Traveling Pointing Dogs

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.

The latest litter, from Abby and Mann, are doing fine. Abby is a good mother and the puppies are growing fast. But they should be. I’m feeding Abby 4 cups of dry dog food of the morning and 4 cups each evening. I don’t know how many calories that is but the pups are staying fat and Abby looks good. That may be more than she needs but as long as she’s feeding this litter I will keep giving her as much as she will eat. There are only 3 females left to sell.

Puppies in their whelping box.

Puppies with their new collars.

Puppies in the grass.

I have been working Gus and Gracie on pigeons, in the release traps. Both of them were doing really well but Gus was getting too fast for me. He really likes the pigeons and when I released him at the kennel he would beat me to the first bird. With him way ahead, when he found the bird, I had no way of knowing whether he was creeping or running around the trap or what, before I got there. So I started putting him on a leash.

Now these dogs are smart enough to hunt harder when I have birds out than when I don’t. I walk them through the bird field maybe 3 times to every time I have birds out. Walking them through the bird field with no birds out makes them hammer the birds when they’re out and keeps them from being so sticky.

The leash worked well for a few trips. To make the dogs really have to use their nose I sometimes put 1 trap on my side and 3 on my neighbor’s side or vice versa. Anything to change it where they have to find the bird. If they point where I had a bird last week or whatever, I just keep walking. I do sometimes tell them, “you’re not smelling a bird. You may as well come on.”

Then Gus, when I unsnapped the leash might point one on my side or even go to the neighbor’s side and I would have to hunt for him. Most of the time when I found him he would be on point but I was back to not knowing whether he had moved before I saw him. The way I work these pups is, they point and I flush the bird at their first movement. But if he’s way ahead of me I don’t know whether he’s moved or not.

The first of June I had taken Boss and Bodie to a guy that was going to northern Nebraska and South Dakota. He will run them from a horse on wild birds. Last year he had a lot of prairie grouse to work the dogs on. I thought that would be good for Boss and Bodie.

I could have maybe kept up with Gus on the 4-wheeler but I called my man that had Boss and Bodie to see if he had room for one more. And he did. So, hopefully, he will be able to keep up with him and get him into a lot of wild birds. The wild birds will not sit for a lot of movement.

Gracie, straight tail but level with her back.

That’s the way we used to train dogs. Just take them hunting and they would chase for a while then start pointing. If they moved the birds flushed. The dogs would rather point than chase so they learned to hold point. That’s the way I try to make the pigeons, in the release trap, work. When the dog points I flush the pigeon at their first movement. If they point with a raised foot, even if they ease the foot to the ground, I flush the bird when the foot touches. I want them to learn that any movement on their part and the bird is gone.

I still have Gracie to work on the pigeons. She hasn’t figured out when I have birds out and when we are just going for a walk. I walk her most mornings and most evenings. I started her by carrying a bag of birds and hiding one in the strips of grass that I have left on both sides of the training grounds. After a few trips like that I introduced her to the release traps.

Gracie, a little better.

To do that I took a bag of birds and placed a release trap about 10 yards from her. I teased her with a bird until she became excited and I let the pigeon fly away. After a couple of pigeons I let her watch me place a pigeon in the release trap and I let another pigeon fly from my hand. While she was watching it I flushed one from the release trap. The trap didn’t bother her so I moved it closer. I kept flushing one from my hand then one from the release trap.

Only when I was sure the release traps didn’t bother her at all did I hide some birds, in the release traps, on the training grounds. For most dogs this may not be necessary but if you’re wrong on your dog it’s much harder to cure them of trap shyness than it is to start them right.

Gus pointing a pigeon.

I have only worked Gracie a few times on birds in the release traps so she hasn’t figured out when I have birds hidden and when I haven’t. But it won’t be long. This morning I hid 4 birds and came back and turned Gracie loose. She checked all of her favorite places on the way down. She was probably behind me as much as she was ahead. I have a burn pile just at the edge of the training grounds and as we passed the burn pile she found a stick to carry.

