I don’t know why it’s called the dog days of summer. It’s way too hot, even early morning, to work dogs. At 6:00 am this morning it was 78 degrees. I usually wait until it rains, where I can’t get outside, to write on my blog but when it goes over 90 by lunch time that’s good enough. That usually puts me in the house for the afternoon.
Gracie yesterday on a pigeon.
Puppies drinking the formula that I mix for them.
Another shot of them eating.
The puppies are growing and learning to eat or at least to drink the formula I mix up for them. I’m, also, playing the Master’s Voice gun conditioning CD for them twice a day when I give them the milk. They seldom hear the end of the CD. The formula puts them to sleep within minutes of them finishing eating.
Usually, the CD plays through and quits after each track has played. This morning it was still playing when I got down to the shed with their morning food. Supposedly, the Mexicans played the same song over and over for 24 hours before they attacked the Alamo. That must have been what that CD was like for the puppies and Abby. When they went to sleep it was playing, when they woke up it was playing. After they finished their milk this morning, I stopped the CD.
I weigh the puppies each Friday to make sure they are growing and to know how much worm medicine to give them. Some of them are getting out of the whelping box but just into another box about like the whelping box. There is a dog door to go outside in this box. When they get big enough to get outside I will have to move them to the kennels. I can’t take a chance on one or more of them being outside during a rain storm or where a varmint might catch them.
Three guys that have bought dogs from me before have bought the 3 males. One will be going to North Carolina, one to Mississippi and one will be just about a mile from me. I have two of the females sold. One will go near Topeka Kansas and the other to northern Missouri. So that leaves 3 females. The pups will be 4 weeks old tomorrow and are starting to get personalities. They have started playing with each other and not sleeping quite as much as before.
Sunday we will have our monthly brunch for kids, grandkids and great grandkids. They all have to play with the puppies which is good for everyone. Through out the week I have people that stop by to pet the puppies but Sunday there will be enough people to really tire them out. This is good for the pups and the grandkids and great grandkids.
Gracie, the puppy from the previous litter, is still being worked on pigeons in the release traps, occasionally. I walk her to the back every day, and most days morning and evening, but I only put birds out part of the time. This keeps the pups from going on point where I have hidden a bird for them in the past, I think. Gus, Bodie and Boss will be on their way to Nebraska and South Dakota, probably next week. Bodie and Boss have been gone for a month and Gus a couple of weeks.
Gracie in the clump of brush with the pigeon.
I worked Gracie a couple of mornings ago on 4 pigeons in the release traps. While I hid the birds I had her chained to a stake out post. That was the best she’s ever done. I never heard her whine or bark all the time I was hiding the birds. She did try to jump on me when I came to take her off the chain. I just stood back and waited. Soon she stopped jumping around but when I reached for the chain she jumped again. We did that 3 or 4 times and I just stepped back and waited. I didn’t say anything. I just let her figure out what would work. She finally stood without jumping. I took the chain off and petted her. I still didn’t let her move until I was ready.
She saw me get the pigeons out of the coop and ride to the back with them but she still doesn’t expect them to be on the training grounds. In a few weeks she will know the difference. She will be beating me to the bird field but for right now she waits for me.
A lot of times I put the first bird a long way into the bird field but on this day I had it near the front. It was warm and almost no wind but she hit the scent and stopped. She is intense but doesn’t always have style. Usually, her tail is about level with her back but when she’s close and getting a lot of scent her tail comes up. On this point she was a ways from the pigeon and the tail was level. I watched her for a while and she didn’t move. I don’t like to leave them on point real long when they are this young. After 30 to 45 seconds I flushed the bird. She chased but not far.
Another point in the clump of brush.
I had placed the next bird in a place that was holding onto the scent or something. We went completely around the clump it was hid in and she never got a whiff of scent. There was almost no wind. When she was close I flushed the bird and it flew right in front of her. She chased for a long way then came back.
