A Dog at Sea book review

If you love Labs and mysteries as I do, the set of Bull Moose Dog Run Mystery books by J. F. Englert are for you. A Dog at Sea is the third Bull Moose Dog Run Mystery, and I certainly hope that it won’t be the last -the first being A Dog About Town and the second, A Dog Among Diplomats.

In the continuing search for his mistress Imogen, Randolph the detective Lab and his guardian Harry, Imogen’s boyfriend, embark on a pet-friendly Caribbean cruise. Although I’ve never been on a cruise and doubt that it would even make my bucket list, the antics of Randolph may be what sways me to consider one.

This is one time when Randolph is overwhelmed by the situation and his detective capabilities suffer. After all it’s really hard to solve a murder, search for your owner, run interference on a blonde newscaster, and simply stay alive, when you’ve been put on a diet amid the endless line of buffets, day and night. Especially when pigs in a blanket are involved.

Although he’s coerced into a variety of demonstrations from pop-culture behaviorists and trainers, Randolph manages to use it to his advantage and once again comes through with help from the “supernatural”. In each of the Bull Moose Dog Run Mysteries, I can imagine some of those same thoughts running through our Sophie’s head with some of the things that she does. I certainly hope to see many more Bull Moose Dog Run Mysteries with Randolph, Harry, and perhaps even Imogen.

Training moves outdoors

I’ve been working with the dogs indoors, mostly on obedience, exercising on the treadmill, and a little bit of tracking with bird feathers. Friday, I stopped in at the Fish and Game department and got a Bird Dog/Falconry permit that allows me to train with game birds. At least here it’s a free 2-year permit, and I’m required to call the F&G office each time I train with game birds for approval to do so.

Game bird suppliers however, are not under F&G jurisdiction, but under the Department of Agriculture’s National Poultry Improvement Plan (NPIP). Hopefully within the next week or two, I’ll be able to get a couple of Pheasants or partridge and start training the dogs on live game birds. The pigeon I had escaped a couple of weeks ago when I tried to get it train the dogs. Although Elvis gave chase and did his best to catch it, the bird was just a little faster.

I did get a start on things by moving my training table from the garage to the back yard, and re-introducing the dogs to it. They were a little hesitant but caught on quickly – it helped that I used it to clean my birds on this past hunting season, so it was full of smells they couldn’t resist. Mia had never been on the table before and I had to work with her a little to get her up the ramps, but she caught on quickly. When I went into the house, I saw that she was climbing up onto the table by herself to check out all the good smells.

Mia is as birdie as any dog I’ve seen; with Elvis, he’s a real go-getter while hunting but has little use for bird wings and training. I’m not sure yet if he isn’t all that birdie, or just needs to see a point in training. I had him chase the bird wing on a string around the yard a bit, allowing him catch it a few times, and after that he did better. Those who know Spinone have all told me that with this breed of dog, they must have a reason and see a point in doing something in order to do it, and they get really bored with repetitions so my training is short, sweet, and to the point.

Good Year, Bad Year

The following is a “Pass Along” newsletter article from the Retriever Journal.

Pass Along RJ
January 10

Good Year, Bad Year

by Steve Smith

Would that all our seasons be a symphony of golden leaves, flawless retrieves, and clean second barrels. But that, of course, isn’t life, and it certainly isn’t our lives. Face it – some seasons are a flat-out bust: weather, work schedules, family obligations… those are a constant in the sense that something will always come up that keeps us out of the field or marsh for days and sometimes weeks. A hospital stint and at-home recupe cost me and my dog the entire 2006 season (I was in the hospital, not the dog). What I mean is the seasons when the birds just don’t cooperate or, more likely, they just aren’t there.

I know, I know: Shooting birds isn’t the whole experience. I think we all feel that way to one degree or another. But it’s also pretty obvious that shooting birds is a big part of it, the reason we carry shotguns, after all.

