Traveling Pointing Dogs

Working with the older dogs is, mostly, just doing the same things over and over. I have them each retrieve a few times then let them run as I ride the 4-wheeler behind them. This gets them in a little better shape. As hot as it still is I can’t run them long but it’s better than nothing. Abby is a different story. She loves to retrieve a tennis ball but will not pick up a dummy. So I work her on the retrieving bench with several retrieving dummies.

Sally retrieving.

Mann retrieving.

Bodie pointing last quail season.

When I take Abby out to retrieve I throw a tennis ball for her 3 times. She races out to get the tennis ball and rushes right back. I give her a piece of hot dog each time she brings it back to me then I heel her to the retrieving bench. She jumps onto the bench and I give her a piece of hotdog. I pet her for several seconds and sometimes give her another piece of hotdog. Then I whoa her and spread 6 different dummies out on the bench.

I pet her some more then say, “fetch” and walk down the bench. Abby slowly turns and starts slowly moving down the bench. Usually, two of the dummies are dowels with legs to hold them off the bench. She likes these better than the others but must learn to retrieve whatever she is sent after. After I tell her to fetch I hold the button on the transmitter down until she picks up a dummy. If she doesn’t get the dummy before the transmitter shuts off after 8 seconds I raise the level one setting.

As soon as she takes a dummy in her mouth I let off the transmitter. Usually, once she picks the dummy up she will bring it to me at the end of the bench. When I take the dummy I give her a piece of hotdog. This morning I added a Dokken dove dummy to the mix. No matter where I place it on the bench it was the last one to be picked up. Also, most of the time she would stand over it until I moved the transmitter button to level 4. Finally, she would pick it up.

There was a little break through today. The third time through the dummies Abby picked up 4 of the dummies without me having to apply any correction with the e-collar. She wasn’t really rushing to them. Still just barely moving down the bench but for me it felt good for her to get them with no correction.

Gus pointing a pigeon.

When we finish with the dummies on the bench I set her on the ground and say, “whoa”. This morning, when I threw a tennis ball and said, “fetch” she raced out and was almost to the tennis ball when I said, “fetch’. She grabbed the ball but laid down and drug her belly on the ground for a ways. I knelt down, held my hand out with a chunk of hotdog and called her to me. She quit dragging her stomach on the ground and rushed to me. I threw it again and she raced to it and quickly brought it right back. Hopefully, she will start retrieving whatever I send her after, soon. We will keep working on it.

Years ago I had an English setter male named Scamp. (Named by my kids.) Scamp was a good bird dog. Back in those days we just took the dogs hunting and there were enough birds that they learned to be bird dogs. The wild birds taught them to hold on their birds. It never occurred to me to train my dogs to kennel. When it came time to load the dogs in the box to change places or go home I would force them into the box.

Dennis Garrison and I were hunting Jackson County Kansas and either got a limit and were going home fairly early or were changing spots. But whichever, I called Scamp and he went the other way. I followed him and he pointed down a hedge row but I had already put my gun in the truck. When I got to him I flushed his bird then grabbed his chain collar and started to the truck. He twisted around when I got close to the truck and pinched my hand in the chain collar. I wasn’t happy with having to run him down and twisting my hand in the collar made it worse.

Bodie

Dennis was standing by the dog box when I got to the truck. Being aggravated with Scamp I picked him up by the collar with my other hand under his body and had him moving really fast toward the open door to his box. Just before he got to the box Dennis closed the door. Scamp hit that door really hard. Dennis was shocked. He looked at me and said, “I don’t know why I closed that door.” I don’t either but the rest of the year Scamp would try to beat Dennis to the dog box to load up.

Another time hunting in a different part of Kansas we were going through a water way between corn fields. The farmer had mowed the waterway and his brush hog must have been dull. All of the saplings looked like it had bent them over then cut them off. The ends left looked like they had been sharpened. I was worried about the dogs hitting one of these just right and being stabbed. About the time I was thinking about this Scamp came bounding down the hill and jumped a small ditch. And I didn’t see him move.

I thought, “Oh no. He’s landed on one of those saplings and it stabbed him.” I wanted to help him if he wasn’t really bad but I didn’t want to see it if it was really bad. He was 50 or so yards away and I started to him. I got close and saw him crouched down as he landed but he was on point. When I walked in a rooster pheasant flushed. A much better end than I was expecting.

Abby on point.

I had a nice stylish male by the name of Rusty and a friend of a friend had a female that was the daughter of Bozeann’s Mosely. He wanted pups from the female and brought his female over and left it for about a week. This was during the quail season and I was hunting Rusty about every day. Each day I would think that he was too tired to breed that little female but by the time I got in the house and looked out they were hung up.

