Traveling Pointing Dogs

It’s been quite a while since I wrote a post about the pups or about anything. My life is ruled by the dogs and weather. Usually, this time of year we have a rainy spell and I can’t get outside, or don’t, anyway. That’s when I usually write. This has been a really dry spring, for us. Finally, today, it’s raining.

No more lock wing pigeons. Pups are too aggressive.

The raised kennel the puppies are in.

Just puppies playing and having fun.

I have the puppies in a raised kennel. The floor is plastic with holes to allow their waste to drop through. It’s easy to clean and the puppies stay really clean. I let them out to play at least twice a day and most days more than twice. Tomorrow, Friday the twelfth of May, they will be 7 weeks old. At this age I only put their mother in with them a couple of times a day. For about an hour each time. These pups are pretty old to be still nursing but since there are only 3 it doesn’t take much milk, from Sally, to satisfy them.

Yesterday morning was cool and my plan was to work Gus, the stud fee puppy, on some birds in the release traps then walk the 3 young puppies with a bag of birds. Just strolling along and hiding a few birds in the grass for them to find. The night before there was quite a bit of wind and a huge limb off one of the neighbors trees fell. It didn’t hit the pigeon house but it landed close enough I couldn’t get the door open. So I just walked Gus to the back with no birds out and then walked the puppies.

My neighbor is on vacation so I pulled my chain saw out and trimmed away enough limbs I can at least get into the pigeon house. I don’t want him to come home and think I’m cutting down all of his trees. I’ll finish the job when he returns.

Gus is 12 weeks old and really loves birds. He sometimes points and holds for a long time. Usually, I flush the pigeon before he moves if he stands for 30 seconds or longer. If he moves, anything, while he’s on point I flush the bird. If he points with a foot up and lowers it to the ground, I flush the bird. Sometimes, he will rock back a little bit and I flush the bird. I want him to think any movement from him and the bird is gone.

I still stake Gus out. But now I usually have birds out for him when I do. Bodie, who is a first cousin and a half brother to Gus (how’s that for close relatives) learned to sit still while I unhooked him from the stake, quickly. Gus is different. He will sit until I bend over to unhook the chain and he jumps up. I back up and sometimes he will turn his back on me and sit. I wait on him to turn to me. He knows there is birds out and he soon does sit but it still takes a while before he quits jumping.

When I walk him to the back, which is usually twice a day, without birds being hidden for him, he runs but not like he does with birds out. With birds out, even at 12 weeks old or less, he’s fifty yards ahead. Without birds he will occasionally be that far but with birds he is hunting hard.

The puppy I’m keeping.

The wind swirls really bad and he most times will point from a completely different direction than I expect. I like to be with them when they point so if they move I can flush the bird. It won’t be long before I have to follow Gus on the 4-wheeler.

I try to walk the 3 puppies to different areas of my 5 acres. Usually, they come with me unless I get too close to the kennels. They have figured out where their mother is and will quit following and go to her.

Last Sunday we had our monthly brunch for the kids, grandkids and great grandkids. After we ate lunch the puppies were turned loose with all of the people. Everyone loves puppies. Some people don’t like dogs but everyone loves puppies. The puppies got petted, held and ran with. Kids lay on the ground with puppies crawling all over them. In about thirty minutes the puppies were wore out but there were so many people they played longer. When they went back to their kennel I had to carry them. Too tired to walk.

Gus pointing a pigeon.

Yesterday I intended to take the puppies to the back with a bag of birds but the tree against the door of the pigeon house stopped that and it’s raining (maybe misting) today. I will get them out this afternoon or tomorrow.

The first time I took the puppies to the front porch they didn’t understand drop offs. From the side walk to the porch top is about 6 or 7 inches. The puppies had no problem getting onto the porch. Their problem started when they went back to the sidewalk. Each one, when they came to the edge of the porch, expected to walk straight off. The first thing to hit when they came off was their chin for each one of them.

They are smart puppies. They got back on the porch but were more careful when they jumped off. Now it’s no big deal for them but puppies have to learn everything about their world.

Gus on another pigeon.

When I clean pens at the kennel I turn all of the dogs into a big pen. Some of the dogs expect to be petted before they go back into their kennel run. Gus is turned loose with them and he’s a pain to all of the dogs. Bodie and Boss play with him some but he chews on all of them. Most of the time they are okay with him. Bodie and Boss wrestle with him. But when I start putting dogs back in their run he bites them on the butt. Sally and Abby are chow hounds so they go back quickly and Bodie and Mann are pretty quick but Boss used to make me pet him before he would go back. And he controlled how long. Sometimes he wasn’t ready when I quit petting the first time so I petted longer. Now with Gus biting them on the butt Boss is in a mad dash to get into his kennel with Gus right behind him.