There was a bird hidden not far from the burn pile. As she ran in front of me, with the stick in her mouth, she hit the scent cone. I wish I had been videoing. She hit the scent cone, from about 10 yards away, and whirled into a point. Her tail was straight and rigid but was level with her back. I watched her for about thirty seconds and she didn’t move. I flushed the pigeon. I don’t like to have them point too long. She’s just a few days over 11 weeks old.

Miss Gracie.

When we got close to the next pigeon, I had hidden one in a grass strip, she was way off, maybe 15 yards, when she pointed. She was just barely getting the scent and wasn’t very intense but she knew where the bird was. She had a foot up and as I watched she started lowering the foot. The moment it touched the ground I flushed the pigeon. She’s too young to chase much but she tries.

The third bird she looked good on. She was closer when she hit the scent cone and her tail was up some. About 10:00 o’clock. I don’t try to brush their tail up at this age. Delmar Smith says, and I believe, that the parents put the tail where it will be. Anyway, so far she has a straight tail, and I think it will come up as she gets more used to pointing birds. She didn’t move for a long time, 45 seconds or more, so I flushed the pigeon.

The fourth bird, she pointed from a long distance. Her style wasn’t great but she was opening and closing her mouth. What I call chewing the scent so I knew she had it. She also was looking right where the bird was. There was no doubt for either of us. I flushed the pigeon after about 30 seconds. A young bird flew into a tree right above the trap. She pointed with more style because she could see this bird. We went to the shed.

Bodie on point.

When we get to the shed I put a check cord on her and grab a small retrieving dummy. This morning she grabbed the dummy before I got the check cord. I carried the check cord to my chair in the shade. I called her to me and put the check cord on her and petted her until she dropped the dummy. I was using a paint roller cover but her and Gus both seemed to like the dummy better. I tossed the dummy about 10 feet away. She is really quick to grab the dummy and most of the time returns to me but sometimes I have to call her as I pull on the check cord. I only throw the dummy 3 times. I want to leave her wanting more. But I do the 3 times both morning and evening.

As warm as it is now she is thirsty when we get to the kennel and ready to go back in her kennel, most of the time. I think this helps teach the kennel command. Each time as she goes through the gate I say, “kennel”.

Bodie honoring.

I really enjoy having the puppies point the pigeons. Although I miss Gus, I think he’s in a better place to learn to be a bird dog. And having Gracie to work with will keep me walking around and I will have one puppy to work with.

We had 3 survivors in Sally and Mann’s litter and I kept the left over female. I could not see any difference in the three pups other than color. The first pup picked went to Nebraska to a hunting home and the second went home with Don and Linda Hansen. Since we hunt together I will be able to keep a close eye on her. So the remaining puppy is still here and I’m working her occasionally on pigeons hidden in the grass. This will be the last litter out of Sally and I wanted to keep a female.

Miss Gracie.

Gus pointing a pigeon.

Gracie finding the dog food I threw in the grass.

My vet wasn’t happy that I had bred Sally at 6 years old. His advice was to quit breeding them at 5 years old. But by the time he told me this she was already pregnant. So to keep me, in a weak moment, from breeding her again I will have her spayed in a few weeks. Sally and Mann have been really good dogs so I thought, although Boss is out of their breeding, I should have a female.

Now to the new litter. Mann is the sire of this one and the dam is Abby. I put Abby in my shed with a dog door to my big pen. The shed is about a hundred yards from the house and usually before I would get up 2 or 3 times each night and walk down there to check the females. The last few litters I have used one of my security cameras. With it I can just check the camera, on my cell phone, without even getting up and go right back to sleep.

In fact when Sally had her litter I was 10 miles away working on my duplex. Occasionally, I would check my phone and when she had a puppy I could her it squealing. I left the duplex to be with them.

The night that Abby had her litter June and I went to eat with our son and his wife. We sat outside at the cafe we ate at. A nice cool evening with almost no wind. I checked on Abby a time or two. As we drove home we hit a squall line of driving rain with strong winds. It was raining so hard we could hardly see the road. Finally, when we got close to the house we were out of the rain and wind. Actually, it looked like we got almost no rain.

I checked the phone and Abby had a puppy and I could hear it crying. I headed down to the shed but before I got close I could hear puppies crying. My first thought was they had to be really loud for me to hear them outside the shed. Then I saw a puppy lying in the grass. Then another. These two puppies were squalling really loud. I grabbed them and took them into the shed but I had seen 2 more puppies in the big pen. I got them into the shed and called June to come help me dry and get them warm.

Abby’s pedigree.

The first two puppies I had picked up were outside the pen that Abby could get into. I don’t know how they had gotten where they were. We had got a little rain and the grass was wet. I don’t know if Abby had the puppies in the yard or whether she carried them from the shed when the storm blew through. The puppies were really cold even after we dried them. We put them on the heat pad. Abby had 5 puppies at this time. I went into the yard 4 or 5 times with a flashlight to make sure there were no more puppies outside in the grass.

Abby had 2 more puppies while I sat with her. I thought she was through having puppies about midnight. I still woke up and checked on her during the night. She was locked in the shed so I knew she couldn’t leave or get the puppies out. About 5:00 am I went back down to check on her. She had had another puppy and we were up to 8. All were warm and their stomachs looked full.

Mann’s pedigree.

She has 5 females and 3 males. I think we have 3 puppies with some black spots, maybe tri-colors. Two of them are females and one is a male. The other 5 are white with some orange.

I had a long list of people wanting a puppy but when I started calling them when Sally had her 3, most of them backed out. I don’t require anyone to put up a deposit so it’s easy to back out.

Now I have 6 of these puppies needing homes. The way my list is when you tell me you want a puppy I put you on my list. I don’t pick your puppy. Where you are on the list is when you make your pick. The next person to tell me they want a puppy will have the third pick. If all of the males are picked and you are wanting a male I will notify you as soon as I get your e-mail.

Bodie, a pup from Abby and Mann’s last litter.

If anyone is interested in one of these puppies they are $600.00 and located in Independence Missouri. You can contact me through an e-mail to windypointsj1s@aol.com. I will put Abby and Mann’s 5 generation pedigree in this post.

Having both puppies to play with has made the spring, even with the screwy weather, tolerable. I have really enjoyed them and it keeps me getting in a lot of steps a day. I need the steps. Last season I didn’t walk as far or as well as I should have, while I was hunting. I may have had what some are calling Long Covid. With me walking these two puppies, most days, morning and evening, I have lost about 10 pounds and I’m walking with less effort, I think.

Gus this morning pointing a pigeon.

Another shot of Gus.

Gracie finding the dog food I threw in the grass.

Yesterday I got the shed ready for Abby to have her litter and moved Gracie, the puppy I kept from Sally’s litter, into Abby’s kennel. Gracie had been in the kennel with Sally but it’s hard for the puppy to get enough to eat. Sally is a chow hound and she would eats most of what I put in the kennel when they were together. I have been taking Gracie out a couple of times each day and feeding her. Now she can have her own food bowl with enough for her to eat whenever she wants.

Abby doesn’t like the shed. She does fine after the puppies are born but I had to force her to go in the dog door on the shed. I took one of our security cameras and installed it where I can watch Abby of the night. I use to walk down and check on my pregnant females when their due date was getting close. Now all I have to do is look at her on my phone. Before it was hard to sleep the last 4 or 5 days of their pregnancy. Now I just check my phone and go back to sleep.

With getting Gus as a stud fee puppy and keeping Gracie from Sally’s last litter my kennels are full. I may have someone coming to look at Gus this week but I’m also sending 2 dogs, Boss and Bodie, to Nebraska with a trainer to get them into wild birds. Boss is 3 and Bodie is almost 2 years old. Last year I didn’t get them into as many wild birds as I should have, although they both found a few.

Gus was born February 13th of this year so he’s still really young. I started him by carrying a bag of pigeons, putting one to sleep and hiding them in the tall grass. I just had him running along with me. It didn’t take him long to learn to watch me. When I would bend over to hide a bird he would come running to me. So I went to release traps.

I’ve probably told this before but it doesn’t hurt to explain this again. I take a lot of time introducing the release traps just like I do guns. I stake the pup out each time. I take a bag of birds and a release trap and get right in front of him. I let a pigeon flop about 4 or 5 feet in front of the pup and when he’s really trying to get the pigeon I let it fly away.

The release trap is about 15 feet away. After I let 3 or 4 birds fly from my hand I let the pup see me load a pigeon in the release trap. I get close to the release trap and tease the puppy with a bird from my hand. When I release this bird I release the bird from the trap. If there is no reaction other than a puppy trying to get the bird I move the release trap closer. It is never any closer than 5 feet or so from the puppy. If he’s still charged up about the birds the traps will be no problem. It’s a lot easier to make sure than it is to cure trap shy or gun shy.

Gus on another pigeon.

This morning I staked Gus out while I hid 4 pigeons in the cover on the training grounds. When I take him off the stake out he has to stand still or sit down. If he’s jumping or pulling on the stake I just stand out of his reach and wait. From the stake out it’s about a hundred yards to the bird field.

I have to put a leash on him or he will beat me to the birds. I want to see him when he smells the pigeon. If he points I watch him and if he moves anything, I flush the bird. If he points with a raised foot and puts it down, I flush the bird. If he gets too close to the bird I flush it. I try to make the pigeons act like a wild bird. Plus I want him to realize any movement on his part and the bird is gone.

The puppy I’m keeping.

I walk them both through the bird field twice a day, usually. Sometimes there is birds and sometimes there isn’t. Probably, there are birds hidden for them one out every 4 times through the field. It doesn’t take the pups very long to figure me out. I start putting 2 birds on my side and 2 birds on the neighbor’s side. In 3 or 4 weeks these pups figure that out so I have to change things. One morning I’ll put all of the birds on the neighbor’s side but start to the back on my side. The next morning maybe the opposite. Or one bird on the neighbor’s side and 3 on my side.

With 2 birds on each side the pups go from place to place where I have hidden birds before. And they aren’t really hunting. Delmar Smith called it doing milk runs. Stopping at all of the known places. Mixing it up stops this. The more the pup trusts his nose the faster they run.

Bodie on point.

I still work Gus on retrieving. This morning and evening when we got back to the shed I put a check cord on his collar and threw a paint roller cover 2 or 3 times. A few times I’ve thrown it 4 times but that is the limit. It’s according to how hot it is. After the retrieving I throw some dog food in the grass and I sit in a chair while he cleans it up. He’s been on Puppy Chow and this is adult food. He cleans the area really well.

By the time he’s found 4 birds, retrieved a paint roller cover and found 30 pieces of dog food he’s been rewarded a lot of times for using his nose. And we do everything but the birds twice a day.

Gracie is ready to start the release traps. This morning I staked her out and rode the 4-wheeler to the back and put 4 pigeons to sleep in the tall grass strips, I have left, on the training grounds. When I came back for her she didn’t try to jump or rear up on me. She just wanted free. I released her and we went to the back.

Boss honoring Sally.

When I put the birds to sleep in the tall grass it’s hard to know how long or if they will stay. This morning all 4 were still there although 3 of them were no longer asleep. They were standing in the grass. Gracie found the first one and woke it up. Gracie only chased a short distance. The second bird was awake and before she even knew it was close, the pigeon flew. Gracie stopped and watched it fly away.

The third bird was awake and Gracie pointed it, with almost no style. She just stopped with her tail down but her head was high. That’s not a big deal at her age. She runs with a good high cracking tail. But that tells me she’s ready to start with the release traps. In the morning I will get her used to the noise of the release traps.

She smelled the last bird and moved toward it and it flew away. She’s not fast enough to chase very far but she does her best. I haven’t started her on the paint roller cover yet but she does get to find a bunch of adult dog food in the grass. Both of these puppies get rewarded for using their nose.

Boss pointing a single, with Abby in the center with Bodie closest to the camera, honoring

Without any pressure these pups are learning a lot. From being staked out they are learning to give to the lead and that jumping around doesn’t get them released from the stake. They are learning to go with me and stay to the front. They are learning to use their nose. They know to come to me and I use kennel when they go back into their pen.

I really enjoy watching the puppies learn. Gracie’s litter, everyone thought they could walk through air. The first time they got on my front porch they all walked off and the first thing to hit the ground was their chin. But they had to learn that and everything else. And I get to watch them. Priceless.