New Puppies

Posted on March 23, 2025 by windypointsj1s@aol.com

A couple of years ago I had a litter of puppies out of Abby and Mann. The guys that hunted them told other people about them and there was quite a bit of interest in another litter from them. I had 7 people on my list for a puppy before she was bred. Like watching a pot of water boil, waiting for her to come in season was a long wait. A lot of dogs are real consistent on their heat cycles. Every 6 months, regular as clock work. Not Abby. I write down each heat cycle and it was about 7 1/2 months.

The group shot before I separated for pictures.

White and orange male.

Tricolor male.

Usually, the 12th day is the typical breeding day but not for Abby. I started putting Mann in her kennel on the eleventh day (just to be safe and not miss her) and she would have nothing to do with him. On her fourteenth day I took her to the vet and he did a progesterone test and said it was still a little early. We got to the 17th day and she still wouldn’t stand for him so I took her to the vet. He checked her and said maybe a day early but we would do an artificial insemination.

That afternoon she still wouldn’t stand for him. The next morning I took her back and she was artificially inseminated, again. The vet and I both felt really good about this breeding. I still put them together for a couple of days without a natural breeding. I still felt good about the artificial inseminations.

A few days later the weather forecast was for really cold weather. Our area was supposed to get to a negative 8. I have really good dog houses with lots of hay but I always worry about the dogs. On the really cold nights I put the dogs in their dog boxes on the truck and park it in the garage. The garage is attached to the house. It isn’t heated but it never gets below freezing. Probably, this is more for me than the dogs. I feel better about them.

On this occasion I pulled the truck to the lower drive and turned all of the dogs loose. They always run to the truck and are waiting for me to load them. I got to the truck and loaded Sally and Mann and looked for Boss and Abby. On the 22nd day of her heat cycle and 30 seconds after turning them loose, they were hung up. Now with them like this I had to stand in the zero weather for 20 minutes until they were no longer hung up.

Most heat cycles are 21 days. Or at least that’s what I thought. I did have one stand for a male on her 22nd day but she didn’t get pregnant. After talking to other dog people I found out that’s not always the case. Then I got worried about having a litter out of two different males. How will I know which is from which male.

Little female.

I decided if the litter was born 60 to 63 days from the artificial insemination they would all probably be Mann’s. If they were born 63 days or so from Boss’s breeding maybe they would be his. Only a DNA test would tell for sure.

My vet had told me a long time ago that there were as many born on the 60th day as there were on 63 days, so I put her in the shed on her 59th day with a camera on her. Once the females go in the shed I wake up several times a night to check them. The closer to their due date the more times I wake up. By her 63rd night I was waking up 6 or 8 times a night. With the camera I could just check it and go back to sleep.

But nothing happened on the 63rd night. Not the 64. Not even the 65th or 66th or the 67th. The 67th would have been 63 days from Boss’s breeding. On the 68th day about 8:00 pm she started panting. Usually, 2 or 3 hours later puppies will be born. I checked her several times before bed time and nothing was happening. I just knew that I wasn’t going to get much sleep that night but I went to bed at my regular time.

White and orange female.

It seemed like I woke up every fifteen minutes all night. Every time she was panting but not delivering any puppies. It’s about 100 yards to my shed and about 2:00 am I walked down there. Abby didn’t seem to be in a lot of stress but I know how tough bird dogs are. I was up early and I took her to my vet’s office.

I got there about 30 minutes before he got to work. I was out of my truck, waiting when he came to work. I’ve used this vet’s office for more than 50 years. He asked what was going on. When I told him the long version of Abby’s ordeal he said, “Sounds like we need to do a C section”. I said, “How about if we give her a shot of oxytocin and watch her for an hour or so and see what happens.” He thought that was a good idea.

Tricolor female.

So he gave her a shot and I left her with him. About an hour later he called. He said, “we have two puppies on the ground but she would be more comfortable at home. Come get her”. So I picked her up and brought her home. He gave me 3 syringes with oxytocin in them and said if she hasn’t had another puppy in an hour give her a shot. I watched her for a little longer than an hour before I gave her the shot.

An hour and a half later she still hadn’t had another puppy. So I took her back to the vet’s office. I dropped Abby off for a C section. I had some errands to run and I had 2 puppies with me every where I went.

