Let me tell you about this dog. His name is Zeus, he has been one of the best pheasant dogs that I have ever hunted with. I was at a Pheasants Forever banquet and I was trying to buy a print all night long and I wasn’t doing so well as they were going for a lot of money. Well after a few drinks I was looking up at the stage and a girl that was show casing off the items up for sell had a print with a black lab and some ducks on it and the bid was only at $225.00. So I thought this is the one. I started bidding first at $235.00. My buddy sees that I am bidding and tells me to stop that I was bidding on a puppy I argued with him saying no I am bidding on a print. The next time I bid the auctioneer said I have $245.00 who will give me 250 I again bid and they said sold to that young man right there this beautiful black lab puppy. I was beside myself first I think I raised my own bid and then on top of that my buddy was right, I had bought a dog! So I went over to see the gal that brought him for the auction and she was the same lady that had sold my brother his dog the year before for $500.00 so I didn’t feel that bad I had gotten a better deal than him and I didn’t even now what I was buying, she is the yellow in the picture also a great dog. The following week I was able to go pick out which puppy I wanted from the litter. There were only 2 rules, 1st that it had to be black and 2nd it had to be male. I sat with them for awhile and finally picked the one that just wouldn’t stay still he was the most active and probably the biggest. She marked his neck for me and I was able to pick him up a couple weeks later.
The name, Zeus was just a name I liked the god of thunder, I thought it was perfect but my roommate thought it was stupid. Shortly after bringing him home I moved so Zeus went to stay on the farm that my Grandparents owned. My aunt took care of him and I trained him which didn’t take much he was a fast learner and had a ton of drive. After he had turned almost a year old we went on a hunt with my old roommate when he seen how much he had grown and how hard he had hunted that day he thought the name was fitting. Since owning him we have hunted from the western part of Nebraska to the eastern part of Nebraska for grouse, pheasant, quail, ducks, and doves. I have watched him cover fields in front of many family and friends. He is a pointing lab which made it very easy to hunt behind him and he held point very well. One of the most memorable hunts was out in western Nebraska with my 2 uncles, my brother and dad, 2 cousins, 1 nephew, and my Grandpa the most important one! It was hard hunting, but one day we hunted next to a picked corn field that was filled with birds. There were 4 dogs there and they all worked so well together covering a huge amount of ground. There was some amazing shots, points from the dogs and retrieves. It will forever go down as one of the best hunts I have ever been on not only for the dog work and the amount of birds but the family I was able to be sharing the experience with!
Zeus was retired at the age of 11 and now is 14. I do not look forward to his passing for he has been one of the best dogs that I have ever hunted over and a great companion to me and my Aunt Susie! By the way he gets taken care of and fed better than most people getting to eat leftovers from Grandma’s cooking. He has lived a very good life and there will never be another dog that was bought by mistake that worked out so well in my book!
