September 2006 Archives

Abby is progressing nicely in her dog training. She is 5 months old now and is getting used to her new home here in Utah. She has a real good nose and is nice to work with when I get fed up with Jake and his Male attitude. Abby is mellow and eager to please. Abby's Dam is "Gamble's Princess Bell" who was purchased from Rick Hopkins at Walnut Hill kennels. She was a dog owned by a client of his that did not cut it as a competition dog so was sold as a family companion hunting dog. I guess the competition crowd are quite picky about their dogs. Mostly they want their dogs to run big, while I was looking for a close ranging - foot hunting kind of dog. Bell has had some additional training from John Hart at Outlaw Gun Dogs and has come along nicely according to her owner Travis John.

Abby's Sire is "Hoss VD Westwind" who is owned by John Hart of Outlaw Gundogs. He is a young dog with big potential. Hoss is on the larger side for german shorthairs measuring close to 28 inches and weighing in around 80 lbs. According to John his personality is very much delicate in spirit which requires a softer hand in training. Both Hoss and Bell have multiple crosses to DC Hillhaven Hustler which makes Abby a line-bred hustler dog.

I took Abby out on some live pheasants last night and she did fine. She pointed a rooster and a hen but I failed miserably on the shooting of the birds winging the rooster and missing the hen altogether. I guess that is why it is crucial to have a helping hand when you are training a bird dog. Especially on live birds an extra set of hands is priceless.

After spending many hours on my ATV this past year going fishing and pheasant hunting - I find myself overloading my little Honda Recon ES. For the past few months I have been salivating over the new 2007 Yamaha Rhino 660 side by side utility vehicle. For pheasant hunting a Rhino provides considerably more storage in the bed for my dogs and gear. You can even get custom dog boxes for the Yamaha Rhino. The four-wheel drive would come in handy in the winter months and for getting deeper into the woods. The power would be three times what I am use to, but I think I could get used to it. The major selling point for me though is the safety of the roll cage and seat belts. Not that I ever plan on going over or crashing into things, but safety is a big deal at my house. I also find that I rarely go into the mountains alone, and sometimes taking two ATVs up the mountain is more trouble than it's worth. Especially if my passenger happens to be one of my kids or an inexperienced ATV rider. There are some really cool add-ons and accessories for the Yamaha Rhino and it has much narrower wheel base than the Polaris Ranger which allows it to get into tighter spaces. I'll be saving my pennies this winter and minding my manners so that I can convince my wife that a new Yamaha Rhino is a necessary part of our homestead.

Since I spend a lot of time online surfing for cool sites about gun dogs and training, I thought I would share a few of my favorites. The first site I stumbled across when I started my search for a new puppy last year was GunDogsOnline.com. They have one of the busiest classified ads systems I have found with a variety of dog breeds available. I usually like to surf through the Premium Ads because they usually have pictures and pedigree info. I am surprised everytime I visit their site by how many new listings there are.

Another cool site that I stumbled across is Field Trial News. Now I am a foot hunter and I have never competed in a field trial but there are usually some good dogs available for sale on this site. The breeds definitely are more of the pointing breeds and more specifically English Pointers but there are other breeds advertised there also. Now you can also find stuff like started dogs and equipment for sale on their site. The site design is a little clunky and outdated but the classifieds are great.

This past year my buddy and I have been creating our own puppy for sale classifieds system. It is part of a site that we have developed to help potential buyers find quality dog breeders in their area. Part of our focus was the fact that you may have a great dog breeder in your area but not even know they exist. When buying a new puppy it is far better to be able to visit the kennel and meet the breeder in person rather than ship a puppy across the country. You can take a look at our work in progress at GunDogBreeders.com. We welcome any feedback on how to make it easier for buyers to find puppies for sale in their area.

This weekend my friend Brett Henke and his family came up from St. George for the weekend. It was fun to catch up on old times and let our kids play together. Brett just recently got into shotguns and skeet shooting. He purchased a Benelli Super Black Eagle II and has been enjoying shooting sporting clays with some friends from work. I arranged for him to go hunting pheasants with me and my dog Jake. Since Jake is a work in progress it was nice to focus on working with Jake while Brett did all the shooting. Jake ended up pointing 6 pheasant and my friend was able to shoot 3 of them. Jake is making some good progress and even retrieved all three birds to hand. He still chases tweety birds a bit and runs a little too far but for a one year old german shorthair he is doing pretty good considering his rookie dog trainer. A big thanks to Russ Peterson of Rooster Valley Pheasants for setting the birds out for us. He runs a first class operation and his pheasant are healthy and strong flyers.

