Five Question Friday: Steve Ries

Five Question Friday with Steve Ries, member of the Linn County Pheasants Forever and owner of Top Gun Kennel, which breeds German Shorthaired pointers, in Central City, Iowa.

PF: How did you get into breeding dogs?

SR: I hunted growing up and learned the advantages and pleasures of following a versatile hunting companion in my med twenties. We purchased a German Shorthair female as well as one of her offspring one day in the field after a great hunt. We are very avid wild bird hunters with plenty of opportunities of land to hunt on and needed more than the two dogs so we decided to raise a litter. People started to come back to us by word of mouth on what we produced that first litter. We decided to contribute to the breed by selecting traits that we wanted as a wild bird hunter in the upper Midwest and started a reputation for producing great hunting stock for the first time and experienced hunters.

PF: What's the biggest challenge in breeding dogs?

SR: Being honest with yourself in having a strict selecting and culling practice to grow not only the breed but a line to use within the breed. We started out by breeding to the best hunting dogs we could after trying to build titles into pedigrees only to find out previous breeders were not honest with themselves or simply did not know any better! When a negative genetic trait shows up in a breeding that you have not seen before, it builds distrust in previous breeding, selection and culling practices.

PF: Any chance the name of your kennel is after the 80s movie staring Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer?

SR: Yes we did like the movie "Top Gun" and sure thought a lot about naming our dogs after the characters in this movie, but after a lot of thought we felt the two words combined meant more as a breeder of quality hunting dogs. We have since grown our Faith in the trials and tribulations in our life with the loss of our son. Now our kennel is a ministry we use to make new relationships and by our words and actions we hope to show others how to have true strength, peace, joy and comfort through our Heavenly Father, the true "Top Gun".

PF: The greatest dog actor of all time is...?

SR: To my knowledge there has not been a Shorthair in an acting position - so Scooby Doo would have to be my choice!

PF: What's the funniest dog name you've ever heard?

SR: It would have to be "Fu Fu" from a small breed of dogs.

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