A couple of hours later the vet called and said we had 4 healthy puppies but there were two dead ones. The dead puppies had been dead for a while and one was folded up in the birth canal. That’s the reason she couldn’t have them. If she would have had the puppies at home one of the dead puppies may have been left inside her and she would have died. With the C section they were able to clean her out and she recovered quickly.

The other tricolor female.

One of the puppies was about half the size of the others. My vet thought that may have been from the time she was bred by Boss. That puppy may have been from an egg not fertilized by Mann and was 4 or more days younger than the other puppies, who may have been late being born.

Usually, if you have trouble with puppies it’s in the first three days. All of the puppies were doing good so I got on the chat line with United Kennel Club and told them my story. I wanted kits to DNA all of the puppies so we would know. Also, the litter can’t be registered until we determine who the father or fathers is.

Group picture after the separation.

They promptly sent the kits and I filled them out that day and sent them back. Now hopefully, they will be quick about getting the puppies sire determined and I can get the litter registered. Sometimes having a litter of puppies is quick and easy, sometimes it’s not.

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Running Dogs

Posted on March 6, 2025 by windypointsj1s@aol.com

Vince Dye and I ran the dogs in north central Missouri, a few days ago. With Vince and me it’s hard to know whether it’s more about the dogs or more about the good breakfast on the way. It’s hard to tell but they both are important. We stopped in down town Lawson Missouri for breakfast. I don’t remember the name of the cafe but Lawson isn’t very big. Should only be one down town and it was good.

Bodie pointing a covey.

Boss and Mann with a divided find.

Abby pointing a covey.

Vince has several places in this area to hunt but the place we were going to he had hunted twice during the season. One time he found 11 coveys and the other he found 10. Just running dogs we probably wouldn’t hunt it as close as we would hunting but it is a great place to run dogs.

Another reason we are checking this place, we have had two big storms. Once about a foot of snow and the other almost as much with super cold weather. One night it got down to minus 8 at my house and this is 50 miles farther north. So the weather could have devastated the birds.

We stopped by the owners house to make sure it was okay then drove to the farm. This friend of Vince’s has several places. After putting GPS and e-collars on the dogs, Sally, Boss, Mann, Abby and Bodie, we turned them loose. They didn’t go a hundred yards until Mann and Boss were on point, side by side. As we got closer Bodie pointed, looking into a plum thicket.

I could see Bodie real well but Mann and Boss were buried in the tall grass, side by side. Sharing a find. When I got closer I saw Abby on the other side of Mann and Boss. She was not honoring she was pointing into the plum thicket, too. When I looked back, I think, only Sally was honoring.

I took pictures then we walked in without flushing a bird. But I think they either ran from the dogs or flushed while we were putting the collars on the dogs. There was too much scent for there not being any birds. I think 4 of the dogs were pointing the same scent in different spots.

Sally honoring.

We went on around. It was a warm day and the dogs hadn’t been out of their pens since the middle of January. The were out of shape. I saw a pond and we went toward it. Before we got there Abby pointed, standing on the dam with Mann right behind her, honoring. By the time we got close the other dogs were backing.

Since we weren’t hunting Vince didn’t come on up. I tried to kick the cover in front of Abby on the down side of the dam and there was some brush hidden in the tall grass. I got my feet tangled in it and down I went. The dogs went through the cover pointing and moving. All 5 made points but we never saw a bird.

I got all of the dogs to water in the pond and we went on around. Just a little farther Sally went on point. Then Boss was close either honoring or on point, according to the GPS. Vince started around a clump of brush about 40 yards from me and walked into a big covey of quail. Neither of us had seen the dogs but they were close.

Mann honoring Abby. Abby isn’t black. She rolled in a muddy pond.

I kept watching the GPS. Neither of the dogs had moved. They were just about 40 feet from me but in the brush and tall weeds. I still couldn’t see them. I went through some brush and about 35 yards away I saw 7 or 8 quail flush. There were probably more on the other side. A few seconds later Sally came by, trailing.

I think both of these coveys were close together and when they detected either us or the dogs they started running. Had Vince stayed with me we wouldn’t have seen the first covey. If I had been back just a little farther I wouldn’t have seen the birds I saw. We were close to the property line and both coveys flew off the farm we were hunting.

