04/26/2025
For twelve solid years we had a great run. She was truly loved more than myself by many due to her fun and enjoyable personality. When it was time to work though she answered the call for many hunters and huntresses. She loved to ride, swim, and work. She HATED a cow that tried to sneak a peak into the ride but didn’t mind sitting in the mule and watching them with us at all. With countless recoveries on the trail some of her more remarkable stories included one three day old recovery, several two day old tracks and a plethora of 24 hour old tracks where she some how pulled the rabbit out of the hat and blew everyone’s minds. She had a pretty extensive medical record too with all the cuts, pokes, and quills she endured along the journey but it never slowed her down. We nearly lost her once on a long chase after a big ram that ended with the ram and plunging her in the nearest water we could find to revive her. The last couple seasons I could see her heart, nose, and will were still with it but the body was slowing down on her. She mostly just went along for the ride and gave us moral support. She survived a 3 hour emergency surgery after getting maimed by an old aggressive whitetail buck and miraculously recovered from everything. She also survived a lot of late night drives back home with me dozing off at the wheel, but never complained about it. She was able to get one last good track in for a long time hunter/friend of ours at the ranch in Bracket after that and had the biggest grin on her face when we got up to them. Unfortunately Champagne passed away on us a couple weeks ago and gave us a few minutes for goodbyes before doing so. I’d be lying if I said I could see the screen and keyboard clearly at this point to keep typing. There’s so much more to be said about a great dog like her but it would take about twelve years to cover all of their accomplishments. She was a really good dog to all of us and she will be missed. We loved her like a family member and were truly blessed to have her all these years. RIP Champagne ‘Champ’ 4/13-4/25