Sally, pointing quail.

The 3 puppies in Sally’s litter are doing well and are just over a week from going to their forever homes. They will be 7 weeks old tomorrow, May 12. I’m keeping one and the other two will be picked up on their eighth week birthday. I will only have a short time to get ready for the next litter. Abby is due around the second of June.

To start the year off I had a list of 12 people wanting puppies. When there were only 3 live puppies in Sally’s litter I got really worried that I wouldn’t meet the demand. Plus some of these people had waited for over a year. I didn’t have any puppies last year. When I started calling people about Sally’s 3 pups people started backing out. A couple of them had health problems and several were too busy or their kennel was full.

Mann, the sire of the litter, pointing a covey.

Now I’m starting to worry the other way. I am keeping a puppy from Sally’s litter because this is her last litter. She’s 6 soon to be 7 years old. My vet was upset that I bred her at 6. To keep me from ever breeding her again I will have her spayed when she dries up from this litter. But Abby last time had a large litter, 8 puppies, I think. Now my list is way down and I don’t know how many buyers I have. I don’t take deposits so it’s easy to get off my list. Oh well, it will all work out.

I have Sally’s 3 puppies plus the stud fee puppy from Abby’s sister, bred to Mann. I really enjoy having the puppies to work with. Spring weather is not really conducive to working the real young puppies outside but when it’s warm and dry I get them in the grass.

Sally and Mann’s puppies.

Gus, my stud fee puppy.

Another shot of Gus.

Puppies are born with their eyes closed until they are about 8 to 10 days old. Their ears aren’t fully functional until they are about 3 weeks old. This limits what can be done with them at an early age but I did do the Army Super dog exercise which consists of holding each puppy with it’s head straight up for 3 to 5 seconds. Then 3 to 5 seconds with it’s head straight down and tail up. Lying in my hands on their back for 3 to 5 seconds, tickling their foot with a Q-tip for 3 to 5 seconds then laying belly down on a wet towel that has been in the freezer for 5 minutes.

I only did these exercises once a day. According to the literature I read about the program, it could be detrimental to do longer or more often than once a day. This was only to be done from 3 days old until day 16. Supposedly, this puts the pup under stress and makes it more able to work through problems later on in life. If it helps even a little bit I’m all for it. It doesn’t take long each day to do this with the puppies and I will be handling them anyway.

At about 3 weeks, when they start being able to hear, I start feeding them. Before I put the milk that I mix up for them in their whelping box I turn on the CD player with the Masters Voice CD in it. This CD has loud music with gun shots interspersed in the music. This gets them used to the sound of gunshots, although even these puppies will still need to be introduced to the gun properly.

My vet gave me the formula for the milk I feed the puppies a long time ago and I still use it. It is: 1 can evaporated milk, 1 can warm water, a tablespoon of plain yogurt, a tablespoon of Karo syrup, and an egg yolk (Uncooked egg whites can be bad for dogs).

After the puppies get used to drinking the milk I let some dry puppy food soak for a while before allowing them to eat. This transitions them to the dry food. By the time they are 6 weeks old they should be eating dry food.

Gus playing with a pigeon.

I still have as many people as possible come by and pet the puppies and I make sure to hold them at least twice a day, myself. At about 3 weeks old or so when I put them in the grass they immediately crawled to my feet as I sat close to them. They weren’t sure about the grass and the ground but they knew my smell.

Now, at 4 weeks old, when I put them in the grass they may go any direction. One of them, a few days ago, went through the crawl space under the shed. The shed is 12×16 feet. The puppy went all the way through the 16 foot way and found a hole to crawl through to be in the big pen with her mother.

On April the 24 Gus will be 10 weeks old. I got him a few days before he turned 8 weeks old. The first few days I locked the wings on a pigeon and let him play with it. The first time he wanted the bird but was a little apprehensive. He would jump at it but not even touch it. Then he got to where he would roll it around sometimes just lying on top. Never taking it into his mouth.

