Friday was Dakota’s turn for some training and I ran the same drills with her that I had run with Sophie, and with similar results. She did well at 20 yards, okay at 30, and lost it at 40 yards; since both her and Sophie had the same problem, it told me that this was a problem I had caused. Namely, 30-40 yards is as far as I throw a bumper so that’s as far they search. Unlike Sophie, who goes into search mode when she has trouble finding the bumper, Dakota goes into panic mode and wildly races about in search of the bumper.
And unlike Sophie, Dakota still had a lot of training left in her so I moved over to an area with less cover and started her on easier marks. My greatest challenge through the session was keeping Dakota from creeping up from her “sit” “stay”. Invariably I had to go back and reset her several times.
Again I started at about 20 yards and increased the distance in 10-yard increments; again, she began running into problems at 30 yards but I was eventually able to get her to stretch out to 50 yards, and she lost it at 60.
Marks with Dakota
June 18, 2013CH Elettra del Subasio
June 16, 2013
Elettra with handler Laura receiving ribbon for Champion title, 6-15-13
In only her fourth dog show, Elettra earned her Champion title on Thursday and then followed it up with a Best-of-Breed on Saturday and a Select on Sunday. It’s hard to believe that the tough little huntress I’ve trained and hunted with for the past year is a show dog, but that she is.
It was an enjoyable weekend that came and went all too quickly but it was fun while it lasted. We had a nice barbecue with friends and opened our back yard to the dogs they were showing, mostly German Wirehairs, to give them some time to run and stretch their legs a bit. Elettra renewed acquaintances with our guys and then it was back to show business.
Overall, Elettra did well and the show champion is back to bird dog boot camp for a bit, then homeward bound. Having said that, apologies in advance to Team Laura for the work that was put into grooming her these past couple of months, because it won’t take many training sessions to undo.
Training Sophie on marking
June 8, 2013
Choco, the neighbor’s Chessie-Blue Heeler pup has adopted Sophie as his mom.
Sophie is my training assistant, mentor to the Spins, and guinea pig for trying out new techniques and routines. So when 2 Brown Dawgs Blog posted a good routine for marking and stretching out retrieves I put Sophie to the test.
Sophie retrieving a 20-yard mark, a Real Bird Bumper from Scott Linden Outdoors.
Approaching 11 years old, Sophie still has the desire of a puppy but a senior body that fails her; five retrieves were enough to tucker her out and after training on marks, I let her cool off in the pond with a couple of water retrieves. Among my standard and Dokken’s bumpers is a Real Bird Bumper from Scott Linden Outdoors which is actually my preference among bumpers, and which I used today.
Each set of retrieves (approximately 20, 30, and 40 yards) was done first to the left where there was less cover, then the right where there is heavy cover. Sophie did very well at marking at both 20 and 30 yards, but the 40-yard mark really threw her. She either wasn’t paying attention or had a memory lapse, because she returned to her 30-yard mark instead of marking the 40-yard bumper.
After some searching and a little casting, to which she didn’t pay real close attention, she found her mark and retrieved the bumper. She told me that was enough by dropping the bumper and sitting down. After training, she slipped into the pond for a little swim so I tossed the bumper for her a couple of times to let her cool off.
Evening training with Mia
June 4, 2013
Mia holding a nice point, 6-4-13.
I haven’t been too consistent with my plans for nightly training, but this evening it was Mia’s turn. I put the e-collar on her but it’s hardly necessary anymore and the only setting I use is “tone”.
I planted both my partridge and a Pheasant for her. She hit on the partridge with a very nice point and when I flushed the bird, it took off running. I sent Mia after it but she didn’t really know what to do with a runner – catch it or point it? It disappeared into some tall grass which allowed Mia to get on it and retrieve.
Mia on point in heavy cover, 6-4-13
After putting the partridge away, we went after the Pheasant. At first, Mia worked her way up the scent cone to get right on top of the bird before going on point, which I didn’t want her to do. I pulled her off the bird and took a long roundabout back to the bird. The moment she caught the bird’s scent, I beeped her with the e-collar and she went on point.
