Duck

Larsen licks his lips in anticipation of the duck cooked up for Christmas dinner.

Happily, the duck made its way to the dinner table.

Snow day

Aki and Larsen have some fun shoveling icy snow from the driveway.
 

Larsen supervises Aki's snow removal.

 Time for a break.

Fly away

Tomorrow we will return to Circle W for some practice with quail and chukar.  We will practice fly aways. 

A fly away occurs when the dog flushes the bird and the gunner either misses the shot or does not get a shot off at all - - a very common occurrence in hunting.  You do not want the dog to chase a fly-away to the ends of the earth and disturbing all of the birds and wildlife between you and the horizon.  For a dog that is not steady at the flush (i.e., does not sit when he flushes a bird), the next best thing is to call the dog off the fly-away and return him to his line where he can start working the ground close to, and within gun range, of you. 

Larsen will chase a fly-away forever, confident (and well-founded confidence) that he can track down the bird wherever it lands, grab it, and bring it back.  It's remarkable to watch, of course, but this long-range solo performance is not the type of hunting that the upland hunter ordered up when he grabbed his gun.  Our goal, therefore, will be to break Larsen off of the chase and return him to the field.

What we will do is let him find a quail or chukar and let it get up and shoot with the intention of missing.  Bird and dog will take off.  There will be a point of inflexion where dog slows from his insane dash to a more measured run.  At that point, I will hit the whistle and wave a clip-wing quail over my head.  If need be, I will release the bird and let it flutter about.  Anything to grab his attention and get him to head back to me.

The AKC Hunt Test permits a Junior dog to chase for a bit, provided he comes back.  This is at odds with some of the British-style training books such as Kenneth Roebuck's Gun Dog Training Spaniels and Retrievers  which counsels that the dog should be steady to wing and shot early on.  We've followed the AKC approach, and so are beginning the steadying process with our fly-away work.
 

The best bird bag

Too bad Christmas is over, because here is a gift idea for that hard-to-please spaniel owner.

This is the bird bag from Cabela's, the well-known outdoor and hunting emporium.  The bag is $19.99 and is the best one around.  It is mesh, which keeps the birds cool.  It will hold 5 chukar easily.  It has an opening that is perfectly sized - - not so large as to let birds escape when you are loading or extracting one, and not so small as to cause snags or otherwise make ingress and egress impossible.

Our WSSCA club has given these birds as favors to judges and as premiums in raffles, and they are always welcomed.    

Bird planting

In training and in Hunt Test events, you may be called upon to plant a bird for the spaniel to find.

In planting, you will want to find the balance between having the bird immediately fly away upon being placed on the ground and planting a bird so firmly that it never finds its way into the air and is then trapped by the dog.  A bird that gets up in the air quickly and firmly when found by the dog gives the gunners the best chance to shoot the bird safely away from the dog, thereby minimizing fly-aways. 

I'll talk about pheasant in a separate post. My method for quail and chukar is as follows:

1. Grab the bird from the bird bag anyway you can without letting the other birds out.
2. After closing the bag, manipulate the bird-in-hand until you have him upside down and held by his legs.
3. Hold him behind your back and let him flap while you walk to a good spot.  You may sway the bird a little, but not too much.  An overly dizzied bird will not fly.
4. Find a nice spot for the plant.  On a very sunny day, find a spot in the shade, even if the shade is simply some taller grass.  Make sure that the spot is not too dense with growth, or else the bird will burrow in and will not fly.  A flatter spot, in the open, is better than a dense patch, although now you risk a flyaway.
5. When the bird is no longer flapping, bring him from behind your back and aim him nose-down into the spot that you've chosen.  As his nose touches the grass, you can sway him back and forth just a touch - - once or twice - - so he is nestled in and nice and comfy.  If the spot is not too dense, this will not result in a burrowed-in bird.
6. Let go and immediately and quietly back away - - tiptoe away - - without looking back at the bird.  If you make eye contact that bird will fly.   

Don't traipse through the hunting field as you plant birds.  Stick to the outskirts of the field, to the left or right of the gunners, dodge in for the plant, and then dodge back out to the edge to resume walking up for the next plant.  This will minimize your scent in the field and make the dog hunt the bird instead of simply following your scent. 

You can also refer to Kenneth Roebuck's approach to bird planting, which this method is based on, although he appears to emphasize the swirling and dizzying. 

