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.  

Home late

I got home late Friday after a long week in Chicago.  The little dog had been alone most of the day because Aki had left for California earlier in the day.

Larsen's head popped up in the laundry room door as I pulled into the garage.  He had been sleeping at the door in the belief that sooner or later someone would remember him and come home to him.

We played around when I came in, and he ran in circles, picked up his duck and ran upstairs where he placed the bird next to my pillow.  I love you too.

Saturday training

Larsen and I stopped by Tim's on a cool early fall morning.  We worked the field and then did some water work.  At the water, I pushed Larsen across the pond by following Susan's advice of ordering Larsen "back" every time he started to curl around or look back toward his home bank.  Susan said that she had to push Mazie across and that by the time the dog looks at you it is nearly too late.

Once on the other side, I had to handle Larsen back and forth to find the dummy.  Finally, and after Larsen had gone into the water and back out, he jumped on the dummy and brought it back.  What a great note to stop on!

Earlier, on the field, we worked Larsen on fly-off pigeons.  Larsen did fine and hupped himself before I hit the whistle.  We sat Larsen on blank pistol shots and on flush-and-fly-offs.  I worked on timing and thought about precisely when to hit that whistle.

Tim was ready with his blank pistol.

Carson held down the other side of the line with his toy shotgun.

Larsen enjoys the early fall the scene.

Get your motor running'

Get your motor runnin'

Head out on the highway
Looking for adventure
In whatever comes our way

Yeah, darlin'
Gonna make it happen
Take the world in a love embrace
Fire all of your guns at once
And explode into space

Like a true nature's child
We were born
Born to be wild
We can climb so high
I never wanna die
Born to be wild
Born to be wild

Last days of summer

The water at Lake Alatoona was warm even on a cool day, ushering in the first day of autumn.  In the south, it takes a while for summer to drift away and you can feel it still in the warm afternoons after the cool mornings.

Training report

We beat the rain, but not by much, as Larsen and I ran the traps at Tim's.  I described last week's fiasco to Tim, including my notion that Larsen was ready to bust out just based on his behavior on Friday and Saturday when I tried to work him on dummies.  Tim elected to go train at the field just to get some different vibes going.  We brought Flick the ESS and Avery the flatcoat along and, of course, Carsen whose 6th birthday is tomorrow.

I quartered Larsen with no birds in the field.  Periodically, Tim shot and Larsen sat on the shot.  Tim had his training pistol as well as his field gun so he was able at times to shoot off a real volley: bang-bang - - - - bang, as occurs in a hunting situation often times (miss, miss, and then a hit by the other gunner).

Ultimately, Larsen flushed two pigeons.  Both times the birds flew back toward our home base which made for dog-Frank-bird situations that are ideal to enforce a sit.  While this situation is unlikely to occur in a hunt test (the gunner would not turn and shoot back from whence the group came because the gallery is sitting there), it provided the successes that are so very important to get.

I am going to work at being more relaxed and of good cheer and not anticipating a screwup.  These things will occur, of course, but now I will start expecting success.  Larsen can do this and I can put more trust in him and get the behavior that I want.

Larsen hunted quite close to me and it was difficult to get him to range out, in part, I believe, because we were rolling the birds.

Larsen did well on the hunt dead and the blind.  He is learning to trust my directions on the hunt dead (and the blind) and that obedience will lead to the reward, namely the bird.

Very heavy rain rolled in as we were leaving Bowman.

Clounds like these cover the sky from the Gulf to Canada as heavy rains move in.

WSSCA Hunt Test

The 2013 Welsh Springer Spaniel Hunt Test is November 16-17 in Clark's Hill, South Carolina.  This is a new venue, although many of us have had the opportunity to run a dog in practice or walk the land.  There is a limit of 35 dogs.  We will get a block of rooms at the La Quinta Hotel in Augusta, Ga at I-20 exit 199 (Washington Ave).  The field is about 20 miles north of the interchange.

The WSSCA HT premium can be found at the WSSCA website.

Chromecast TV dongle

I used some credit card points to get a free Chromecast.  Chromecast is Google's TV interface.  It plugs into the HD port on a "smart" TV (that is, a TV that is capable of processing IP signals).  It also requires a power source.  Then you download the Chromecast app on your smartphone or iPad.

After that, you use your iPad or smartphone to requests to view YouTube or Netflix videos on your TV.  Your iPad or smartphone acts as a TV remote, in some sense.

We tried it last night and it worked exactly as advertised.  We watched some silly Welsh Springer videos and a few gundog training videos.

My goal is to see if we can get some of the shows that we watch, such as News Hour.  If I can get that small number of shows via Chromecast, I can then drop cable either altogether or to the minimum package.  I would either reduce total spending or use some of the savings to increase my Internet bandwidth.