Mia on point, 6-4-13
I flushed the Pheasant for her and she was on it, making a nice retrieve. Unfortunately for the bird, it was a death grip because it didn’t quite survive the retrieve.
Mia retrieves the Pheasant we were working with, 6-4-13
Dry Land Pheasants
June 4, 2013The following is a pass-along email, an excerpt from The Traveling Wingshooter.
Dry Land Pheasants
An excerpt from The Traveling Wingshooter
by Chris Smith
As I write this here in a northern Michigan January, it’s 18 degrees outside with a 20 mph north wind, a foot of snow on the ground, and I’m wondering: How can the ruffed grouse in my ravine make it? If I look out the window, I see nothing that resembles food for the whitetails that live in the swamp at the end of the ravine, but when I get a glimpse of them they look fat if not always happy. Oh, I understand how they can survive, but I still don’t get it. Mother Nature is relentless, yet wildlife endures. I think all of us at some point just shake our heads in wonder at how these creatures we love to hunt can survive and thrive.
And I was wondering that very thing in South Dakota early last December as I watched droves of pheasants pile out of shelterbelts and sloughs into nearby cropped fields of wheat and corn, now mostly flat and barren. My gun was broken open due to a limit of roosters in my game bag as I watched limit after limit boil out of cover for their evening feed. Pheasants are survivors.
I remembered the hot, dry year – severe drought conditions – that South Dakota and so many other pheasant states suffered through and are still suffering through because there is little indication the drought will break. During much of the winter of 2013, this pattern continued. The drought monitor (rating system: abnormally dry; moderate; severe; extreme; exceptional) saw conditions worsen through the Midwest drought zone, with most areas either severe or exceptional. However, early spring snow may have arrived just in time in mid-April to alleviate at least some stress for farmers and wildlife. During storms from April 8-14th, many parts of North and South Dakota received snowfall amounts ranging in inches from the upper teens to upper twenties, causing the drought monitor to upgrade to better parts of both states. The eastern halves of the Dakotas are now dry to moderate, as is most of Minnesota, Montana, and western North Dakota are relatively normal, but western South Dakota ranges from severe to extreme. Most of Nebraska and Kansas are still baked from extreme to exceptional.
The summer of 2012 will go down as one of the worst in history for the Midwest — the Dakotas, Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska, and some others — in terms of lack of rainfall coupled with crippling heat. The Great Lakes states witnessed some of it, but the prairies were hammered. The spring of 2012 looked promising for nesting pheasants, much the opposite from the previous year, 2011, with a winter that was among the most severe on record, resulting in increased mortality, followed by a very wet spring. And the harvest reflected it that fall with a little over 1.5 million birds harvested in 2011, down from over 1.8 million the previous year.
But pheasants are nothing if not tenacious, and with a good early nesting season in 2012, golf ball-sized chicks were reported scooting along the roads and ditches… until the rains ceased and temperatures skyrocketed, that is. According to Travis Runia, South Dakota Game Fish & Parks upland game biologist in Huron, South Dakota, the highest mortality for pheasants occurs in the first two weeks of life. Little or no rain hinders vegetation growth, something hens need for nesting cover. But new and succulent growth also attracts protein-rich insects desperately needed by new broods (from hatch to two weeks) for their muscle and tissue growth in early to mid-June. However, excess moisture coupled with low overnight temperatures in these first two weeks can cause mortality, so it’s a delicate balance of how much moisture they need during that critical time.
The full article “Dry Land Pheasants” by Chris Smith appears in the June/July 2013 issue of The Retriever Journal. If you’re a subscriber, stay tuned! That issue will soon mail.
Family visit
June 1, 2013Friday we went visiting and took Doc along with us, giving him a day to visit mom and brother Spumante. The only real excitement came, not with the dogs, but with an Icelandic horse roundup.