But some years, it just isn’t happening: The ducks are either trying to survive a drought or are content to pass the daylight hours flapping about in the military jet lanes… the pheasants, grouse, woodcock, quail, Huns, sharptails, et al, suffer a bad hatch, and about the only birds left are the cagey veterans of previous seasons… places you used to hunt in relative obscurity have been discovered by the masses, and your favorite bird cover has a parking attendant who expects to be tipped… our annual out-of-state trip where the dog gets most of his bird contacts gets cancelled so all your hunting is around home. There are a lot of things that can go wrong, and eventually all of them will. Murphy’s Law. (Q: Gee, Steve, why did you name your pup Murphy? A: Anticipation.)

What are we going to do, stay home? And do what? Clean the garage, recaulk the bathroom shower, go shopping for carpet with the Old Ball and Chain? Not hardly. We’re going hunting. Just not like always, because we’ll do well to have both different expectations and objectives in mind. And with that in mind, let’s look at a few things….

The full article “Good Year, Bad Year” by Steve Smith appears in the upcoming February/March 2010 issue of The Retriever Journal. If you are a subscriber, that issue will soon mail!

Owning a rare breed

There are certain challenges to owning a rare breed, one if which is lack of general knowledge about its personality and characteristics. If you’ve been reading my blog, you’ll see that my training program with our Spinone really hasn’t had much direction. Luckily, I found a Spinone forum and am now getting advice from people who’ve owned and trained them for a number of years.

Using my Spinone as an example, I’ll list some of the inaccurate “conventional wisdom” I’ve received and which has led me somewhat astray. Spinone are not for everyone, and only certain types of people will be successful with them. Likewise, if you happen to own a rare or unconventional breed, you may be much more successful by consulting experts of that breed, than what is generally accepted advice.

1- Since Spinone are a rare breed, it’s obviously because other breeds out-perform them in the field and they’re not a good pointing breed.
This statement was made by a trainer who previously had seen only one Spinone prior to my pups. Spinone are considered the oldest hunting breed in existence, possibly dating back to 500 B.C. and I’ve found the perception of them not being a good hunter is entirely wrong. Unlike other breeds that can be forced into compliance or submission, Spinone must be treated with mutual respect and positive reinforcement works best.

Several Spinone owners and trainers have told me that heavy-handed or negative reinforcement will cause them to completely shut down, but that they will do anything for you if they see a reason in it. Basically, if you treat your Spinone with respect and they respect you, no problem, but heavy-handed training techniques will ruin a Spinone from which they may not recover. Owners who are ignorant of the breed will subject them to standard training techniques which won’t work, then of course blame the dog for not performing.

2- They are rare because they don’t hunt well part 2.
In addition to the ignorance factor, Spinone were nearly wiped out to the point of extinction during WWII. While they have been making a big comeback in Europe, they’ve really only been in the U.S. for the last 30 years or so.

3- They don’t cover a lot of ground while hunting.
Spinone hunt at a moderate distance, generally 50-100 yards out. They have very good endurance and like a standard Lab, work at a moderate pace. They don’t have the high energy of pointers, and are generally considered ideal dogs for older hunters who may have trouble keeping up with dogs that cover a great deal of territory. I also found that Elvis and Mia took to the water just as well as any Lab pup I’ve had.

4- Spinone are not “birdy”.
As I said before, Spinone need to see a reason to do something -if they see a reason to go after birds, they’ll do it wholeheartedly. As an owner, you need to give them a reason to want birds. For some time now I’ve been more concerned about how well a dog hunts rather than how well they train, and there are times I compromise in their training if it makes training more “fun” for them. Spinone don’t care for repetitions and will quit training when they become bored with it. Elvis and Mia are completely different dogs while hunting than while training.

5- Spinone are people-oriented dogs.
It’s more important to develop a mutual relationship with them than focus on training. Spinone don’t do as well if they are sent off to a trainer, than if the owner personally trains them. Good training comes from a good relationship.

