New Sherriff in Town...Brodie, by name.

Brodie came to our home as a birthday present to me from my ever-thoughtful Bridget.  She understood the loss I felt when Tucker passed away back in November, and this is her way of bringing back English setter life and love to our home.

I picked Brodie up on March 23, 2016 way up in the Colebrook, NH area at Deadwater Gundogs of New England (https://www.facebook.com/deadwatergundogs/ ) .  It just so happened that they had a litter of 13 ready to go and sold, but had two last minute cancellations.  Scott from Deadwater sent us a video of the two pups left (a male and a female); the little male, with his half mask, was an instant hit with us.  One of the deciding factors was that in the video, he knocked over a broom, and it didn't phase him one bit; he went right to it to inspect.

Brodie's mother is Deadwater Zee, a hard-working dog in Deadwater's guiding string.  His father is 4X Champion Long Gone Buckwheat, winner of the National Amateur Woodcock Championship and the Grand National Grouse Championship.  Lots of horse dog power between those two.  And yes, I have a lot to handle on my hands!  Brodie is a beautiful tricolor, my favorite of the setter color schemes.

Anyway, here's Brodie during his first visit to his new backyard:

Brodie's schedule has pretty much worked out to an hour as a blur, then an hour of this:

I love the wavy hair of a setter's ears.  A little secret:  I've also always loved the smell of a setter's ears:

Tucker left behind an almost astounding collection of stuffed toys for the next guy in line.  Brodie particularly likes mauling the polar bear:

It didn't take him long to pick out his own easy chair (we have absolutely no problem with that; Bridget even piled up a couple pillows to help him figure out how to get up there:

After almost a week here, I figured it was time to get Brodie acquainted with the Cave (after a semi-massive clean-up of feathers and fur - thank heavens for that big closet!)

I believe he's found the Cave to his liking:

So that's our Brodie.  I look forward to sharing the journey from puppy to gundog over the years.  Brodie is only the sixth setter I've trained, but they all turned out to be great bird dogs and friends.  I hope you'll enjoy the ups and downs of it all as the years pass.

Cheers,
Gary