Doc and brother Spumante.
We opened the holding pen to allow them to feed on fresh grass, but limited their time in the pen; since they had been on hay all winter, gorging themselves on fresh grass could bloat them. In fact when I was a kid, our neighbor burst into the house one day asking to borrow our machete; he had a cow that was bloating. We loaned it to him and he rushed back out, whereupon he stabbed the machete into the cow’s side as it lay on the ground moaning. The cow’s stomach contents shot a geyser into the air but it died soon afterwards
So given a taste of fresh grass, the horses weren’t about to leave the holding pen without a fight. One of them, ears down and teeth showing, set to bucking, kicking and snorting. Although I had a healthy respect for its hooves, I wasn’t putting up with it and eventually herded it back into the pasture. Now that they were split up, one in the pasture and one still in the pen, the fun really started. I was doing double duty in trying to herd one from the holding pen to the pasture while at the same time stopping the other on the charges he made to get back in.
Nonetheless I succeeded in getting both back into the pasture, so I guess my experiences in growing up with three donkeys and a mule paid off.
Evening training with Elvis
May 31, 2013After the Mia-Elvis-Dakota birthday dinner Thursday evening, I took Elvis out for some training in the pasture. I it just took a little maturing for Elvis to come around because he’s taking his training a little more seriously nowadays.
Elvis holding a steady point while I snap pictures, 5-30-13.
I had originally planned on letting Elvis hunt the pasture for a bit before bringing him onto the Pheasant but the wind wasn’t cooperating and shifted on me. Elvis hit onto it right after entering the pasture and he struck a nice point, head high, nose into the wind, it was nice to see.
Elvis on point while training, 5-30-13.
I replanted the bird and let Elvis hunt the pasture for a bit, then brought him onto it again. Once again he hit a nice point and did a good job of holding it while I flushed the Pheasant and sent him after it. He’s always been a good natural hunter but had no use for training, however now that he’s developing a desire to train, I can start working on refining those natural abilities of his.
Happy birthday Mia
May 30, 2013
Doc, Mia, Elvis, Sophie, and Dakota await the Okay to dive into their Arby’s.
Evening training with Doc
May 29, 2013Since the days are getting longer, my plan is to work with one of the guys each evening and today I began with Doc. Putting Doc on a waistcord and using a wing-clipped Pheasant, we spent about half-an-hour training. I let Doc hunt the pasture for a bit before bringing him into the bird.
Doc on point, wearing a waistcord. 5-29-13
He did a very nice job of pointing and I let him get on the bird after flushing it, but he wasn’t sure what to do with something as big and strong as a Pheasant. He basically pinned it to the ground and nuzzled it. I then re-planted the Pheasant while Doc checked out other areas of the pasture.
Doc on point, 5-29-13
I brought him back onto the bird again and he hit a very nice point. Again I flushed it and let him chase it down but this time I think he was ready to literally take its head off because it’s head and half the neck was in his mouth. I gave him the “drop it” command and pried his jaws open, extricating the bird with nothing but its ego damaged. Well, strike that as he did injure its wing a little but nothing was broken.
Doc on point. By having to stay on point while I take pictures, they learn to hold their points for an extended period of time.
After putting the Pheasant back into the bird run, I let Doc run the pasture for a few more minutes before calling him in for the night. Tomorrow it’ll be Elvis’ turn, who howled up a storm when I selected Doc instead of him for training.
Doc holding a great point, as steady as a statue.
Ideas for a Memorial Day weekend
May 26, 2013Hope everyone is having a nice Memorial Day weekend but if you haven’t decided what to do, the guys have some ideas.
Have a barbecue.
Ah, barbecued ribs.
Do some outdoor activities.
Mia still searching for the bird nest.
Elvis and Mia search for the bird nest.
Mia searching the tree for a bird nest.
Honor our military personnel.
A salute to our military personnel.