We went on around an edge. The GPS showed Sally on point ahead of us. When we got close she was pointing into a thicket, then moved into the woods and pointed again. We started in and saw one quail flush about 40 yards down in the timber and heard some others. As I was standing, watching, Bodie came in front of me and pointed into a small brush pile. He only stood for about 15 seconds then started trailing.

Boss and Mann honoring Abby.

It was a warm day and with the dogs being out of shape we headed back to the truck. Actually, Vince and I aren’t in top shape either but like to blame it on the dogs being out of shape. We did see 3 coveys or we think we did and I believe 2 more ran away from the dogs that we didn’t see. A friend was hunting some pen reared birds 75 miles or so away and said they were all runners, too. Would pen reared birds and wild birds have the same traits. I don’t know but if wild birds last until late February they are smart. Maybe survivor is a better word.

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Field Trials For The Puppies

Posted on February 23, 2025 by windypointsj1s@aol.com

Over the years, I have competed in several different kinds of field trials without really getting hooked on it. But when I heard a field trialing friend was going to run his dogs on a lease in Oklahoma where they were averaging 22 coveys a day, I sent him my puppies, Stormy and Annie. He convinced me to let him run them in some field trials. So far Stormy has placed a third and a second out of the 4 trials she has run in. Annie has made some good runs but hasn’t placed yet.

Annie at Grove Springs break away.

Some of the horses.

Annie pointing an armadillo.

It has been brought to my attention that not everyone is okay with me putting their name in my blog. That really came as a surprise to me. I never put anything in my blog that I think will hurt anyone. There may be a lot of reasons for people to feel this way but from now on I won’t name names unless I have their permission.

When I heard that Annie and Stormy would be running at Grove Springs Missouri I wanted to see them. I hadn’t seen them since November 22. There were a lot of puppies running in their class. Annie was in brace 11 and Stormy in brace 14. It’s about a 3 1/2 hour drive for me. I knew it would be late in the day before they ran but I wanted to see some of their competition. I set the alarm to get up about 4 am so I could be on the road by 5:00. I must have really wanted to see the pups. I woke up at 2:00 am and could not go back to sleep. I was on the road by 4:30.

I took Thomas, Stormy’s litter mate, that I had been working. I wanted to get him with someone that would work with him. I have too many dogs, if that’s really a thing. He made the fourth male and with the two puppies I have 4 females. I need to get rid of one more male. So next week I will try to sell Bodie. I hate to do it. He has become a great bird dog but I need the room in my kennels. That will get me down to 6 adult dogs, counting Annie and Stormy as adults. That’s how many runs I have in my kennel.

The last part of my drive to Grovesprings was in a light mist. As the day went along the mist got heavier. At noon some of the people were thinking that they would not be able to run that many braces on Saturday. They were thinking maybe a couple of braces on Sunday. That meant I would see Annie but maybe not Stormy.

Stormy in the woods.

I rode in the dog wagon part of the time and we saw some of the braces run. Some of the time I rode with the handler that has the puppies but we stayed on the road but got to see a lot of the puppies.

Finally, it was Annie’s turn to run. Her brace mate was a young pointer. At the breakaway Annie started like she knew what she was doing, after going by a couple of people in the gallery and saying, “Hello”. But she was fast and to the front as she should have been. Her brace mate kept trying to go the wrong way so his handler picked him up. Annie had the course to herself.

Judges and scouts.

She ran good but she is still a puppy. There was something that she thought she should roll in and she spent a minute or so getting the smell or whatever on. There was a terrace along a hillside with some trees. A good place for some quail and she found some. She came on through and was hunting well. Right near the end of the course and of her time she was on point. She was a couple of hundred yards from us but the handler said she was pointing an Armadillo. He said she had found 3 bunches of quail and the Armadillo. Not bad for 30 minutes. I was really pleased with the way she ran. Her handler said it was the best she had run since he had her.

He says that Annie thinks too much. That the first time she does anything she thinks it out. He says Stormy just reacts. No thinking but she is pretty much a natural. The time she won second she had 3 finds and a back. Neither he nor I have worked her on honoring. She just knows to honor.

