Thanksgiving pies

Mom made at least half-a-dozen pies for the 30+ people at Thanksgiving this year.  As pretty as this cherry pie is, you know that it did not last long.

Winchester

Winchester is a Beetle x Reba English Cocker.  Beetle and Reba are extraordinary field dogs.  Both hunt in beautiful patterns with a minimum of handling.  I can't wait to watch Winchester shoot-em-up.

Vickie shows off her new puppy, Winchester.

Spine tingling

Larsen is heading to Dr. Michelle's chiropractor clinic to see if there is anything we can do in addition to the pills and rest to get him back in the game.  Backs are tricky.  I understand that there are no guarantees, but we are in the early innings and I'm hopeful that he will fully recover.

Update

My vet's ears must have been burning because I got a call and a report.

• Blood looks good.  Chemistry, liver, kidneys look good.  
• CBC white blood cells slightly elevated at 1,111
• This can be caused by stress
• Could be allergy
• Or parasites.
• Fecal test last May was negative, so probably not parasites.  Probably stress or allergy.
• Thyroid normal
• Non-sterile urinalysis showed:
• Concentrated sample
• 1+protein
• Protein generally is not desired in urine.
• But it could be caused by the fact that the sample was concentrated.
• Specific gravity was about 10.40, which is near the top (10.50) of the normal range.
• Normally we would look no further but given his lack of energy, he may have a urinary tract infection.  It is possibly an issue.

Next steps: A sterile urinary sample.  This is done by flipping the dog on his back, taking an ultrasound to locate the bladder, and sticking a needle into the bladder to draw a sample.

Vet also said that there is a combo test for tick-borne diseases for $104.40.  This test will provide indications of IGC antibodies activity.  If it is positive, we will start Larsen on doxycycline.  If we start on the regime, we should know after the first few doses whether this is in fact the issue because he will start to recover right away.

No update

The 4:45 vet visit produced some blood work and more hypotheses.  I got some Tramadol for the leg injury.  The blood work and urinalysis should tell us whether the big organs are working.  This morning, I gave permission to do a tick titer to look for Lyme and other tick-borne diseases.

Larsen's appetite is good.  He's drinking water.  He can't rear back on his hind legs and so he climbs stairs like an old man.  His gait is good, with no indication of pain or limping.  His energy level is low.  

Mystery

It's not clear whether Larsen has one or two ailments.  On Sunday, he stopped mid-walk and sat.  I knew by his look that he hurt.  We eased our way back to the car and went home.  He stood around roach-backed and did not want to walk.  His appetite and energy were very low.  I poked and prodded everything and found no tender spots (lip licking or turning his head toward me).  I smelled his breath for any decay (stomach ache) or metallic (poison) smell but found nothing.

My initial conclusion was physical: a pull or twist to the right rear leg based on his stretching and his unwillingness to hop onto the couch.

Monday at the vets produced nothing but watchfulness.  We did no bloodwork.  Stools firm and no vomiting so probably no intestinal blockage.  He was de-hydrated, based on stickiness of his gums, so I forced Pedialyte into him (poured it down his throat from a Coke bottle).

On Tuesday, Larsen seemed more lively.  However, I noticed that he would not grab cheese from my lips because doing so would cause him to rear back on his hind legs and he did not want to do this.  He ate and, at dinner time, had a huge drink to the relief of Aki and me.

On Wednesday, after a walk, he spit up.  Stools a little loose.  But the walk otherwise was energetic, but deliberately short.  Then, at home, I set him in the back yard to chase a squirrel.  He took off, leaped onto some round rocks and twisted his right rear leg.

That hurt.  He cried and ran around like it really, really hurt.  I caught up to him and just soothed him.  Carried him into the house.

Questions: Was this a re-injury of something done on our walk on Sunday?  Was the initial injury on Friday in the metropark?  Is there something internal going on as well?

Vet appointment today at 4:45.

Larsen does his best to hide in the exam room.

Hiking the Emerald Necklace

Dave, Meg, Aki, and I hiked the Emerald Necklace Metropark trail near Boston Mills in Northeastern Ohio with Trigger and Larsen on Thanksgiving.  Trigger is Dave's son Geoff's Britt.  There was a lot of red and white flashing by on the snow-filled trail, and happy, tired dogs afterward.

Larsen enjoys the snow-filled wood.

Bird day

Went through quite a few birds in practice today, on this weekend before Thanksgiving.  I saw where Larsen was on the curve, which is to say really at the beginning.  Kind of surprising that he was so far back.  But we have a new approach that might help with the control and then one can always hope for rapid progression once the learning kicks in.

Place board training

Trainer Joe DeMarkis confesses to a revelation: obedience training has direct applicability to a field dog. This might be obvious, or it might not, but if it is true it opens the door to many training activities that those who live in cities and suburbs can do on a weeknight without benefit of birds or firearms.

