Saturday, September 28, 2013

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Molly's summer


On May 6th, my duck and goose hunting partner, Charley Martin's amazing yellow lab, Gema gave birth to her first litter of pups.  She's been a regular on this blog for the past couple of duck seasons.  She's one of those dogs that you fall in love with at first sight.  She's just amazing.

So the big day came and I got to meet the pups when they were just a few weeks old.  One of them was going to become my best friend.  How was I going to pick just one of them!  They were all so cute.  When the pups were about a month old, I took a duck wing and threw it in among them.  The smallest female in the litter snatched it up and brought it right to my  hand!  On top of that, she had the same coloration as her momma, this really cool dark, buttery yellow all along her back.  We named her Molly.

On June 23rd, one day before she was seven weeks old, my wife surprised me by bringing Molly home a day early.


Molly's first few weeks were spent learning basic obedience and getting her used to her new home and family...AND showing her around where she would get to spend her days playing with me and my clients. 


Turns out she has pretty good taste in rivers because it turns out the North Umpqua is her favorite.


 

I brought Molly up to our duck/goose shoot and let her get acquainted with the pond and pit blinds where soon, she'll be spending a lot of time. 


She loves running white water on the upper McKenzie.


Everyday we spend time training.  


When we're in the powerboat, she takes up position on the bow where she can be the first to see and smell whatever comes our way. 


She never leaves my side.  As I write this, she's laying at my feet.


We're like peas and carrots and we're gonna have a lot of fun in the coming years.