After it rained all night on my dogs I decided to take the day off work and finish the indoor kennel. The weather man says a cold front is on it's way and tomorrow night the temperatures will plunge into the 30's. To create the indoor dog kennel we had to frame up a 2" x 6" X 6' interior wall partition complete with top and bottom plates. The wall measures exactly six feet tall which perfectly fits 2 - 36" metal roofing panels stacked vertically. My father-in-law donated the metal roofing which was surplus from his carport project. After we framed the wall we installed the metal which was a battle with 40 mile per hour wind gusts whipping through the barn. I had an extra 5' X 6' chain link gate that we placed on one end of the enclosure. The new indoor kennel portion measures 12 X 28 feet and provides some shelter from the cold and rain. Next week I will finish their insulated dog houses. So far I have spent less than $500 on the entire dog kennel, including concrete and chain link. The dog houses will be constructed completely from scraps that I scavenged at a nearby home construction site.

We removed the concrete forms today and got the chain link fence and gates installed. I never thought that installing 60 feet of chain link could be such hard work. My back is sore today and I have several blisters from tightening the tie wires. Last night after dark I finished securing the last of the bottom rail to the fence. I spaced the tie wires about every 12 inches. Jake and Abby got to sleep in the kennel last night and everything went well. I think they like their new dog kennel, they even pooped on the dirt instead of the concrete. For now I just blocked the entrance into the barn until I get some time to enclose the indoor portion of their kennel from the rest of the barn. Hopefully it won't rain until I get their indoor kennel completed. I guess a little rain won't hurt em. Thanks again to my good friend John Jacks for helping me with the chain link installation and concrete work.

This Tuesday morning we finsihed the final preparations for the pouring of our 8 X 20 foot kennel pad adjacent to the barn. My father-in-law and my hunting buddy were on hand to help me finish the concrete. The cement truck arrived promptly at 8:00 AM as promised and the driver was a great help. Since none of us were trained in the arts of finishing concrete the truck driver was able to offer some great pointers. We chose to reinforce the concrete pad with rebar every 24 inches which is probably overkill for a dog kennel pad. At the last minute we added a four foot square porch pad in front of the kennel gate.

The other thing we were very careful with when forming up the pad was the sloping of the concrete. We made sure that there was plenty of fall away from the barn and then West down the driveway. This will make it easier to keep it clean and hosed down if they choose to poop on the concrete. I am providing the dogs with an adjacent 8 X 20 foot dirt area that I am hoping will be used as the bathroom. I am planning to fill the bathroom area with pea gravel for the dogs to pee on. The bathroom area also has an 18 inch concrete footing that we hope will prevent the dogs from digging out. Next week I hope to finish building the dog houses and the indoor portion of the deluxe dog kennel.

Well, it was more like a little training session on some live birds. But, Jake did find and flush this pheasant and my friend was able to shoot the hen before she got away. It was the first hunt of the season on our local pheasant hunting preserve. It has been great to have a quality hunting club only mintutes away from our home in the country. We just load the dogs and our hunting gear up onto our ATVs and head out into the grain fields. Most of the season we will simply work the dogs on birds leftover from the previous weeks paid hunts, the table scraps if you will. Occasionally when we bring friends into town we can set 10-20 pheasants out and have a little more action. The pheasants are a little young still but another week or two and things will be just right. The weather will be cooler and the birds will set and hold better instead of running.

This morning we did a little training session on some live birds with my friends French Brittany Spaniel puppy named Opey. We had our two german shorthairs along for the ride also, Jake and Biff, which are littermates. The weather was perfect and the pheasants mostly cooperated with our efforrts. Opey had a great time chewing up a live pheasant that he found in the alfalfa field. Since Opey is barely 12 weeks old we just wanted him to get excited about birds and learn what they smell like. We just basically let Opey tag along and see what the big german shorthairs were up to. Jake and Biff each pointed and flushed a bird, and my friend was able to shoot one of them.

