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Written by Mike ZlotnickiPhotographed by Melissa McGaw

Waterfowl, upland birds and tracking game areall in a day’s work for the breeds (and people) ofthe North American VersatileHunting Dog Association.ebster ’s defines“versatile” as“changing orfluctuating readily; embracing a variety of subjects,fields, or skills.” We see it daily in a variety of things.Baseball has the “five-tool player,” an athlete who canhit for power, hit for average, run fast, throw hard anddeftly field. Cutlery has the Swiss Army Knife, a tool thatcan cut, file, tighten, sharpen, snip or saw. Other kniveswith multi-tools, like the Leatherman, take the termversatile even a step further. The hunting world has thebreeds of the North American Versatile Hunting DogAssociation (NAVHDA).These dogs, mostly of continental European descent,are expected to find and retrieve game on land, find andretrieve game in water, track furred or feathered game onland and be cooperative yet independent while doing so.My interest in bird dogs started with Jim Kjelgaard’sbook “Big Red” and the rest of his trilogy in grade school.“Where the Red Fern Grows” (which should be issued toevery child at birth) further curried my interest in hunting dogs. While in high school one of my football coaches, Allen Johnson of Sumter, S.C., rescued a lemon-andwhite pointer named Molly. I adopted Molly and weterrorized quail whenever we had the chance.Later, after college and marriage, I bought a Germanshorthaired pointer from an old high school friend inOklahoma. Kate was a big bird-finding machine, but hadno interest in water work or retrieving and her disposition left a little to be desired, especially with other dogs.When we had to put her down in October of 2011, ourfamily mourned her passing.And I decided to get serious. While working for anewspaper, I covered a NAVHDA winter test presentedby the Carolinas Chapter at Johnson Marsh ShootingPreserve and the performance of those dogs on land andin water was impressive. The thought of one dog doing itall was intriguing. I began researching breeders in earnest,which led me to Friedelsheim German shorthairedPointing and retrieving upland birds are only part of what isexpected of NAVHDA dogs. Water work and tracking are alsopart of the package, and the dogs are tested against a standard,not each other.september october 2013 winc11

dog owners —were the primary focuses of theChapter. We also found out that the membership is as varied as the breeds owned.The ProfessorJesse Grimes of Garner is one of the founding members of the Carolinas Chapter and hasserved in just about every position offered bythe club. He helped found the chapter afteranswering an advertisement in a newspaperplaced by the late Roy Thillberg of Charlotte,searching for people interested in starting one.That was in 1995, and Grimes, a poultry professor at N.C. State University, has been activeever since.Growing up in Scotland Neck, Grimes wasaround bird dogs but hunted rabbits with beagles. He owned a springer spaniel in 1990while in college and then a Deutsch drahthaarnamed Sally. Since then, he’s owned a smorgasbord of mostly continental breeds —pointers, a French Brittany spaniel, two Germanwirehairs and a Deutsch kurzaar.Grimes personifies the majority ofNAVHDA members. “My purpose in joiningNAVHDA was to develop my dogs for hunting,” he said. “The testing process is a journeyfor me. It tells me where I am in my training.NAVHDA is also for breeders to evaluate theirbreeding processes for each breed. The testingstarted with breeders. Now, it’s as much ahandlers’ club.”The SoldierDr. Jesse Grimes of Garner sends hisGerman shorthaired pointer (Deutschkurzhaar) Della into a pond for a waterretrieve. A Deutsch kurzhaar is a Germanshorthaired pointer that is registeredwith the Deutsch Kurzhaar Verband inGermany and is tested to that breedclub’s standards. Opposite page, VivianWiese-Hansen of Raleigh, her Germanshorthair Tucker, and Scott Caldwell ofLillington discuss upland bird trainingduring a Carolinas Chapter training day.12september october 2013 wincpointers (GSPs) in Maryland. I’d been visitingthe website for a while and the site’s photogalleries displayed a nice mix of upland andwaterfowl hunts. It was apparent that a lot ofthought went into the breeding program toproduce versatile dogs. Photos also showeddogs interacting with the breeder ’s children.As the father of three girls, sound temperament in a dog was paramount, even more thanconformation or drive.When an announcement of a plannedbreeding was posted I contacted DonnieEbersole, the owner. Several lengthy emailsand phone conversations ensued, and aboutsix months later my wife, Renee, and I drovehome with Friedelsheim’s Tar Heel Annie.We quickly joined the Carolinas Chapterand learned that training dogs — and trainingMaster Sergeant Scott Caldwell grew up withLabrador retrievers and “flushing” Brittanyspaniels in upstate New York but is a relativenewcomer to NAVHDA. “Back in the 1996 – 97time frame I returned from deployment andmy family bought me a guided preserve huntwith Tony Wooley at Cow Run Farms inCandor,” said Caldwell, who is assigned toSpecial Operations Command at Fort Bragg.“That was truly the first time I actually huntedover versatile pointing dogs for upland game. Iwas just amazed. They were German shorthairs. I won’t say they were perfectly trained,now that I’m older and have worked aroundother dogs. But I didn’t realize a dog couldbe trained to that level.”Within a year, Caldwell had purchased ashorthair named Ruger that would break ice

to retrieve mallards in the morning and thenwork guided upland hunts the rest of the day.Eventually his work with Ruger would lead totraining puppies and then to breeding shorthairs. Two years ago Caldwell purchasedan 80-acre spread outside of Lillington thatserves as the chapter’s training grounds, wheremonthly informal training days are held. Alarge pond allows for water work and fieldsare used for upland and tracking work. A lot oftraining, especially while the dogs are young,is in simple obedience, lacking in many gundogs. For some members this is their firstversatile dog and questions abound.“The gamekeepers in Europe wanted a trueversatile dog that could do blood trailing andupland as well as water,” he said. They bredand tested their dogs according to specificguidelines in Europe and the European testingis very strict. With that as a base, I think thatNAVHDA has brought that strict testing toour society. If you look at our average weekend hunter, I’d say about 85 percent don’t havethe time or money to have a Lab to retrieveducks, an English pointer to hunt birds anda beagle to hunt rabbits or other small game.For a guy like me, NAVHDA offers how totrain a dog.”Caldwell said that as a breeder and trainer,people would often purchase a puppy and say,“now what?” Caldwell would say “bring itback to me” or recommend a trainer. TheCarolinas Chapter offers a third option.The DietitianNot all chapter members are hunters. VivianWiese-Hansen, who works for the N.C. Deptof Health and Human Services as a nutritionprogram consultant, is a native of Quebec,Canada. She grew up with a father whofavored Brittanys in the field. A cousin gaveher Gina, a 7-year-old shorthair, in 2007.When Gina passed away she told herself “Iwill have another shorthair.” And into her lifecame Tucker, a ball of energy from field trialstock in Washington. “Strong drive, longer“Quite a bit of it is basic obedience, but you alsohave to understand and be able to read yourdog so you’ll know how to correct your dog.”range and smart as a whip,” she says of Tucker.“Very headstrong and covers a lot of ground.”There was a fairly steep learning curve forWiese-Hansen as an owner, but lots of walksand runs and training helped.“I’ve had a lot of fun and I wouldn’t havetraded these past two years for anything,” shesaid, citing the chapter and Tucker for theexperience. “I’ve had so much fun learningabout my dog, what his potential is and helping him learn what to do, teaching him. Butit’s also a learning process for me because Ididn’t know anything about training a huntingdog. Quite a bit of it is basic obedience, butyou also have to understand and be able toread your dog so you’ll know how to correctyour dog and know what is going to work.Having a dog and NAVDHA go hand-in-hand.”Wiese-Hansen said that a welcome offshoot of the monthly training days is how thechapter became a support group, whichspawned a sense of belonging and friendship. The social aspect is appealing; folks ofall types brought together through their dogs.When Tucker was 10 weeks old, WieseHansen met with Caldwell and formed a partnership with him; Caldwell teaching WieseHansen while Wiese-Hansen was trainingTucker. Caldwell would later handle Tuckerseptember october 2013 winc13

Above: Kevin Perez of Raleigh gets a kissfrom his Weimaraner after hydrating thedog during the upland portion of its Utilitytest. Right, the author steadies his puppyAnnie on point during a monthly NAVHDAtraining day.to a NAVHDA Natural Ability Prize I. WieseHansen now has enough experience to partnerwith other Chapter members for weekendtraining sessions as she readies Tucker forhis Utility Test in December.Getting ThereOur Annie proved to be a precocious pup, fullof drive and intelligence. You get what you payfor in breeding. Some of the training, like theupland work, was quite familiar, but some,like tracking, was not. I asked Grimes (one ofthe chapter ’s founders) about it and he suggested dragging a hot dog on a string to get herstarted. In only two hot dogs she was trackingnose on the ground. The little hints and tipsfrom chapter members can make the trainingside so much easier. As she progressed I wassure the Natural Ability test was in the bagand I expected a Prize I. I mean, a dog onlyhas to swim, hunt and point, and track, right?Even at a young 7 months I thought she’dbreeze through it. But as I learned, there aretraining days and there are testing days.Our test morning opened with Annie lacerating her gum and scraping her chest on ametal pole when I took her out to exercise. Sheshould have been on a leash. Rookie mistake.There were 10 puppies in her Natural Abilitygroup, and we were No. 10 in the order. Westarted with upland work and she seemed tosense it was “go time,” shaking off her soreness and carving up the bird field with nicequartering while garnering solid points. Someof the continental breeds are more methodicalin the field than pointers or setters, but Annieis not a plodder. A small gallery followed usalong with three judges. She aced the uplandtest. Next was swimming and she hesitatedat first to go in after the rubber bumper. Iglanced back at the gallery and my wife hadher hands covering her face. That’s nevergood. Annie eventually swam to the judges’satisfaction and also “passed” her coat andteeth exam. We broke for lunch and I had achance to talk to one of the senior judges,Mark Whalen of Poolesville, Md.“We want to see a dog do well; we wantdogs to pass,” he said between spoonfuls ofchili. “But, we don’t give out a NAVHDA prizelike a Christmas present. A dog has to earn it.