Saying goodbyes are never easy

Tail Chaser · Oct 30, 2021

I am warning you now. This is going to be a long post with probably misspelled words as it is hard to see the screen through tears. It was ten years ago I was searching KSL on a Sunday afternoon when I found my first German Wirehair for sale. He was listed as free as long as he went to a good loving home that liked to hunt. I quickly put together a text and sent it off. I drove out the next day to pick him up. He was a well behaved shaggy haired dog and I was young and excited for the future. Since I was young I new nothing about training and didn't have a lot of experience with pointers. I have a friend who is an awesome dog trainer who took him and worked with him since he hadn't been trained on hunting birds. The trainer spent 3 hours teaching me what he had taught Bridger in 3 months. It was amazing how much Bridger had changed in that time. He was more confident in his abilities and a little less stubborn. We still had our battles but understanding the training he went through helped out tremendously. Now it was time to hunt and boy did we hunt. I couldn't begin to imagine how many birds I killed over this dog. He is the whole reason I became to love the Wirehair breed. He was a close range hunter and always made sure us as the hunters knew where he was so we were ready when he went on point. In those 10 years we saw some beautiful country together. Most of the hunting came from Utah where we hunted all upland species and waterfowl. Bridger was truly amazing and did it all. He would do anything for me and I knew that. I knew he wasn't the fondest of rivers, but if I ever shot any bird in a river without hesitation he would dive into the water to get it. I had so many amazing experiences with this dog. I wounded a goose once on a reservoir. It was frozen except one little opening in a bay that I was hunting. Bridger was not fond of ice, but he retrieved the dead goose and as he struggled to get back on the ice the wounded goose jumped up and started running for the middle of the reservoir. The ice was hard enough that there were people ice fishing so it literally pushed the goose right to the center. I drove around to the other side of the lake and found the goose in my binoculars. I walked to the edge of the ice and told Bridger to fetch. He could see movement and ran right for it. In the meantime a bald eagle had landed on the ice and was attacking my goose. This did not phase Bridger one bit. He waited his turn and once the bald eagle realized he was just watching he flew off and bridger grabbed the goose. The whole time bringing the goose back it was flapping in his face and hissing at him. He didn't care because he knew bringing it all the way back would make me happy and that all he wanted. I truly have so many memories with Bridger. He was a tough, strong willed, and loyal hunting partner. He will truly be missed and can never be replaced. I will always hold a special place in my heart for Bridger. This post doesn't do this dog justice, but words can't describe him. He was one you had to know to appreciate. Attached are a few of our good memories together. Enjoy!