Maggie

1999 - 2014

Maggie was our first Wirehaired Pointing Griffon and she lived to be 14 years old.  She had to take us through a long learning curve.  With her, we learned a lot about training a bird dog, a show dog and we even threw in some obedience.  She was always happy with all that she did, but her passion has always been hunting.  She has a great nose, probably the best I have seen in my experience.  Her intensity while hunting is remarkable. 
Maggie’s sire was CH Kyloe’s Trekking SR Kurn.  Kurn was a very handsome dog, and never got the opportunity to show his skills in the field.  Her dam was CH Wet Acres Agatha Frisky JH.  Agatha was the number one Griffon in breed points in 1996.  She had 154 Best of Breeds and 7 Group Placements.  But she was also a fine gun dog.  She scored a maximum 112 on her Natural Ability test with NAVHDA and finished her Junior Hunter easily.  With this type of pedigree it is no surprise that Maggie had excellent confirmation.  She finished her confirmation championship quickly and then retired to what she  liked best, and that is to hunt.
Maggie introduced us to NAVHDA, the North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association.  I had only limited knowledge of what the Natural Ability test entailed.  But I entered it anyway at the Carolinas chapter of NAVHDA in Snow Hill, NC.  The day of the test it was sleeting and the sleet was freezing on the ground.  She made short work of the water retrieve and track, and when we got to the field work, after finding her 6th bird, they told me to pick her up.  They said she was going to find everything out there.  She was the only dog that day in the Natural Ability test that they did not have to plant another bird for.  She scored a 101 for a prize II and the highest score of the weekend.  Not bad for a guy who did not know what he was doing.
Maggie has been our most hunted over dog.  One year, I logged over 50 days of hunting with Maggie.  This included a little bit of everything, from dove, quail, duck and even grouse.  She adapted easily to any situation and would hunt any type of game.
Maggie has also produced 3 litters for us, totaling 27 puppies.  She always had 9 in each litter.  She produced 5 Champions, 7 Junior Hunters, 1 Master Hunter and 2 Grand Champions.  Plus multiple tracking, obedience and agility titles.
Maggie left us this past winter/spring and we miss her terribly.  Her daughter Sweet Pea does so many things like her mom, but we greatly miss the antics and personality of our first griffon.