Hey Chris,

Here is a picture of my new buddy named Buddy. We have been roommates for a couple months now and are getting along very well. He is learning a lot of new things and he likes to jump up on a big dog's crate and a picnic table in the back yard. He is learning to swim too and he wants me to go swimming with him, but I have to have my chest waders on though.

I want to thank Brooke for holding and cuddling Buddy when he was younger because that made Buddy like to cuddle with me on my recliner chair and sometimes we fall asleep watching t.v. When he is not on the recliner, he likes to stretch out on the couch.

I will be training 5 dogs for Northern Plains Outfitters on Saturday for 7 days and today Buddy and I went to see what we had to do with those dogs and what they knew how to do. When we saw all of them retrieve some dummies Buddy and I showed them how to do it correctly. Three of these dogs are about a year old and they had trouble finding their dummies in short grass, so Buddy showed them how to go straight out and find the dummy in grass and come straight back and stop in front of me and give me what he had retrieved. I noticed that the owner of the other dogs jaw had dropped to around his knees, just could not believe Buddy was only 4 1/2 months old. I will make some videos while we are working with the other dogs and, of course, of Buddy.

Here is a link to a video of Buddy at 2 months. Buddy is learning to place, mark, retrieve on land/water (and with pistol/gun shot).

Here is a link to a video of Buddy at 5 months. Buddy is continuing to learn to place, mark, retrieve and to come to his place by my side after a retrieve.

I am so happy that Buddy is a big part of my life now and so grateful you two made him available to me. He has so much potential to be something special and I am going to help him be all that he can be. That's all for now.

Gary

Hey Chris,

Our little boy Cliff has been doing great and is growing like a weed! Full of energy and completely fearless so far. Seems to catch on to things very quickly. Sits very well already and is coming to call more consistently. Only had 1 accident in the house in the last 2 weeks! He's got the idea of going to the door and letting us know he needs to go out down pretty good.

Still unbelievably birdie with a great nose. I'll hide wings in the field across the road every few days and he usually has them scented at least 10-20 yards before we get to them. Goes crazy when he finds them too, it's really pretty funny to watch.

When I let him loose to run, I make sure to keep him within gun range at all times. He really pays attention to where I am too, which is nice to see. He walked into the river on his own and I got him crossing some shallow, narrow streams last weekend. Going up to the cabin this weekend, so we'll see what he does with a bigger body of water. We took a long drive 2 weekends ago and he travels great! Quiet for all but about 10 minutes of the 9 or so hours we spent in the car.

He's still full of mischief and gets into anything left out, but he's really been learning his boundaries. I'd rather have him exploring everything than laying around though. Attached a few pictures. One is a good idea of what he's looking like now, and the other is him getting into some wings.

We're all loving him so far and he gets a TON of attention!

Caleb

Hi Chris and Shannon,

Sam (Sampras - Orange collar boy from Cash X Cabela) is doing great! He is the SWEETEST dog in the world and although his nose still needs a little work, is an extremely good hunting dog.

Sam quarters beautifully, loves to retrieve, and is very obedient as well. I have attached a photo of Sam and his first limit of ducks. What a handsome dog, eh??

Josh

Hi Chris:

Kooper is an awesome dog! He's strong, fast, hunts hard and retrieves great. Kooper will sit on a whistle to flush and did so naturally from a young age.

Also, on one of his first duck hunts, I shot 2 Mallards and Kooper brought the one back, went back to get the other and the duck swam to the bottom of the slough and hung onto the weeds and Kooper swam under the water and brought him up. I have never seen such a young dog hunt like that!

Kooper is also a great family pet and gets spoiled by the family.

Jim - Aberdeen

Hey Chris:

I haven't talked to you in a while and figured I'd give you an update on how Sarge's hunting season is coming along. I would have to say that Sarge has well over 100 retrieves this year already between ducks, geese and pheasants. I was trying to keep track but when he is bringing me over 20 birds in one corn strip keeping a tally becomes difficult.

I could not be happier with him, well the other day he tore 3 pieces of siding off of the house. I had to laugh at him because when I asked him "who did this" he looked at me so innocently. You would think that a dog that has been hunting 5+ days a week between ducks and pheasants would be too tired to rip siding off a house! Not Sarge!

