HUNTING -- Running the field looking for game birds can get expensive, especially if you have a bird dog.

My veterinarian looked at my pup's chart, made a few calculations and called her daughter and told her she wasn't going to a state school -- they could afford Harvard.

In his first seven months of life, Ranger, my Brittany, already has experience with cheatgrass in the ear and a full-speed, head-first run-in with brush-covered barbed-wire.

Next: probably skunk or porcupine.