FarOut Fields Brittanys

We all have these awful feeling when we lose an old one. All are special to each of us and to many more. Loss of loved ones that is something we all have in common. It's never easy. For me it's easier with the old ones then with the babies. They are who I lose it over. Sticky had a great life in every way. I am sad and I do miss him, but at peace with my decision. Yes, I made the decision to let him go. We were in the front yard under the big Oak, on thick grass with Azaleas & Roses in bloom. Rodger was of course there and Charles (the vet). It was very quick and peaceful. He was in my arms laying in the grass with me whispering in his ear. Even Charles was in tears. Stick was past ready to go run free, hunt, jump and bounce.

When I came home from the Orlando shows I was shocked to see the shell of my boy standing waiting for me. There was nothing left of him and it was obvious that he was done fighting. I spent the next days mostly with him only. He did perk up when he realized I was home, but it was short lived. We tend to not see when we are with them all the time. Going away and coming home with fresh eyes can be a real rude awaking.

As you all know I am not one for trying to prevent the inevitable. I don't usually agree with the last of life being chemo or pace makers or anything else that is invasive. We tend to do these things for us - not for the loved companion. I bought him almost two years with the cancerous tumor removal. It would have been two years the 28th of this month (July 2011). That was a good decision.

You all also know I've been preparing myself and Rodger for this time for a long time. Rodger even realized it was very close to the time I would make the decision I did. He asked me to wait till after the holiday. I told him that Sticky could not wait and that he was suffering. Not an easy decision for any of us. It is the last act of love for the many, many years of love and laughter they've given to us.

For a long time Stick was showing signs. He no longer followed me around the yard. He was falling all the time but now he was not able to get up without help and he often just didn't want to bother. Even a glancing touch would put him down on the ground. He would go to the steps for the couch and bed, put his front feet on them, look at us and get off. He just couldn't do the steps any more. He only wanted in his kennel crate, the outside run or in the house. Rodger brought the gun out and Sticky didn't care. He always got major excited at seeing the gun. He no longer went out with the group even when he knew they had a squirrel. Until recently he was always the one to have the squirrel in the end. His eyes I can't explain. Let me say they showed he'd finished. For the first time in his life the whites were showing. Then he stopped eating. He would not take any food, except a couple of little pieces of lunch meat ham from Rodger. He was barely drinking. He had no interest in hot dogs or any treats. He would take what was offered most of the time and then just spit it out. The last two things in his life were food and me. He totally lost the food interest and just wasn't able to be with me on his own. I stayed with him. His gums were very white - a sign of bad circulation, shock, many bad things. He was giving up on life. It was just got to be to much for him. We were fairly sure his tumor from the liver cancer was back, he had lumps in his throat that were making breathing difficulty. The only time for a long time that he wasn't panting heavily was when he was asleep. Even then he would wake up to heavy panting. Obviously his heart was failing or something was major interfering with his circulation. I can go on with what was happening to him, but everything was not good.

My only regret was that I didn't make the decision sooner. I do believe I let him suffer longer then he should have.

Rodger is having the hardest time with this. Stick was the first dog he had ever gotten close to. I can't imagine what he's going to be like when it's Cloey's time. He considers her his dog. Sticky is all he can talk about. He goes to Stick's grave a couple times a day and talks to him. He has pulled out some old videos that we've been watching as we want to remember him when he was young and whole. Watching them one can see how bad he was in the end. We cry watching them. They are from a camera that was before digital. We would like to get them turned into digital and on a disk if we can find someone who knows how to do this. When this is done I will share with everyone. Most of you did not know him in his prime. You'll see a lot of your kids actions if their brave, handsome, smart, adventurous dad.

We laid him out and let all the other dogs check him out. They all came over to sniff him and then laid down all around the area while we buried him. They had disconnected from him a long time ago - even Cloey who was with him nearly all his life. They are being totally normal. They quickly adjusted to the crate change in set up and have not skipped a beat.

Well, there's not much more to tell at this moment, although there is a ton.

