Up Close with Bill Autrey and Cody
Posted on July 27, 2004 by SuperRetrieverSeries.com Staff
What got you started in Competitive Dog Trials?
I have always been competative in sports,after seeing my first retriever trial I was hooked. I run against a standard in both AKC & HRC hunt test so it does Cody & I both good to run dog against dog.
What was your first memory of a trained retriever?
While I have hunted with dogs all my life, I even trained a German Shepard to Retrieve while in Iowa and hunted pheasants with it. The 1st really trained dog had to have been Cody's mom Missy. She was the 1st dog that I ever trained on hand signals and that was steady to wing & shot.She was my therapy after throat cancer, some thing that gave me hope thru the radation & chemo treatments and what made me want to duck hunt again after surgery. Not a well bred dog, off of 2 of my hunting buddy's duck dogs but she was special to me in my recovery and she had a lot of heart that she passed on to Cody.
What dog is the greatest dog you have ever seen?
Depends on the type of dog, Field Trial dog has to be Lean Mac, hunt test dog has to be Cody. A combination of both such as the super retriever series it has to be Super Sue.
Who is a great marking dog in your eyes?
Once again it has to be those three. Each one plays a diffrent game and each one has been special in their game.
Tell Me about Bill and Cody as a team.
There has to be a love between a man & a dog to do the things that we do, that we ask them to do. Cody is my love, he filled the void when I lost Missy, his mom, to Cancer. Cody and I are always together, even when I am not running him he is on the truck, still with me at night. That is why it has been hard to bring a replacement up as he gets older as I don't want to let go. I don't want to hunt with another dog, he is what I want with me in the duck blind, dove field, pheasant grass.
Who is the stronger you or Cody?
We are a team, one is no stronger than the other
Why do you think you will take Gold in the Great Outdoor Games?
Experiance on both Cody and my part. Hard to fool him, hard to mess him up. Once he hits his groove another dog must also be in his groove to beat him. We have run against and been beaten but also beat the same dogs on another day.
If you were not going to the games, who would you put money on to win and why?
The dog from Virginia, Windy, looked awful strong up there, Jerry Day is always a competitor, Boomer if he gets in his groove as he did in Reno can also be a lot like Cody.
