On Easter morning, I had the privilege to shoot photos for the DFWMGRC Hunt Test out in Terrell, TX. (It was basically an event for the Golden Retreiver club to qualify their dogs for a working/hunt certificate… or at least I hope I’m close (Brian knows more details.) – Sorry if I’m way off.)  Anyway, I got up at 4:30 AM.. yes you read that correctly.  Brian and his brother picked me up at 5:30 AM and we headed out to Terrell (about an hour from Dallas) in an outta control thunderstorm. *see photos below* We waited the storm out for about an hour or two before beginning the event.  It was quite a challenge, but a fun one.  I was dressed in about 4 layers because it was a bit chilly, good ole mountain hiking books,  and a full body rain suit. My camera was wrapped in a plastic Wal-Mart bag, but luckily most of the time we were actively testing the dogs, it was only drizzling.  We didn’t bring George, because he’s still a “puppy” and not completely ready to test yet.  He would have just had to stay in the muddy truck while the other  dogs were being qualified for the hunt test, etc…

It is amazing what you can train a dog to do *(especially a golden retriever!)* There were 3 “stations” that would throw dead birds (Sunday they used Pheasants- some live and some dead.) Two of the stations (at least 80 yds away from dog’s starting point) would fire blanks and throw an already dead game bird in the air, while giving the dog time to watch the process.) Then the third station would throw a live bird and shoot it down for the dog to retrieve.  (Kind of brutal, but you get used to it I guess.) The dogs were controlled via game bird calls, whistles, and/ or hand signals, and  couple verbal commands.  So great.  Brian’s been training (with one of the lady’s who ran the hunt test event) since George was only a couple months old, and will continue until he’s super advanced for actual hunting trips.

Here are some of my favorite shots from the day: