From her owners:
"Kady was Winners Bitch for a 4-point major from the puppy
class at Chicago International Kennel Club show, and finished her
Championship at 17 months of age. She is still loved and
missed."
-- Ed and Nancy Bower, 1999 --
I am a pheasant
hunter (partially disabled), and in 1993, we had two flat-coated
retrievers. Coatie, a male, was about 6 years old and 75 lbs. Kady was a
female, 2 years old, around 50 lbs. We were out hunting in a frozen marsh,
or so I thought. As we walked along, the two dogs picked up a trail of a
running pheasant. They took off, but never went more than 30 yards or so
from me. As I hurried to keep up, all of a sudden I broke through the ice.
We were nearing an island, and the ice must have been a lot thinner there.
The water was 3 feet deep or so. I was wearing brush packs, heavy
insulated pants, long johns and heavy socks. The temp that morning was 12
degrees. The first thing I did was whistle my dogs to come back to me,
which they did immediately. I had a couple of 5-foot rope leads. I emptied
my shotgun and threw it toward the island. Then I attached both ropes to
the dogs and told them to go fetch. Using them as an anchor, I finally got
one leg and foot out of the icy water, then finally after struggling for a
while, got my other leg and foot out. I let the dogs loose, crawled to the
island, gathered whatever I had and somehow made the 30-minute walk
through fields, back to my van. I've never hunted a swamp since, only
cornfields and windrows. Since then both Coatie and Kady have passed away
from cancer. I'm sure I wouldn't have made it out of the ice without my
two companions.
Ed, quoted from Discovery Channel: Pet Heroes
|
