On the afternoon of Monday August 4th, my friend Tony Pardinas from Georgia gave me a call. Tony is what I consider my first customer. Shortly after reading Larry Mueller's July 1997 Outdoor Life Magazine column about the Fiddler's Ace/Candy Rail bred pointers, Tony inquired about this family of dogs. He was given my phone number. I still remember our first conversation about "Gabby". She is a product of the first mating of Bo'Darc Fiddlin Rail to Doc's Miss Evolution(Bo'Darc Miss Evolution). This litter was the first litter of pups I raised that actually went "public". Tony purchased her in August of 1997 for $300. Well it's kinda funny how time passes. As Tony and I were talking this past Monday, he said that Gabby was 11. It kinda took me by surprise because for what ever reason, I thought my Molly gal was 11. If Gabby was 11 years old, Molly had to be about 2 years older as she is a littermate sister of Bo'Darc Fiddlin Rail. As Tony and I were talking, I pulled out the paperwork on Molly and was wonderfully surprised to see that, that very day, Ole Molly dog was a birthday girl! She turned 13 on Monday.

After not much thought I decided that we were gonna throw a party for Molly. We went all out, cake, candles, ice cream and a squeaker toy. My cousin, Buddy Lee from Yukon, Oklahoma and his son Danny, a.k.a, "LeRoy" were already on their way up to visit me since I'm just layin around these days. My youngest daughter, Aprille thought I was a little too "medicated", for wanting to throw a birthday party for a dog. I won't argue Aprille's point, nevertheless, my response to her was something along the lines of this, "How many people do you know that , 1. had a dream of what their perfect dog should be, 2. made a breeding to try and produce that perfect dog, 3. raise that perfect dog from a day old puppy, and 4. then celebrate that perfect dog's 13th. birthday"!

Anyway, thank you Tony for the visit and for jarring me enough to realize how special Monday really was. Here's some pictures of the PARTY!











"Your legacy should be that you made it better than it was when you got it."

a quote from Lee Iacocca

Mike, I really enjoyed our phone visit the other day, we were overdue for a catch-up call, it looks like the party went well, I don't believe I had that many revelers at my last birthday gathering, Molly looks good, hope she enjoyed her big day. I'm happy to have reminded you of the very important date.
I was not aware that I was considered your first customer, an honor Gabby and I are proud of.

I’m really excited about the new pups from Dave and Squirt and looking forward to your planned litters with your other fine females.

Hope you get to feeling better soon.

Tony.

Tony you can see in the picture of all of us around the table, that Molly is looking up at me like what in the world are you doing. She wasn't as happy about the festivities as the rest of were but she managed to take it in stride.

A few years before the first Ogg/Ethel litter (there were 3) I had raised some pups and sold a few, but it was this litter that I actually had prepared to advertise nationally as opposed to locally. I had made a video that I was prepared to send out to those that were interested. So I guess technically Tony, you weren't the first person to purchase a dog from me, but it was Gabby's litter where I felt like I was jumping off in the water to sink or swim in letting the world know what I had to offer. My thoughts were to try and get this litter out and about and see if they were as nice as I thought they were. Turns out they were and still are, as Gabby is still going strong. This is something that I've been chewing on the last few days, the longevity of this family of dogs. I have had, as well as hear of a lot, of dogs dieing when they are 6 or 7 years old. Many times it seems to be cancer. It's like we burn the candle on both ends of our gun dogs, so when a true hunting machine is still going, maybe not as strong as they once did, but still going hard at it nevertheless, it is a very good thing. This may also be a testament to one of the strengths within this Fiddler's Ace/Candy Rail family that we are now just starting to realize. We've seen many other strengths from this line of dogs, this legitimate longevity looks to be an added bonus.






"Your legacy should be that you made it better than it was when you got it."

a quote from Lee Iacocca