Phil Robertson knows more than anyone that a good duck hunter requires an excellent dog in the blind.
What good does it do to shoot a duck, if there’s no way to retrieve it?
That’s why Phil Robertson, the patriarch of the Duck Dynasty clan, felt the need to go into such detail about one of his canine companions. In his latest Unashamed podcast, Robertson devoted five minutes to the discussion of Blue the black Lab. Robertson didn’t say how old Blue is. But Blue’s gray whiskers show he’s been around for a while.
And this week, Phil Robertson announced Blue was retiring as his full-time hunting companion.
But first, Robertson needed to brag on his dog, the super athlete. You might as well say he’s the GROAT. (That’s the greatest retriever of all time). Robertson said:
“Blue, as far as retrieving ducks, none even have come close to doing what that dog can do. If it’s Teal, (Blue says) “I can carry three of them.” He grabs three teal. Then I’ll say “got some more.” That’s all I’ll say, “got some more,” he’ll turn around and he go gets the rest of them and brings them to you. The bigger ducks…. the mallards, he’ll bring two at a time. He’s the greatest retriever — of all time.”
But Phil Robertson pointed out Blue had issues. For one, Blue was antsy for action. He said:
“However, when you get that sucker and you open that gate, it’s like a cannon being shot out of a rocket. He will run over you. The gate slams you in the face. He will leap …. (and) jump over the four-wheeler to get in it.”
Phil Robertson then added Blue’s other issues. He likes to mark.
“The first thing he does is just pees on everything in the four-wheeler, especially if it’s your bag,” Robertson said. “Si’s bag, he pees on everything in there. He says he’s got to mark everybody’s bag. So he pisses on all the bags.”
Blue the black lab also is a talker.
“He won’t shut up,” Phil Robertson says. “He sits there, all day (Robertson then whines like a dog). “He’s wanting to go, but I won’t let him, cause there’s no ducks out there. But he moaned and whined, literally, all day. The moment he got off that shooting porch … when we were leaving … and got in the boat, he was quiet. He never moaned again while he was in the boat. “
So, Robertson decided to retire old Blue.
He said: “All we’re requiring of the next dog is, we know he or she won’t be as good as Blue. We know that. No dog has ever retrieved that many ducks. I would say that dog retrieved thousands and saved us … so many that we thought he’d never get. I would say he saved us several hundred cripples that we wouldn’t have gotten.”
Blue is going to live with Burly, one of the Phil Robertson circle of friends. Burly is a nurse and bodyguard who lives in Colorado.
According to Robertson, Burly wanted Blue. But Robertson had to warn him: “he won’t shut up in the blind.”
So, there you have it. Even a GROAT has issues.