The mist was getting heavier. Now it was a light rain but they thought they would be able to get all of the braces run. That would allow me to see both pups run.

Stormy?

It was nearly dark when they let the last brace go. Stormy was paired with a male setter. Stormy got into some quail from the get go. She was almost where Annie had pointed the Armadillo. Stormy decided she could find birds in the brush alongside the course and she was really digging in. The handler was trying to get her to come on down the course but Stormy knew better. There were birds right here.

Finally he got her across the road into the next part of the course but the next time she hit a good area for quail she went to checking every blade of grass. The handler was trying to get her out of the brush and on down the course. Finally the handler was in the brush trying to get her out and one of the scouts was off her horse helping. One of the judges stayed until time expired then he rode on. The handler and scout were trying to get her out. I was riding in a side by side with a couple of guys and she came out right in front of the side by side.

Before I could do anything she picked up a dead quail and ran past the handler to the scout about another 50 yards. The scout knelt down and Stormy took the quail to her. She grabbed her and we were able to go in.

Another picture from the trial.

By the time we got back it was dark or nearly so. The handler and I didn’t think either of them would place so I jumped in my truck and headed home. On the way he called me and said the judges wanted me to know, that Annie had done a nice job and they had her at sixth place. That’s not bad out of 28 dogs. This was the fourth trial these pups had been in and some of these puppies have been running all year. And these two are among the youngest.

I enjoyed the day and met a lot of new people that enjoyed bird dogs, just like I do. There are a few more trials before the season ends and I will leave the puppies with him. I hope to watch them run another time or two.

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Oklahoma Trip, Day 2 And 3

Posted on February 3, 2025 by windypointsj1s@aol.com

A lot of workers staying in all of the motels close to the places I wanted to bird hunt. This wasn’t a problem other than I had to park the truck, with the dogs in their boxes, farther than I would like from the motel. When I come out first thing of the morning, to let the dogs out, I’m surprised when my truck is still there. Well not really but it is a concern when I have to walk a long way.

No snow in this picture.

Another picture of the area I was hunting.

The sun shining on my Webley & Scott 20 gauge made the engraving look good.

I didn’t take a lot of pictures on this trip so I have to re-use the ones I did take. Daylight comes a little later here than at home, so I drove in on the next place I wanted to hunt. I drove around for a while and saw some areas that I haven’t seen before. Normally, quail aren’t early risers or not much to move around real early. About an hour after sunrise I turned the dogs loose.

The first time I hunted this place I saw 3 coveys in about a half mile walk. Sally was just about 7 or 8 months old and she pointed her first wild quail here. It didn’t happen that way this time. We hunted to the north to the boundary line then turned east. About a quarter mile to the east I saw Sally crossing in front of me. She whirled around and pointed. About 15 or 20 yards ahead of her a quail flushed. Then 2 more, another one and then 2 more. Maybe 6 birds in this bunch and she wasn’t too close. They must have seen lots of hunters.

I got the dogs in and checked the area but we never came up with any others. We turned back to the south and hunted back to the truck without seeing any other birds. I loaded the dogs and we drove farther into the large state owned grounds. Someone was parked where I wanted to make the next hunt, so I drove farther. I found a road that I had never noticed before and drove to a piece I had never hunted before.

This place is huge with some really big canyons. The two tracks to drive in on are not the best and once I dropped both tires on the passenger side in some deep holes. But I turned the dogs out in a pretty place to run dogs. I could see them at 3 or 400 yards. This is western Oklahoma and there is very little water anywhere. With the snow just having melted I was expecting puddles but they were few and far between.

I had parked on a hill and walked down into one of the large canyons. The dogs were running along a dry creek where there was some small trees growing. I heard a covey of quail flush but none of the dogs seemed excited. I never saw it but I think it may have flushed near Thomas. He hasn’t been around enough wild birds to know the sound. Any of the others would have chased.

Sally pointing a single.

When we got back to the truck we started driving out. The guy that had parked where I had wanted to hunt was at his car when I came by. I talked to him for a few minutes and he had found two coveys. His had acted better than mine had. I should have turned out there early instead of hitting the first spot.