It wasn't a very serious training session. Mostly we just let the dogs run and get the stink off of them. They chased a few tweety birds, sparrows I think. Then when they got into a few pheasants they really had a great time. Opey, the french brittany spaniel seemed to be the most interested in the bird we shot while Jake and Biff were more interested in finding some more birds. I like to work Jake by himself, so we took turns helping each other train. It makes things go a lot smoother when dog training if you have an extra set of hands. A good friend to train with is truly invaluable.

When I embrace a new hobby or interest I tend to do a lot of reading and gathering of information. One of my favorite ways to get new information on a subject is by searching the internet. My next favorite source for information is magazines. I subscribe to two dog training magazines that I have found to be exceptional sources for information pertaining to me and my dogs. The cool thing about reading magazines is browsing through the advertising gives you a good idea of what's available. Most good magazines have a careful mixture of enjoyable articles, reader interaction, and classy advertising. These two dog training magazines are great examples of this careful balance.

Gun Dog Magazine as it's name suggest covers a broad range of subjects and dog breeds. The emphasis is very much on hunting for birds and everything you and your dog need to know to have success and enjoyment while afield. The most recent issue has a special 25 page section featuring the latest dog training products and hunting equipment. My two favorite sections are the "Shotgunner's Notebook" and the "Bird Hunter's Diary". Gun Dog Magazine is a great read whether you own a pointing, flushing or retrieving dog. They do a great job of catering to all the popular gun dogs and breeds.

The Pointing Dog Journal is a bit more refined with an obvious focus on the pointing dog breeds. This is still quite a wide range of dogs, but most things related to training pointing dogs are applicable across all pointing dog breeds. Each issue of the journal sports an amazing piece of artwork for the cover which is a pleasure to look at. The contents of the magazine are equally carefully planned and even artistic. One of my favorite sections is the "Gun Dog Forum" which provides for great reader interaction in a Q & A format. Another hidden gem in this magazine is the "Subscriber Photos" section which are always fun to look at. If you own a pointing dog like I do this magazine is a must-have.

There are other dog training and bird hunting magazines out there, but these two quickly became my favorites and are currently the only two that I subscribe to. If you are interested in subscribing to either one you can get a discount by ordering your subscription online through Magazines.com. For Gun Dog Magazine click here and if you would prefer The Pointing Dog Journal click here.

One of my favorite drills to do with my dogs is playing fetch with a dog training dummy. A dummy can be anything from an old sock or tennis ball to a commercial dummy with a rope attached like the one pictured above. What you use for a training dummy doesn't matter so much to the dogs. But, the commercial dummies do have some good features that make them worth their $4-$5 cost. My favorite dog training dummy is the "Lucky Dog" Soft Knobby Plastic Dummy available online from GunDogSupply.com. It comes in a variety of sizes and colors to match your dog training needs.

The best thing about the plastic dummies is their durability, they just seem to hold up real well over time. The rope handle is also a nice feature and I use the rope to throw the dummy. The soft knobby texture makes it easier for the dogs to grip and hold in their mouth. Dog training dummies are available in many shapes and sizes but this one has proven to be a good training tool for me and my german shorthairs. My dogs seem to be natural retrievers and enjoy playing fetch. I am careful to always end the game of fetch when the puppy begins to lose interest. For some dogs this happens after 3-4 throws while others will play for hours. I like to use treats to encourage a few more retrieves out of my dogs with less interest. The main thing is to keep the training fun and positive.

With 3 puppies I am finding it hard to balance my time between having fun with my kids and training my german shorthair puppies. This week I started enlisting the help of my children when working with the dogs and taking them for walks. In the picture above I am coaching my 6 year old daughter on how to keep our youngest puppy Rocky in check. One of the things that I am trying to accomplish is to get my young children to be confident and strong when handling the pups. This can be difficult when the dogs get wound up and start bouncing off the walls, my two daughters become terrified and run for their lives.

Jake has begun to calm down a bit as his first birthday approaches. It is nice to see a glimmer of hope that there can be some calmness in this very active breed called the german shorthaired pointer. Since this is my first experience in raising and training shorthairs I must admit that I did not know what to expect. The shorthairs that I had hunted behind were mature and very well-trained leading me to beleive that they were born that way. But, like most things in life the reward comes after many hours of hard work and loving care. With a little time each day I can see the beginnings of greatness starting to peak through.