Flintlock, The Wonder Dog

Some dogs are content chasing tennis balls or taking long naps on the porch.

Then there’s Flintlock.

The 4-year-old German Shorthaired Pointer who’s living life large on the Matt and Heather Swenson farm in rural Valley Springs. The pooch has become somewhat of a celebrity, largely credited to his impressive wakeboarding skills, a larger-than-life personality and a knack for doing things that literally has people asking, “Did that dog really just do that?”

If you don’t believe it, check out his Instagram page, Funwithflint, where his adventures continue to pile up.

Heather says she set up the page for personal reasons: “I was hoping he’d become an internet sensation and help pay for all the damages he’s done to the house. But that hasn’t happened yet.”

As puppies do, they’ll chew on anything and everything, and of course, Flintlock is no exception. Heather says he’s torn out window screens, the wood siding around the doors, pillow and tennis shoes.

“He’s grown out of that, but he still carries shoes around all the time. Shoes and rocks,” she said.

Matt Swenson laughs when trying to explain Flintlock.

“He’s got a personality like you can’t freaking imagine,” he says.

“He’s naughty. He’s entertaining, but naughty,” Heather confirms.

The Swenson’s named him Flintlock, after the firearm ignition system.

“Because the boys hunt, that’s where they got that name,” Heather explains.

More recently, they’ve coined him “Flintrock,” because he loves to carry rocks around.

“He brings them in the house and drops them, and we step on them,” Heather said. “It’s always chaos around here.”

As the story goes, Flint almost wasn’t part of the family.

According to Matt, it was Heather who suggested they get another puppy before Axel, a mixed-breed rescue –one of the best hunting dogs they’d ever owned – passes away. It was their hope that Axel would teach the pup how to hunt.

“Well, their personalities couldn’t be any different,” Heather said. “I think Flint has taught Axel how to be naughty, so that backfired on me.”

Curious about Axel’s background, they turned to a canine DNA kit, only to discover Axel was half Black Labrador Retriever and half German Shorthaired Pointer. That information led them to breeders in Marshall, Minn., connected through Axel’s bloodline and eventually to Flint’s litter.

When the Swenson boys went to choose a puppy, Matt offered his boys advice he’d once received from an experienced dog breeder: “Pick the puppy that pays attention to you.”

And that’s just what the boys did.

Unfortunately, or fortunately – depending on how you view it – their puppy of choice also happened to be the most energetic one of the litter.

“(Son) Trevor goes, ‘Yep, Dad, we picked out the rowdiest one, named him Flintlock, and the rest is history,’” Swenson remembers.

And just like how Flintlock came to the Swensons, his wakeboarding skills happened almost by accident.

With four boys in the family – Drake, Cole, Trevor and Kyle – there’s never a shortage of activity when the family heads to Campbell Slough near Enemy Swim.

Last summer, Trevor climbed onto a wakeboard with Flintlock in front of him. As the boat took off, Trevor eventually lost his balance and fell into the water.

Flintlock, however, continued to “ride the rail.”

“He hung on,” Swenson recalled. “Pretty quick Flint was standing up, and now he can go on the outside of the wake and everything.”

When Heather was alerted to the show going on outside, she didn’t believe it, at least not until running down to the dock and seeing it for herself.

“Thee he was, standing up on the wakeboard, going around the lake, and the neighbors were out on their docks and they were cheering, and kids were yelling, ‘Look at the skiing dog!’” she remembers.

After spending a day surfing, swimming and launching himself off the dock, Flint is usually exhausted by bedtime.

Well ... almost.

Swenson jokes that one evening the pooch told him that he had a simple Christmas wish.

“He tells me, ‘Dad, I really want a shark tooth necklace for Christmas because all the cool dogs wear shark tooth necklaces,’” Swenson jokes.

Asked whether Flint would be getting one?

“Yeah, he should,” he answers.

While wakeboarding may be Flint’s “claim to fame,” it’s hardly the wonder dog’s only talent.

During a day on the lake fishing, a fish that wasn’t a “keeper” was released back into the lake, and as the fish slowly drifted downward, Flint did what retrievers will do: He retrieved.

“He jumps in and went down about two feet and grabs that fish and comes up with it,” Matt said.

The energetic dog also has a habit of leaping off the boat to swim to nearby islands whenever the mood strikes.

Swenson suspects the dog’s real mission isn’t exploring.

“I think he swims there and pees,” he joked.

And if they start driving away before he’s ready?

“You ought to hear him bawl,” Matt answers.

Flintlock also has the uncanny ability to open doors by pawing himself in and out of the house if a door isn’t locked.

“Lever knobs, round knobs, sliding glass doors … he’s smart! Drives me crazy!” Heather said. “He even dug through our mudroom door trying to get into the kitchen when we weren’t home. We think he was scared because it was windy and our screen door was banging against the house.”

Even the game warden has witnessed Flintlock’s remarkable talents. During an annual inspection at the family’s taxidermy business, the door suddenly swung open and in struts Flint, Matt said. But it’s not Flintlock’s bursting into the barn that had him concerned. It’s more about what he may do.

“He’ll grab a deer leg or something and take off with it,” tells Matt, who made sure to send the game warden a photo of Flintlock carrying the deer leg, joking that the dog deserved a citation before he got the family into trouble.

The Swenson clan is trying to teach him one more useful trick: Closing the door behind himself.

Matt said he’s getting there.

Heather describes Flintlock as a “go with the flow” kind of dog.

“He’ll let us do almost anything to him,” she tells. “Drake put him in a wheelchair once, and he just sat there as he wheeled him around. He’s really good when we take him to Scheel’s. He’s nice with other dogs and he’s just friendly and sweet. We put hats on him and put clothes on him. They even put him on a bar stool when the kids have little poker tournaments in the man cave. He’ll just sit there and watch the poker game. He thinks he’s human, and he always has to be with us. Our other dog will go outside and lay in the sunshine, but if we’re in the house, Flint has to be in the house.”

As one may anticipate, life with Flint means expecting the unexpected.

For instance, when Matt comes home after work and gives his wife a hug, Flint is sure to wedge himself between them because he insists on being part of the affection. And if someone grabs a shotgun, Flint instantly assumes hunting season has begun and loses his mind with excitement.

“He’s got a nose on him, he can sniff anything out,” Heather said.

And that even includes rocks they’ll throw into the grove. 

“He’ll go in there, and within a minute, he’ll have it back to you,” she said.

He’s a curious pup, too. Heather remembers a day when he down in the creek and came out yelping and his ear was bleeding. 

“A snapping turtle got him,” she said, adding the ear healed and grew back. “He’s always into some kind of ‘trouble.’”

According to Matt, Heather has said Flint is likely the last puppy they’ll have. Heather, however, can’t imagine life without Flintlock, the wonder dog.

“I love having dogs,” she said. “They just love you unconditionally, and they’re always so excited to see us when we get home. And now that the boys are older, he provides a lot of entertainment for Matt and I.”