One of these revelations is the so-called place board.  Joe says that dogs are place-oriented and that generalizations come hard.  Train the dog to understand that his place is on the place board, and then advance to more challenging scenarios.

The place board can be as simple as a repurposed Welcome mat, but ideally, it is raised off the ground.  This gives the dog bit of a feeling of not being fully in control (you are!) and it also makes it more convenient to work with smaller dogs.  In the photo below, Larsen is on a place board that is raised about an inch, but other place boards are about a foot or so from the ground.  The place board must be stable so that the dog is not fearful of the wobbling.

Introduce the dog to the place board by leading him or her onto it and commanding a sit.  Treat liberally.  Over time, you will get the dog to go to the place board on command.  Once this is reliably accomplished, you can have the dog retrieve items and return to the place board.

What a great way to improve the beautiful spaniel retrieve to hand!

 Larsen demonstrates his place board.

Pickup dog

The hunt test proceeded as anticipated, but not as hoped for in that Larsen showed no signs of slowing on the flush.  I'm facing a decision.  Shall I continue to try to get the dog study to the flush, or simply let him be a Senior Hunter and have fun and success in the field?

On the positive side, Larsen was tasked with being pick-up dog.  This is the trusty dog that swims the pond to gather in the bird that another dog has refused to retrieve.  It is a left-handed compliment since the pickup dog is one no longer in contention, but it is a compliment nonetheless because you want a steady dog that fetches birds expeditiously and without drama.

It's the Great Pumpkin!

It's not early autumn anymore.  Daylight savings time comes to an end this weekend, and the delightful blue domed weather we enjoyed in St. Louis is giving way to swirling pewter skies.  Put away the charcoal grill and find the crock pot.  No more fruited drinks, unless the fruit is a cherry at the bottom of an amber Manhattan.

 

Let's try it again

Well, ok, if you insist, but only if you are steady to the flush.

ESS Hunt Test

We'd hoped to steal a march and sneak out of St. Louis with a hunt test leg, but a broke dog is all we have to show for our dreams.  Larsen chased a running cock pheasant and didn't stop when he put the bird to flight, and our morning was over.

Larsen had been attentive to the whistle, which was pretty heavy in order to keep Larsen close at hand.  But when he caught scent of the running bird, and turned away from me to track it down, I knew that a sit whistle was chancy at best, and unhappily I was right.

We saw Debi, Kathy P., Deb B. and Jim as well as Tim and Cathy at the event.  A beautiful fall weekend in southern Missouri near St. Louis.

Larsen seems so very close to being steady.  I know that his breaking, and retrieving a shot pheasant is a set-back, but it still seems he is close.  Am I fooling myself?

The road to St. Louis

It seems a long time ago that we picked up Aki at the Atlanta airport and drove to St. Louis.

The drive took about 9 hours and we sent somewhere south of the city, to Fletcher, for a hunt test on Monday.  We stopped along the way and watched rice being loaded into storage bins along the Mississippi river.  We went hiking and found a box turtle.  We stopped by Grant's Farm and watched the Budweiser clydesdales stretch and plod about on the frosty morning.  We hiked the Route 66 trail.

Loading rice in Illinois along the Mississippi river.

At Grant's Farm

Budweiser Clydesdale carrier

Clydesdale




Along the Route 66 trail.

Upland hunting in NY

One of my correspondents opined on grouse hunting on public lands in NY.  The recommendations are valid in other areas as well.

If you're hunting public land in NY, you'll find that much of it is fairly mature.  The trick is to find the covers within the cover.
 Look for apple trees back in the woods.  They're the remnants of early homesteads and often attract grouse despite the overall maturity of the forest.   If you find creeks or swampy areas, hunt the edges of them.  The cover will be denser. If you can clearly identify stands of Beech, hunt them.
 Some of the best cover if you can find it will be stands of dogwood brush, pencil to hammer handle in diameter, with some alder on the edges.  This early in the season they often feed on dogwood berries and the density provides haven from predators.  It makes for tough shooting so use some strategy.  Get one guy on the sides or covering the back before the dog or other gunner pushes in and don't forget to take turns.
 Stands of prickly ash are also good, but murderous on the flesh (hence my username).  They're mostly found in reverting pastures alongside or near the dogwood.   You'll be hard-pressed to find a more bloodthirsty weed but it's good bird cover.  The trick to moving through it is to flow.  Don't stop, don't hesitate, just move like water and you'll be okay.
 Two other elements that will be critical to your success are conifers and slope.   If the cover looks great but there are no pines in sight, you probably won't find as many birds as places that do.  Remember, they almost always have an escape plan and there's nothing like dense stand of conifers for good hiding.
 Slope - not totally necessary but definitely worth looking for.  I've found that a cover with some slope will hold more birds than flatter areas.  If you're pushing up a hill, be extra ready when you're nearing the crest.   They'll often run to the top and wait for you to pass buy.  Once they figure out you're onto them they'll be ready to blow out before you are.  Beat them at their own game. (HT Briarscratch)

Robert Cleminson (British, active 1865-1868) On the grouse moor 18 x 14 in. (45.7 x 35.5 cm.)

