'm Kurt..from MO. Been in the military for 18 years, currently flying UH-1 helicopters...waiting for my new blackhawk....looking forward to starting my next career. Currently on my 3rd dawg. 2 year old Black Lab....Kingstons MIZZOU-RAH Maniac...call name Tiger or Ty. I purchased him from a wonderful lady at Kingston Kennels. Her husband isn't a bad guy either......Have our HR title on the UKC side, running AKC senior this spring, HRC finished in the fall.....and Master after that. Also have a yellow show dawg...Sam. He has 2 legs of HR title, and has been retired from the hunt test scene. Awesome layout boat dawg, just not motivated enough for testing. Tired of beggin and pleading. He's 5.

Would love to take after my good buddy Joe some day....but I'm much better looking...so surely I wouldn't have to work so hard!!

I've been hangin out on RTF since the very beginning....still spend more time here than I should, just don't post as much as I used to.

Thanks Chris....this is the best site on the net for us dawg folks!!

 

[bigjimthunder]

I'm Jim - from Texas, but currently living in Seattle. I was promised I would be a millionare by the company that brought me here... they are now gone and I am relying on the lottery for that promise.

Dad trialed for a while when I was a lil' kid, and we always had birds and dogs around. My first daily chore was watering and feeding the pigeons... Lots of photos of me with litters too - Mom insisted that dad photograph me whenever he took litter shots - so I seem to take 6 month or so leaps every series of photos. Pups all look the same age.

I raised several pointers in my teens, but I always had a spot for retrievers. Got up here, saw I was gonna be laid off and took the opportunity to get back to my roots. Jax is my 10 month BLF, my 2nd real retriever I trained and my first in 15 years. She's got great blood (several Tanks dogs, San Joaquin Honcho and some Ebonstar blood) and is shaping up solid. I am starting to get into HT, and she'll be my push.

I don't particularly like it up here - my close "training area" is a parking lot and it's a 30 minute drive to get somewhere without leash laws. I'm applying to grad schools and intend to teach high school.

Outside of dog training, I am an active hunter, I rock climb and backpack. I hiked over 400 miles last year, pre-dog. I also snowshoe and flyfish.

Lurked here for years, and know most of your posting styles, though not the people. Decided to quit lurking and get active here, though I choose not to participate in lots of threads - mainly because I don't have the experience to justify an opinion. I will chime in about some things though...

That's me, more or less.

 

[Guest]

My name is Capt Jeff Kraynik and since 1996 have been the owner/operator of Florida Cracker Outdoor Adventures (soon to be the Coastal Sportsmen of Florida).

Our licensed & insured USCG Captains specialize in personalized waterfowl, dove, snipe, & alligator hunts. Our summers are spent poling clients around the flats for redfish, spotted seatrout, snook, & sharks.

We belong to the Central Florida Hunting Retriever Club and I currently hold the position as Upland Hunt Test Chair. We either run or judge about (10) ten HRC hunts a year.

FCOA is home to HR UH JK Hershey's Kiss "Hershey" of Swan Lake, the first American Water Spaniel to earn its SHR, HR, & UH within the HRC. We are currently (2) two legs away from our HRCH, then its off to a Grand.

I also hold the position of M.A.R.S.H. Chairman for Ducks Unlimited of Florida. We're pretty excited that a grant called "Florida Forever" has been approved and has allocated (300,000,000) three-hundred million dollars to be spent over the next (10) ten years. We're looking to help spent it!!!

I'm a Pro-Staff Hunter for HK/Fabarm Shotguns, Go-Devil Boats & Motors, Blackwater Decoys, Swamp Thing Mallard Calls, Hi-Viz Sights, & Dokken Deadfowl Retriever Trainers.

I'm also a Pro-Staff Fisherman for Hurricane "Redbone" Rods, PowerPro Fishing Line, DOA Lures, & Shimano Reels.

I spent most of my computer time at Southern Duck Hunter on the Florida page.

A friend of mine turned me on to this site & I'm hpoing to meet some new people & make some new friends.


