FC-CFC Pinewoods Willie Makeit MH

Willie earned 6 or 8 Derby points, including a win in a 7-series Derby. He won 2 of 3 qualifying stakes entered as a 24-month old dog. In a two-week period, Willie won 3 Opens. He received his U.S. and Canadian FCs in the same week. I bred, trained, owned, titled, and hunted him. My wife Cynde picked him for me as a seven-week old pup. Willie was my first FC and a pretty fair pheasant dog. We hunted ducks together many mornings on the Monocacy and Potomac rivers.

                                  The Last Pup I Ever Picked        

We bred our black bitch “Annie” to Bob Birdsall’s top derby yellow dog, “Bob’s Bubba Bear.” All Annie’s close relatives were black, but she had some yellow dogs behind her a few generations back. Birdsall thought we might get a yellow or two in the litter.  

As Annie grew bigger and bigger I suspected that she was carrying a large litter. Even so, I was amazed when she delivered 18 pups, one stillborn. And to our great surprise, Annie brought us 11 yellows and 7 blacks. She raised them all by herself; we didn’t have to supplement by bottle feeding. But since she was eating for 18, Annie got five meals a day, and we took special care to see she was getting everything she needed. 

In addition to daily play and training, I tested the pups regularly as they grew. At seven weeks I picked my pup, and the rest were available for sale. As each buyer made a selection, one yellow male was overlooked time and again. This pup wasn’t shy, though he kept his own company. He would explore, but quietly. He was on the tall side and not very cute. 

My wife Cynde happened to like this pup and often asked me to reconsider him. I did, but still was not impressed. Neither was anyone else. Finally, all the pups save this awkward, leggy male had found homes. I started to train him only because he was here. 

By the time the pups turned seven months old it was apparent that the pup I had picked for myself was going to find her niche in life as a shooting dog and not in competition. Willie, as we named the yellow male, still wasn’t impressing me as a trial prospect, but as the training set-ups got harder, he continued to find the birds. 

I had great fun with and learned a lot from Willie. His littermate that I sold as a shooting dog also taught me a lot. But that was the last pup I ever tried to pick for myself. Now I ask the breeder to pick for me. With our own litters I just ask Cynde: Which one is mine?