6- Spinone are highly intelligent.
To some degree, their intelligence is their downfall because they really can’t be bluffed and will call you on it. In many ways they’ll challenge you to prove that you know what you’re doing – this in itself has really made me re-evaluate what and how I do things when it comes to training. That’s not to say that other dogs are not intelligent, and I sometimes get offended when some ignorant owner talks about how Labs are dumb as a board and only understand heavy-handed techniques. In some ways this tells me that the owner knows less than his dog and is perpetuating ignorance rather than bringing out the best in what the dog has to offer.

The dark side of animal shelters

Some time back I posted an article on the dark side of dog breeding with the promise of posting an article on the dark side of animal shelters. Unlike problems associated with breeders, the problems associated with animal shelters are not due to greed, ignorance, or lack of compassion, but lie primarily with local residents. That is if the local residents either refuse or are unable to fund adequate facilities through taxes and donations, the quality of care suffers. Since many dogs are lost while hunting, its’ good to know what kind of care they may receive should they be found or rescued.

I also posted an article that seems to show a correlation between the quality of animal care and child care – Idaho ranks near the bottom in both categories. This seems to support my theory that the quality of care is dependent upon the values of the local residents.

1- Test Animals. One local shelter provides test animals to a local university for students to operate on and then euthanize the animals. Theoretically, it’s no different than simply euthanizing the animal and I’m told that animals who are chipped are not supplied to universities as test animals. Regardless, I’d hate the thought that one of my dogs ended up on an operating table in a university lab. Likewise, owners shouldn’t just give their pets away because there are those who will turn around and sell them as test animals.

2- Utilitarian Approach. Cats, and dogs as well I assume, that one shelter deems as “less likely” to be adopted, are euthanized without being given a chance for adoption. Their facilities and the number of foster volunteers are limited so they take a utilitarian approach to adopt out as many animals as possible and in doing so, decide beforehand what animals are made available for adoption. Unlike other local humane societies, the one to which I belong is poorly funded with little support from the community, however we try chipping adopted animals when possible and provide medicine to those who are sick.

3- Medical Care. Some shelters do not provide medical care to animals until after they are adopted, and sick animals are euthanized. Certainly, it costs money to provide medical care for animals that could be euthanized anyway, but it also guarantees that some animals will never be given the chance for adoption. An illness spread through an animal shelter that killed some cats because medical care was not given, and a foster family we know had their own cats come down with an illness because of cats they fostered. Although the humane society to which I belong is poorly funded and supported, veteranarians help support it and we provide medical care to the animals as much as possible.

4 -Euthanizing animals. The first blog article I posted, and what prompted me to start a blog site, was in response to animal control (not a shelter) that euthanized animals with a bullet to the head. A Sheriff’s deputy proved 2 years ago that a bullet to the head isn’t always fatal when he tied up a Lab-cross and shot it 3 times with his rifle, once in the neck once and twice in the head. When we had to have Fudge euthanized, my wife took her to the local shelter and although the drug quickly euthanized her, it wasn’t pleasant; another shelter first puts the animal to sleep and then euthanizes them while they are asleep which at least appears to be a much more peaceful way of going.

5- Volunteering. While one local animal shelter relies heavily on volunteers, another does not allow them due to “liability” issues, and furthermore this animal shelter is essentially open only 1 hour a day Monday – Friday. These kind of restrictions and lack of services promote owners to neglect and abuse their animals. Many farmers openly shoot stray dogs and cats and the roadways are littered with those that have been abandoned or allowed to roam free.

True, there are states that take animal care to the extreme which in my opinion is just as wrong as states that allow neglect and abuse. The bottom line is that we the citizen and taxpayer determine the quality of animal (or child) care through our elected officials, the priorities we establish for our tax dollars, and our own individual involvement.

A Place of Hope

The following is a “pass along” newsletter article from the Pointing Dog Journal.

Pass Along PDJ
January 2010
A Place of Hope

Everyday it seems we hear about dogs that need rescuing. As dog owners, we already have that sensitive place in our hearts for man’s best friend. After all, we probably spend more time around them than anybody else. Most of us would say that our dogs are spoiled rotten, that they have lives we could only dream of. But a lot of dogs don’t. That’s where organizations such as the Illinois Birddog Rescue (IBR) step in.