I don't recommend the throw-the-bird on the ground approach because it is too variable.  If the bird hits a firm spot, you can conk it out or even kill it and if it hits a very soft spot, it may not stay at all.  I think the approach I've outlined gives you the most control over the situation.  The bird tells you when it is done trying to escape, and you control the ground where you put the bird.

Hunt training

Larsen and I enjoyed a lively spaniel hunting practice with some friends and their dogs on a cold but pretty Sunday in Alabama.  For Larsen, I set out two quail and a chukar each time for some land work.  We played a few toss-and fetch games.  I later set up and ran him in a hunt dead, where I set the bird out myself.  I ran him not-so-blind water retrieve.  He watched me toss the bird across the waterway and into the thickets, and on command he went to find and retrieve it.  Larsen looked good on Sunday, although he ran the bank once or twice before finally plunging in for the blind water retrieve.

I am not trying to get ahead of the game.  I know that Larsen has not completed his JH, and is not Senior-ready right now.  However, in our mindset and in our approach we have to start making the adjustment to the higher level.

Here is the outline of what we need to accomplish.  Our goal in the next few weeks is to design exercises that contain the core features of these requirements but that allow us to get in valuable repetitions in the yard and basement.  Larsen's boldness and intensity are a given; a solid retrieve to hand, as always, is the gateway to his success.  

According to the AKC:

. . . [the Senior hunting dog must] show all the attributes of a Junior hunting dog.  In addition, a dog must show true boldness to cover, a pattern addressing the course objectives and an intense desire to hunt.  A proper working distance and independent hunting sense must be maintained.

Seniors should not be afraid to enter cover and should hit the spots likely to hold birds regardless of how difficult.

Some other AKC points:

1. Must demonstrate a true boldness to cover [. . .] an intense desire to hunt.
2. Must be linesteady at water (i.e., no physical or excessive verbal restraint).
3. Must retrieve eagerly to hand from water without "constantly stopping and dropping the bird".
4. Must retrieve all birds - - land or water - - to hand.
5. Must maintain proper working distance.
6. Independent hunting sense.
7. Must return to a call on a missed bird in a reasonable amount of time with a reasonable amount of persuasion. 
8. Must exhibit the ability to "hunt dead" on a blind retrieve.

Trust but verify

Just remember this, the next time you see some ridiculous blogpost here.  Larsen may have acked-hayed my asswords-pay.

Source: Peter Steiner, New Yorker.

Early morning on the beach

Larsen appears to be putting his best paw forward while out on a cold and clear Atlantic Ocean morning.

Favorite things

We hope you got some of your own favorite things for Christmas. 

As for ourselves, a breakaway whistle lanyard onto which slide Hunt Test qualifying leg hardware is our own favorite thing.

More than the hardware itself, it indicates that 2010 was the year Larsen matured and started putting together the pieces.  He earned a Rally Novice title, and two (three needed) Rally Advance legs.  He earned three (four needed) legs on his Junior Hunt Test title. 

All of this would have been unthinkable a year ago.  Of course, a year ago, he was sleeping in a blue barrel in a kennel in Sumter, South Carolina.  As we leave 2010, it is on a high note and with the anticipation that we can cinch up expectations, earn the final Junior Hunting leg, and then progress toward the equally unthinkable Senior Hunting title.  

Larsen counts off his JH medallions.

The sun is shining, the grass is green

The sun is shining, the grass is green,
The orange and palm trees sway.

There's never been such a day
in Beverly Hills, L.A.
But it's December the twenty-fourth,—
And I am longing to be up North—

Christmas giving

Aki stuffs this Christmas basket with all sorts of goodies.

A Starbucks card.  Someone will like that.

A ribbon adds the  finishing touch to this little gift.

I wonder who will get this treasure trove?

Bob Feller 1918-2010

All of Cleveland, and the baseball world, mourn the passing of Indians' great, Bob Feller.

The Emerald Necklace

Unlike the Cleveland Orchestra, few have ever heard of the so-called Emerald Necklace around the Cleveland area.  Like the Orchestra, the Emerald Necklace is a national treasure.  The Cleveland Metroparks portion of the necklace had its origins in the Rocky River Valley.  It now has unconnected beads in Huntington, Big Creek, Hinkley, Brecksville, Bedford, South Chagrin, North Chagrin and Euclid Creek.