It was early afternoon but I hadn’t been paying any attention to how many miles since I had changed oil in my truck and the warning came on telling me to change, on the way out. I went in early to a quick lube place and had the oil changed. The dogs are in good shape so I will hunt until about noon tomorrow then head back home.

The next morning I headed back to near where I had hunted the first day. There appeared to be more cows where I had seen two of the coveys the first day so I drove to another place. This place was 160 acres and I drove in close to a wind mill. Sometimes quail are around these but it also gives the dogs a chance to quench their thirst.

Mann honoring Sally.

We made a large circle up past a food plot to the end of the place then to the west and back south. I worked the dogs in a big circle around the wind mill but we never came up with anything. When we got back to the truck I loaded the dogs, all except Thomas. He doesn’t like to ride and he wasn’t tired. He stayed away from the truck. I was about a quarter mile from the road so I thought if I would drive back to the road he would come to me, maybe.

I watched Thomas to make sure he was following but when I got close to the road he passed me. There is hardly any traffic on the road so I just followed along behind him. I thought he would tire quickly. The first half mile he was going 16 mph. Then just across a fence line a bunch of snow geese flushed and that really fired him up. A highway was about a half mile ahead of us so I turned around. He got in front of me again.

Quail were running and I couldn’t get very close.

After just a little way he thought he was supposed to stay in front of the truck, I think. When I came to a cross road, if I turned he went with me. If I went straight, he went straight. Some of the time he ran in the road and sometime he ran inside the fence line. I turned up the road where I had fed them the first day after hunting and he went into the field. I stopped in the middle of the road thinking he would come to me, maybe. About that time a farmer came over the hill in his truck and I had the road blocked. He stopped and Thomas came right to him. I asked him to step on the check cord. Finally, I was able to load him.

I talked to the farmer for a little while. He had a cow get out and he had just put it back in. After he left I drove back the way Thomas had run to check the distance. He had started at 16 mph but after a while settled in to run at 10 to 12 mph. According to the odometer, after hunting for about an hour and a half, he had run 5.6 miles along the road. And at the next stop I hunted him about 2 more hours. He’s tough.

Thomas is new puppy on this handheld.

The next place had a lot of the shinnery oak. We were just a short distance from the truck when the GPS vibrated. It showed Sally on point about 50 yards from me. I started toward her through the tall shinnery. I was about as quiet as a large bull in a crowded China shop. I was close to her when I heard the quail start flushing. I only saw one bird and it was a long way out.

I had read that quail wouldn’t use shinnery oak when the patches were bigger than 5 acres. Whoever wrote that article has never hunted quail in shinnery. Right after I read that my cousin and I were hunting in about 50 or 60 acre patch of it. Just after I told him what I had read all of the dogs went on point and a huge covey ran and flushed, a long way in front of us. We watched them fly down a hill and hook to the left to set down in the same shinnery oak.

I had just started so there was nothing to do but keep on busting through the shinnery. As we got close to the road I saw Boss trailing. I stopped to watch him. I stood there without moving for maybe a minute or two. Just as I took a step a quail flushed from behind me. I think it had run from the dogs and when it saw me it flushed. I may have scared it with a shot but when they get up behind me they are pretty safe.

Boss pointing a single.

But when I shot the dogs came in to look for a dead bird. Well Boss, Sally and Abby did. Thomas came in because everyone else did. The dogs were really working the short shinnery. We had moved away from the taller stuff. Boss went on point just a short distance from me. I took a couple of steps and a quail flushed right in front of him. This bird flushed in shinnery oak that was about knee high and had no where to hide. Boss saw it fall and although he doesn’t really retrieve he picked this one up and started toward me. I waited but he laid it down but stood over the top of it. I went to him and petted him before picking up the bird.

We hunted on back to the truck and I loaded the dogs. Well everyone except Thomas. I started walking away from the truck and Thomas came with me. I came close and I tried to step on his check cord but my foot came down with the check cord in the hole between the sole and heel. He didn’t even slow down.

Abby pointing wild quail.

We went a little farther and he came close again. This time I stopped him and took him to the truck. When I did get him to the truck he jumped on the tail gate and walked right into his box. One of the reasons for these wild bird hunts is to see what your dog needs work on. Thomas will get a lot of training on the “here” command.

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