Sage and Sam were two of four littermates from our breeding in April of 1996, with my parents GSP, Kimmy, and a stud we had chosen that was proven in the field and came from a long line of successful champion GSPs.
I decided to keep Sage, my brother chose Sam, and two friends each took a male. These four littermates all hit the ground running and spent the next few years hunting together. It was something to see all four pointing and honoring each other with Inga, who showed them the way.
Sam and Sage continued to hunt together for the rest of their lives as Sam joined my family when Inga passed and my brother thought it only fair to have them together as kennel mates and with my growing family.
We were fortunate enough to purchase our “Back Forty” farm in 2001 when they were 5 years old and they both lived out two long lives hunting, swimming and running through the woods and fields.
They were extremely tolerant of all our new feathered and furred friends that joined them to live on our farm. These two were inseparable and loving companions to all six members of our family.
Sage and Sam passed away less than 6 months apart at age 15 years, 7 months and 16 years old respectively. Being without a GSP for the first time in 28 years, our family immediately started our search and purchased Piper a month after Sam’s passing and the Back Forty German Shorthaired Pointers story had it’s beginning.