It’s been quite a while since I wrote a post about the pups or about anything. My life is ruled by the dogs and weather. Usually, this time of year we have a rainy spell and I can’t get outside, or don’t, anyway. That’s when I usually write. This has been a really dry spring, for us. Finally, today, it’s raining.
No more lock wing pigeons. Pups are too aggressive.
The raised kennel the puppies are in.
Just puppies playing and having fun.
I have the puppies in a raised kennel. The floor is plastic with holes to allow their waste to drop through. It’s easy to clean and the puppies stay really clean. I let them out to play at least twice a day and most days more than twice. Tomorrow, Friday the twelfth of May, they will be 7 weeks old. At this age I only put their mother in with them a couple of times a day. For about an hour each time. These pups are pretty old to be still nursing but since there are only 3 it doesn’t take much milk, from Sally, to satisfy them.
Yesterday morning was cool and my plan was to work Gus, the stud fee puppy, on some birds in the release traps then walk the 3 young puppies with a bag of birds. Just strolling along and hiding a few birds in the grass for them to find. The night before there was quite a bit of wind and a huge limb off one of the neighbors trees fell. It didn’t hit the pigeon house but it landed close enough I couldn’t get the door open. So I just walked Gus to the back with no birds out and then walked the puppies.
My neighbor is on vacation so I pulled my chain saw out and trimmed away enough limbs I can at least get into the pigeon house. I don’t want him to come home and think I’m cutting down all of his trees. I’ll finish the job when he returns.
Gus is 12 weeks old and really loves birds. He sometimes points and holds for a long time. Usually, I flush the pigeon before he moves if he stands for 30 seconds or longer. If he moves, anything, while he’s on point I flush the bird. If he points with a foot up and lowers it to the ground, I flush the bird. Sometimes, he will rock back a little bit and I flush the bird. I want him to think any movement from him and the bird is gone.
I still stake Gus out. But now I usually have birds out for him when I do. Bodie, who is a first cousin and a half brother to Gus (how’s that for close relatives) learned to sit still while I unhooked him from the stake, quickly. Gus is different. He will sit until I bend over to unhook the chain and he jumps up. I back up and sometimes he will turn his back on me and sit. I wait on him to turn to me. He knows there is birds out and he soon does sit but it still takes a while before he quits jumping.
When I walk him to the back, which is usually twice a day, without birds being hidden for him, he runs but not like he does with birds out. With birds out, even at 12 weeks old or less, he’s fifty yards ahead. Without birds he will occasionally be that far but with birds he is hunting hard.
The puppy I’m keeping.
The wind swirls really bad and he most times will point from a completely different direction than I expect. I like to be with them when they point so if they move I can flush the bird. It won’t be long before I have to follow Gus on the 4-wheeler.
I try to walk the 3 puppies to different areas of my 5 acres. Usually, they come with me unless I get too close to the kennels. They have figured out where their mother is and will quit following and go to her.
Last Sunday we had our monthly brunch for the kids, grandkids and great grandkids. After we ate lunch the puppies were turned loose with all of the people. Everyone loves puppies. Some people don’t like dogs but everyone loves puppies. The puppies got petted, held and ran with. Kids lay on the ground with puppies crawling all over them. In about thirty minutes the puppies were wore out but there were so many people they played longer. When they went back to their kennel I had to carry them. Too tired to walk.
Gus pointing a pigeon.
Yesterday I intended to take the puppies to the back with a bag of birds but the tree against the door of the pigeon house stopped that and it’s raining (maybe misting) today. I will get them out this afternoon or tomorrow.
The first time I took the puppies to the front porch they didn’t understand drop offs. From the side walk to the porch top is about 6 or 7 inches. The puppies had no problem getting onto the porch. Their problem started when they went back to the sidewalk. Each one, when they came to the edge of the porch, expected to walk straight off. The first thing to hit when they came off was their chin for each one of them.
They are smart puppies. They got back on the porch but were more careful when they jumped off. Now it’s no big deal for them but puppies have to learn everything about their world.
Gus on another pigeon.
When I clean pens at the kennel I turn all of the dogs into a big pen. Some of the dogs expect to be petted before they go back into their kennel run. Gus is turned loose with them and he’s a pain to all of the dogs. Bodie and Boss play with him some but he chews on all of them. Most of the time they are okay with him. Bodie and Boss wrestle with him. But when I start putting dogs back in their run he bites them on the butt. Sally and Abby are chow hounds so they go back quickly and Bodie and Mann are pretty quick but Boss used to make me pet him before he would go back. And he controlled how long. Sometimes he wasn’t ready when I quit petting the first time so I petted longer. Now with Gus biting them on the butt Boss is in a mad dash to get into his kennel with Gus right behind him.
Sally, pointing quail.
The 3 puppies in Sally’s litter are doing well and are just over a week from going to their forever homes. They will be 7 weeks old tomorrow, May 12. I’m keeping one and the other two will be picked up on their eighth week birthday. I will only have a short time to get ready for the next litter. Abby is due around the second of June.
To start the year off I had a list of 12 people wanting puppies. When there were only 3 live puppies in Sally’s litter I got really worried that I wouldn’t meet the demand. Plus some of these people had waited for over a year. I didn’t have any puppies last year. When I started calling people about Sally’s 3 pups people started backing out. A couple of them had health problems and several were too busy or their kennel was full.
Mann, the sire of the litter, pointing a covey.
Now I’m starting to worry the other way. I am keeping a puppy from Sally’s litter because this is her last litter. She’s 6 soon to be 7 years old. My vet was upset that I bred her at 6. To keep me from ever breeding her again I will have her spayed when she dries up from this litter. But Abby last time had a large litter, 8 puppies, I think. Now my list is way down and I don’t know how many buyers I have. I don’t take deposits so it’s easy to get off my list. Oh well, it will all work out.