After a few times He started getting too aggressive and I started just holding the pigeon with one wing loose. I let it flop where it couldn’t hit him, then let it fly away. I encouraged him to chase the bird. A few of the pigeons were young and landed in the yard or on low branches. These enticed him to chase. With several of these he got more and more bold.

Bodie on point.

I had also been walking him most days to the very back of my place. He still wants to jump against my legs as we walk along. Unintentionally, I sometimes step on his feet and on purpose I bump him with my knee. He’s learning to stay away from my feet. When he got too aggressive with the pigeons and was chasing the fly away birds I set for him I started carrying a bag of birds and hiding some in the grass. He pointed some of them but more often he pounced on them.

Bird dog puppies are smart. It wasn’t long before he would see me bend over to hide a bird and come to me on the run. So I had to get the release traps out.

I like to stake all of my puppies out so they can learn to not pull on their tie outs whether it be a chain gang or just a leash tied to a tree. My son-in-law, Robert Charpie, had a Brittany female get caught in a trapper’s snare. Because she had been staked out she didn’t fight. When the snare tightened around her neck she stopped and waited on Robert to turn her loose. Since then I have made sure all of my dogs have spent some time, staked out.

Mann pointing Abby honoring.

So I put him on the stake out and get the 4-wheeler out to hide the birds. I just hide 3 or 4 pigeons a day for him. To keep him occupied while I hide the birds I lock the wings on a pigeon and put it where he can’t quite reach it from his stake. When I come back from hiding the pigeons I unlock the pigeons wings and turn Gus loose. I let the pigeon fly away right in front of him. This gets him excited about the birds.

We walk to the back. This morning he pointed the first bird that he smelled. It was 20 yards in front of him but the wind was strong and the temperature was cool. I stood behind him, making no noise, watching. His genes were telling him to point but some others were telling him to pounce on that bird. He just stood there for about 20 seconds or more without moving, with a high head and a straight, maybe 11:00 tail. When he took a step I flushed the bird.

I had hidden the second bird in a patch of May apples that were about knee high. The wind was pretty strong and it seemed like every side we were on the wind was at our back. He got a little scent but wasn’t sure where the bird was. He started really moving in circles. I thought he was closer to the bird than he was when I flushed it but he saw it flush and chased a short distance. Puppies, less than 10 weeks old can’t chase far.

Boss pointing a single.

The third bird was at the very back on my side. When he got a little smell of this one he stopped. But not for long. Because of the way the wind was blowing I didn’t flush the bird right away. He stopped again but just to get the right direction. He moved toward the bird and I flushed it. We went back to the shed.

I have a chair sitting, this cold morning, in the sun. I got a little adult dry dog food and a check cord and paint roller cover. I put the dog food in my pocket and sat in my chair. When Gus reared up on me I snapped the check cord to his collar. As soon as I snapped it he started chewing on the check cord. I let him play with it for a minute or so then hit the ground with the paint roller cover.

When Gus heard the bonking sound he looked at me. I tossed the paint roller cover a few feet and he ran to get it. When he picked it up I said, “here, here, here” and pulled him to me with the check cord. I petted him for several seconds until he dropped the roller cover. I hit my knee with the roller cover and threw it again. He made a mad dash after it. I reeled him in again. I do lots of petting and tell him what a good dog he is. When he drops the roller cover I take it. After 4 times we quit.

Sally pointing Bodie honoring.

I’ve still got some dry dog food in my pocket so I spread it out in the grass in front of my chair. He likes this game and he has to use his nose to find the dog food. I sometimes put dog food out twice a day. This makes him use his nose and it teaches him how to use his nose.

All of this is done to Gus without any stress being put on him. I don’t shout at him or punish him in any way, with the exception of when he bites me. There has to be a consequence for biting. It’s short, quick and over with. All other, especially around birds, there is no sounds from me as long as the pigeon is on the ground. When I flush the bird I sometimes say, “Get that bird, get that bird”. But in an encouraging way.

Mann honoring Sally after I had walked by him.

How could a dog not get more birdy when every thing he does is right? This builds confidence and does it without any stress. Not only is this fun for him it’s fun for me.

I’m sorry I haven’t posted anything on my blog for a while. I’ve been working, on a duplex that a renter left in really bad shape, for the last month. This has kept my time and energy to near zero. But during this time I had a small litter of puppies.

All females.

Sally, tending pups.

The only way Sally knows how to wipe their butt.

