My Story – Jessie

Hello, my name is Jessie, but I answer to many names. Monster, Mrs. Dog, JessieNO and Brown Dog are just a few. I guess my people just can’t make up their mine, so I just have learned to accept their lack of memory. Like my housemates Charles, Sam and Abby, I am a Brittany .  Let me be clear, I AM NOT A SPRINGER!

My real name is Jordean’s Standing Rock solid. I was named after a Russ Taft song from back in the day. Mom and dad liked it so I guess its ok. My real name came from my uncle Peder.  He said I just looked like a “Jessie”.  Well, I felt like a Jessie until that Jesse guy got elected Governor in Minnesota, now I simply go by the name “Brown Dog!”.

I’m not a native Minnesota dog. I’m originally from Colorado . At the tend age of 8 weeks I was loaded onboard a plane and shipped to Minnesota . It wasn’t really all that bad, but everyone kept telling me to be quiet. All this resulted in a very quick check-in and check-out to my new family when I arrived at the Minneapolis airport.

My early years were kind of dull. I pretty much got into the typical puppy type of trouble. You know, barking at the neighbors, going after Dobermans, that kind of thing. Really, that happened!

We were going to a trick contest that Maggie was going to be in (and win like usual) and I escaped out of the back of the van. I went running over to the back of a station wagon where the gate was open. I was barking and carrying on like the tough little dog that I am when the Doberman that was in the back decided that he’s had enough. He had some big old teeth and was happy to show them to me. I thought better of my greeting and rolled over and peed on myself. It was pretty embarrassing, but that Doberman left me alone after that.

Like my friend Charles, I too am an American Show Champion, although it doesn’t mean much to me.  I really hate dog shows, they are boring and you get yelled at when you chase the birds. I’d much rather be out in the field finding birds and having fun. If it wasn’t for my Uncle Joe showing me, I don’t think I’d have ever finished, the judges just don’t like the little brown dogs (I guess I’m technically a liver dog, but I prefer brown).

A couple of years ago at Nationals, I ran into my aunt Mona. She looked exactly like me! She even confused my dad (that’s not really that hard to do) who thought she was me. It was really pretty funny.

A couple of years ago I had a litter of puppies. Chuck was the dad. It was quite the experience. I made the decision early on that I thought I should carry the puppies around in the middle of the night and make them scream. I’m not particularly sure why, but it seemed like the right thing to do at the time. The really funny thing is that I only carried the brown ones around. Not even Auntie Diane could figure that one out. What can I say; I’m just a very complex little dog.

Anyway, they all turned out pretty well and their people are happy to have them and I have to admit, I’m happy they have them and not me! That was sure a lot of work and they really had sharp teeth.

 The puppies are nine now, but most of them come back to visit a couple of times a year. They come to get haircuts or to stay while their people are out of town. It’s good to see them, but like with most kids, it’s awfully nice when they go home.

A few years ago mom and dad decided that they needed to bring another dog into the house. Sam is one of the new kids around here. Well, they decided that she should have some field training, especially since she was too huge (that’s right, I said it) to be in the show ring.

Mom thought that this would be a good time for me to do some bird work as well. We had been out to visit Auntie Diane’s horses a few times and I really like the birds out there. So this seemed like a good idea.

About three or four nights a week we went down and ran around and chased birds. It was great fun that is until they started using something called a training collar! I learned very quickly that I couldn’t just grab the birds anymore; I just had to show mom where they were. This part kind of bit the big one, but we still had fun finding birds. Mom does need to be a better shot though. Even at close range she never killed a bird.

It took me a few runs, but I finally got my Junior Hunter title at the age of nine. The best part about it was it was just me and mom that got all of our ribbons. How cool is that.

It’s been a few years since I’ve run competitively, but I still go down to the farm almost every night during the summer. At just over 12 years old I’ve slowed down a bit, but I still find my share of birds and I point way prettier than Sam does.

In my off hours I just hang around the house and spend a lot of time working with Dad in his office. He needs supervision in the worst way.

Since we lost Maggie a few years back the responsibility of running the household has fallen on me. It’s not an easy job, especially since the new pup Abby has arrived. If that little dog bites me one more time. errr, ummm, nevermind.

Anyway, thanks for checking in on me! If you are in the neighborhood, stop in and say hi!

CH Jordean Standing Rock Solid JH “Jessie”
2/29/1992 – 10/6/2008

Jessie aka “The Brown Dog” was laid to rest today at the age of 16 yrs 7 months.

Jessie was last of our original three pups that started us in Brittany’s.  Jess was bought as a show dog but she made it quite clear that she just really wasn’t that interested in show stuff and her real passion lay in the field and chasing birds.

Her brief show career as one of very few liver dogs at the time brought her a Championship at age 3 and the title of Minnesota Show Dog of the year and a group three placement in Canada in 1995.

At the age of 8, we began a quest with her for her Junior Hunter title on the advice of friends.  Little did we know that this quest would change what we do with our dogs forever.  Jess introduced us to the field in hunt tests.  She and Amy would finish her Junior Hunter title at the age of 9 with a run yielding a score of all 9’s from a shorthair judge.  After that Amy started running her at field trials and while she didn’t place, she always had clean runs and the judges were very complementary of our little gun dog.

Jess retired from field events at 11 and spent her time hunting in the fall and training with us the rest of year at our trainer’s farm.  She was a good one for training puppies and for training other dogs to back (even those that wouldn’t back liver dogs).

Jess had a knack for always being at the right place at the right time in the house.  If there someone left a roll of toilet paper on the roller you could count on finding it shredded throughout the house.  Jess always had the look of “what are you going to do about it” when she was caught.  She loved babies and especially loved the elderly.  She had an independent spirit about her that was quite annoying and quite endearing all at once.

Jess was a great dog and she will be dearly missed.  She had real attitude and the biggest heart of any dog that we have ever seen.  She hunted with us until she was 15.5 on legs that weren’t particularly steady and a back that probably ached after pounding through the field.  Last week she was out at game farm with us looking for birds as much as her legs would allow and even though it probably bothered her physically she had a wide smile on her face because she was doing what she loved.

Our hearts are heavy today without her but we know that she is reunited with Charles and Maggie and they are off on a pheasant hunt that we can only dream about.

-Dave & Amy Pluth
Rock Solid Brittanys

Leave a Reply