Sorrow at a loss and helpful advice

I received this sad news this morning...

It is with great sadness that I relay that Sean found Smak dead in his kennel on Thursday morning, April 7th.  It is believed that his death was caused by an injury that occurred on Wednesday during a training session at Red Rock, Nevada.    Sean had seen Smak being chased by 2 coyotes at about 300 yards.  Due to the distance and the rough terrain, it took Sean sometime to close the distance and catch up with Smak. At that time, Sean found him underneath a pickup belonging to some BLM employees.  Smak appeared to be shaken from his experience but not seriously hurt.    By the time Sean reached his trailer, Smak seemed to be O.K.  Upon arriving home, Sean noticed a small amount of blood in his crate and upon further examination he found a cut on Smak in the area where his front leg joins his body.  He cleaned the cut and doctored it.  It did not appear to be serious.  Smak was eating and drinking normally.   The next morning when Sean went to the kennel he found Smak dead.  Upon close examination, he found a small hole penetrating in approximately 4".  Sean believes it may have penetrated his lung.   Smak was 6 years old and had won 9 Championships and 5 Runner-up Championship placements.  He was admired by all who had the privilege of seeing him compete.  Frequently, field trialers would ride in the gallery just to watch him .  He was qualified to run in the Nationals and competed in the Amateur Invitational held at the Ames Plantation in which only the top 12 dogs were invited.   There are only a few dogs who have earned the right to be called great. In my opinion, there is no doubt that Smak has earned the right to be counted among those privileged few!!

Sean is a sportsman and is dedicated to his dogs. Kelly's Talk'n Smak was a truly exceptional bird dog. I saw him run many times and have run in brace with him a few times at trials. My condolences to Sean at his loss.


In light of the risks that our dogs take, I am again recommending that you take a minute to look at Birddogdoc's (Shawn Wayment) blog - he has a lot of good advice that might help us treat the inevitable injuries that our bird dogs sustain while doing what they do.


Be careful out there!