IBR is a 501(c) 3 not-for-profit organization and licensed shelter by the Illinois Department of Agriculture. They are dedicated to saving, transporting, vetting, fostering, and adopting homeless American field-bred pointers and English setters. Since October 2000, IBR has saved 786 dogs and puppies from all over the U.S. from overcrowded shelters and humane societies. The dogs live in foster homes to receive the attention and socialization they have been deprived of. They are taken to the veterinarian for an exam, and many need special drugs or surgerie s due to negligence and tick-borne illnesses. And of course, they are taken out to the field to do what they were bred to do — hunt.

“Through patience, kindness, and commitment, quality and expensive vetting protocols,” says founder Lisa Spakowski. “Many of our dogs regain their confidence in the IBR program and are back working in the field to the joy of their adopters.”

The full article “A Place of Hope” will be posted on Pointing Dog Journal Online in February 2010. But we wanted to get the word out as soon as we could. If you would like to learn more about IBR, please visit www.illinoisbirddogrescue.org or find them on Facebook. You can help their organization by purchasing a 2010 calendar (we have a sample one, and it’s pretty nice) at www.cafepress.com.

End of season hunt

Waterfowl season ended today and we went out for one last goose hunt. Actually depredation light goose hunt begins next month for our area, so I’ll be able to get in some spring hunting this year.

I took Sophie and Dakota and arrived just about when shooting hours began, and about an hour before my hunting partner and his boy got there. As I approached our hunting spot I noticed a large flock of geese on the edge of the ice, but on the opposite side of the river. I decided to leave them and see if they could bring in more. At our hunting area were 4 geese sitting on the ice, but I didn’t see any way of getting close enough for a shot unless I walked upstream some distance and came back through the willows.

I decided to go that route. As I headed upstream and crossed the ice to the island, the geese began heading out to the fields. I could have possibly taken a shot at some passing overhead, but figured that they were out of range. The island comes to a point on both ends and we sat on the upstream point for a bit, but not much was flying.

The island is probably a good half-mile long and we headed back to our hunting spot. We came upon a flock of geese that were in range, and I was hoping to get one or two on the ice, however they flushed and I let them go. First, I would be shooting through some willows and second, any bird I hit would fall into open water – it was deep and swift and didn’t want to put the dogs in danger because it was doubtful that they could have gotten back up on the ice.
Dakota cut one of her pads again – it could have been the same one she scraped last week – and left a little trail of blood throughout the morning. But by the time I reached our blind, my partner and his boy were there with Storm, and had just finished setting up the decoys.

He called geese for the next couple of hours, but few were flying and those that were, were headed to the fields. I did take a shot at a passing greenhead but missed, so we loaded up and headed back. Halfway back to the trucks, his boy came upon a wounded goose and got it. Storm did a good job of retrieving and I didn’t think that Sophie and Dakota would honor his retrieve but they did.

Since I’m making jerky out of the goose I got last week, they gave me that one as well, to make my batch of jerky worth it. I bought several knives from Knives Infinity when I listed them on my blog, and one of those knives was a boning, or fillet, knife. While last week’s goose took over half an hour to pluck and clean, I skinned and deboned today’s goose with the boning knife and it worked real slick, taking me only about 10 minutes total.

I treated Dakota’s scraped pad with a spray to protect it. We only give Sophie Rimadyl when she hunts so last night we gave her one and another one the first thing this morning, and after returning from hunting I gave her an aspirin. The Rimadyl works like a charm and her arthritis doesn’t bother her much at all. We’ve noticed however that since giving her Rimadyl, she refuses to take alfalfa. Her body must be telling her that the two don’t go well together so we don’t force her to take the alfalfa.

First goose hunt

First goose hunt, 1-9-10. Our hunting party

It’s hard to believe that having hunted since I was a kid, I’ve never been goose hunting. Until yesterday, anyway. Last week a co-worker invited me to hunt geese with him this weekend on his property – he owns about 140 acres along the river. So yesterday we scheduled a later afternoon hunt and I came away with my first goose, on my first hunt.

