Issue 04:18 - GRAND Lifestyle magazine

ELGIN’S DOG DIARIES More and more, members come to the club because they have their own hunting dogs. In the early days of the club, only 20 percent of all members had their own dogs. Today, Elgin says nearly 90 percent come with an anxious bird dog. Even he, who has guided more dogs and trained more dogs than most have ever seen, attributes some of his best memories from the club, or in life in general, to experiences with dogs and their impressive retrieves.

Through the club, Elgin provides dog training services and guides hunts. He has trained every type of dog. More than 1,000 dogs were started or finished by Elgin on the club grounds. He specializes in pointing dogs, and, he loves his pointing dogs.

Although he has owned many dogs from many places (he’s bought dogs direct from Germany before), his favorite group is his current line of liver-colored German shorthairs. Initially, he bought a male and a female to breed, train and sell. That was several years ago, and nearly all of the dogs from that line still live and hunt from his kennel. Elgin doesn’t believe in hardcore dog training or living requirements. His dogs ride in the front seats of trucks, they get loved up and doted on. “Dogs are just amazing. I’ll never get over it,” he says of his current grouping. Nearly every day Elgin takes his shorthairs on an exercise walk or run around the property. When clients request guiding services, his dogs hunt. Tink, the mom of the bunch, is past her prime hunting years but she still wants to go out. “Tink wants to go out so bad but now she just gets lost so I can’t take her on guiding trips,” he says.

“I still take her out. We still go. It’s just me and her.”