Hi there! I don't quite know where to begin. What a cool dog Chief is. He did great in the motorhome and at the river. He loved the boat. He was a little timid in the water but he is still a baby. He did swim though! He is sweet, playful, fun, bites a little hard with those puppy teeth but best of all he sleeps through the night!!! He already knows how to come, sit, and almost shake. He is a fast learner and is so cute!!! He is such a baby I love it!! He has to be right next to us or he whines. He will not go down the stairs we still have to carry him, but finally learned to go up. We say kennel up and he goes right in- he loves his kennel!

Quick update on Hermann.
 
Here are some pics. from one of the days he was out with me. Hermann has been a great addition to our family and has provided us with plenty of entertainment. He took a normal amount of time for potty training. He catches on to commands like "sit" very quickly but working with him can be difficult because of his high level of energy and excitement. Often it will take 1/2 hour for him to settle down before we can even pick up a dummy. It takes him a little while to warm up to things he is supposed to retrieve. Ex. I took a dummy out of the package and threw it. He didn't know what he was supposed to do with it at first so he just watched it fall and went the other way. After he played with it for a couple minutes he was retrieving just fine, every toss. No signs of gun shyness yet....and don't expect any. Like you said I am able to just about rest the gun barrel between his ears and he won't flinch. Everything I read about the breed said they were compassionate almost to the point of inappropriateness at times and he is no exception. Often just laying next to me isn't enough he wants to sprawl out on my lap our lean against me. The only surprise so far is his lack of submissiveness. I heard they were a very submissive breed and he is for me because I am not afraid to enforce it but my wife can't get him to obey for the life of her. She is soft spoken but knows when to lay the law down and he just won't listen to her. Maybe it's the puppy yet but otherwise everything is great. I'll have plenty more photos after this weekend. (pheasant opener).
 
-Karl

Sorry I have not written earlier but I want to say thank you very much for selling Tye to me. He is a truly an all around  dog. I have shot a total of  400  birds with Tye.  Not one has he missed and he goes in the water for ducks as well.  When I got out a times with him and we are hunting birds  sometimes he will kick up rabbits and the chases it to bring it back in shooting range.  I never registered the dog because I'm not a breeder. I'm just a hunter hope you do not mind its not a big thing for me. I just want to hunt. There is not much more to say about Tye only that he's great with kids , good guard dog around the house, great on land with birds, listens NO collar needed, only goes 40 yards and comes back, great finding rabbits and can swim like a lab, So really I bought 4 dogs from you not just one again thank you.

Zeno in Chicago

Brian-
 
Now that hunting season has ended I can send you another "late season" update on Hermann (see attached photo).
 
Hermann and I ended the year very well. Being a new puppy and trying to figure out pheasant hunting is difficult, but I couldn't have asked for more from him. He had a few SOLID points this year which was great to see. Mostly I was happy that he was really getting into it and always had his nose going. My big concern, living in MN, was the cold temps we sometimes see in December. The photo I attached was taken on a day in the single digits with a sub-zero windchill. More than once Hermann and I hunted until 3:00 or 4:00 to get our limit, we got so much snow early that birds moved out into fields and became very inaccessible. However, when we did find one we found a bunch and he had so much fun. On one of the last days he also made a half-retreive on a live bird. He is still a baby but is making giant steps towards becoming a good bird dog. He tackled cold and deep snow well for his age and size. He had plenty of stamina and we often would hunt all day, turn around and go again the next. He doesn't like venturing very far away from me which is ok. Hopefully I can keep working with him this winter and get him on some live birds early in spring and summer when it warms up. By next fall he should really be roaring and ready to go. Thanks Brian, I'll keep you posted. Hopefully you'll be doing this a few years from now when my wife and I are ready for a 2nd! We're both hooked!
 
-Karl

Hi Brian