Chippie, that is something to be proud of. You are right, it takes years to develop a winner. Personally, I'd much rather have one of the dogs from the sixties than what I've seen recently. Too fast for my taste. I haven't had bird dogs in years but I've had some really good ones but they were all gun dogs more than the field trial type. Most remarkable dog I ever had was a hard headed cull from some great stock. He wouldn't mind you one bit but I soon learned if I just followed his lead he would find the birds. Apparently he didn't like wasting his energy hunting where I told him to hunt with him knowing there weren't no birds there. Once I figured this out he would just look at me and with this look he would say, "just follow me" and it was on.