When she got with 15 yards of the next bird she pointed. Again, the tail was straight but about level with her back. I watched her for several seconds, maybe 45, then flushed the pigeon. The bird never even flapped it’s wings. It lit right next to the trap. Gracie moved about 2 steps and went back on point. This clump was thick and some of the stuff had small thorns. I tried to get the pigeon to fly without getting scratched. I took a stick and tried to make the pigeon fly but that didn’t work.
Oh well. I tried to call Gracie away but she wouldn’t come. I went back and carried her about 30 yards and set her on the ground. She went back and pointed the pigeon. I decided that was what I wanted her to do. So I watched and tried unsuccessfully to get it to fly. But when it ran for a ways Gracie would move but point, with a lot of style, when she got close.
Bodie pointing last quail season.
I don’t recall how many points Gracie made on this one pigeon but a lot. Finally, the pigeon was getting tired of this and started moving through the brush. Gracie started trying to catch the pigeon without actually touching it. There was a small tree inside the clump and the pigeon started circling it with Gracie right behind.
Then it moved through the brush and Gracie caught it by using her foot. Then she would let it go and chase some more. She still didn’t want to grab the bird with her mouth. But she was getting more aggressive with her feet. I walked about half way around the clump of brush and when I looked back Gracie had the pigeon by the wing and was looking for me. She had finally picked it up with her mouth.
I called her to me. She had her head as high as she could get it and was dragging the pigeon to me. She was still 20 yards from me when she dropped the wing. Before the pigeon even knew it was loose she grabbed it by the head. I called her and she came right to me. She was really proud of her prize. I petted her until she turned the pigeon loose. I took the bird back to the coop and it’s still alive. In fact she never even hurt it.
Boss on point with Abby backing.
That was really good for Gracie. If she had of went with me when I carried her away she would have missed a lot of good training. It’s not always a bad thing when they catch a bird. She is only 3 months old and this should really help her drive to find birds. And it taught me something. Don’t be in such a hurry.
We got close to the fourth bird and she smelled it from a good distance. But she was still fired up from the last bird and got too close. I was expecting that and flushed this one before she got too close. She chased a short distance and we went back to the kennel.
Sally, Gracie’s mom, is 7 years old this month and my vet wasn’t real happy with me breeding her at 6 years of age. I didn’t think that was too old but after doing some research, he was right. But Sally raised a small litter and seems very healthy. Bird season before last Sally was in heat in November and she couldn’t hunt most of the start of the season. Last season she was in heat in January and I lost her for almost another month. I decided since I wasn’t going to breed her ever again to get her spayed.
Boss pointing a single, with Abby in the center with Bodie closest to the camera, honoring
That happened last Thursday and at the same time I had a hernia fixed on her. My vet had said that it was just fat hanging out when she was young and there was no reason to fix it. I think he’s reluctant to put a dog to sleep unless it’s necessary. I think the hernia spot is more sore than the spaying. The vet tech said to keep her quiet for 5 days and even then not much activity until the stitches are removed at 10 days.
She’s been in a wire cage in my basement for a week now. I could take her back to the kennel but it’s near a hundred degrees and she’s been in an air conditioned place for a week. Tomorrow is supposed to be about the same but then it should cool down. I’ll wait until then to take her back.
Sally is a real easy keeper. I take her out on a leash every 3 or 4 hours for a short walk, during the day. She has never barked or whined wanting out. She is a talker and at the kennel she’s pretty loud but here in the house she talks to me quietly. She even comes to me for her pills although she tries to spit them out. I dropped them as far as possible into her mouth and push them back with my finger then blow in her nose. She swallows them right down.
This is Mann pointing a covey with Abby in the middle and Boss close to the camera, honoring.
I’m hoping there are a lot of wild birds for the three, Boss, Bodie and Gus to work. I’m looking forward to the reports from Nebraska and South Dakota. Nothing makes bird dogs like wild birds.