Hi Susan,
Scout & Ally had a blast on their big trip to North Dakota. There were birds everywhere, like rats, but the dogs loved it! They both did really well. The birds were very spooky, but because Scout & Ally obey so well, they still got in a lot of very nice points and plenty of birds were shot over them in 4 1/2 days.

I bet Ally covered 30 miles per day for the 4 full days. She never wanted to quit but I forced her to take some breaks. One time, I left her in the cab of the truck for a break with the windows down about 10 inches and the little brat crawled out through the window and came running after Scout & I. When she had her annual exam in September and she weighed 45 pounds, but now she is all skin and bones again, like when I got her from you. On the way home from North Dakota, she made me pick her up to put her in the truck and to take her out! In between she slept like a log and ate like crazy. But trust me, she would tell you it hurt sooo good!

I did not run Scout as much as Ally because he is now 7 1/2, but I bet he covered 15 miles of ground per day. He was a real trooper. On Saturday, he hit an piece of barbed wire that was sticking out of the ground and I had to get him sewed up with three stitches. He took the rest of that day off but hunted the last 2 days without any problems. He even pointed a cat in the field for us! In my 20 years in hunting with dogs, that is the first time I ever had a dog get injured. You can see the wound in his chest. The vet said because of it's location, it would not be a problem to hunt him in that condition.

We did not get the video footage as I had hoped, but trust me, those dogs were great. The only problem I had with them was hogging the single bed we had in the cabin. Have you ever gone on vacation and slept with 2 dogs in a single bed for 5 nights? But, I was as tired as they were and it was not an issue.

Hope all is well with you.
Thanks again.
Brian, Scout, Ally and Ranger