If I remember correctly that female raised 13 pups and I had the pick of the litter. All of the setters I had up to this time had been white and orange. My son-in-law thought I should get a tri-color. When it came time to make my pick there were plenty to choose from. I got a little tri-colored female and called her Susy.

When the season opened the next year Susy was about 10 or 11 months old and I had run her a few times but only remember getting her into one covey and when she chased that time I shot a 20 gauge while she was chasing. But that was when there were plenty of birds and I knew with her breeding she should make a bird dog.

Boss on point with Abby backing.

Opening morning I turned her loose in north Missouri and she hit the ground running. She could fly. As she came by a small plum thicket she hit the scent of a covey of birds and locked up. I saw a big covey of quail in the air before I could get into gun range. I had been watching her and had not seen her move but she may have. She ran into the plum thicket and was really excited. She ran back and forth. There must have been a lot of scent. I tried to call her away to chase the singles.

She wasn’t leaving the plum thicket. She pointed a time or two then started digging. She must have thought that with that much smell they had to be more under ground. I walked away calling her a couple of times before I got her to quit looking in that plum thicket. Susy turned out to be one of the best bird dogs I’ve had. I only had her until she was about 6 years old.

I was hunting her near Atchison Kansas and there was a bunch hunting about half a mile away. They were doing a lot of shooting and I think she went to them. I lost her about noon and drove all of the roads around looking and listening. She had a beeper collar on. I checked with some farmers that were feeding cattle, some men cutting wood and every house I came by. I drove around until dark without finding her. I left a jacket where I had turned her out.

Mann pointing Abby honoring.

The next day I had to work at the fire department but my son-in-law went up and looked for her. The next day I was back and checked with everyone I could see out doing anything. No one had seen or heard her. I drove and looked until dark. I called a radio station and ran an ad on her. I called all of the veterinary hospitals and offices in the area and left my name. I ran ads in the news paper.

I never heard a thing. The next day I hunted the same property that I had lost her on. I believe, that she went to those guys that were hunting close to me because they were doing a lot of shooting. I think they saw she would point, back and retrieve so when they left they took her with them.

That’s been 25 or more years ago and when I drive by that farm I still look for her. My mind knows she can’t possibly be alive but that doesn’t keep me from looking. After just a few days I was wishing someone would call and say they had my dog and were treating her good. She had my phone numbers on her collar.

Boss pointing a single.

Bodie and Gus have been in Nebraska and South Dakota for a couple of months and I should be getting them back soon. I’m looking forward to that. Gus needs his yard work and probably Bodie should have a tune up on his. I’ll have something to keep me busy until bird season starts.

I have had puppies since March 24 until Monday. The last puppy went to his new home, new owner, in North Carolina. June and I have been wanting to go to the Ark Encounter in Kentucky for a while so we took the puppy and met the new owner in Louisville. It was still a long drive but it was much shorter for the new owner than coming all the way here.

The set up on the retrieving bench.

Abby with a dowel dummy.

Sally waiting for me to take the dummy and give her a treat.

Before we took the puppy to Kentucky the guy that had Boss, Bodie and Gus in South Dakota had called to tell me that Boss wasn’t eating. This was the second time but this time he hadn’t eaten in 3 days. He had a friend leaving his camp that could drop Boss off to me in St. Joseph Missouri. I met the guy. Boss was skinny and when I got him home, I fed him. He ate just fine. Evidently, he was just home sick. He’s cleaned his food dish every day since he came home.

When we got back from Kentucky, I had no puppies and was at a loss for something to do. I decided I would work the grown dogs on retrieving. It seems like the dogs forget or try to make me think they have forgotten. I worked Sally first. I threw a Dokken dove dummy about as far as I could throw. Sally ran out, picked it up and returned. She held it until I could dig a treat out, hold my hand under the dummy and say, “give”.

I threw the dummy 5 times for her and she was perfect each time. She had not forgotten or even tried to make me think she had. It may be that she likes the treats too well. And she doesn’t get a treat if she doesn’t do it perfectly. I put her on whoa, got on the 4-wheeler, started it and put it in gear. I then said, “okay” and she made a couple of laps around the yard with me following on the 4-wheeler.

Mann was next. I work them on retrieving right outside the kennels where the other dogs can see. Sally and Mann are my best retrievers so I work them first just to let the other dogs know it can be done. Some people think, and I don’t disagree, that hearing me praise the other dogs makes the ones not retrieving jealous and causes them to want to retrieve too.

