STARK COUNTY — Years of training have come to fruition for a Stark County couple whose dog was named National Shoot to Retrieve Association’s 2023 Dog of the Year on Oct. 28. Dean and Kristy Goodall’s dog, Cowpie, a 5-year-oldGerman Shorthair, took home the honor despite a recent infection that left everyone wondering if she would even survive.
The NSTRA competition, which was held in Amo, Ind., included 192 dogs, Dean Goodall said. He is Cowpie’s handler during competitions.
“You’re facing the best dogs across the entire country and to come out the last dog standing, it’s just an incredible feeling,” Dean Goodall said. “We’ve been so close so many times. But to finally win one, it’s just a dream come true.”
During the trials, two dogs compete against each other at a time. They are put in blinds with their handlers while five birds are planted on 40 acres of land. The dogs then have 30 minutes to find the birds, he said.
“We walk the field, there’s two of us, side-by-side, and your dog has to actually hunt for it,” Kristy Goodall said. “Then, when they smell a bird, they have to stop and point. Once they establish point, they can’t take another step until the bird’s in the air.”
The handler kicks around, until the bird flies into the air and then they shoot the bird. Once the handler shoots, they are not supposed to move, she said.
“Then the dog has to go find the bird, pick it up, bring it in and put it in your hand,” Kristy Goodall said.
Judges score the dog on several criteria, including obedience and retrieval, she said.
During the trials, Dean Goodall could tell Cowpie didn’t have the lung capacity she once had, due to an infection she endured after she competed last year. He wasn’t sure she would be able to finish, let alone win.
“When you’re out hunting, your dogs always have their noses in the grass running full speed through the grass,” Kristy Goodall said. “It’s kind of known to happen where they suck those grass seeds down into their lung tissue. Instead of going down through their esophagus, it actually lands inside the lung, and it creates a huge infection.”
The only solution for Cowpie was surgery, which required a veterinarian to open her rib cage to operate on the infected lung tissue. The surgery couldn’t guarantee she would survive. After the procedure was complete, Cowpie was then isolated and confined for two months while she healed.
“She slowly recovered and then she got pregnant and had puppies last summer,” Dean Goodall said.
The couple started getting Cowpie back into shape when her puppies were old enough to be sold.
“A year ago at this time, I didn’t think she’d be alive,” Dean Goodall said. “Now a year later, here she is winning the trial that almost killed her.”
The Goodalls, who live on a farm near Dickinson, have nine dogs. They train eight of those dogs for hunting and competition.
“You know, you start hunting in September and you’re done in December, and what do you do with your dog the rest of the year?” Dean Goodall said. “National Shoot to Retrieve Association simulates hunting conditions in a trial setting, but it’s a very competitive trial situation.”
They have been competing in the NSTRA trials for more than a decade. Although he quit for a few years, Kristy encouraged him to get back into competing in dog trials.
“I have that competitive drive and I wasn’t going to do this unless I could do it at the very top level,” Dean Goodall said. “So we got after it and we took it serious and we started pushing ourselves and trialing all over and getting better dogs and training better. And pretty soon we were placing in almost every national trial.”
He said Kristy’s success in training horses helped drive them to continue doing better with their dogs.
“Kristy’s hit the top of the world in the horse world — she’s won five world titles in horses,” Dean Goodall said. “Cowpie has finished fourth in the performance national trial before. She’s won two regional championships and now she’s the first dog we’ve owned that’s won a national.”
They run their dogs regularly to help keep them in shape, they said. All their dogs are well trained from basic commands to hunting commands.
“In the fall I’ve been wild bird hunting after work every day that I can get out in the field,” Dean Goodall said. “We end up training our dogs against each other, but they get tired of competing against each other. They know it’s practice. There’s a big difference between the intensity of an actual trial and going out and practicing.”
When they do well during trials, the Goodalls often reward their dogs with a steak or other treat. However, they say the trials are a reward in themselves, since the dogs love to do it.
An example of maternal love and protection, a stray mother dog wraps up in a box with her puppies to provide warmth.
Mama dogs are very protective of their puppies. They will go to tremendous lengths to defend their puppies, even if it means sacrificing their own comfort, as long as their puppies are safe.
This is just what a stray mama dog did for her puppies.
She and her puppies resided in a box beneath a car. The temperature is chilly in the video, and she is cuddling with her pups to keep them as warm as possible.
Fortunately, a guy notices them and goes out to rescue them from their precarious living situation.
It’s not easy to approach a dog for the first time, but he took his time to demonstrate that he meant no harm. First, he provided food to the mother dog.
You can imagine how difficult it is for her to leave her pups to go food shopping.
She began eating and took food directly from his hand, indicating that she was beginning to trust him. He tried placing a leash on her after a time, but she refused to wear it and instead went out.
The puppies were then gently relocated from the box to a kennel by the man.
He did it carefully so their mother would know he wasn’t hurting the puppies.
Mama dog stood back and observed him until he successfully transported all of the puppies. When the man left, she returned to check on her infants and ensure their safety.
She laid down again under the car after she was confident that her puppies were safe. The man approached her with care.
He finally grabbed her up in his arms and carried her to a waiting van after caressing her for a time.
He carefully moved the puppies to a larger kennel and rejoined them with their mother. The puppies began to feed again, relieved to be reunited with their mother.
The most striking aspect of this video is the man’s concern for the dog.
You can tell he genuinely wants to assist the mama dog and her puppies.
The man is from Mladenovac Dog Rescue Shelter in Serbia. It is a non-profit, non-governmental rescue group that operates the area’s largest no-kill animal shelter.
He drove them to the shelter and saw to it that they were warm, fed, and comfortable.
The man even kisses the dogs and puppies to make them feel loved and appreciated.
“This man is the finest,” one netizen said. He is always polite and compassionate to the dogs he saves.”
“These extraordinary gestures of compassion give us all hope for mankind,” added another. “Excellent work!”
The mama dog and her puppies will remain in foster care at the shelter until they are ready to be adopted.
This happy mama dog will be able to live with a loving home rather than in a cardboard box, thanks to those who actually care about abandoned and neglected animals.
Mladenovac Dog Rescue Shelter conducts excellent work rescuing and caring abandoned animals. Please give on their website if you can.
Watch the video below to discover how this man rescued this mama dog and her puppies.
Leave a Reply