I'm a died in the wool setter man. I own four, possessing varying degrees of proficiency.
BUT my neighbor has GSP's. Now I have to be honest - most GSP's turn me off - it's just a short hair, no tail thing that I can't get around. BUT he's got this little GSP female that loves me. When she was about 6 months old I kept her for a week while he and his wife went on a cruise. We bonded. I taught her to jump up in the back of my truck that week and for months after he got back home every time I would drive by his house if she was in the yard she would stand up at the sound of my truck and give me a mournful look as I drove by. And of course any time I would stop by his house it was like two lovers meeting after a long absence. I can't help it. I am smitten by a denizen of the forbidden breed.
Over the course of the last two hunting seasons I have "borrowed" her for several hunts. Once even on a 4 day excursion to Kansas. She never ceased to wow me with her tracking ability on wounded pheasants and her easy handling.
Yesterday, I visited with her just minutes after she had the final puppy of her new litter. Nothing would stop her but she had to get out of the whelping box and come over and greet me and say hello with a big old wet kiss.
Now here's the moral quandary. I want HER! - Not one of her pups. Do I campaign against my friend and spread ugly rumors about him and his dogs all over the internet so that he can't sell those pups and ultimately loses confidence in his breeding program?
Then I can be the consoling friend who stands by and innocently says, "Well I surely understand your predicament - Why don't you just let me have ___________ and I'll give her a good home for the rest of her life."
No, I guess I'll just have to live by the Golden Rule. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. And I mustn't forget the commandments - "Thou shalt not Covet and Thou Shalt not Steal." But it sure is hard.
Do you really think God meant to include Bird Dogs in all that?