Field time

Larsen was back in the field on Sunday after his conformation showings with Aki Friday and Saturday in Jonesboro, Georgia.

The highlight of the morning for Tim and me was sending Larsen after a cripple.  Neither of us knew any more than the general area where the bird went down.  Moreover, we did not pursue the bird right away.  Instead, after the shot and lost bird, we went back to field training and forced Larsen to quarter, flush, and sit.

Tim decided that the time was right, and I heeled Larsen toward the general area.  I then sent him as I would for field work.  Tim told me not to send him on a hunt-dead because we were not asking him to take a line anywhere.  We wanted him to hunt.

Tim and I sat back and watched as the dog worked a deadfall, then moved upfield along the tree line.  He wheeled and doubled back, working the air and the ground.  This was all Larsen.  We were spectators.  We heard the cluck of the chukar as it tried to run, but Larsen was on him.  Larsen brought him back for the retrieve.

As much fun as it is to train the dog, it is inspiring to see the spaniel take the initiative and bring back the bird.

The show goes on

Aki and Larsen are working center ring in Jonesboro this weekend.  Aki is applying her conformation handling skills under the heat of actual competition.  She finished second (out of two) to Trooper on Saturday but was entitled to go to the owner-handler group giving her a second twirl around the ring.

Aki gets a quick kiss from Larsen before the two of them head to Jonesboro.

Teeth cleaning done

Larsen’s done.  They are just watching him, but he is waking up.  His teeth cleaned up “nicely”.  No decay.  The vet said that he might be groggy for the next day or two, so TLC as far as exercise goes.  She thought I should feed him half rations today and if he holds it down, I can return to normal.  I might moisten the kibble with warm water to make it easier to eat since his gums might be sore.  Chicken and rice are fine too for a day or so.  The vet will keep him until the end of the day, just to observe him.

Cleaning a dog's teeth involves a big tradeoff because of the potential adverse effects of the anesthesia. Clean teeth and healthy gums are critically important to overall health, however, and it is worth the risk to get rid of buildup and the potential for gingivitis and worse.   

Safety first

Some pretty remarkable passages regarding the lack of gun safety from sporting writer Johnson J. Hooper's 1852 book "Dog & Gun."  You wonder if the "Frank" described in the paragraphs lived to a ripe old age and died of natural causes, perhaps unlike so many of his friends!

Johnson J. Hooper, Dog & Gun, (1856) (University of Alabama Press).

Speaking of the improper and careless way in which some sportsmen handle their guns, brings to mind a day’s shooting I once had with one of the quickest shots I ever hunted with.

 While reloading, I was startled by the shot of Frank’s gun whizzing by me.  It appeared, by his account, that he had placed the gun across his shoulders, and in turning around, the cock caught by a twig which raised it sufficiently to strike the cap and explode.  He had shot a sapling asunder just about the height of my head, which caused me to think it a better subject to experiment upon than the head of a father of six children.

 . . .  but as to myself, I was sufficiently engaged in trying to dodge the muzzle of Frank’s gun, as he sometimes dropped the same in line for my heart, as we mounted a fence, or grasping it with both hands across his shoulders.

 . . .  and placing the butt of his gun on the ground, he held the bird up for me to see, and while he was so doing Dash jumped up to get the bird, and as his foot came down, it caught the cock of Frank’s gun; and as the hammer was down on the cap (instead of being at half-cock), another explosion occurred,--taking fortunately nothing but Frank’s hat brim; but had his hand been on the muzzle [as he often did], one of the best shots in the United States would have been minus a finger or two.

Bass Pro polish & waterproofing

I want something on my boots that keep the leather from cracking.  I'm a bit dissatisfied with mink oil.  The stuff goes on great and gives the leather a nice look and feel (although a little greasy) but it seems to wash off with the morning dew.  When your boots dry out at day's end, they look as parched as they had been before you oiled them.  I'm ready for something new.

At Bass Pro, I saw some polish that also doubled as a water proofing.  My experiments with regular Kiwi shoe polish were actually more successful than with mink oil.  Polish seemed to stay put after a day in the field, but I wondered if it was simply the color that stuck and not the oil.  I was hopeful the Bass Pro would do something.

The Bass Pro stuff was a little stiff to put on.  You had to warm it and really rub it in.  That's not a problem if it stays with the leather at least through a dewy morning.  The results so far are very nice.  The boots look more like oiled leather than polished leather.

I'll try the boots this weekend and find out if the Bass Pro boot polish passes the morning dew test.

   Bass Pro polish/waterproofing/conditioner.

The look is more along the lines of a dark oil or tanning rather than polish, which is perfect for a field boot.