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I suffer from an intense affliction of puppy fever every couple of years. It had been bad this time around, because Belle was the perfect puppy (and still is). Combine that with the heart-wrenching loss of Emma, and well…
In the past when struck with this ailment, I successfully wear Chrissy down to the point of relenting to a new addition. This time around I definitely got more than I bargained for.
Lily had been with us for a very short period when I quickly realized we would have our hands full with this one. I have never gone through such a roller coaster of wanting to kill her and then being in awe of her intelligence and cuteness. We were warned when looking into the breed that cockers were characters…little did we know that this was code for they’re CRAZY.
How could you not love this face:
How about when she has just chewed a notch into the strap of my best camera? Don’t let that, “Oh this wasn’t a chew toy” look fool you, she knew.
We own exactly one piece of antique furniture and so you can guess where it is that we have to watch her like a hawk:
Thankfully she took only eight days to potty-train. Now I’m not going to say she is flawless. When she goes to the door, you better get her out, because if you miss she’s not going to wait forever. Thankfully, though, she is smart enough that she’s figured out you can just chew through the screen:
When the house and its contents aren’t enough of a source of destruction, she turns to the other dogs. Belle has been unbelievably patient with her, and I’d dare say they may be friends. That being said, there are times I swear she’s asking, “really, you’re seriously going to keep this?” In this image I’m getting the, “Put the camera down and help.”
In all seriousness she hasn’t been that bad, and despite the photographic evidence to the contrary she isn’t given free run of the house and allowed to destroy items at will. In fact, unless supervised she is in a pen or crate in the house. We’ve given her plenty of structure, various forms of confinement and controlled activity each day in hopes of molding a perfect canine citizen. However, I’m not holding my breath, as she is the most devilish dog I have ever owned. Her intelligence has been impressive, and I only hope it continues as she matures, that is if she’s allowed to mature before I sell her to the gypsies.
You’ll notice Maggie didn’t stop to pose for any of the pictures. She’s still on the fence with Lily. While she’s softened somewhat and we’ve no longer had any dog delivered discipline, she isn’t exactly her biggest fan. Belle on the other hand may have just found a new friend.
This summer has been an odd one for me. I cut back on my consulting responsibilities with the hope I’d have more free time to do things like chase the dogs. Somewhere along the lines, those plans failed, and while I’ve kept the dogs in the best physical shape I ever have, this summer saw them having the least amount of bird work ever.
After attending an AKC Hunt Test this weekend I was able to line up a dozen quail and an alfalfa field to do some training Labor Day morning. The girls and I were joined by Brad and his French Brits, and a new acquaintance Justin, with his beautiful setter pup Dali and springer Kobe. I enjoy dog training and hunting immensely, and while the girls are nowhere near perfect, I still get nervous when being joined by new people. My internal dialogue goes into overdrive: are they going to be safe? How do they treat their dogs? What will they think of the girls? Would I invite them back…will they come back? I have tendencies towards over analysis of everything if you haven’t picked up on it by now.
In the end, Justin and his dogs were phenomenal, and it was a morning well spent. He has a special little girl in his Dali pup, and Brad and I made several attempts to convince him she may be a washout that we’d happily take off his hands. We alternated dogs in the field with each of us having different goals for our dogs for the day.
Mick with one of his stellar points:
Dali was a sweetheart of a dog and was very pleasing to watch in the field:
After the pointing dogs had their fun Kobe got to clean the rest of the quail out of the field, and while most were moved to heavier cover he did get one retrieve:
All-in-all it was a great morning spent with friends and dogs. I concentrated on the girls when I was working them, and so I have no pictures of them in the field. I guess I’ll just have to remedy that come fall.
The site has now been up for two weeks and we’ve given a couple of tours, now it’s time to start with a more regular update schedule. In addition, hunting seasons got underway today in South Dakota, which means the blog will turn into…well…a blog, as soon as I find time to get out in the field.
We’ve added two new ask the vet questions to the Ask the Vet page.
In addition, our local NAVHDA chapter, turned “All-Pointing Dog” club held its first AKC Hunt test this weekend and I managed to follow a few braces. View the photo gallery for pictures.
The new site has been up for a week, and I hope many of you have had a chance to take a look around. I welcome any feedback and suggestions you might have to improve the site or subjects, questions or cases you’d like to see discussed. For those of you who haven’t been to the new site, I thought I’d point out some of the new and exciting features.
Probably the most exciting new component for me is the Podcast section of the site. Currently we have three audio podcasts available. Our plan for the audio podcasts is to initially have two new podcasts available each month. The centerpiece of these shows will be the interviews, which will be in an alternating format. One episode each month will feature a veterinary/canine health topic and the second episode will be someone from the dog or hunting industry. As often as possible we will also be conducting product giveaways in conjunction with theses podcasts.
With this month’s shows we feature an interview with tick-borne disease expert, Dr. Matt Eberts. This is the first in a two-part interview with Dr. Eberts. In part one we discussed Lyme disease and anaplasmosis, particularly the diseases and the diagnosis of each. In part two we will look in-depth at the treatment and prevention of both. With these interviews Merial has graciously donated boxes of Frontline to be given away with each episode. With the first episode we will be giving away three boxes to our listeners.