CJ
FCOA

 

[Peake]

I'm a PA....
Father of three boys
'Net "Dawg" site junky
CBR devotee & breeder
Part time Amat "Amish" trainer
Dave B. aka Peake
________
Lax Dispenseries

 

[Andy Carlson]

Well here's my little story. My name is Andy and I've been in Maine for 2 1/2 years. Grew up in MA, college in NH, lived in FL for 18 years, NC for 3 before coming to ME. I do in vitro fertilization of mice ( who would have thought mice need help having babies!)and cryopreservation of the embryos at my job.
I currently have 4 dogs 2 are just pets, a lab/coonhound mix who is a research reject and a pit bull. My 2 labs are both black females. Lucy(Truline's Lucky Ms Lucy Fur CD SH) is 10 and is a Super Tanker daughter. She has her SH and an obedience title and is now retired from competition but I still train her to keep her fit and she still loves to work. Briezy(Luckydux Cheese And Quackers SH) is 3 and her sire needs a win for his FC and he is from an Abe x Lottie litter. Her dam has her MH and runs in the Amateur and is by Macgyver out of a Snake Eyes bitch. Briezy has her SH and will be running in Master this spring. I also plan on breeding her in the fall of 2003. Still not sure which FC/AFC I will breed to. Briezy is my avatar picture.

I got my first lab in 1977 and Briezy is the 5th lab I have had and she is my 3rd SH. I started running hunt tests in the late '80's. I didn't have a real easy start with my first lab, she became my first SH, but I learned so much from her that I am thankful for all the problems that we did have and overcame. I also used to do alot of competitive obedience but now mainly focus on the hunt tests and occasionally show in the obedience ring.
I am hoping to try running in the Q this summer. I know that Briezy has the talent just hoping that I do too!

And that's a little bit of an introduction of who I am, other than to let Jerry know that I'm not looking for an "Old Guy", unless maybe if he is rich enough that I can quit my job, train the dogs all day long and hire some good lookin' bird boys! :twisted:

Andy

2004 Update: Not much has changed except my dogs. Lucy died in November of 2003 and Briezy had her litter of Cruise puppies in November of 2003. I kept 2 puppies from the litter - Jaxxy and Graham. Briezy and I did run our 1st Q this past summer - did not complete it - but we are hooked and will be running more FT and Master this year.

2011 Update - in December at the age of 11.5 Briezy retired from running FT - went out in style with a JAM. In 2007 got a new puppy, Ticket who is now running AA. Mazey died in 2009.

 

[Chris Atkinson]

Chris Atkinson

Hi guys. I have been living in Central IL for about 3 months. I moved my three labs here with my wife and our son Max who just turned 1 this month. I've been through a couple corporate acquisition deals, and have made a few career changes over the past few years. A leader in the grain processing industry brought me here as a marketing manager in the industrial sector.

I'm tickled to have made many personal friends through the retriever interests, both in my NAHRA career, from 1987 - 2002 (it ended with the "Rubbergate Scandal") as well as from the net, specifically from this site.

I'm 39 years old and enjoy all sorts of outdoor activities, particularly waterfowl and upland hunting with the dawgs. I also have enjoyed competitive duck calling, which I finally got the guts to step on stage and give a try in 1997.

I'm really glad that RTN/RTF has evolved over the years to a nice spot on the net for folks to exchange knowledge, compare notes, and socialize.

- At your service! Chris Atkinson :wink:

 

[GAChessie]

John from GA, grew up in NH, went to college in AL, then back to NH, moved down here 2 years ago for job relocation, also helps that I can train my chessies down here all year Have had chessies going on 20 years now, have a 3 year old chessie now, out of bertrams chesapeakes, best one I have ever had, I will be running Quals with him this spring, he has 3 master passes, depending on how he does in quals, we will see if we finish that this year, father of 2, and an avid duck hunter....boy did I move to the wrong state for that addiction, hope to learn some things from here, looks great.

 

[Guest]

Well here's my little story. My name is Andy and I've been in Maine for 2 1/2 years. Grew up in MA, college in NH, lived in FL for 18 years, NC for 3 before coming to ME. I do in vitro fertilization of mice ( who would have thought mice need help having babies!)and cryopreservation of the embryos at my job.(snip)
Andy

Do you work for the Raelian cult?? Please expand upon the purpose of the fertilization of the mice... Would love to hear if it isn't classified.

Where did you grow up in MA?

-kristie

 

[Shayne Mehringer]

I'm Shayne. I'm a Scorpio. I enjoy holding hands and long walks on the beach. Turn-ons include soft music, fine wines, and strawberries. Turn-offs are cheap perfume and bad breath. I'm 27 years old and extremely good looking.

I don't train dogs and, based on my numbers this season, i'm not much of a duck hunter either.

Shayne - Fine wine = Boones Farm.

 

[boomer 453]

I'm Tim, born and raised in northern michigan where i grew up raising and hunting GSP's. I now live in north louisiana on one of best fishing lakes in the country-Toledo bend (BIG into fishing). I've been a commercial diver in oilfields around the world for the last 13 years. Recently made the decision to stay dry and start working the project management side of this industry.
Currently training a 1 yr old YLM (amish)
2 daughters and a great wife fill out the rest of the picture

 

[Last Frontier Labs]

Intro

I'm Sherri, a former high school bio teacher turned after school program director...love the summers off!
I was born and raised in Alabama and now live in Alaska with my supportive spouse, 4 children and 5 dogs. I met my husband while serving with the military...he came in drunk one night and started telling me stories about his labs and pheasant and duck hunting in Iowa-I was hooked!!!
We have had labs since we got married 14 years ago, but they were never "trained". They performed adequately in the field, but we didn't know they could be better. I saw my first hunt test and began to train our then 4 year old yellow female. I found out really quickly that she was my husband's dog, so I asked for a new pup for my birthday. That puppy is the dog in my avatar. I trained Rusty with e-mail help from his breeder and Dobb's and Lardy videos. I found a training group the day before Rusty's first hunt test last year. I trained and tested all last summer and made a large assortment of handler errors, but darned if I didn't have a blast doing it!!! I'm very proud of the fact that my spouse now takes my dog out when he goes hunting.
Our yellow female had a litter of Jamie pups last spring and we kept 2. Our children will be running those pups in HRC and AKC tests this summer. I will be the hunt test chair for our HRC Preliminary test. We switched our affiliation from NAHRA to HRC this past fall.

 

[tom]

Im tom, I think ( I can check my drivers licence to make sure if you want), and Im about the only one on here that is older than Jerry :monkey: . I'm a retired Porsche mechanic, and live in Utah with my wife of 39 years and 9 of our dogs (the others reside with our older daughter who is a show dog handler/groomer). Our younger daughter is a para-medic in the Air Force.
Since my dad was a field trialer I have been cleaning kennels for ever. At the present time I'm playing with a BLF (Meg) and she is a blast. She turned two today. I hope to finish her senior (needs two more) this spring, then on to the masters.
We also have beagles and Arren finished her CH in December. She is a third genoration Beagle Champion here, we finished her grandfather and both of her parents.
Ya Shayne she is Patricks daughter
tom

 

[Andy Carlson]

Well here's my little story. My name is Andy and I've been in Maine for 2 1/2 years. Grew up in MA, college in NH, lived in FL for 18 years, NC for 3 before coming to ME. I do in vitro fertilization of mice ( who would have thought mice need help having babies!)and cryopreservation of the embryos at my job.(snip)
Andy

Do you work for the Raelian cult?? Please expand upon the purpose of the fertilization of the mice... Would love to hear if it isn't classified.

Where did you grow up in MA?

-kristie

I've never heard of the Raelian cult so I'm sure I don't work for them. The reason that we do the in vitro fertilizations and cryopreservation is because we have hundreds and hundreds of strains of mice for research. Not all of these strains are used alot but we want to be sure that they are available for a researcher that might want them. So we cryopreserve the strains and then bring them back when there is a need for them. It saves having to keep live mice that might have no demand for years at a time. By doing the ivf we can get hundreds of embryos at one time to freeze down. We also cryopreserve strains of mice by freezing sperm. It's really pretty interesting work.

And I grew up on Martha's Vineyard. My family weren't the rich people but my dad worked for the man that owned Stanley tools. He took care of his 640 acre estate which we got to live on and even got to use the private beach!

Andy

 

[Jerry]

Tom, our 40th wedding anniversary is in May. She stole me out of my warm bed when I was about 14. Well maybe a few years older than that, but I still could not legally buy beer when our first child was born.

Grew up in the oilfields of West Texas, joined the Air Force, served in Alaska and Texas, with side trips to Pakistan, Afghanistan (in both instances where the mean devils are today, Peshawar and Kabul) they were just as mean then, and Spain.

