A Privileged Life

 By Randy Lawrence

The text came in the early morning.  It was a photo of Lynn Dee cradling a week-old puppy on her lap.  The caption read, "This right here, is the real privilege of being a breeder." 

"Privilege."  Maybe some folks would find that an odd word choice for a veteran like Lynn Dee.  Her Firelight English setters entered their eighth generation last year.  Even for someone who breeds on a very limited and choice basis, that represents a very long time.  And it's still a "privilege" to hold a puppy?

For Lynn Dee, it surely is.  It's part and parcel of why she's so good at what she does.  Eight generations in, and she's still excited to unwrap the possibilities inherent in a new litter of Firelight gun dogs.  She considers it a privilege to be a thoughtful steward of this particular strain of English setters and acts accordingly, meaning I've never sensed that she felt entitled - her life as a hunter/dog breeder has been a privilege earned.

Think about it. Years and countless hours and miles spent proving out a young dog under the gun on wild birds.  Research and pedigree study, photos and videos, hours on the phone and in exchanging emails, arranging in-person hunts behind potential sires, trying to find just the right mate for a special dog.  

Miles between Kansas and Idaho and Massachusetts and Michigan and southern Indiana to stage matings.  Vet trips.  Waiting out the first signs of a dog's pregnancy.  Long hours of perilous obstetrics.  The angst that goes along with risking an irreplaceable companion gun dog just to bring another Firelight litter into being.

The countless hours in the whelping box, then later the puppy pen, then the big exercise yard, making certain all puppies are healthy and happily socialized before heading to their new homes, all the while gathering intel to make the best possible match with the best possible new owner, as well as get a sense of where this litter fits on the Firelight totem.  At some point will come the text, "Heck with it.  I am keeping them all," even as she knows that can never actually happen and keep her operation selectively small.

And don't even start toting up the monetary costs. Just know that it's "daunting," to put it gently.

There are the hours screening potential placements - more time on the phone, with more emails, texts, hosting visits, constant puppy consulting references.  The diplomacy involved in turning away some candidates, the faith required to accept others.  Because Lynn Dee's concerns and commitment do not stop when a Firelight puppy goes to live with it's new family.  In her role as lifetime guardian of every puppy she brings into this world, Lynn Dee stays as involved as the covenant she has with her puppy buyers will afford.

University of Houston professor and best-selling author Brene Brown insists, "What separates privilege from entitlement is gratitude." Lynn Dee Galey would be the first to point out her gratitude for the life she's been able to lead with her Firelight setters, not to mention enduring contact between herself and her owners.  They grant her the privilege of sharing the magic of a puppy's first staunch game bird point, that first puppy retrieve of a wild bird handled perfectly, first anything of consequence.  

Of course with that yin privilege comes the yang: sharing the desolation of inevitable circumstances that steal young dogs, old dogs, any Firelight companion, away from us.

But all of that was far in the past or far into the future last Monday, as Lynn Dee picked up Dreamboat Annie's puppies, one at a time, studying them with her practiced eye, exercising what she considers the privilege of a lifetime of English setter bird dogs.