Another of the unconnected gems in the necklace is the Boston Mills Historic District (which technically is part of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park).  Boston Mills fronts the Ohio and Erie Canal just north of Akron.  The canal paralleled part of the Cuyahoga river, which in that region of the state winds north from Akron to Cleveland and then into Lake Erie.

We accompanied Cousin Dave, his wife Meg, and their 12 year-old Brittany, Scout, on the trails of the Rocky River and Boston Mills parks during Thanksgiving.  We had some nice, chilly outings. 

Meg, Aki, and Larsen enjoy a cold and wet Thanksgiving afternoon as the turkey cooks at home.

  
Cousin Dave and Scout lead the way.

Do you recognize this?  It's the Cuyahoga River.

Aki, Dave, and Larsen view the waterfall from a distance.

The former canal towpath in Boston Mills has been reclaimed for recreational purposes.

The low winter sun casts sharp shadows on this little store in Boston Mills.

Hardware store

In today's world of big box stores like Home Depot and Lowes, you might not know of, or have long forgotten about, the neighborhood hardware store.  Such a store carried all manner of hardware, stacked to the ceiling in trays and bins and on shelves.  It may even have had yellow decaled footprints that (reminiscent of Burma Save) instructed "This" "Way" "to" "GE" "Bulbs".  Even your neat and tidy Ace hardware store is the city cousin to this country mouse.

This particular store, not far away, brags "Over 50,000 Items.  Many Hard to Find."  Does the owner know that, in truth, all of those items in his store are hard to find?

A patron examines the Dura Flame logs, next to the cast iron skillets and flashlights.

Light bulbs and repair parts for any electric lamp made between 1900 and 1950.

Christmas catalogs

Those catalogs can save some time, but sometimes they just drive you crazy.

2011 Westminster invitees

The Westminster Kennel Club has invited these Welsh Springer Spaniels to the 2011 show February 14-15.  Listed in alphabetical order (not by ranking):

• CH Rock Springs Hawk Of The Battle ("Gavin")
• GCH CH Heatherstone's Jopa Blue ("Winston")
• GCH CH Holly House Empres Josephine
• GCH CH Rolyart's Full Of Grace JH ("Grace")
• GCH CH Statesman's Corinthian ("Starbuck")

Gavin (Kit Goodrich) was 2010's Best of Breed at the 2010 WSSCA National Specialty.

Winston (Shannon Gandee) was 2010's Best of Breed winner at Westminster.

Empres Josephine (Holly House) is a WDX.

Grace (Shelley Traylor & Cindy Ford) was a 2007 and 2008 Westminster entry and is a Junior Hunter.     

Starbuck (Meghen Basel and Susan Riese) was Winner's Dog at the 2009 WSSCA National Specialty.

Good luck to all!

Snow day

Kim Parkman of Pocotaligo Kennel ran Larsen on Sunday while I enjoyed a bright cold winter day in Chicago.  I had some business meetings on Sunday and was reduced to receiving the results via text message.  I learned that Larsen seemed pretty distracted on the line with Kim and that he really didn't want to hunt. 

Larsen and I will go back to training.  He's come a long way.  He earned his third leg on Saturday and was going for a run of the table on Sunday and his JH.   It would have been fitting and fun to have earned that final leg on the same weekend that Mazie earned her MH.  On the upside, I'll have the joy of finishing him myself. 

Wrigley Building from the Trump Hotel in Chicago.

Susan and Mazie

Congratulations.

Ch Ivywild's Mazie Morning Dew MH

Susan's dog (and Larsen's dam) Mazie successfully completed her sixth and final leg and earned her Master Hunter designation today at at the Atlanta Cocker Hunt test at JL Lester WMA.

This is a most remarkable achievement.  The unofficial count says that Mazie will be the 9th Welsh Springer Spaniel in U.S. history and 2nd female to have earned the Master Hunter designation.

Mazie completed the Master Hunter requirements with a water retrieve in the mucky and shallow JL Lester reservoir.  In her own fashion, Mazie swam to an unlikely portion of the shoreline and then took her sweet time--but steady and unfaltering--bringing the bird to Susan.

Tomorrow, Susan will run Mazie in another Master leg for the sheer fun of it.  It will give Susan a chance to see Mazie with clear and unworried eyes, and watch her in the same way that we have enjoyed watching her.

 Susan displays Mazie's Master Hunter ribbons.

Focus

For handler as well as pup.  I'll pay attention to him this weekend and bring him to sit if he seems to be fooling around.  Otherwise, give him his nose.