Ruger was a pup I bought from backyard breeder as a birthday present for my youngest son on his 9th birthday. He joined our family 3 hours before my old springer passed away. Ruger didn't come with a sterling pedigree and I didn't spend years training him to run Field Trials, Hunt Tests or HRC competitions. Instead his training happened every weekend during the hunting season with my boys and on an annual trip to Saskatchewan. He broke at the sound of gun fire, he didn't take hand signals or even know more commands than "fetch 'em up" and "sit". But he knew his job was to go pick up ducks and bring them back to me and my boys. He faithfully did this for many seasons with many hundreds retrieves of ducks and geese. He didn't demand any attention or affection from others but he always took carry of grooming the other dogs by licking their eyes when they were droopy or drying them when they were wet after a swim. He was short legged, broad chested, blocky-headed, walked with a funny gait because I once ran over him with the front tire of my Suburban, and never had guard hairs on a saddle on his back so he had a wooly golden splotchy back.
Despite any and all of these "shortcomings", he was loved by everyone and will be missed. He lived to play ball, fetch ducks and look after my son and other dogs. He will forever "Fetch 'em up" with a bufflehead in his mouth. I hope his is resting by the fire and looking after all of his buddies that passed before him. I'll miss you Ruger.
Despite any and all of these "shortcomings", he was loved by everyone and will be missed. He lived to play ball, fetch ducks and look after my son and other dogs. He will forever "Fetch 'em up" with a bufflehead in his mouth. I hope his is resting by the fire and looking after all of his buddies that passed before him. I'll miss you Ruger.
