I changed the name of this post. When I sat down to write this post I wasn’t sure what I was going to write about. For the blog I needed a title so I put Stuff. I was supposed to change it before I published. I was trying to finish this when we got company and so I just published. I didn’t even proof read. I will proof read now.
My puppies, Annie and Stormy, are with the trainer in South Dakota/Nebraska. I just talked to him today and he said they are learning to find wild birds. He said they both were doing well and it was hard to tell which was the best bird finder. They have been there for a month, almost. He said he wasn’t in a big hurry to steady them. Let them learn to be good bird finders, then steady them.
My roading set up for the dogs.
Dogs ready to go.
Sally and Mann being roaded.
That sounds really good to me. If you don’t have a good bird finder, you don’t have much. They did well in the puppy stakes last year and we have high hopes for their derby season. But hearing that they both were really hard working, good bird finders means more to me than field trial trophies.
Having the pups with someone else to work them doesn’t give me anything but the older dogs to work with. I have been roading them some but I haven’t worked them on pigeons for a long time. I want to work them up to about an hour on the roading. Most of the mornings so far, the temperature has been close to 80 degrees. The longest I have roaded them was about 25 minutes.
I haven’t roaded dogs for several years and maybe never with this bunch I have now. I started with Bodie, Sally, Abby, Boss and Mann. With 5 dogs and only 4 roading harnesses I rested one each day. I sold Bodie Saturday, so this morning I didn’t have anyone resting.
I have a 1 1/4 inch square stock running out the front on each side of my 4-wheeler. I have two harnesses connected to the square stock on each side. So far the only place I have to road them is my yard. When the weather cools down a little and they can run longer, I will start putting some major ruts in my yard. I need to find another place. A gravel road would be ideal. The police in this area would, probably, give me a ticket for driving my 4-wheeler on the road.
My grandson lives in a county east of me that isn’t as populated as mine. He said that a lot of people drive their 4-wheelers and side by sides on the road. I went with him to look at some acreage he is interested in and before we got out of our trucks a friend of his stopped to talk in a side by side. It’s a little bit of a drive but it’s a good way to get them in shape. I don’t have enough places to work them on birds to get them in shape.
Boss and Abby being roaded.
I thought that it would take a while for the dogs to get used to roading but they acted as if they had been doing it for years. It’s down hill toward the back then levels out. When the dogs are fresh, basically the first round, when we hit the level ground they are pulling the 4-wheeler. No throttle needed. My place is about a quarter mile from front to back so we have to make several rounds.
I have to keep watch on them pretty close. The inside dogs are pretty close to the front wheels and when I turn at each end I really have to watch. Bird dogs, sometimes, seem to try to get hurt. So far I’ve had no problems, knock on wood.
GPS showing how far and how fast we roaded.
Sally is lazy in her kennel. She doesn’t pace like most of the other dogs, although she’s not lazy in the field. I have worked her most of the time with the other dogs. About half way through this mornings work out, she decided it was fun. Or at least that she liked it. Some of the time when we were coming up the hill she would let the harness help he. About half way through this morning she was pulling. Her tail was up and she was leaning into the breast pad. She may get in shape too.
I roaded the dogs this morning and put a GPS collar on Mann to see how far they were being roaded and how fast. According to my stop watch, we roaded for 33 minutes. The GPS handheld showed almost 5 miles and an average of just over 10 miles per hour. On the flat ground and early in the run they pull the 4-wheeler, pretty fast. I really need a bigger place to run them. With just a long narrow 5 acres I’m killing the grass where I continually drive in the same spot.
Stormy pointing a pigeon.
If anyone knows where there is a long gravel road without many houses within 50 miles of Independence Missouri, let me know. It also needs to be in an area that doesn’t give tickets for riding a 4-wheeler on the road. I will be looking this weekend on my on. One of the levies along the Missouri river would be ideal. We used to drive on them but now most are fenced off.