Mann doesn’t really like the treats which are a hot dog cut into about 20 pieces. But he really likes the petting and praise. I threw the same dummy for him that I had for Sally and he retrieved it perfectly and holding until I took it from him. He took the first 2 pieces of hot dog but dropped the next ones. When he had retrieved 5 times I picked up the treats on the ground and fed them to him. He ate them then. I put him on whoa, got on the 4-wheeler, started it and put it in gear. I looked at Mann and said, “okay”. He made a couple of laps around the yard. My yard is about a quarter mile deep so they get a pretty good run.

Abby and Boss I work a little different. I have a stump near the kennels that I make them stand on until I throw a tennis ball. Then they have to go get the ball and jump onto the stump and hold until I say, “give”. Abby really likes to retrieve the ball but she likes the treats better than anything. I told her to get on the stump but she was too excited to stay. She would jump onto the stump and come right back off.

Boss pointing a single.

After several times having her get back on the stump I said, “whoa” as soon as she got on. That stopped her. I threw the ball and she bounded after it. She jumped onto the stump and spat the ball out. I made her get it and she spat it out as soon as she was back on the stump. We went through this 3 or 4 times. Finally, she held it after I said, “hold”, forcefully. I took the ball and gave her a treat.

We went through the same process 4 times. She didn’t get a treat until she did it right. On the fifth throw she never saw the ball. Mainly because she ran in the wrong direction. I had thrown the ball about 45 degrees to my right until the fifth ball and I threw it to my left. When my arm came forward she went right. I walked near it while she looked all around for the ball. She found it and went to the stump jumped on and held the ball until I reached for it. I whoaed her on the stump, got on the 4-wheeler, started it, put it in gear and said, “okay”. She ran a couple of laps around the yard.

Boss was next. Boss doesn’t care about the treats and doesn’t like retrieving. But he does enjoy being petted. I heeled him to the stump and whoaed him when he got on it. I don’t expect him to ever be a good retriever but this gives me an opportunity to have him obey some commands and gives me the chance to pet him a lot.

Bodie honoring Sally.

I whoaed him on the stump and only tossed the tennis ball a short distance. He ran to the ball, scooped it up and came back jumping onto the stump. He held the ball until I reached for it. He dropped it into my hand. I thought, wow. Better than I expected. On his fourth retrieve when he went to pick the ball up I thought he was going to refuse. But he picked it up and came back and jumped onto the stump. He even ate a slice of hot dog with each retrieve. I didn’t want to get in a fight with him so we ended the retrieves at four.

I whoaed him on the stump, got on the 4-wheeler and before I could start it he was running toward the back. I yelled, “whoa” as he came by me and he stopped. I heeled him back to the stump, made him jump on and said, “whoa”. This time he stayed until I got on the 4-wheeler, started it and put it in gear. At my okay he headed to the back.

All of that happened yesterday morning. This morning I wanted to have all of the dogs retrieve to a place board instead of Abby and Boss hopping on the stump. I worked Mann first and he retrieved really well, held the dummy until I took it but wouldn’t get on the place board. After his retrieves I led him onto the board and whoaed him. I got on the 4-wheeler, started it and put it in gear. He took off when I said, “okay”.

Sally on point, Mann closest to the camera, Bodie next to Sally and Abby in the back.

Sally was the same way. She retrieved just fine but wanted no part of the place board. But I started her on it and finished, as I got on the 4-wheeler, with her on it. It may take a little time for them to get used to it.

I brought Abby out and she went right on the place board. I have worked her a lot with place boards. I have been throwing a tennis ball but this morning I threw the Dokken dove dummy. I thought she would pick up anything but that wasn’t the case. She ran to the dummy picked it up, dropped it and came back. I walked her to the dummy and said, “fetch”. She acted as though she had never heard the word before.

I had an electric collar on her but no transmitter with me. I have only been using the bark collar feature on the e-collars. I had started her with the toe pinch and converted her to the e-collar. I squeezed her foot and she took my hand in her mouth but didn’t bite down. Three or four times she took my hand. But never a bite. Finally, she picked up the dove dummy. She didn’t hold it long. I squeezed her foot and she picked it up and held it. I took it and gave her a treat. I made her take it several times from my hand but if I wanted her to pick it up from the ground I had to pinch her foot. I put her back in the kennel.

Vince kicking the birds up for Bodie.

I took Boss to the stump. Nothing new for him today. Four retrieves is about all he is comfortable with. But he is eating the hot dogs so that a break through. I let him run a couple of laps around the yard as I followed on the 4-wheeler.