Got out of the Air Force, graduated from University of Texas, went to work for a wine importer and it's been downhill ever since.

Bought a Springer Spaniel and wanted to train it. Attended a six week class put on by the assistant at Schomer Kennels in Conroe, everyone else had a retriever. Liked what I saw and bought a retriever pup. Then it really went downhill!!!!!!!!!

Jerry

 

[Guest]

I've never heard of the Raelian cult so I'm sure I don't work for them. (snip)
And I grew up on Martha's Vineyard. (snip)
Andy

The Raelian cult were the people who announced a few weeks ago that they had cloned a couple of human babies.

I grew up in Westport, MA -- can drive 15 mins and take the Ferry to the Vineyard, but actually didn't go there for the first time until a few years ago when we went back home for 4th of July. About a week after our visit to the Vineyard was when JFK, Jr.'s plane went down.

I'm a transplanted yankee. Still have to put my bio on here, but not in the mood to yet... I'm actually trying to get some work done.

-kristie

 

[tom]

Jerry
Ours is May 1st

 

[Jerry]

L....I....B,

Tom been married 17 days longer than me!!!!!!!! I feel like a youngster now.

Gonna go fix a drink that I invented.

I assume that everyone knows what a Fuzzy Navel is, Peach Schnapps and Orange Juice. Well I invented the Fuzzy A$$hole, Peach Schnapps and Metamucil!!!! Good Stuff Maynard!!!

Jerry

 

[Guest]

It's my husband's fault I'm here. I grew up in the small coastal town of Westport, MA. Grew up with Afghan hounds as pets. Didn't have any experience with training until I got my own dog (a Boxer) and did ob and agility with him. I finished grad school in Rhode Island, did some more studying in Washington DC. My education was in sports and event marketing. Had to move to Atlanta to work for Coke during the Olympics. Just so happened to meet my husband when I was in DC (long story). He needed help with a sponsorship proposal for disabled sports, in which he was participating at the time (he's a bilateral amputee -- also missing a most of his fingers -- as a result of a nasty bout of bacterial meningitis when he was 19). I came to Atlanta and stayed with him. Helped him train his dog Austin and we finished his HRCH. Got a trial dog and put him with Chris Ledford. Started teaching some OB on the side to support that habit. I was involved in my career, Joie was finishing school. One day I said "I'm outta here" and decided to stay home and train dogs with my husband. That was September of 99. I left my boss' office at 5pm after having "the talk" and immediately received a phone call that Allie had delivered her first puppy (our first litter). It was a sign from God. I never went back to my office after that day. I love it and wouldn't trade it for a thing (on most days at least!). We look forward to having real children within the next few years once we get this whole dog business thing worked out. And now that we no longer try to kill each other on a daily basis -- which is the way it was when we first started working together...

PS -- I'm THIRTY!!! Which occasionally starts to feel O-L-D, except when you listen to Jerry and Tom talk.

-Kristie

 

[tom]

Take it all back, Jerry is older than me ---- MUCH OLDER

 

[Russ]

I am a San Diego native. A neighbor gave me my first Lab 40 years ago. He was out of Peppers Jig. We currently own 5 Labs of three are currently on the DL list. We have two dogs that have had reconstructive surgey for ACL and one that has EIC. I hunt, trial & hunt test my two year old and my wife Florence expects to do the same with the Maxx pup we purchased from Kristie.

I am currently a commercial insurance broker but spent 6 years as a Maya archeologist splitting my time between Central America and Upstate New York. I hunt in Baja California and Florence and I have spent much time exploring the non populated areas of the penninsula.

My wife, Florence is a San Diego County Fish & Game Commissioner. She also worked in Central America as an archeogist, spending months alone in a small Maya village. She is also a member of the State Taucher Committee of the State Fish & Game Commission. Its role is to assure there is no net loss of hunting or dog training grounds. Florence wrote and lobbied the acceptance of the dog training language. She was also a principal on the fight to keep dog training, trialing and testing on Pittman-Robinson funded state lands. She wrote the congressional testimony and convinced our Rep, Duke Cunningham, to use his position on the House Appropriations Committee to convince the Dept. of Interior to back off their position and let dog events continue on State lands.

We are both very active in the San Diego Hunting Retriever Club and the San Diego Retriever & Field Trial Club. We are having a hunt test and derby/qual 2/1-2/2 of this year.

Russ