London Trading Company

The LTC sells clothes and gear to the horsey set in Atlanta. The store is redolent of leather and waxed cotton.

We stopped by to look at field boots. They certainly had some fine boots to choose from, as well as beautiful country clothes. Christmas is coming, so now's the time to think about your lists.

The LTC is at 30 East Andrews Street in Atlanta.

Buckhead casual.

These are boots for the field?

A chukar in a game bag.

Some sort of wild cat lunges at a pheasant.

Water training

When birds are wet, they don't fly.

We practiced anyway. Bill T. and Gary R. were gunners, and stood around periodically making noise with their shotguns as the dogs flushed birds that ran to and fro. While it was not the ideal way to practice, it gave me a chance to work with Larsen on his retrieves. One of three was perfection itself, but that in itself is an improvement.

Bill D. gave me some tangelos from the tree on his St. Simons front lawn, so there was some sunshine that day after all.

The tangelos practically glow; and the banana is not as ripe as it appears.

Thanksgiving 2011

Thanksgiving in Ohio means a hike in the Valley, otherwise known as the Rocky River Reservation or metropolitan park that winds its way from Bagley Road in Berea to the Lake Erie confluence in Rocky River.

Cousin Dave and his wife Meg corralled 14-year-old Scout and 18-month-old puppy Trigger to meet Aki, Larsen, and me. We let the dogs run, play in the river, and run some more. The lanky puppy, Trigger, was practically giddy with his ability and desire to run.

After the hike, we returned to Dave and Meg's for a lunch of turkey on white with mayonnaise.

(click on photo for full picture and for photo show)

Scout was high-stepping on his hike.

Dave prepares Trigger for launch.

Off they go! Road Runner and Coyote. Larsen does his best to keep up with the far swifter Trigger.

Larsen after Trigger (barely in photo) again.

Frank and Larsen pose for a photo.

Scout and Meg enjoy the sunny afternoon.

Larsen is beat after trying to match Trigger in the field.

Sunday quail hunt

There was nothing else to do, so Larsen and I went to Circle W to hunt quail.

Danny took us to a field that was new to us. It was right under the Heflin radio tower. The field was just under a mile long and ran along the Talapoosa river. There were several knarled old walnut trees, but otherwise, just a lot of broomstraw. The morning was overcast, with spitting rain that eventually cleared.

Danny's layout was relatively easy. The birds were not too deep into the cover. The setup guaranteed successes, which kept Larsen in birds. This was the way I'd have it on this fall Sunday. This was, in many ways, a celebration of his fine performance in the WSSCA Hunting Test. Just a day outside together.

I chewed on my whistle a little, but didn't pip it much. I pipped only when he went obviously far afield, which was not often. With each step, and each bird, I got more confident that the little dog would find the birds. Larsen's flushes were efficient, and the only shots he didn't give me were when the birds stayed low. If I missed the bird, or just tipped it, we marked it and marched after it.

I tried to keep quiet on Larsen's retrieves. I didn't didn't say "here boy" or "hold it" or pat my leg. I kept quiet, and just turned a bit away from him. Once or twice, I told him to "heel" and let him walk with me while he carried the bird. We weren't in a hurry, and this wasn't a test, so I let him hang onto the bird while he panted with his nose buried in the soft feathers. His deliveries were very nice.

In all, we bagged 8 of 11 or 12. We found 11 (Danny said one of our 12 flew to the tree line when he was planting. This is a free day pass for a quail; at least until the hawks circle.)

We finished the day by doing several "hunt deads" and water retrieves, just for fun. The hunt deads were 70-80 yards long, but Larsen watched me place the bird, so there was no mystery. It was simply taking a line a long way out and bringing the bird back. His water work was a little ragged with the delivery, and I will work on a strategy like the land strategy that results in a cleaner presentation.

We went home with our game bag full and a tired happy dog.

This is a bird dog.

Danny has a few secret fields.

Larsen clowns with a feather on his nose.


Let's do it again!

Mid-50s and cloudy is still hot for an active spaniel, and there was nowhere we needed to be, so we took a break.

Larsen takes a breather.

That's Larsen waiting for me to return from placing the bird at the far end of a 70-yard hunt dead.

Home for a bath and some chow.

Scenes from the Hunting Test

The Hunting Test had a nice variety of flushing spaniels.

(click on the photo to see the whole photo as a slideshow. Photos courtesy of Susan W.)

This 18-month-old Boykin Spaniel earned a Master Hunter leg


Clumber Spaniel


American Water Spaniel


Welsh Springer Spaniel


American Cocker Spaniel


An English Springer Spaniel (pickup dog)


An American Water Spaniel Puppy

Larsen's mug

No, not a paean to the mutt's mug, I'm talking about a coffee mug. Training friend Cathy V. gave this to us on Sunday after the Hunt Test. It is a coffee mug with Larsen's likeness on the side. Cathy's general kindness and her understanding of dogs are treasures, as is this coffee mug.

Hunt Test results

Larsen ran the table with Senior Hunter qualifying scores on Saturday and Sunday at the WSSCA Hunting Test at Circle W Hunting Preserve in Heflin, Alabama. These were his second and third legs in his quest for a Senior Hunter title. He has one more to go and then can move up as a Master candidate.

Other training partners:

Mary T's Caden, a year-and-a half old puppy, turned in a polished performance for his first Junior Hunter leg. His housemate Adara earned a Junior Hunter leg to her repertoire of JH ribbons. Caden and Adara are Welsh Springer Spaniels.

Cathy V was excited beyond words that her boy Humphrey got his third Master Hunter leg on Sunday. According to eye-witnesses, Humphrey was perfect on phases. Humphrey is a Clumber spaniel. Cathy's Zelda got a Q on Saturday.

Amy T. also pulled a couple of aces with Emma, her Clumber, earning her first and second Senior Hunter legs.

Venee G.'s Murphy got a pair of Senior legs. Murphy is a Cocker Spaniel.

It was a long weekend, with training day on Friday and tests on Saturday and Sunday. There were the normal twists and turns that make a Hunt Test interesting, with the judges deciding to change the Senior field's hunt-dead test in mid-stream after a long string of failures. On Saturday, 13 dogs of 27 posted qualifying scores, and on Sunday it was 11 of 27. The standards were high. Our training group earned 10 of the 24 Q-scores over the weekend.

Burge Plantation

Amy and Dave T invited us to train at Burge Plantation, a private preserve east of Atlanta. It was a postcard sort of day, with a cerulean blue sky at noon time that later gave way to the tattered clouds and cooler temperatures that you'd expect from early November.

Early on, Larsen slipped his lead and proceeded to scare up several coveys of quail, no doubt gathering after their respective escapes from other fields.

On the field, the little dog ran about as well as I could have wished for. He hupped to the whistle, and he listened to the double-pips that indicated a turn. On his first outing, Larsen returned twice from missed shots, a crucial hunt test ability.

On his second outing, Larsen found, flushed, and retrieved his bird. I let him hold it and heeled him with me about the field. He kindly gave me the bird when I asked for it.

Other dogs on the field were Clumbers Emma, Humphrey, Zelda, and 'Tasha; welshies Mazie (Larsen's dam) and Tatum; and cocker Murphy.

At days end, everyone gathered around the fire pit for a cocktail. Aki and I had work that called that evening so we said goodbye to all and drove home with a tired dog.