Jeff and Izzie: an inseparable pair

Jeff Hintz with his sidekick JTH Izzie.

Anyone who has visited our kennel has probably bumped into Jeff Hintz at some time or another. Jeff and Ron Watson own a very cool hunting lodge about 400 yards to the east of us. Both have been friends of ours for many years through dogs, field trials, hunting and other shared interests. Jeff and Ron are retired now from successful careers in the Twin Cities and so have lots more time to spend as our neighbors.

Jeff is also an invaluable member of our training team. He joins Jerry and Dan during the summer months when our programs are in high gear. He gathers pigeons from the lofts, places them in releasers and then plants them in the field. Too, Jeff is a crack shot with a shotgun when the training calls for dead birds.

Jeff is a pointer guy and usually owns several at a time. Currently he and his wife Carol have Cassie (CH Front ‘N Center x Dancing Queen), Hershey (CH Front ‘N Center x Chickadee) and from our 2011 litter of Northwoods Prancer x CH Westfall’s Black Ice, a beautiful black-and-white female named Izzie.

Like the rest of her seven littermates, Izzie is a sweetheart in the house and a tiger in the field. She was quite precocious and last year Jeff successfully hunted her on grouse, woodcock and the quail of southern Arizona. In addition, Jeff has gathered a couple of nice placements in field trials, including a recent second in the Region 19 Amateur All-Age Derby.

After Jeff’s work for us is done for the day, he usually heads home for some lunch and returns about an hour later at the helm of his gas-powered golf cart. He pulls up close to our front door, opens the cover to his Ipad case and logs onto the Internet using our wi-fi signal. (We joke that he works for free wi-fi.)

Perkily riding shotgun, wagging her tail and acting as if she owned the place is Izzie. She calmly waits while Jeff works. Soon Jeff cranks up the golf cart and the pair head back home.