Is this Tom Garner?

Yep. That is what he looked like in the mid-eighties.

He was cock-diesel back then.

The guy that first showed me the dogs was friends for the longest. They even made the national news one night together.

One of my favorite stories is him telling me there is nothing like the phone ringing, and the sister-in-law living 400 miles away says, "your husband is on the news". The wife flipping on the TV and seeing her husband and his 'friends' be cordially escorted by the boys in blue.

His punch line was 'Here is your one phone call, call your wife'. And he says, "Hell nah, I would rather stay here".

S

 

First, I do not own any of his dogs, never bought one nor do I intend to buy one but with that said....

He will go down as one of the great breeders of all time and will more than likely be the best dog man-business man of all time. I have said for the longest he is a marketing genius and should be teaching a business class at a major university. His business model is beyond reproach.

There was a stretch where the volumes were high and the percentages of game dogs were low. A lot of walk away dogs. In recent years the percentages have increased, and that increase is impressive considering the sheer volume of puppies that leave the compound.

He moves a lot of puppies year after year. And no matter the opinions of the masses people keep running up that drive way with two handfuls of money.

S

 

Way back in the day when Spike was out on the trail he was on a collision course with a VJ bred dog named Son. Many of the people back then who had seen both Spike and Son were giving the nod to the Son dog. He was purely devastating. It was said his dispatch rate was faster than the delivery rate. Incredible little dog.

The guy that was keeping him was mowing grass around the dogs and when he spun the push mower around to go the other way the Son dog stuck his foot in the mower. He ended his career before it ever really got started. From there, Spike went on to win 5 and became a great producer of game dogs.

The senior members of the game back then like VJ, JY, DP, AB, FS, JE all said they felt like the Spike dog would have been no more if he had crossed paths with Son. It is a great story when told by the guy that had to make the phone call that he had just cut off the foot of the next great thing ( he tells a great story anyway).

S

 

He did. It was like, "Hey cuz, we got problems!". ...."How bad?"......"Real bad"......"What do I tell him?"...."the f'ing truth".


Or in so many words.

S