I came to the house and got the transmitter for Abby’s e-collar. I drank a cup of coffee and thought about what I needed to do. Last year I had worked her on about 8 or 9 different dummies and while she had some that she would rather retrieve she would get them all. I decided to put her back on the retrieving bench with several different dummies.

I took the Dokken quail and the Dokken dove with me to the retrieving bench. I got another 5 dummies and spread them out on the bench. I told her to fetch and she just stood there. I held the button on the transmitter down on level 2. She slowly picked up a dummy. The transmitter shuts off in 6 seconds, maybe 8. But anyway I didn’t want her to learn that if she just waited the transmitter would go off so I started walking down the bench with her.

Bodie with a nose full of quail scent.

She got all of them but then it dawned on me that she had taught me to walk down the bench. She wouldn’t go unless I did. Well that’s not the way to teach them to go get a bird. So I shortened the distance to the dummies. I had one of the Dokken dummies as the first one and she stepped over it to get an easier one. A couple of times I had to turn the transmitter to level 3 but each time I went right back to level 2. She got all of the dummies. I will work her for a while on the bench then we will go to the ground just like we did before.

Last year I should have stayed with several different dummies until she would retrieve whatever I sent her for. But I evidently didn’t do enough so we will start again. I may put Boss back on the bench, too. At least I will have something to work on, on these really hot days.

A friend and I were talking about retrieves the other day and it got me to thinking about some of my old dogs. Some of these, if not all of these, I have written about on the blog before. Like any real good story, they are worth repeating. I have pictures of most of these dogs but not where I can put them on this post but there will be pictures of dogs I still have.

Mann running an edge with a smile on his face.

Abby pointing a chukar.

Bodie pointing.

A lot of years ago I had a grand daughter of Boseann’s Mosely. I had used my male, Rusty, to breed a daughter of Boseann’s Mosely and got pick of the litter. If I remember correctly she raised 13 pups. So I had a bunch to pick from. I had never had a tri-color setter before and wanted to try one. So that was my pick. A beautiful tri-colored female that I named Susie.

Back in those days we just took the young dogs hunting and the wild birds trained them. And Susie was a good one. She started right out holding her birds really well. She covered more ground than anything I had ever had before but once she went on point she would stay, as long as the birds did. She never intentionally flushed birds.

This was long before GPS collars and sometimes she was hard to find but usually was in front of where I saw her last. Sometimes way in front. I never worked with her on retrieving. And she never attempted to retrieve until I knocked a bird down in a deep ravine. She went right over the edge after the quail.

The sides on the ravine were almost straight up and it was really deep. Probably, 30 or 40 feet deep. But when I got to the edge I could see her with the bird in her mouth. Since this was the first bird she had ever tried to retrieve, I didn’t know what she would do. I called her and she started up the side of the ravine. She made it about 2/3 of the way and slid back down.

We moved a short distance and I called her again. She ran at the side of the ravine and got closer but slid back down. I walked back and forth trying to find another less steep place but to no avail. The ravine went as far as I could see both ways. I put my gun down, laid on my belly and called her. She still had the bird as she tried again to get to me. I just barely brushed her head before she slid back down.

Sally

I was hunting by myself and really didn’t want to wind up down in that ravine but I inched as far down as I felt comfortable doing and called her again. This time she got high enough I could just get a finger in her collar and pull her up. She dropped the bird in my hand and went back to hunting like it was no big deal.

Susie’s dad, Rusty, was also a good retriever. I had worked with him on retrieving but he was, mostly, natural. A friend, Kermit Maxwell, and I were hunting south of Nevada Missouri. It had rained the night before and water was standing everywhere. The place we were hunting had some holes scattered through out that were almost like post holes. After the rain they were all full of water.

One of our dogs pointed a covey that got up on the other side of a brush pile. Rusty ran and retrieved the quail I had killed and brought it right back. Kermit said he had dropped one just to the right of the brush pile. We took Rusty to the area and he looked but didn’t immediately come up with anything.

Boss honoring Sally.

I don’t give up easily on birds that are knocked down. Kermit and I were trying to find the bird and Rusty was still looking. I had my back to them, looking at the ground when I heard Kermit laughing and he said, “he got that SOB. It was down at the bottom of one of those holes and he ran his head under water to get it.” Kermit swore his head was so far under that his collar was wet. His collar was wet whether it was from that or not.

Then there was Windypoint’s First Lady. I bought her from a guy in St. Joseph Missouri without knowing anything about her pedigree. She was the best retriever I’ve ever had. She, too, was a natural retriever until she decided to quit. Which was the last day of season her first year. She had retrieved really well all year until the last day. I had had Rusty who retrieved well and Susie that did really well before I got Lady. I liked for my dog to retrieve.