Thank you everyone for your condolences. I know you know what it's like. Some of you have recently lost ones that you loved. Some of you will soon be facing the same decision with old ones. We cry over them, we cry over ones in the past, and we cry for ourselves.

How did I get my name or should I say names. Seems everyone asks that question.

My call name is "Sticky" and my registered name is Fly'n-Hi's Iron Will. Well, I'll start with the Sticky part of my name.

When I was born, my mom Heidi had to have a cesarean section, or c-section for short, as she had what they call uterine inertia, which means she was in labor for a long time and her tummy muscles were so tired and sore she couldn't push any more. Anyway, we were born all at once, me and my 6 brothers and sisters.

My grandma (my breeder) and the Vet think that one brother and I weren't quite done baking in mom's oven, even though 5 of my siblings were. My brother didn't survive, but I did even though it was a long hard road, so here is my story.

Being what they call a bit of a preemie I didn't have a suckle reflex, meaning I didn't know how to nurse from my mom. My grandma (my breeder) worked very hard to keep me alive. She tube fed me every hour and a half. This means she had to insert a small tube in through my mouth and down into my tummy and use a small syringe to put a milk replacer into my tummy. Then she had to use an insulin syringe with a very tiny needle to inject small amounts of fluid under my skin to help keep me hydrated. She would then rub my little belly to help burp out the air bubbles.

This went on for 5 or 6 days and all the while I was still trying to figure out how to get what my brothers and sisters were getting from our mom. I got real good at opening my mouth as soon as my grandma picked me up to feed me as I was a very hungry boy.

I was much smaller than my siblings, as they were growing like little weeds. So my grandma would take mom and me out into the living room and put us on a real soft blanket, she would put a blanket under my lower body to help support me and then she would put this soft wet squishy thing (my mom's nipple) in my mouth, it had warm wet stuff that came out of it, boy it tasted good. I was learning how to get some more of the wet stuff to come out, I was learning how to use my little mouth to squeeze and suck to get more of this yummy stuff. Boy I couldn't get enough, I figured if I tugged on it maybe I could get more. So here I am, squeezing and tugging away, Hey I'm getting pretty good at this, let me tug a little harder, big mistake. I'd tug so hard I'd yank myself off of mom's nipple, and this warm wet stuff would fly every where, so grandma would put me back on and I'd start all over again, and again I would pull so hard I'd yank myself off of the feeder, after 10 or 15 minutes of this grandma would pick me up, I was still hungry even though my tummy was full near to bursting, I kept nosing around my grandma's hands looking for the faucet thingy.

Grandma said I was a sticky little mess and needed to learn not to tug so hard. She did this thing with me and my mom several times a day and then she didn't have to stick that tube down my throat any more, and after 9 days of that I was ready to eat the real way. But every time she said I was a sticky little mess, so she started calling me Sticky, well as you can see "Sticky" stuck and that's how I got my call name.

As for my registered name, my grandma was really into the movie made by this company called Walt Disney, it was about a young man whose father dies and they are in need of money, so there is this big dog sled race and Will, this is the young man, he takes his father's dog team and over comes a lot of bad stuff and has to deal with a lot bad people and bad things, but with his Iron Will and determination he prevails.

The name of the movie is Iron Will, my grandma said because I had such a determination to live, she said I too had an Iron Will, so that was to be my registered name, the Fly'n-Hi part is grandma's kennel name.

When I was a year old these people, now MY people, came to see me and my brother. We were all living in Colorado then. They decided they were not leaving there without me (they also wanted my brother, but he already had a family). I was REALLY afraid of them and going in that noisy thing they called a car. The fear didn't last long though. I now adore my Mom. She is the light of my life even when someone else, even Dad, is petting me I look for and at Mom in case she needs me. If she calls me I will get out of, or away from, anything or anyone.