He has been doing very well hunting pheasants. He stays to close right now but I would rather have it that way than ½ mile ahead. He is becoming a marking machine in standing corn and has caught more crippled pheasants this year than any other dog at my now fiancé´s dad´s preserve and some of those dogs have been doing it for 10+ years.

I attached some pictures of a duck hunt from last Friday. My favorite is the one of just Sarge and the green head laying in front of him.

Thanks again for all your help in making Sarge what he is.
Chris - South Dakota

Chris:

Here´s Kimber on a recent Boundary Water trip. Kimber is a great pup, and we are so happy with her and just love her!

Kimber loves to swim, and even loves coming to Scheel’s with me to work and everyone there just loves her, too.

North Dakota

Chris:

Frankie has awesome hunting skills and instincts and really enjoys Nebraska!

Frankie also is spoiled and gets to live in the house with myself, and Casey, my other Lab.

Jack - Nebraska

Chris:

Just wanted to send a quick message on how much I love Diesel!

Diesel is my best friend, and loves to hunt pheasants.

Bob - Minnesota

Hi Chris:

Nitro is an awesome dog! He hunts all the time and is a machine in the field.

Nitro is also very gentle, and my elderly mom is able to walk Nitro on a lead every day for exercise....when walking on lead, he’s perfect...won’t tug, pull, etc.

Nitro was trained by Todd at Arrowhead Kennels in Iowa, and I hunt him extensively each fall.

Bob - Aberdeen

Hi Chris:

Thought you might like an update on Tasia.

This summer Tasia received her started title in the HRC. During her training she was making 100 yard plus retrieves on land and 50 yard plus retrieves in water. This Fall we had her out water fowl and upland hunting. We hunted off shore and out of a boat. I’ve never seen a 1 year old dog like her. She was very attentive, marked the fall, and retrieved like a 3-4 year old. Even had a couple blind retrieves on water.

As far as upland hunting. WOW! Tasia worked nonstop. She would even sit to flush and watch for the fall. In mid December my son walked a ditch and dropped a bird, he went to retrieve it. The bird got up and flew over the road into some cattails and trees. I got Tasia out of the truck and took her to where I thought the bird fell. Like a shot she was out 15-20 yards in heavy cover and back to me with live bird in mouth. It was awesome!

Hi Chris:

Here’s our Cabela pup in Pierre after a great day pheasant hunting. We just love her!

We love to take her on walks everyday in town and she is very affectionate, as well.

South Dakota

Hi Chris:

We just wanted you to see our 3 month old Cabela male pup!

We are really enjoying him and he is doing great!!

Minnesota

Hi Chris:

Hope your holidays were happy. Thought you might like an update on Tar.

I hunted her with Tess the last 3 weeks of pheasant season and the last week by herself. She was retrieving birds from short distances. She would find them in the snow and drag them back. The last two days she ran down two crippled roosters on the snow and brought them back. It was awesome.

Tar also caught two hens in heavy cover and brought them to me. She has been a great addition to our family.

Hope you & family are well. I will try to keep you updated from time to time.

Greg

Hi Chris:

We just wanted to show you Willie, our Cabela pup.

Willie loves to hunt and spend time with us.

Nebraska

Hi Chris:

Just an update on Barney. We went out this past weekend and as you will see from the photo, he is doing fine-----only problem I am having is him wanting to retrieve the decoys out of the boat but he is getting better every trip out.

His ranging on bird hunting is getting better every time he goes out. At times he runs around and is just playing but to be expected for a 9 month old. It is real easy to tell when he gets a scent and when a shot goes off on a bird, he has not yet been beaten to a bird for a retrieve, unbelievable!

Have a good day.

Andy

I first want to tell you how happy we are with Sage as a house dog and pet. Now, I can tell you I am completely impressed with her hunting. Each time I take her out she gets better.

Opening weekend we got into quite a few birds early, but my shooting skills were a bit rusty. I did finally knock one down in the afternoon and with out hesitation Sage went right to the bird, picked it up and brought right to me. When Sage gets her dummy she sometimes does the death shake, and will just drop it at my feet, but with the bird she has soft mouth and held it until I took it from her. She made 3 retrieves on Saturday.