I loaded Sophie and Dakota into the truck and then stopped by the gun shop on the way to pick up a box of titanium BB shot shells. His boy and girl, and one of their friends, wanted in on the action and he needed to get a new license, so I arrived at the location a bit before them.

First goose hunt, 1-9-10. Posing with Sophie and Dakota

Dakota scraped a pad on her front left foot soon after we left the truck and started down to the river, leaving bloody patches on the snow with every step. It didn’t seem to be bothering her and didn’t appear too bad, so we continued on. Other hunters with a large spreads of decoys were on the opposite side of the river, but we would set up far enough away that there wouldn’t be competing for birds.

My hunting host was setting up downriver from where I was wandering around looking for him, and was just finishing up with setting decoys when I joined. He brought his black Lab, Stormy, and the dogs got along like best friends after Sophie introduced herself with a growl. We set up in nearby willows with an hour of hunting left in the day and for the next 45 minutes not a bird to be seen.

With only a few minutes before shooting hours expired, we figured that the hunt was a bust and wandered up the river bank a short distance. The dogs were mesmerized by the water flowing past the ice, and Storm fell in while checking it out. Moments later, Dakota did the same. Neither dog could climb up on the ice and needed to be pulled out.

Just as we started back, the geese becoming arriving, first in scattered flocks and then filling the sky. The hunters upstream from us let loose with several barrages of gunfire before my host could call some in close enough for us to shoot. One of the kids hit a goose and I hit it again as it came over me, but it was tough enough and far enough away to catch up with the flock and continue on.

My guide, as it were, called in a trio of geese but missed his shot, however I dusted it, dropping it out on the ice. Storm and Dakota both checked it out but didn’t retrieve the big bird but Sophie was up to the challenge and brought it in. Although neither Sophie nor Dakota had experienced a bird that big and didn’t know how to handle it, Sophie once again proved that she’s my most reliable dog.

We called in geese for a little while after that and even though we couldn’t shoot because it was after hours, it was quite an experience to watch hundreds of them being called in so close.

Back home it took a good half-hour to pluck and clean the goose, then there was attending to both Dakota and Sophie’s feet – Sophie cut her foot on the ice sometime during the hunt. Her arthritis also began bothering her even though we had given her a Rimadyl that morning, and since 12 hours had passed since her first dose, we gave her another as well as an aspirin.

Indoor training

With the snow, cold temperatures, and the fact that it gets dark early, I’ve been working with the dogs on obedience training in the house. After walking them on the treadmill for about 12 minutes, I work with each dog individually for about 10 minutes by putting the waist cord on them and walking them through the house at “heel”. We also practice “sit” and “stay”, and they’re doing quite well with it.

I found that as an added bonus, it is curing Sophie of her fear of hardwood floors. At first I had to drag her onto the floor, and by calmly keeping her at heel, she doesn’t race ahead or freeze up in panic. After just 2 evenings of obedience training, she can calmly walk across the floor without racing across it or panic at the thought of crossing. I think that by concentrating on heeling, she’s not thinking of the floor and at this rate, should be over her fear of the floor in a couple of weeks.

A futile hunt

I took Sophie and Dakota to do a little hunting on Wednesday after running a few errands. My intention was to hunt grouse in Wolverine Canyon, however a sign at the mouth of the canyon informed me that the road was closed for the winter. So I turned back and decided to go after partridge up Lemhi Road, where I’ve hunted the last couple of times.

The first time I hunted it this year, we ran into a number of coveys and the last time, only one covey. On Wednesday, I never saw so much as a single track in the snow, so they’ve moved out of the country for their winter grounds.

Before going out, we gave Sophie a 12-hour Rimadyl, as soon as we were done hunting I gave her a dose of alfalfa pills, then another Rimadyl that night. She didn’t show any signs of limping, so I think that’ll be my routine with her from now on.