Once the decision to get a new dog happens, the real work begins. “What kind of dog? What color? Male? Female?” The choices can be endless.

Thankfully, I knew what I wanted early on…for the most part. The pheasant hunter in me was considering a pointer, but my love for yellow labs was too strong. I knew I wanted a female and really liked the smaller-sized labs, but it was after spending time with Cory Loeffler’s Rue, that my decision was cemented.

As fate would have it, Cory was having a litter with one of his other dogs, Red. When the puppies were born, it created another decision: which one to pick out.

While a few of the puppies were already spoken for, there were a handful of squirmy furballs yet to look over. There was one in particular that I kept coming back to however. She was a small, dark lab with a fiery disposition. She wore a purple collar that shined each time she’d knock one of the larger littermates over. What she lacked in stature, she made up for in attitude. The strength either came from her indifference of being small or because she had to work harder because of it.

My decision was easy, really. She was projected to be the right size, had a beautiful color and great genetics. So began the life with Tiny. We called her Tiny BA Sasswagon, because she had plenty of sass.

We developed the YouTube series “Raising Tiny” to document this process and showcase the highs and lows of owning a hunting dog. Our first episode came out earlier this year and can be seen here. We just released a second and have a third coming soon.

Here is the new one:

For those of you who have followed us for the last few years, you’ve seen Tiny grow. She’s been a part of some of our favorite videos, like this one:

We’ll be heading back to Saskatchewan with Tiny (and Mika!) again this year so we’ll have more waterfowl content for you coming this fall.

We’ve been on the road a lot lately, including a really cool trip to the Northwest Angle and Lake of the Woods. We filmed two Prairie Sportsman shows and a fishing video for Fish Hunt Forever. We also interviewed Kent Andersen from Warrior Boats for next week’s Sporting Journal Radio and had Joe Laurin on this week’s show to explain some unique history that he can show you on one of his Lighthouse Boat Tours.

Learn more in this week’s show. If you’re going to watch, enter this contest first and then watch it and you could win a Fish Hunt Forever sunshirt before the contest ends! Here are the details.