On Sunday he worked a few hens right away and was getting them up right in front of her. We did knock one down that we could not find, but it was in real heavy cover and the under brush was dusty dry. We then went to work some striped corn, and Sage retrieved the first 2 birds we got. The best one was when a bird got up behind us and I somehow hit it and knocked it down. Sage headed for the bird and for some reason she got distracted and was looking in the corn about 30 yards from where the bird dropped. I saw the bird jump up and run in the corn, so I ran down where I thought it went in and started looking down the rows, after about 5 rows I felt Sage at my heals. I had been telling her to "find the bird", and when I turned around she had been following me with the bird in her mouth already. There was a guy hunting with us that thought I was lying when I told him she was only 8½ months old.

I was going to ask what do you get to guide for a day? Now that I got my buck I am really thinking about getting a 2 or 3 guys to go out your way bird hunting.

Troy - Iowa

Hi Chris and Shannon!

Just wanted to again say thanks for the adorable and intelligent puppy!! He is so funny! The hierarchy was set the first day when we fed the dogs and quick little Duke ran over to Art’s dish and snapped a nibble. Art snapped at him and clipped his cheek a bit but Duke was okay. Now Art and Duke are as thick as thieves. Duke follows him around and even has a little stuffed pheasant that is identical to Art’s larger one. Grilla plays with Duke and the two chase each other around.

Duke’s first night he went to bed about 10, got up once at 3 and then got up with me at 6. The past two nights he has gone to bed at 10 and gets up shortly after I am out of the shower. He only had one accident on the kitchen floor on Monday morning and otherwise has done EXCELLENT in the house breaking area.

Duke retrieves wonderfully and started the cutest thing last night. After we toss the toy, he slowly sneaks up (almost stalking) and then rushes it. We had him in a portable "soft" kennel during the day and Duke has taken to flipping it out of the bedroom into other areas of the house. We come home to find his kennel in the kitchen, dining room, living room, etc... Luckily we have a one story ranch (and we keep the basement door closed). And we will put him in a hard kennel tonight. If he manages to "hop" that one into another room, we are renaming him Super dog.

Duke falls asleep on my lap every night and then peacefully goes to his kennel when Al and I go to sleep. Al had pool last night and Taylor and I played with Duke all night long. He is a little mischief maker who we adore and is a bundle of energy that fits in well with our family.

I have taken nearly a hundred pictures of him so far but have not had the chance to download them. I will likely get to that this weekend and will forward some of those to you. I just wanted to give you a quick update on how Duke was doing and how he was immediately comfortable (no diarrhea for him!).

Thanks again!! Talk soon,
Becky, Al and Taylor - Minnesota

Hey Chris,

I hope everyone is doing great. Brin is doing wonderful and loves the water. Kayla and her family have a lake house on Lake Madison and I try to take Brin up there as much as I can. She loves retrieving and especially in the water. She’ll jump off the dock for just about any reason to get wet. We will need to get together some weekend. Possibly this weekend?

Brin has already retrieved over 20 ducks for my friends and I this year. Sometimes she needs a little guidance when she doesn’t see the birds go down. She had some long retrieves last week with some pintail that just did not what to die. Talk to you guys soon. Good luck hunting!

Nick - South Dakota

Dear Chris,

I just wanted to let you know that Cutter has been a welcome addition to our family. He has maintained such a pleasant demeanor and is great around kids. The continual updates about the litter and the fact that your pups were around your own kids everyday is something that not a lot of new dog owners have the luxury of before taking their pup home.

Cutter loves retrieving, especially in the water and did a great job hunting this fall in only his first year. Cutter went through some basic field training this fall and according to his trainer he caught on quick and was a pleasure to have. If I had room, I would buy a couple more Larson Labs in a heart beat.

You and your wife are surly dog people and run a first class outfit.

Thanks again,Chad - Iowa

Chris,

I am very pleased with my new lab. This is the 3rd hunting dog I have bought and she seems to be the best so far.

She has great instincts and drive in the field and is fun, but gentle around kids and family. We love her demeanor!"

Thanks again,Chad - Michigan