Bangert's Red Baron flies high: Pat Bangert's Vizsla is a two-time national bird dog champion

Pat and Dick Bangert never took a vacation that didn’t include hunting or fishing. It follows, then, that a love of hunting would be a passion even for their furry family member, Bangert’s Red Baron, or “Red” for short.

But the 6-year-old Vizsla is not your average family pet. He’s a two-time national champion in bird hunting and once as a show dog, which has earned him the recognition of “Dual Champion” by the American Kennel Club.

Last year, Red won the National Vizsla Association’s National Open Championship. In November, he earned the recognition of the Vizsla Club of America’s National Field Champion.

“We saw early on that he was going to be really good,” Pat said. To her, Red is more than a pet; he’s a family member, chosen by Pat’s late husband Richard “Dick” Bangert.

It’s no wonder Red is so accomplished; the Bangerts picked him from a litter of puppies whose father, Touchdown Guy, is a perennial champion. Many of Guy’s siblings and offspring have earned recognition at competitions over the years.

Pat Bangert shows photographs of her Vizsla named Bangert's Red Baron, or "Red" for short, on Thursday in Cape Girardeau.RACHAEL LONG

Pat said the family’s relationship with Guy’s owner, Ron Chenoweth, began when Dick “insulted” him. Dick had seen Guy in an edition of Gun Dog Magazine while on a trip to Barnes & Noble, and subsequently reached out to Chenoweth to ask whether he could purchase Guy.

“[Dick] said, ‘Hey, I want to buy your dog,’” Pat recalled, laughing. “And Ron’s like, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me!’”

Since that first encounter, Pat said the families have become “great friends.” Chenoweth owns Countryside Kennel and Resort in Port Byron, Illinois, which specializes in professional training, boarding and grooming, according to its website.

At her Cape Girardeau home Thursday, Pat looked over the traveling Denes Burjan Memorial Trophy that Red won and said with a laugh, “Ron reminds me that Red’s winning is not hurting Guy at all.”

Becoming a champion

The Vizsla Club of America's National Field Championship trophy sits on display inside of Pat Bangert's home Thursday in Cape Girardeau.RACHAEL LONG

To help Red become fit for field trials, the Bangerts trained him to run in the grass behind their home, situated just southeast of the Nell Holcomb School District. Out in their yard, Pat said she and Dick would stand a ways apart and take turns calling Red’s name to build his stamina and strength.

Asked whether he always came when called, Pat smiled and said, “Oh, yeah, he loved it.”

Once Red had a foundation for athleticism, Pat said her daughter, Dr. Karen Bangert, worked with Dick to train Red to hunt quail and pheasants.

“They pretty soon realized he was beyond their abilities because he was so fast,” Pat said of Red.

Karen, a veterinarian in the Cape Girardeau area, is also responsible for Red’s appearances in the show ring, Pat said.

Award ribbons, photographs and other mementos of Red sit on display inside of Pat Bangert's home Thursday in Cape Girardeau.RACHAEL LONG

“I would never have done it,” she said, noting once she hired professional dog show handler Ramona Browning, “it didn’t take her any time at all” to have him ready to compete in shows.

Though Red is now a decorated hunter and show dog, he spent his puppyhood years much like puppies do: by destroying anything he could get his paws on.

“He chewed up everything around him. Typical puppy!” Pat said, laughing.

“We had two wooden boxes out here with geraniums on either side of the door,” she said, gesturing to the exterior-leading doorway in the living room. “Well, first he ate the geraniums. Then, he ate the boxes! ... He was some kind of puppy.”

Dick died Feb. 14, 2015, after he had been given a diagnosis of stomach cancer a year earlier. Until his last Christmas in 2014, Pat said the family thought Dick’s health would improve, as Pat said many of his medical scans had seemed to indicate.

A portrait of Pat Bangert's late husband, Richard "Dick" Bangert, is seen inside her home Thursday in Cape Girardeau.RACHAEL LONG

“We really felt like he was going to make it,” Pat said. “ ... When Dick was dying, I said, ‘Do you want me to call [the trainer] and have him send Red home?’ and he said, ‘No, absolutely not.’”

Pat recalled urging Dick again to have him brought home, but her husband knew the value of Red’s training and didn’t want to see it interrupted.

“[Dick] said, ‘I want Red to be all he can be,’” said Pat, who was briefly overcome with emotion. “So, that’s part of why we’re doing this, too.”

Asked whether Dick had been interested in hunting dogs long, Pat promptly responded, “Forever. Before we had children, we had a dog.”

Red was Dick’s first Vizsla, and Pat said they had previously raised German Shorthairs.

Before he died, Dick knew he wouldn’t be able to spend enough time training Red, Pat said, so they found professional dog trainer Brian Gingrich. Now, Red lives with Gingrich in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where he continues his training on a daily basis.

But Pat said she still sees Red nearly every week during competition season.

Always flying Cape Air Charter, Pat and her daughters often travel by plane to Red’s competitions, which have taken place all over the country. The time together with her daughters is one of the best parts about owning Red, Pat said.

“Red has been great family time,” Pat explained. “What it has meant is time to spend with my girls. ... When you get on a plane with somebody, you get to talk to them.”

Pat said Red will continue to compete for the next couple of years, so long as he maintains good health and continues to perform well in competitions.

“He’s happy,” she said.

Red’s next competition will be in January in Arizona, Pat said.

“Red is just one of those exceptional, exceptional things that happens to somebody in a lifetime,” Pat said by phone Sunday. “There are guys out there that I run Red against their dogs ... [who] would love to have Red, [who] would love to have had Red in their lifetimes. I just got lucky.”