Thread: Miss dog the do it all legen

As a fresh faced 16yo keen outdoors lad and always having hounds growing up I decided it was time for me to get my own dog big working man paying rent and tax’s fuck it all I need is a dog and a ute now… I scrolled trademe and found a litter of heading pups 5 dogs 1 bitch listed as a shy dog not a runt but dominated by boisterous brothers absolutely not for pig hunting I phoned the joker arranged a time and headed over to the Wairarapa after work one evening. Sorry old mate I can’t remember your name chances are you have passed now. We’re going back to when we had to be organised and punctual as cell phones weren’t what they are now.

On arrival the boys were stretched up on the pup pen gate longing to be picked keen and cocky and in the box at the back was this small bitch minding her own business somewhat embarrassed it would have seemed. I managed to get ahold of her gave her a scratch and decided Miss after a heading dog from when I was a little bugger in Mangamahu (Wanganui)that just blew my mind in its ability to head , now old mate had his reservations with a 16y/o turning up in his friends turbo Subaru looking for a dog but to his credit it gave me the time of day.

With a raised eyebrow he told me he had 3 sisters from 2 seperate litters same parents that were the fastest dogs he’d ever seen or ran excellent dogs but this one was abit shy and needs one on one time what are your intentions essentially.

“I’m going to use her for hunting”

Safe to say he blew his stack” I said no fucking pig hunting stupid little this and that” long story shorter as it’s easy to start rambling here I gave him my intentions of deer stalking with her …

He mulled it over and after a couple of cuppas he let me take her $250 from memory which was a good couple months of saving.

Took me a long to gain Misses trust but my lord looking now I’m 35 and just let her go Wednesday what a wild ride with a truely talented loyal loving hound she’s being by my side threw thick and thin for 19 years I feel very privileged for the time .

My grandfather a generational farmer said to me after about 18months your very lucky and very unlucky son we only get one great dog we get plenty of good dogs but only one great dog and Miss is your great dog to have that so young is lucky but nothing will compare so you’ll have a frustrating road moving forward


Well he was spot on she’s being a great dog she’s well travelled (Wanganui Christchurch whitianga Auckland) I couldn’t count the deer she’s seen found and even held onto once she found her confidence she was a force to be reckoned with we were lucky her first 4 years were in Wanganui where she got daily hunting I decided Christchurch was a goer and off we went. We spent years chasing red deer tahr and fishing from kayaks making boats and testing them on the waimak we decided we’d try our hand at duck shooting only one with a dog I thought miss will be up for this got plenty of shit from the lads but was worth a shot and as per usual it’s like she got the briefing and knew what was expected and excelled retrieving both birds on the water and on land she cleaned up our pond all day then we pond hopped retrieving everyone’s birds across the farm (quartz hill station rakaia Canterbury).

She even made training my next pup easy work she was the enforcer and knew what was acceptable.



Rest easy you absolute legend