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My Bird Dog and I
Posted by Junior Shooters
By: Keagen Cothern
(Junior Writer For Kids By Kids)
I had a great experience competing in the North American Gun Dog Association National Championships (NAGDA) this spring. Hunting is a tradition in my family and I have been bird hunting with my dad for the past four years. My dad started competing with NAGDA two years ago and this year was my first year competing. Being 17, I competed in the youth division.
In the summer of 2006, we got a Wire-haired Pointing Griffon (WPG) named Chester. He is turning out to be a great hunting dog and a lot of fun to hunt with.
I had to compete in two NAGDA competitions and place in at least one to be qualified for nationals. I ended up getting second place in one of the two. 
To compete well in a NAGDA competition, (1) the dog needs to perform well, (2) the dog and the hunter need to communicate, and (3) the hunter needs to be a pretty good shot. Scoring involves all three of these aspects to get the maximum number of points.
Learning to work with Chester and get him to obey my commands was challenging at first because he is normally used for retrieving for my dad, however, after a few competitions we began to work well together, and he even started retrieving many birds straight to my hand.
I ended up sixth in the national competition, and I wish I could have done better, but I’d say that is pretty good for my first year. I didn’t win any prize from the competition, but I did get lucky and won a shotgun in a youth raffle. 
Next year I will be too old for the youth competition, but I will be competing in the amateur pointing division. I’m glad my dad introduced me to hunting, I will be hunting for the rest of my life now, and I look forward to training my own hunting dog someday.
Contact Info:
NAGDA: nagdog.com
Copyright & Published by Junior Shooters and Junior Sports Magazines Inc. December 2009
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