The Dog I Swore I’d Never Get…Meet Hazel

In late 2023, we lost our 12-year-old lab mix, Biff. As much as I liked to curse at him, losing him was harder than I thought it would be.

Then, in April 2024, we lost Tank, the dog we got right after we got married — 15 years old. After that one, I swore I’d never own another dog again.

No more dog hair. No more random holes in the yard. No more carrying poop bags around the block.
I meant it.

My wife didn’t.
My kids really didn’t.
And a few months later, we were having the inevitable “we’ll just look” conversation that always ends in “we brought her home.”

Around the same time, I was falling deeper into the upland rabbit hole — skeet shooting, gear research, YouTube hunting videos at 2am.

That’s when I discovered the Wirehaired Pointing Griffon —
A scruffy, birdy, smart, family-loving breed.
They called it “the ultimate foot hunter’s dog.”
And somehow, it felt like the dog I didn’t even know I needed.

On April 18, 2025, we picked up Hazel — a 10-week-old Griff with paws too big for her body and a personality that thinks she runs the house.

She points at robins looking for worms.
She chases ducks by the pond near our home.
She chews on leaves.
She looks me in the eye and deliberately does the opposite of what I asked.

And she’s absolutely perfect.

Hazel is the center of this new chapter. And I can already tell: she’s going to teach me more than I’ll ever teach her.