![]() ![]() By August 2009 individual owners of the Shorthair, Brittany and English Springer Spaniel, in addition to the national and local clubs, had donated over $100,000 toward the new Continental breeds wing. The goal was $500,000, to include endowment money, and construction was to begin the summer of 2010. Space would be determined proportionally by the amount of money each breed group raised. Each breed would have its own dedicated floor space for displays and Field Trial Hall of Fame. Fifty-one hundred square feet fully integrated with the existing building would be added. In 2009 the Bird Dog Foundation announced expansion plans to include the Continental breeds. In 2007, Don Kidd and Peter Kainz traveled to Grand Junction to discuss the possibility of improving the small corner area dedicated to the Shorthair and creating a Field Trial Hall of Fame specifically for Shorthairs and early pioneers of the breed. An important feature was the capability to provide food and water without removing the dog during transport. Long-distance transportation at the time was almost exclusively by rail. Backus wooden dog-shipping crates, circa 1900, discovered in a hay barn in New Hampshire. Most recent is the addition of two refinished A. A Retriever Field Trial Hall of Fame, initiated in 1992, is located in the museum’s newest wing, dedicated in February 2004 as the National Retriever Museum.Īs items were donated, growth progressed. What originally began as two buildings cobbled together is now over 30,000 square feet, with multiple wings, a library, and a wildlife heritage center to preserve history and help with education into the future. A sculpture of Robert Wehle’s great National Champion Pointer Elhew’s Snakefoot is at the beginning of the Walk of Champions. Other donated life-size dog bronzes are along the entrance walkway. In front of the building stands a life-size bronze of John Rex Gates (renown for his field-trial accomplishments) with a Pointer and setter behind a covey of quail exploding upward in flight. Relying entirely on revenues donated by supporters, the Bird Dog Foundation, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, maintains the museum. In addition to showcasing the early history of the National Field Trial Championships that continue to be held each year at nearby Ames Plantation, the plan was also to showcase field trial accomplishments of the various sporting breeds and the men who owned, trained, and handled the dogs to their championships. ![]() In 1991, two men had the dream to build a place in Grand Junction, Tennessee, to house a National Bird Dog Museum, Field Trial Hall of Fame, and Wildlife Heritage Center, with tangible reminders of more than 100 years of sporting dog tradition. ![]() If you build it, they will come …-well, it’s not quite exactly the dialogue in the movie Field of Dreams (“If you build it, he will come”), but there are parallels. ![]()
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