So I force broke Lady. It only took about 2 weeks. I thought there is nothing to teaching a dog to retrieve. I’ve done several since then and none were as easy as she was.

Boss on point with Abby backing.

There are so many stories of her retrieves that I can’t do all of them but here are some favorites. She was fairly young when Don Bowlen and I were hunting north of Abilene Kansas. I knocked a rooster pheasant down and we had several dogs hunting dead when Lady got to us. She came through the area and didn’t even slow down. Went right on through. I told Don that I was going to see what she did.

The other dogs scoured the area and tried to leave but I kept them in. About 5 minutes later Lady came in with the pheasant in her mouth. This was before GPS collars, so I don’t know how far she had to chase it to get it, but she had it.

I had her near Abilene Kansas another time hunting with a friend on his lease with a bunch of guys. They were 6 or 7 of us walking through a corn field when a huge covey of quail flushed. It was at least a 40 yard shot but I knocked one down that fell near a hedge row. The dogs didn’t see it go down and all of the guys were pheasant hunters. They wanted to go on and find some pheasants. I marked the bird as well as I could from the spot I was in.

This is Mann pointing a covey with Abby in the middle and Boss close to the camera, honoring.

We circled this field and a few others and it was getting dusky dark when we got back to the trucks. I put my other dogs up and Lady and I started toward that hedge row to find the quail. There were a couple of guys cleaning birds as we went by I said I’m going to find that quail I knocked down. They laughed and said, “If you find it, we’ll clean it”.

The hedge row was about 300 yards from the trucks and I came in from another direction than where I was when the bird went down. When we got close I said, “hunt dead, hunt dead”. Lady went about 10 yards and picked up that quail. Now that was pure luck. But when I went right back and tossed that quail on the cleaning table and said, “Clean that for me, please”. Those two guys were plenty surprised and impressed.

The only time I made real money on her retrieves was when Vince Dye and I were hunting near Greensburg Kansas. We had turned the dogs loose and were just entering the field when Vince said, “Bet you a quarter for the first rooster”. I was ready for that. We hadn’t gone 200 yards when just as his dog, Roxy, pointed, a rooster pheasant flushed. It never got very high but it came my way. When I shot it hit the ground hard. I just knew I was going to make a quarter off Vince.

Abby pointing another single.

The dogs ran to the area where the pheasant had fallen, but nothing. Vince’s dog Roxy was a really good retriever, too, and we almost never lost a bird. I had a GPS collar on the dogs this time and as Lady came through and after a few seconds was gone, I checked the GPS. She was moving and eventually was over a hundred yards away.

About that time we noticed Roxy on point just a little way away. When we walked in a covey of quail flushed going Vince’s way. He dropped a bird that Roxy saw fall. She scooped it up and as she got close I could see that white head on the rooster quail just shining. Just a few steps before she got to Vince Lady dropped a bedraggled pheasant rooster in my hand. She must have had a time with it. It was dead when she handed it to me but it had no tail feathers and was missing a lot more. But I got my quarter from Vince.

Lady had a rough last year. She lived to be 13 and almost made it to 14. Opening day in Kansas she was attacked by a huge mule deer buck. I wrote about that in October of 2013. If you want to read that just go into the archives and select Oct. 2013. But she healed and I hunted her occasionally. She had a really good tail when she was young but in her old age she couldn’t raise it any more. She was pretty slow too. But she still hunted and when she stopped there were birds in front of her. If her tail wagged the birds were running.

Boss pointing a single.

Her last hunt was near Emporia Kansas. She was in front of me about 50 yards when I saw her go on point. There was a huge plum thicket in front of her. I saw her tail wagging and knew the birds were running. I knew this was, probably, her last hunt and I really wanted one more retrieve from her. But I knew these birds were going to get up out of range on the other end of the huge plum thicket.

The birds, when they flushed, were so far ahead I couldn’t hear them but Lady did. I saw her head come up and she started moving. I looked above the plum thicket and real high one quail came back over me. Lady saw it bounce as it hit the ground and brought it to me. I took it from her and gave her the head. We were close to the truck and I put her up. A good way for a dog to end their career.

Another single with Boss in the back ground.

I should have told about Lady getting the head of most of the birds she ever retrieved. She only got them from the quail. As she got older and slower the other dogs were beating her to the retrieve but she still thought the head was hers even if someone else retrieved. That was just what she charged for a days hunt. And most of the time she got them. I still miss her.