By Chad Love

I must admit, I'm not much of a carpenter. Give me a hammer and nails, a circular saw and a pile of lumber, and I'll give you...firewood studded with bent nails, and maybe a lost digit or two. I'm also something of a procrastinator. You may recall a blog I wrote last spring lamenting my lack of a semi-permanent abode for my training pigeons, which, up to that point, I had been keeping in a few large wire cages until needed. In that blog I also, optimistically proclaimed that I was going to build a coop "this spring."

OK, so maybe last year's "this spring" turned into this year's "mid-summer." Nevertheless, a few weeks ago I decided it was time. I had eight new birds that needed a home and a young pup that needed those birds. So I took one last look at my fingers, tried to decide which ones I could probably live without, crossed said fingers, whispered a prayer and then fired up the saw. The result is this masterpiece of wavy cuts, rusty wire, hopelessly out-of-square corners and sagging doors. And it only cost me $6,000 in materials, 500 man-hours of labor and a right pinky that I never really used, anyway.*  

By Chad Love

I know there are a lot of gundog owners out there who care nothing at all for "dog games", but if you've never been to a field trial, hunt test, or some other competitive or standards-based shooting dog event, you really owe it to yourself to go watch one. They really are cool to watch, even if if you never have any intention of competing. Plus you get to spend time with lots of other dog-crazy like-minded individuals.

But please, people, pick your event carefully, or you might find yourself at an event that's just all kinds of wrong.

From this story in the Maryville (MO) Daily Forum:
Combining his love of animals with his passion for the outdoors, Maryville's Harlan Higginbotham has taken to raising hunting dogs that are used in competition. In March, his most prized pooch—H's Hedge Rise Ignited—became a national shooting dog champion on the field trialing circuit. The six-year-old German Shorthaired Pointer took first place out of the fourth brace in the 60th annual National Dog Shooting Championships at J. Perry Mikles Wildlife Demonstration Area in Boonville, Ark.