Lab of a Lifetime

By Ryan Cook
Zink Calls Pro-Staff
20 November 2009

Waterfowl hunters go through many stages throughout the course of their lives, and I am no different than anyone else. When I first started hunting it was all about the numbers, how many birds could we could bring to bag was our main goal. We hunted like that for quite a few years, always looking forward to the next season to see if we could "out do" the previous year. Then, something happened that changed not only my life, but the way I looked and judged my hunting seasons. 10 years ago I bought my black Lab, Jammer, From Gene and Mary Jane Deutsch of Pleasant Hill Retrievers in Mount Vernon, Indiana. Being a rookie dog owner, I frequently contacted Gene with training questions and concerns about Jammer and he always told me one thing "Ryan, she has all the tools to be a great hunting dog, you just have to have patience and let her develop, she will be fine." After more than 10 years and thousands of retrieves, he could not have been more correct. Through the years of hunting with Jammer, The point of my hunts have gone from bird numbers to the pure enjoyment of watching a great hunting lab work the field and water. I couldn't imagine hunting without her, she has added an element to our waterfowling that was never there before.

In July 2009, Jammer began acting very sluggish around the house and showing no signs of energy at all. Although she is 10 years old, she has always had that classic "Lab energy" and her behavior was totally out of character. Over the next couple of days, she began refusing food, another thing that is not like her, so I got her into the vet. An hour later, I was given the bad news, her uterus and cervix had gone toxic and were releasing deadly waste into her system. He told me that she would need immediate surgery and if it was not done very soon, she may not make it. I was crushed, Jammer is not only my best hunting buddy, but she is a very much loved family member, and this was going to be a tough surgery for a 10 year old lab. I immediately had the surgery performed and it went very well, there were no complications and the vet seemed happy with the way things went. He did, however, have some concerns about the upcoming middle hunting season. He told me that she may not be the same after her surgery, that due to her age and the years of hard hunting, she may need to be retired. It was something I was not prepared to hear. There is a very special bond that has developed between Jammer and I over the past 10 years and I could not bear the thought of hunting without her. She began her slow recovery, it was hard for me to see her struggle to walk all bandaged up and act so depressed. As the weeks passed, she slowly showed more vitality, getting a little more energetic each day. The night before the middle opener, I had a tough decision to make, do I hunt her or leave her? I stewed all night with it and finally decided to take her. Jammer had never let me down and I know how much she loves to hunt with us, I was not going to let her down!

As dawn broke that opening morning, I looked over and smiled as saw Jammer scanning the skies like she always does. It was great to have my little girl back with us, where she belonged. We had a great hunt that morning on both ducks and geese, we even had a neck collar goose late in the morning. However, for me and my hunting buddies, it wasn't the birds or the excitement of another opening day that made that morning such a great day. It was the fact that we were all together again, doing what we all loved to do. So many times, we get so wrapped up with how many birds we kill and use that to determine whether our hunts were "successful." Success in waterfowl hunting can be measured by many, many things. Maybe it is time spent in the field with your son or daughter, maybe it is long-time friends, or in my case, maybe it is a special hunting dog that makes you really appreciate the sport. No matter what it is, it will always be more than just shooting birds!