It's Never Easy

Posted on May 30, 2010 by SuperRetrieverSeries.com Staff
http://www.superretrieverseries.com/view.php?STORYID=314064128021464

SRSVery rarely does it come easy. Somewhere, somehow along the road to becoming a champion there is always that special turning point where the hero digs in and refuses to quit. Sometimes these bumps are insurmountable, or at least seem as such.

Colt Forty Five II had a grand start to his career. Colt was competitive from the word go. Stylish and talented and a hard charger, he was quick and fast with incredible drive which led to solid success. He was originally owned by Harold and Sharon Gierman. The Gierman's have owned a number of quality dogs over their careers as no-nonsense serious field trialers. Somewhere along the way Colt and the Gierman's no longer saw eye to eye. It was obvious Colt had been pushed past his limit and the once hard-charging maniac that lived to retrieve had been reduced to a plodder who wished he was anywhere other than at the line.

Colt was sold and ended up with Bobby Wills. Once Bobby was able to get his hands on Colt he finished his Amateur title (AFC) fairly quickly. Now they started to try and play where they always wanted to be successful and the real reason they had purchased Colt, the SRS. But Colt was never much more than a middle of the pack performer at SRS. There were times he showed flashes of brilliance, but somewhere along the way he would always fade. Colt was outstanding running long and complex marks and was even relaxed enough to handle hunt test scenarios. But when the guns started blazing, boats and blinds became part of equation, and the truly nasty and most difficult part of the retriever testing game hit, he begin to do what so many good dogs do at SRS - he became overwhelmed, confused and would often revert to the plodder that wanted to be anywhere other than where he was.

After a short and mediocre career in SRS ol' Colt had been given-up on again. Colt, a Field Champion, was back on the sales floor. Wills knew he had a hero and there was no way he was giving up on Colt. Bobby trained the dog for quite sometime with zero compensation while looking for the right buyer. He was looking for that special client who would trust him and let him keep and train the dog full-time.

In walked Paul Wilson and Tommy Smith - not your normal competitive retriever owners. Neither of them are plastic surgeons, run banks, nor develop real estate. They are, as Bobby puts it, "just everyday normal guys who work construction and wanted to play SRS." A deal was made and Colt, the 9 year-old Field Champion, was purchased by Smith and Wilson with the agreement that he would stay with the Wills and Bobby would do everything he could in Colt's few remaining competitive years to get them an SRS title.

Wills' explanation is a simple one, "I just needed to be able to bond with Colt. He just needed someone he could count on." It seems to be working pretty well with back-to-back American Retriever Classic titles and an SRS Crown Championship win. Colt is finally everything everyone knew he could never be except for a couple normal guys and an ol' country boy from west Tennessee.