At the Summer Nationals in NY one year I got away from a friend that was traveling with us. I had to find Mom. I went running to the rings where I was sure she would be. As I was running past them, nose in the air smelling for her, I heard her call my name. I stopped dead to pinpoint where she was and to listen for her voice again. There is was, she had stood up so that I could see her and called again. I'll tell you what, I couldn't get to her fast enough. She told me I was good for finding her, told me to heel without putting a lead on me and back to the car we went ............. then she left me again. (sigh)

This being separated from my Mom caused me a little bit of a problem when I got to the Open obedience competition. The people have to go out of the ring and hide during a three minute sit-stay and a five minute down-stay. I just didn't think there was any logical reason I shouldn't go with Mom, after all I really behave - what if she needed me. At the least I had to move to reposition myself so that I could clearly see where she went. For some reason no one liked me doing this. One time a judge decided to try to get me. Well, I wasn't having any of that so I jumped out of the ring and found Mom. I don't know why she wasn't happy with me finding her. Go figure - people. In the end I did get that CDX (Companion Dog Excellent) title my Mom wanted. Most of the times I qualified I placed in the top four, usually second. For my first obedience title, CD (Companion Dog) I got it in three straight shows. One time at the Nationals in Arkansas I took second high score over all the obedience dogs.

I love, love, love going hunting. I don't care what type of critter we're going for as long as I can look for it. As excited as I get at hunt tests I will "heel" without a lead up to the release line and patiently wait till Mom tells me I can go. Generally I only have to take only a few steps before I find birds and go on point. My brace mate has already gone way on ahead running his fool head off, not smelling for the birds. Well, what s/he misses is mine!!!! Mom keeps saying she's going to take me to the next hunting level. I hope she does as I will clean the fields up of the birds the other dogs left behind.

The CH (Champion - AKC) was not a problem either. By the time I was serious about behaving in the ring we had all moved to Florida which is where I got the American (AKC) championship and my International Championship. I did both with BOB (Best Of Breed) wins.

The CGC (Canine Good Citizen) was a breeze title for me. I don't even know what the reason was for that, but Mom insisted. If she asks me and wants it I will do my best to get it for her.

Agility - now that was a ball. It was nothing for me to get that NA (Novice Agility) title. Mom showed me about two times what she wanted me to do before we went to do it. That's all it took for me to get that title. I really liked all the stuff we had to do.

I do a bunch of tricks. One year when we were at the National Specialty in Arkansas Mom entered me in the Parade of Champions. It was really boring watching the people and their dogs go in the ring and stack up like in the regular classes. Mom decided we'd have fun out there. I went in an ran around her in a large circle and then did my library of tricks. When we were done everyone was clapping - which I liked. From what I'm told it is all on the video of that Specialty. I don't remember what year that was.

At this point in time Mom keeps saying she's going to teach me tracking. It sure doesn't sound hard. My nose is better then excellent. I'll be able to track anything. Maybe we'll start this Fall. From what Mom says she worries down her in Florida about the Gators and snakes. There are even some really nasty insects down here.

I think I'm one of the most versatility titled Brittany in the breed. Some have more degrees in one arena, but few, if any, have titles in so many different arenas. These titles prove that I look like a good Brittany should, that I have the true, natural bird hunting ability that my breed is known for, show bird desire to say the least, that my personality & temperament is good, that I am smart, strong, sound, athletic - in other words I'm a full package and I have proved it by being judged by many professional judges at many shows in many different competitions.

My pedigree is true "blue blood". My hips and elbows are OFA certified, my eyes are checked normal, my heart is checked normal, my thyroid test is normal, and my DNA is AKC registered.

Heck, I'm even a model. I'm featured, so far, on the medium dog biscuits, the rawhide twist, and the rawhide bones for Publix Supermarkets brand, a big chain down here. I was chosen cause of all the tricks I do and how good I look. They even chose me for a six foot billboard they used as a promotional tool in all the stores. The day of the shot was a fun day. There were lots of treats, pets, and attention from everyone. We worked in the studio and then out in a local park. Mom got lots of professional shots of me and I got paid!! The money did go to rescue after I got a McDonalds out of it.

I mentioned doing tricks at the Specialty and at the photo shoot. I have a whole bag of tricks that I do. Kids really enjoy seeing me do them. A couple of my kids are following in my footsteps and even doing some tricks I don't. I'm real proud of my kids.

If you're ever in Florida you have an open invitation to stop in to meet me and all the others.