I had bred Sally to Mann in January. From her looks I was expecting a huge litter. I moved her to the shed where she can go in and out on her own, during the day. Of the night I locked her in the shed to keep her from going outside, to have her pups. I really don’t think she will but I don’t want to have some puppies freeze because I was wrong.

I have an electric heater in the shed and there is a dog door that she can go outside during the day whenever she wants. Also, there is a heat pad in the whelping box that stays near a hundred degrees, for the puppies to warm themselves. And even before their eyes are open they find the heat pad, some of the time. Shortly after the pups were born I kept the shed temperature in the upper eighties. Now it stays about 75. The pups have been inside Sally where it’s 101 degrees. Even the eighties are cold for them at birth.

My shed is about a hundred yards from the house so I took one of the security cameras, that is on my house, and placed where with a small light in the box, I could see her night or day. I have done this the last few litters. Always before I would get up several times of the night to check on the females. With the camera I can just wake up, grab my phone and check on them. It’s easier to go back to sleep when you haven’t walked 200 yards round trip.

On March 24 as I worked at the duplex I checked the camera, about 11:00 am. I could see and hear a puppy. I drove home, probably faster than the law allowed. When I got there, there was one live puppy and one that, evidently, was born dead. I tried to revive the puppy to no avail. I sat with Sally for quite a while then came to the house and ate lunch.

I kept watching her on the camera then went back down to the shed. By 2:00 pm she hadn’t had any more pups. I called my vet and he said to bring her in. But hurry, as he had to leave by 4:00. I pulled the truck close, put a leash on Sally and lead her out. We got about 20 feet from the shed and she stopped, squatted and had another puppy. I took her back to the shed and put her in the whelping box.

I called my vet and told him of the new event. We agreed that she may be able to have the rest with no problem. I asked about getting some oxytocin. He told me to come up. He gave me 4 shots for her but said do not give her one unless you talk to me or my partner first.

I was gone maybe 20 minutes to get the shots and when I got back she had tried to have another puppy that was breech. Every thing was out except the head. Sally had already cut the umbilical cord. I had to pull the puppy out and it was surprising how hard it was. By the time I got it out, it, too, was dead.

About 30 minutes later she had another puppy. After a while I could see that she was through. Although I thought she would have a bunch (her last litter was 9) 5 was it, for this litter. And we had 3 healthy females. This is an easy litter for Sally.

The first few days she was really protective of her pups. I don’t know whether it was because she lost the two or more likely it’s just her way. After a couple of weeks she will be, get these pups away from me, probably.

The U.S. Military came up with some Neurological stimulation for puppies starting at 3 days old. I started doing this to each puppy a couple of litters ago. Some of the claimed benefits are; (1) Improved cardio vascular performance (heart rate). (2) Stronger heart beats. (3)Stronger adrenal glands. (4) More tolerance to stress. (5) Greater resistance to disease.

There are 5 different exercises that is done to each puppy for a period of 3 to 5 seconds, once a day, starting at day three through day sixteen. Longer duration or more times per day is detrimental.

The first exercise is to tickle the puppy between the toes with a Q tip for 3 to 5 seconds. I usually don’t see much reaction other than the puppy sometimes spreads their toes as I’m doing this.

The next thing is to hold them with both hands and the head straight up for 3 to 5 seconds. Sometimes the puppies wiggle but usually by the time the 5 seconds are over they are still.

Then still using two hands to hold them point the head down with the tail up. Hold this for 3 to 5 seconds. Even in this position these 3 puppies quit wiggling before 5 seconds is up.

The supine position is to hold the puppy so that it’s back is in both hands and it’s muzzle is pointed at the ceiling for 3 to 5 seconds. This morning one puppy arched his back and whimpered a little before settling down but the other two accepted the position with no problem. I think one went to sleep in those few seconds.

For the last exercise use a wet towel that has been cooled in a refrigerator for 5 minutes. Lay the puppy on their belly on the towel for 3 to 5 seconds. I’m surprised how little sensation this causes in the puppies. Even as cold as the towel is they usually move but never try to get off. Of course, they are really young at this time.

I usually do this the first thing of the morning. I’m feeding Sally twice a day, right now, so it’s easy to work with the puppies at the same time. Even if this doesn’t do anything for the puppies it causes me to hold them every morning and when I feed her of the night I hold them again. I don’t do these exercises but one time a day, though.

To socialize them more, I have my family and friends pet the puppies when they come over. Several friends come over just to pet the puppies.

Two of these puppies are sold and I will probably keep the other. Usually, the way I make my choice is whatever is left. I will give both buyers their choice and I will keep the left over. I’ve done this several times and never been disappointed. I’ve never seen a bad puppy. I have seen bad dogs though.

It’s been a while since I wrote a post. The weather has been the pits but mostly because of one of my renters moving out leaving me a mess. Most of this month will be devoted to working on the rental.

Boss

Boss honoring Sally.

Boss on point with Abby backing.

Vince Dye and I took our dogs to some private properties of a friend of his. On the last day of the season, in Missouri, Vince had killed a limit of quail and had seen a few pheasants. The quail were all found in about 25 acres of really good CRP next to a large corn field. The CRP was mostly lespedeza mixed in with some other low growing grass. Vince had found 3 coveys in this 25 or so acres.

On the way up with a strong east wind I told Vince we would be lucky if we got any dog work. Fishermen don’t like an east wind and it is my experience that quail hunting is not good with an east wind.

We decided this was a good place to turn Bodie out by himself. Bodie is about 20 months old but he missed his first season with a broken leg. He was about 6 months old and I was working him on some pigeons. One of the birds lit on a low hanging branch. Bodie thought he could catch it. He jumped and when he came down it sounded like breaking a big stick. I knew immediately that he had a broken leg.

I tried to carry him to the 4-wheeler but he was too heavy. I laid him on the ground and he didn’t move until I came back with the 4-wheeler. I hauled him to the truck then to the vet’s office. He had to wear a cast and stay in the basement. I would take him outside several times a day. But this put him way behind. I like to run my pups from 5 or 6 months old with the other dogs. They learn a lot in their first year.

I have shot several chukars and some pigeons for him. And he did point a few wild quail the last season. As any puppy will do, he hunts some really good places and some times he’s running a harvested soybean field.

Abby on point.

Any way, we turned Bodie out in this CRP. There were several draws running through the CRP. Bodie hit one and ran it from end to end. The next one he hit in the middle and ran to one end. Vince and I waited for him to return, which took a little while because he left the CRP and ran a harvested corn field. When he came back I made sure he checked all of the draw.

We checked all of the CRP and crossed the corn field to another draw. Bodie was about 300 yards ahead of us when we came over a small hill. He was inside the draw when 3 deer came out. Bodie was not far behind them. This is one of the times I want the e-collar turned up to a high level. Deer chasing is dangerous in several ways. The first time I hit the button on the transmitter it was on the wrong collar. But when there was no change in Bodie I knew something was wrong. I moved the toggle switch and hit the transmitter. Bodie is tough. He didn’t make a sound but just made a circle and came back to the draw.

Mann pointing Abby honoring.

We worked that draw and went a little farther to another draw. This one had a pond in the middle and Bodie started at the pond and ran the draw to the north. There was about a hundred yards of draw that he left out. When dogs are hunting good I don’t like to hack at them. But I don’t like for them to leave out a big portion of the cover. We waited on him to come back.

Vince and I were standing in the corn field a good ways from the draw. Bodie came back and hunted the part of the draw from the pond to the north again. We continued to wait. The next time he came close I walked to the south of the pond and he hunted that portion.

He ran good and he’s learning what to hunt. He stayed in front of us most of the time and we went back through the good CRP where Vince had found the quail earlier with no success. When we got back to the truck we went across the road to some CRP where Vince had seen some pheasants.

Sally pointing Bodie honoring.

This time we turned all of the dogs, Vince had Allie and I had Abby, Boss along with Bodie, out. This CRP had some lespedeza but it had a lot of tall blue stem. About a third of it had been mowed kind of like a hunting preserve. With the mowed strips we could see our dogs for a long way. We made a complete circle with 4 dogs and never saw a pheasant or a quail. When we got back close to the truck we loaded the dogs and called it a day.

I would like to go back and try it again with the wind out of any direction other than east, just to see. We may still try that after I get this rental going again.

Another thing that is going to keep me close to home, Sally is about 2 weeks from having puppies. I bred her to Mann and she looks like she’s pretty full of puppies. This will be the second time of this breeding. Boss is out of their other litter and about 4 of the guys who bought females (Boss was the only male) have kept me up to date on their puppies. They are really happy with them. I have a list of about 13 potential puppy buyers so when Abby comes in season I will breed her too.

Bodie with a nose full of quail scent.

From no puppies last year to two litters this year is quite a change. I enjoy the puppies and I get to see friends and family that might not come by if I didn’t have puppy.