Summer camp

I have not posted in about a month... sorry. I have been busy with the business and have been making plans for the Summer.

I've been talking to Paul Garrett, making plans to go to eastern Montana for a Summer training camp. So as it stands right now I will be heading to Montana at the end of July for 6 weeks of fun training and running my setters. When we are done, I expect to spend a few weeks just bird hunting in Montana or Saskatchewan. I have never been able to spend that much focused time training, and jumped at the chance to do so... especially with such an experienced 'setter man'.

I expect to post some photos and notes, as well as get Cody green broke for his derby season, and work with Tommy and Ted on sharptails.

IB Fenway's tragic end

I B Fenway, an accomplished field trial pointer, and littermate of the late, great champion Kelly's Talkin' Smak was shot and killed in Reno, Nevada.


I received this bulletin by Dr. Charlie Hjerpe, DVM today:


During the 13th brace of the National Am Chukar SD CH in Reno, IB Fenway was lost and subsequently shot and killed by an area landowner who is a practicing veterinarian. Fenway was Runner-up Champion in the 2006 National Amateur Chukar All Age Championship, and a littermate to 4X Ch. Kelly's Laser Eye and 9X Ch. Kelly Talk'n Smak. At the time of his demise, Fenway was owned by Nard Bailey of Alturas, Cal., and was being handled in this stake by his former owner and trainer, Torben Hansen, the current 3rd Vice President of AFTCA.

Although Fenway was wearing a Garmin tracking collar, Torben  and Nard were never able to pick up a signal. In all likelihood, the Astro 220 had not been properly tuned to the specific collar that Fenway was wearing.


According to Dr. Scott A. Thompson, Fenway attacked some of his free-range, egg-laying chickens, killing 7 of them, and then "charged" Dr. Thompson when he attempted to intervene. Dr. Thompson is a 1976 graduate of the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, and owns and operates a 3-veterinarian specialty practice in Reno (Feline Medical Center) that is limited to cats. The website for this practice can be reached by clicking on: http://fmcreno.com/about/

Although Fenway was wearing both a tracking collar and a regular collar with Nard Bailey's name, address and phone number on it, Dr. Thompson never contacted Nard to advise  him about what had happened to his dog. Nard and Torben did not learn about Fenway's fate until more than 24 hours after Fenway had disappeared. Apparently, Dr. Thompson did not recognize that Fenway was a pointer, because he had called the owner of "Green Feed", a local Red Rock area feed store, told him that he had shot a dog that was attacking his chickens, and inquired as to whether the owner's son might be missing a "hound". On Monday, April 18, Jarry Walton was in the "Green Feed" store buying chukar feed, and learned that a dog had been shot (the previous day) that might be Fenway.

As of the present time, Dr. Thompson is refusing to return Fenway's remains or his tracking collar, and is threatening Nard Bailey with a $4,500 lawsuit for the loss of 7 chickens. In fact, the damages may well exceed $4,500, should it be determined that the psyches of Dr. Thompson's 2 cows have been permanently damaged by the commotion caused by Fenway's actions. The dollar value of the claim is said to be based upon the value of the "organic, free range eggs" the chickens would have been expected to produce, if they had been allowed to have live out their normal life expectancies. However, if Dr. Thompson was so much concerned about the value of his chickens, why did he not catch Fenway, call the number on his collar, return Fenway to his owner, and ask the owner (Nard) to reimburse him for the value of 7 laying pullets (for which I have recently been paying $10 to $15 each). It is simply not credible that Dr. Thompson was so fearful of Fenway that he needed to kill him to protect himself. All of Fenway's former owners are unanimous in stating the Fenway did not have "mean bone in his body". Even if Fenway had growled at Dr. Thompson, veterinarians are trained in the handling of such animals, and Dr. Thompson was in general small animal practice for more than 25 years before he began limiting his practice to cats.


Shame on a man who practices small animal veterinary medicine for this belligerent and unwarranted behavior.