Our other episode this month features an interview with Bryan Griggs from Mud River Dog Products. The folks at Mud River have an incredible line of products for our working dogs. We discuss the interesting history of the company and its current product line. Bryan graciously donated a number of products to be given away next month.
There are a number of ways to download or subscribe to the podcasts, including through the iTunes store. For more information on the podcasts visit the Audio Podcast Page.
Some of the other exciting new features include:
- Case of the Month - this will replace the case of the week we had here on the blog. Instead of taking a quick look at a subject from the week, we will have a lengthy discussion on a particular issue. The first feature will be a summary of the numerous migrating plant awns that I featured here on the blog. I will still feature occasional cases on the blog, but for in-depth discussion they will now be on the website.
- Product Reviews - the product reviews are somewhat self-explanatory. My goal with these is to give you some good equipment recommendations on stuff I use. I’m rough on gear and like stuff I can really use, and my hope is to be able to give you some real experiences with the stuff I take a look at.
- Book Reviews - again somewhat self-explanatory and many of the current ones have been taken from past newsletter issues. We are now an Amazon associate, and so when appropriate, you can access the books for purchase directly from our site.
- Photo Gallery - we struggled on how we would bring this over from the old site. Our current plan is to only feature pictures that we feel exhibit our best work on the photography front. This has been an area of great growth and interest for me over the last few years and instead of sharing all of our images we’ll just bring you our best.
- Ask the Vet - New and improved with more categories to make searching for old subjects and questions much easier. More frequent posting updates. We will be adding at least a question a week, which will be teased on the hompage and answered on the Ask the Vet page. Each month the old questions will be placed in the archive.
- Still to Come - Once we get the kinks (sound issues, features, etc.) worked out for the audio podcasts we are going to be stepping into the arena of video podcasts. These will be short features on subjects that are best illustrated with visual aids. In addition we are in the process of reworking the newsletter to bring a format that fits with the features of the new site.
Thank you very much for hanging in there through the change, we hope you find the new site worth the wait.
Sincerely,
The Gundogdoc
Because of our struggles with the loss of Emma, I promised Chrissy that we would be a two-dog household for quite a while. Anyone who knows me knows that promise was destined to be broken, because truth be told, we are just a dog household…no qualifying numbers needed.
I have always been fascinated with spaniels. It probably started years ago when Dave Carty frequently had articles in Gun Dog that featured his hunts with his springer. Most fascinating to me were the waterfowl hunts and how this upland dog could truly do it all. I have had the pleasure of hunting over some fine springers and am fortunate to count among my friends the folks at PineShadows in Brainerd, one of the best springer kennels in the country. Unfortunately I also have had the displeasure of seeing a number of surly examples of the breed in practice. In addition, the ear and skin problems just left me thinking the breed was not for me. Enter the Field-Bred English Cocker Spaniel. The more I researched the cockers, the more I felt this breed may be the perfect fit and compliment to my two setters. While definitely not a goose dog, the cockers too are a do-it-all breed just in a smaller, sometimes more entertaining package.
This spring I attended a cocker field trial and was sold. Thoughout the years I have attended countless dog events and this was the first that I could have left with any of the dogs and been completely happy. Prior to the trial the wheels had been set in motion to find a breeder and my efforts were doubled after the trial.
Chrissy and I made a trip to North Dakota to visit Glencoe Kennels and knew we had found the breeders we would be getting our next dog from. Unfortunately they had only one litter planned and a few people on their waiting list. Thinking it wasn’t meant to be I was put on the list of another very good breeder in the upper Midwest. As fate would have it, on our 10th wedding anniversary, I received an email that the pups at Glencoe had been born and that there was a little female for us. I was excited and nervous beyond belief.
Two long months passed before I was able to travel north to retrieve the little bundle. I took a few days off to spend some time observing Paul’s training methods. It was an unbelievable couple of days, and Paul and his methods will certainly be something we revisit on the site in the not-to-distant future. I had a great weekend and immediately fell in love with the little white female pup we’d eventually bring home.
How can you not melt when you see a face like this:
From the first day, I knew she was going to be a smart one. I have loved working with the setters; however, I truly believe I am a multiple dog type guy. While I love the free-ranging spirit of the setters I also love working with a dog like you experience with the retrievers and spaniels. She has been a quick learner from the get-go:
And whle we have started some play training, at the end of the day she is still just a cute little puppy, tuckerd out from picking on the bigger dogs in the house:
I’m looking forward to bringing you the adventures of this new site and new pup. In days to come I’ll discuss the changes we’ve made to the site, the direction we are going and other opportunities. Right now though I have to get a little puppy outside…I really hate housetraining new pups.
For years we have promised a site relaunch with better content and services. We are still in the early stages of working out the headaches of the server transfer but the new site is live…and I believe all addresses are currently active. The blog may also survive but I won’t know until later this morning. If it makes the transfer it will also get a new look and feel. Once everything is in order I’ll take you on a tour.
Also, I realize the homepage has a new pup with no introduction. I will introduce you to Lily later today.
For now take the new site for a spin: