tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-77203366399326504412024-03-05T22:41:13.746-05:00THE REGAL VIZSLAmeditations on bird-dogs,
living with bird-dogs,
pictures of bird-dogs, and some other random things in my lifeAndrew Campbellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204944202954520498noreply@blogger.comBlogger317125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7720336639932650441.post-41976136736882744732013-10-01T13:52:00.000-04:002013-10-01T13:52:10.344-04:00two months inTwo months into camp and things have definitely taken shape. Since the last post, we went through about a two-week period of 90+degs and high humidity that made things pretty wretched, necessitating early mornings and a seven day week to get everything done without having to really try and cram everything. Since then the weather has begun to change and with it, the birds have started to move around too. Some of our covers have gone barren, in others the balance of birds has changed -- and so we're seeing more sharptails than pheasants -- but in the cooler, but stormier weather of the fall, it seems like we're having more hit-or-miss days as the birds stay hidden in the sunflower and corn crop fields (which are still up) till they feel comfortable leaving.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7UvrtlKM0Oz1uFG9qNGA5e_n6vaeNJwBZdLbf_qU_mnoY7UH7Aul8H3VWTSen6SsC8O-pa3OVXaX4WhZV0wL52NRBZ2hGF1zzkBLLJ0wsY_acC1aT3jepDGPbdgs9_Wzn129ulOoy2AeL/s1600/P1000548.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7UvrtlKM0Oz1uFG9qNGA5e_n6vaeNJwBZdLbf_qU_mnoY7UH7Aul8H3VWTSen6SsC8O-pa3OVXaX4WhZV0wL52NRBZ2hGF1zzkBLLJ0wsY_acC1aT3jepDGPbdgs9_Wzn129ulOoy2AeL/s200/P1000548.JPG" width="200" /></a>A good illustration might be the story of the last two days. Sharptail season opened on the 19th, but I finally got my license to start yesterday. I took 5 dogs to a piece of private land we lease access to and which we normally run dogs off horseback on. We've been over most of it and have a pretty good idea where the likeliest bird locations are. It was sunny, but blustery. And despite trying to get Momo, then Jozsi, then one of the camp dogs, into previously productive spots, we didn't even see a sharptail. I then moved the truck a little ways and got Capo out. She started trailing a covey about a 100yds out of the trailer, and we had a constant point, flush attempt, relocate cycle going for about a half-mile. Whether these were the same birds I don't know, but I saw four birds fly into a spot about 200yds upwind from us. We tried to sneak up a drainage unseen, but I saw them fly and relocate another 100yds further ahead. (I don't think they could see or hear us, but the wind was just making them spooky.) As we came into the wind, Capo started pointing about 75yds across the wind from where I thought the birds were -- but was looking into the wind as at least two of the covey now flushed downwind from us. I worked her through the area they'd left and decided it was time to head downwind back towards the truck. In another draw, she stopped-to-flush -- and I'll admit firing two Hail Mary's just out of frustration. She then stopped-to-flush again, but as I walked in another bird flew and I dropped it. The same routine happened about 75yds further downwind. I couldn't fault her terribly because I was taking her directly into a 10-20mph wind. So when she managed to point a third, I was especially happy to take it for her. I have no pictures of her from today, but astute, loyal readers will note that limiting out on our first day of sharptail hunting was done using my <a href="http://regalvizsla.blogspot.com/2010/11/gun-trades-and-good-kharma.html">135yr-old Stephen Grant hammer gun</a>. (The picture below is of Capo, but getting a pheasant poult pointed in a cut wheat field.)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOeSsAhnGdXOvksVJGorBz9LB8Q1ec9iJH8_QlyNl1TnClIIGBstkxmR0DkS6nTRRqXHr2apunY0v-fAD5oBC9FtYaVoABdUKgND3f8J-xudk0COqoKZSonClGvqC3zUf4Uj5KuzFQXKLh/s1600/P1000332.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOeSsAhnGdXOvksVJGorBz9LB8Q1ec9iJH8_QlyNl1TnClIIGBstkxmR0DkS6nTRRqXHr2apunY0v-fAD5oBC9FtYaVoABdUKgND3f8J-xudk0COqoKZSonClGvqC3zUf4Uj5KuzFQXKLh/s200/P1000332.JPG" width="200" /></a>Today, however, it was cold and blustery to the extent that I actually wore a jacket under my strap vest and thought I was going to get soaked for the first two hours. I knew it was unlikely bearing in mind the cover and the wind direction, and sadly despite working hard, Jozsi drew a blank in the first field. I then got Momo out in a spot that he and Jozsi had found two good sized sharptail coveys three days before. To get there, you have to cross a cut wheat field. Momo stopped to poop and a sharptail flushed wild about 10yds ahead of him. We never saw another sharptail. After working the initial cover thoroughly, I then took him across another cut wheat section towards a treeline. It was a shame it wasn't pheasant season. He pointed a large, mixed covey of hens and roosters right by the fencelines, three waves of 2-3 birds getting up. He looked at me like I was a dumbass. He ended his trip out with a nice solo rooster find towards the road, still a little annoyed that his father apparently didn't remember how to use either of the triggers on the shotgun.<br />
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Post-Script: since I started writing this post, I took Momo and Capo out into one of our local covers that afternoon once the weather had cleared out. And over a point-and-back from the two of them, up went a covey of three sharpies, and in a miracle of miracles, I took a double.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCyoid89DACFc2lrnTc8MgfMGs5DJd26GbowWOe9cdajXTe_zSnp5P-QLE0NbE9lns_w7GiZQS8nrgQcNyo2W9loW990emqz9zZvdIVhrvU4IwiI_ZUn1kUbw95JNb-sIIT2YNex1Do_id/s1600/P1000362.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCyoid89DACFc2lrnTc8MgfMGs5DJd26GbowWOe9cdajXTe_zSnp5P-QLE0NbE9lns_w7GiZQS8nrgQcNyo2W9loW990emqz9zZvdIVhrvU4IwiI_ZUn1kUbw95JNb-sIIT2YNex1Do_id/s200/P1000362.JPG" width="200" /></a>Jake the Snake has been doing well, too, finding both his range and his nose for both sharpies and pheasants. Here's a nice picture of him with a rooster pinned in low, sage scrub. With all the dogs, I've been surprised by the kinds of cover and how close some of these wild birds will hold in. We've seen sharpies and pheasants share mid-summer alfalfa fields, sharpies in high weeds, and hen pheasants especially holding in tiny strips of cover left from mowing in hay fields. Earlier in the summer, we saw a fair number of hen pheasants decoying, trying to draw birds away from the clutch of poults. All my dogs are trained to stop-to-the-flush -- and situations like that often mean that you when the dog performs the skill reliably they still get the reward of seeing other birds fly when you get in front of them.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidzelDSq2eSzj0AhBcUpEvuEfciMzicdJ5ko79w-El0JZvNgR0JTB4eJpHa1tCpvuGow_19yenoEuBr519k_TlHtnb30OGtgKXUTXN8-5Ai1lEoLH6513uQTaehsqwUjdnT117MEVoXGwc/s1600/P1000566.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidzelDSq2eSzj0AhBcUpEvuEfciMzicdJ5ko79w-El0JZvNgR0JTB4eJpHa1tCpvuGow_19yenoEuBr519k_TlHtnb30OGtgKXUTXN8-5Ai1lEoLH6513uQTaehsqwUjdnT117MEVoXGwc/s200/P1000566.JPG" width="200" /></a>I have been breaking out two dogs, as well: my infamous <a href="http://regalvizsla.blogspot.com/2012/09/wrapping-things-up.html">Amy Winehouse</a>, Rye, and a very nice dog belonging to my friend, Dick. It's been neat to see them both respond to the <a href="http://steadywithstyle.com/">West Method</a> albeit coming to it from very different directions. Rye is smart enough to know when she's being messed with or set up and will use your own pressure (or lack of it) against you when she feels like it -- and the challenges are often how to keep changing up the game to keep her slightly off-step and when to recognize her broken-pride-broken-wing routine as a bluff. But she most definitely has the ability to make a nice broke gun-dog. Ben is a great, young dog who has come to me with very few other hands on him, very few kinks, and a great attitude to do the right thing. He is now at the point that, as can be seen in this picture, I am turning him loose in the bird field wearing a harness and dragging cables to slow him down. This picture isn't the greatest of his overall style, in part because he is pointing a bird close up that we've already worked once and so hasn't been producing scent in that spot for a huge period of time. But he is thoroughly used to the ecollar cue and so, as with his last workout, he inadvertently ran over a bird and it flushed ahead of him -- he knew he was supposed to stop, wanted to keep moving after it, but successfully rolled himself to the stop with the e-collar cue. This is the sort of stuff that makes more of an impression to me about how the dog is learning. They all know where the breaking field is and where the birds are likely to be, but after showing them the drills and contexts for stopping and staying stood still, I like to get away from launchers or releasers as soon as possible.Andrew Campbellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204944202954520498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7720336639932650441.post-65140659015032476452013-08-18T00:48:00.001-04:002013-08-18T11:32:18.070-04:00big wide open<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifxS89IosMAFRUCiAhFkR8wCOyzadEMU1ZUNr0Oy-BpHxt5JFZ8OK6cJfhxWhlu91W2dfAY9_HufWcKeAPSzG5i2dKQ590KzotYz-vLbz5VRnb8ufsB2yiggRFlO18Bsnf_NGzv6W0xU3X/s1600/20130729_091210.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifxS89IosMAFRUCiAhFkR8wCOyzadEMU1ZUNr0Oy-BpHxt5JFZ8OK6cJfhxWhlu91W2dfAY9_HufWcKeAPSzG5i2dKQ590KzotYz-vLbz5VRnb8ufsB2yiggRFlO18Bsnf_NGzv6W0xU3X/s200/20130729_091210.jpg" width="150" /></a>We're now through with the first two full weeks of summer camp -- we've had our first round of scratches and scrapes and trips to the vet and what I am sure will be merely the first round of bitches in season driving all the boys completely nuts. We have 20 dogs here in camp -- 17 vizslas, 2 pointers and 1 German Wirehair -- and after a busy first week, we now have proper kennel runs set up to accommodate all of them. Ken has 14 dogs, I brought the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Capo, Rye, and the handsome Ben (who belongs to a friend of mine). We had an uneventful trip out. happily, stopping over at our friends' house in western PA (Brian and Brandy own Dot, Jake's sister, who sadly is out at summer camp of her own), then a great visit with Meg's father, Bill, and his brother, John, at the Riordan family compound in eastern WI, then a short day's drive to Red Wing, MN, to visit with the fabulous Janeen McMurtrie of SmartDogs fame, before hauling out to north-central South Dakota. On the right, here's Momo, Jozsi, Capo, and Rye celebrating what it means to be a Hungarian hunting dog in America!<br />
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We've got a pretty good regular schedule set up that ensures that every dog gets roaded twice a week according to their output and goals (for example, Momo is primarily an 8-10mph dog whose primary function is to be an all-day hunting dog and he and Rye make a nice pairing), we work the walking dogs (ie. the ones who will primarily be hunting and hunt test dogs) twice a week on wild birds, and we work the horseback dogs twice a week on wild birds. Dogs like Rye and Ben are also here to get broke and we work those dogs three times a week on pigeons and johnny-house quail. Sunday is a day off for all, if possible, and we like it like that.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtGjHTjyvUARwoGGK5d7z3XyDvxCXNIyktaNL7fz6pp0lNTsDQzBanfat1tBnHyfYWZTAYBefAXOHVo1X6QfE9DoJNUeohiPv7rqv8hLS6anbu2dAImSOO5cMH4ARFn32CxSCbitQT1RN5/s1600/P1000047.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="111" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtGjHTjyvUARwoGGK5d7z3XyDvxCXNIyktaNL7fz6pp0lNTsDQzBanfat1tBnHyfYWZTAYBefAXOHVo1X6QfE9DoJNUeohiPv7rqv8hLS6anbu2dAImSOO5cMH4ARFn32CxSCbitQT1RN5/s200/P1000047.JPG" width="200" /></a><br />
But my Road Crew came to South Dakota for big spaces and wild birds -- and we have both. Unlike last summer, it rained often and till late and so we still have a lot of crops (like wheat, corn, and millet) in which reduces our available training spaces, but we have seen what looks like two clear clutches of young birds -- and we have seen Huns, sharptails, and pheasants. And Ken has done a nice job securing leases from landowners to run dogs on their properties. It is amusing to think that we have maybe only covered about half of one of the properties we ride on after now taking dogs there twice -- and that that property is about 6 or 7 times the size of the Flaherty Field Trial Area that we normally compete at. This picture is actually of Capo, first time turned loose after eight months of no birdwork on a species she's never smelled before (a sharptail). This is why we love her so much, looking so good it looks fake.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLnZlUMuMyYZw6TqiNHX00V-5qIBiOh8nodIp6i6oGg8qhAzhHHE3mERCH6kuqTIL3v986UMSK3qWFS4eC8l9HiiUZjO603cVY1gS2BsFE1Y-bprOjz0gWsEwV8tybawUruzLRhss5Il2F/s1600/P1000160.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLnZlUMuMyYZw6TqiNHX00V-5qIBiOh8nodIp6i6oGg8qhAzhHHE3mERCH6kuqTIL3v986UMSK3qWFS4eC8l9HiiUZjO603cVY1gS2BsFE1Y-bprOjz0gWsEwV8tybawUruzLRhss5Il2F/s320/P1000160.jpg" width="180" /></a>Jake already took a good gash across one of his front legs and a <a href="http://fairfieldanimalhospital.ca/blog/b_27632_spear_grass.html">speargrass</a> seed in one of his ears. If we had been at home, I would probably have taken him to the vet to get a few stitches put in and I certainly debated whether to break out the stapler but after conversation with Wendy at Widdershins (who works at a vet practice we stopped by at several times last year while up in Ripley) I decided to go with air and frequent flushing and, now ten days later, Jake got run off horseback for only the second time since he got here. With twice daily flushings using a syringe and saline solution and only a spray of liquid bandage to protect it, the wound has filled in in nicely. Ten days ago after his run, though, he was shaking his head a little too insistently and carrying one of his ears a little low. After a week of flushing with an ear cleaner, there was only minor improvement and so he was one of the dogs that went to try out the facilities at Oahe Veterinary Clinic in Mobridge in an attempt to locate whatever it was that was bothering him and to try and rule out the possibility of a <a href="http://clubs.akc.org/brit/VetArticles/Nocardia-Infections-in-Bird-Dogs.pdf">nocardia</a> infection. Happily, he seems back to his usual goofy self. And this picture is from this morning -- click on the picture and you'll see him, standing tall for a sharptail about 15yards away.<br />
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Hopefully this will be the first post in a series, but bed is calling. Have fun out there, everyone!Andrew Campbellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204944202954520498noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7720336639932650441.post-58613477994249216232013-06-08T14:26:00.002-04:002013-06-08T14:26:50.521-04:00spring has sprungIt's hard to say that spring sprung because it seems like we've been through a bunch of schizo weather patterns which merited the air-conditioners being put back in and then fleece jackets and/or waterproofs. I was just at Flaherty this past weekend judging for the <a href="http://www.nutmeggspclub.org/Pages/default.aspx">Nutmeg GSP Club</a> and between the hot, humid, still weather on Saturday (especially) and the jungle-like cover, I was glad I wasn't running any of my dogs.<br />
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Since the last entry, I did run the dogs and judge for the <a href="http://www.lipdc.com/">Long Island Pointing Dog Field Trial Club</a> out at <a href="http://www.pinebarrens.org/pdfs/Trail%20Guide%202011/SARNOFF%20for%20website.pdf">Sarnoff Preserve</a> out in Riverhead, Long Island. I like Sarnoff as a venue and would have loved to have hunted there back in the day when the LI pine barrens supported wild quail -- but it is a little too wooded on the edges and the course area a little too compact for me to run our Dancing Pirate, but I did run both the Mominator and Mr. Enthusiasm. But it was a weekend of screw-ups: canine and human.</div>
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While the first mishap with Jozsi wasn't a screw-up as such, and it indicates the strengths and challenges of the venue, I told the judge that the decision I was making was going to be either brilliant or disastrous. On the first major bend in the course, Jozsi headed into the piney cover dead ahead -- and as I got closer I heard him bark. While not generally a trait we look for in pointing dogs, Jozsi has barked to me up in Maine when he knew he was potentially off course and has a grouse pinned. I've gone to him in both instances and been able to shoot a grouse. And so I ploughed into the woods hoping he had some kind of game bird pinned. Maybe he did and maybe it left, but after probably only 5mins of wading around, I realized he wasn't there and I didn't know where he was and so, for the first time ever in a trial, asked for my Astro to locate my dog. He was 600yds to the front. But these are tactical decisions you need to make sometimes based on what you know about your dog -- and this time it was the wrong one.</div>
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I then ran Mominator -- and to illustrate the point in a different way, when he disappeared into the cover on the left at around 0:25 and didn't reappear, I told the judge he must be on-point in the thick stuff. And he was. I think he had four finds in that brace, competent and probably not the firmest dog in the world, and so imminently beatable. But conditions were clearly tougher than I had expected and he was called back for the retrieve with just one other dog. But, and here is where while it's fine to have high standards, don't sell your dog short. He found the bird, I got it in the air nicely, it was shot cleanly, and when I turned to look at him, I could see he'd moved a couple of feet. And being a dumbass, instead of waiting and demonstrating that he hadn't broken, I rushed to send him for an otherwise perfect retrieve. I sold my dog out and we didn't get a ribbon. I know we were the #2 dog and that all of this is fun for Momo -- but I sold him short and if he knew the depth of regret I have for doing that, I know he would still go get any and every bird and lick me anyways. (As I write this blog entry I scanned over some previous posts and clearly I am a dummy: "<i>Let the judge judge your dog</i>"!)</div>
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I then ran Jozsi again, this time off a horse. It was pretty hot, but he hunted like a beast. He started with a genuine stop-to-flush, then had two finds off to the side in pretty good cover although his style wasn't great, and then around 0:26 decided he would step into the final bird and put it up. He is now off birds and on the remedial plan. He might have been hot, but he knew I was right there and hosed both of us. My initial feeling is that we're going to go all the way back to some basic obedience and not let him actually work a bird until he's done a bunch of 'working behind' -- if nothing else, he needs to understand that I give him the opportunity to smell birds and watch them fly and not the other way round.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ0SjZWezEWZHktdE7lernqN2OPmlVNRLZ8xVom2P-JObTjkRzFnNM3pzlNGhSjyI65WNHm_uonkCr2oK5GT6cJvv6vzMUKyjKX8CkDQ0P-BJwPiISpt44DWeEBq4rowDB1BL_5hftGGjU/s1600/Ottla1.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ0SjZWezEWZHktdE7lernqN2OPmlVNRLZ8xVom2P-JObTjkRzFnNM3pzlNGhSjyI65WNHm_uonkCr2oK5GT6cJvv6vzMUKyjKX8CkDQ0P-BJwPiISpt44DWeEBq4rowDB1BL_5hftGGjU/s200/Ottla1.jpeg" width="150" /></a>I was glad to be judging, and not running, dogs this past weekend at the Nutmeg hunt test -- in particular because I knew I was going to get to see <a href="http://regalvizsla.blogspot.com/2010/04/trying-to-keep-momentum.html">Ottla </a>run in Senior Hunter. And hunt she did. Despite the heat and humidity, she was clearly in physical and mental shape to deal with the craziness that is often the case in the forced environment of a hunt test brace -- and in this case, a bracemate who ran right across her and then stole point. (Again, to revisit the topic of handler decisions: if you're being asked to bring your dog in for an honor, pick the open side, pick the uphill side, don't pick the downhill side where even if your dog could see over the knee-high grass, it probably won't have a good view of the other dog till the very last second.) I tried to barely acknowledge her before her brace, but as you can tell she clearly remembered who I was at the end of things. It was a real pleasure to be able to judge and qualify a dog I got to see as a pup on her first birds. And so, all hail CH Broad Run's Ottilie of Red Oak SH CGC!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9W5QaLKmdPvvaxmmWBq-DHkXixPwFweh-0dQOTCWzxtt7dC157nGtbNcDlFGvQ3ihDLyRL4mQf5IQ9PUlljVqLz3HSYhMJgDOkwUJPrp0u80RU0Qw2ZbGXI4stJpgaQ8aoTxt9P1yDItC/s1600/Jack.Momo.6June13.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9W5QaLKmdPvvaxmmWBq-DHkXixPwFweh-0dQOTCWzxtt7dC157nGtbNcDlFGvQ3ihDLyRL4mQf5IQ9PUlljVqLz3HSYhMJgDOkwUJPrp0u80RU0Qw2ZbGXI4stJpgaQ8aoTxt9P1yDItC/s200/Jack.Momo.6June13.jpg" width="133" /></a>Our friend, Jeremy, has been out a couple of times with us since he got his handsome GSP, Jackson, back from winter camp with <a href="http://lindleykennel.com/">Maurice Lindley</a>. Ever since we <a href="http://regalvizsla.blogspot.com/2011/09/dont-hand-me-no-lines.html">first </a>saw Jack, we knew he was going to be a bold, stylish dog and <a href="http://regalvizsla.blogspot.com/2012/09/wrapping-things-up.html">his two weeks</a> up in Maine this past summer reaffirmed to both of us that Jack was ready to take the relative stress of being broke. And besides, with winters being what they are in the northeast, what could be better for a dog than a warm, working vacation in South Carolina? But now that he is back, he and Jeremy need to find their rhythm together: Jeremy is finding his touch with both the e-collar and the checkcord and pinch-collar; Jackson is learning that the rules are the same with his owner as they were with Mo. And for now, he's going to continue on the steady, incremental climb to earn the trust of being allowed to run free. But, as this picture makes clear, he looks awfully nice even when he's 'merely' backing another dog. But today was also a special day: Momo's eighth birthday! I do wonder at just how far this goofy dog has taken us in the last eight years -- and wouldn't trade him or the experience for anything.<br />
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Speaking of long journeys, it feels a little odd to have a plan all set ahead of time, but short of something disastrous happening I will joining up with Ken Kuivenhoven at his <a href="http://www.willowyndranchcamp.blogspot.com/">camp </a>in SD for August and September and potentially not coming back till after <a href="http://vcaweb.org/events/nfc.shtml">VCA Nationals</a> in Eureka, KS, in mid-October. Ken and I had a chance to actually meet in person and chat at the NGDC in April and he's got a great set-up. At this point, the Road Crew will be the Three Amigos plus Capo plus Rye. If you're on the East Coast and would like to get your dog out on wild birds in big open spaces, I'd be happy to haul your dog.</div>
Andrew Campbellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204944202954520498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7720336639932650441.post-52930463581005842982013-04-22T19:58:00.001-04:002013-04-22T19:58:05.503-04:00absent without trace<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">My apologies to any readers I might have left after six months of absence. I have no excuse other than being busy with dogs. All three of the Amigos is doing well:</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAPN6_gZORdVVljwRbxSxxy-g0cTAmf4ReHTfXxKmZzB8cVdHGy6bRSwQy14ru6b1YogdhsOzWs7GbvV4ZJexKFm0j5JHF62BZ5H7awlsCgHI6sBh0WxVyN8UnHAmaEoCcI9TwsE2FDo1G/s1600/DSC_0022.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAPN6_gZORdVVljwRbxSxxy-g0cTAmf4ReHTfXxKmZzB8cVdHGy6bRSwQy14ru6b1YogdhsOzWs7GbvV4ZJexKFm0j5JHF62BZ5H7awlsCgHI6sBh0WxVyN8UnHAmaEoCcI9TwsE2FDo1G/s200/DSC_0022.jpg" width="133" /></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">*Momo at seven-going-on-eight continues to rock it in his own way, winning a 3rd place in <a href="http://www.remekvizslas.net/dog.php4?id=55744">AWGD</a> just two weeks ago, but after guiding two hunts back-to-back with him in December, 6 hours and 33 retrieves later, even he had to admit he was tired.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">*Jozsi, going-on-six, is his usual bag of nuts. There'll be more below about him, but he is still exciting, infuriating, and 2 retrieving points shy of his FC.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">*Jake, just-over-two, is looking really really nice. He actually took a <a href="http://www.remekvizslas.net/dog.php4?id=58717">placement</a> in his first broke-dog stake in October and has been out of the ribbons since, but I'll say more about that later in the post. This trial year, 2012-2013, is about him learning to apply all the lessons he got in summer camp out on the trial field and becoming a truly broke dog.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">But I love how each dog is telling me more about myself, as a trainer, as a handler, even as a judge.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">I don't remember which trial it was in the fall, but Jozsi had laid down a good run, not a great run, but that included him staying fully broke even when his bracemate appeared over a berm ahead of him and ripped out the bird in front of him. He was the second reserve dog for the retrieve callbacks -- which were a giant cluster, birds missed but dogs sent, birds flushing wild before the dog was pointed, the whole nine yards -- but three dogs failed their retrieve and he got to go down to the shooting field. His chukar was the eighth chukar slept in exactly the same spot, a bird slept so hard that when Jozsi went over to it, he didn't point, but actually made two attempts to put it in his mouth before it woke up and flew off. But it set me to thinking -- and not just about how I might train around this scenario, but why he had done it, and how I as a handler could minimize the possibility of him doing it again.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">I was reading Tom Huggler's <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/A-Fall-Woodcock-Tom-Huggler/dp/0924357681">A Fall of Woodcock</a></i> (1996) and he records a fascinating observation made by one of his Louisiana hunting partners: "Ever notice how dead birds are harder to find than crippled birds? That's because dead birds don't breathe. A dog can smell a live bird's breath." (p.145) Donald McCaig has a new book, <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Mr-Mrs-Dog-Adventures-Epiphanies/dp/0813934508/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1365678029&sr=1-1&keywords=donald+mccaig">Mr and Mrs Dog</a> </i>(2013), which is fabulous and in which while talking about border collies and sheep herding (and not bird dogs), he says:</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">"By human standards, I know far more than the dogs do. But Luke and June can do what I cannot. In a millisecond, forty feet from just-encountered range Rambouillets the dogs <i>see</i>, big as a Wall Drug bill board, which sheep is the leader. They immediately understand the complex social order in this particular mini-flock. They know whether the sheep are ready to fight, split up, or break for the tall timber, because the sheep <i>tell</i> them what they mean to do." (pp. 102-103)</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">At times, Jozsi is a blockhead and at other times, he is smarter than I deserve. And the fact I've come to realize is that when you dizzy a bird so hard, especially perhaps if you tuck its head under a wing, it no longer smells like an awake bird. Maybe as Tom Huggler's friends assert, the dog <i>can</i> smell the inhalation and exhalation of breath, maybe it's that the now very-slowly breathing bird is simply not producing and wafting scent like a live, healthy bird -- but in any case, Jozsi knew that something wasn't right and he meant to fix it.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Back in February, we took what for us was an unusual February vacation -- we stayed in the U.S. and took the dogs. It did snow a little while we were down in southwest Virginia so I don't feel we compromised entirely by avoiding the cold weather, but it was neat to take a vacation with the Three Amigos in a spot where Meg could take a swim, hike, and get a massage, where we could eat great food, and where the dogs could stay with us and I could hunt the snot out of them. <a href="http://primland.com/">Primland</a> is a great spot and proud of its pheasant hunting in particular -- but the thing to keep in mind is that they host a fair number of English-style driven shoots a year and they put out twice as many birds as the hunt guarantees. Interestingly, they guarantee that their guide will get you at least eight shootable birds (if you miss, it's on you) -- but what it meant for me and the Gentlemen was that there were a lot of hold-over resident birds and those wouldn't hold worth a damn for a dog that wanted to fool around. In his first hour, Jozsi, for example, had at least 15 contacts and didn't get a bird successfully pointed at all. I had explained to the folks at Primland that I wanted to run each of my dogs for an hour, would use a blank pistol on almost all the birds for Jozsi and Jake, and would shoot the heck out of any birds for Momo. And when most of the guides saw how Jozsi and Jake ran, several elected to stay in their trucks.</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi41i_xSP3Z7IACRHmERmsr9hm4r43gIvrjwPqOuzbipEqKdfvzL-qvD-enfygIrA3Zh1lWeL2rXe3Md1k6lnnuOPi_yBTHfWkNUf5bG7hX1hLeOe4R6rdyKwPQAfGiHupFLRNpT1sRNsPZ/s1600/DSC_0006.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi41i_xSP3Z7IACRHmERmsr9hm4r43gIvrjwPqOuzbipEqKdfvzL-qvD-enfygIrA3Zh1lWeL2rXe3Md1k6lnnuOPi_yBTHfWkNUf5bG7hX1hLeOe4R6rdyKwPQAfGiHupFLRNpT1sRNsPZ/s200/DSC_0006.JPG" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">While many trainers and training books will encourage you to work a dog just long enough and to leave on a positive note to avoid over-stressing the dog and leaving a pleasant memory in their brains (and Ken's own <a href="http://willowyndranch.blogspot.com/2012/10/over-training.html">take </a>on it isn't one I disagree with), it occurred to me that perhaps what Jozsi was missing wasn't lots of short, successful repetitions but deep, deep, prolonged work. This was <a href="http://regalvizsla.blogspot.com/2010/07/dog-camp-part-four-chicken-shit.html">something</a> Bill Gibbons had tried to convey to me back at summer camp in 2010 -- but which has been hard to repeat and which I had lost sight of. And for that first hour, he got to watch over a dozen pheasant fly off due to his clumsiness and got cued firmly to stop-to-flush (even if he had). We had several hunts booked during our time, so I knew he would get many opportunities to try again. By his second hour, he had successfully pointed three birds in his hour, all of which I shot; by the third, I shot my limit of birds over him. And his tail was beginning to look just beautiful again -- the sad part being that we only had a limited time to pursue this kind of deep, grinding work with him. B<span style="font-size: small;">ut this was one of his <span style="font-size: small;">final points during our time at Prim<span style="font-size: small;">land and<span style="font-size: small;"> he sure<span style="font-size: small;"> liked nice.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF9UT1D4vO8FpvxAA02z5KAURzS-97kLY_kyBcNJPjXPjs4MYvuU7abiQNUwiZGZUURjUYOklJiKJgYAeM2wWt3k0Eh2ahTSHAO71ruk1PgLmR5W6tuNvDHTRgyMr6CO6ZxZaDBvCJ7tsv/s1600/P1010662.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF9UT1D4vO8FpvxAA02z5KAURzS-97kLY_kyBcNJPjXPjs4MYvuU7abiQNUwiZGZUURjUYOklJiKJgYAeM2wWt3k0Eh2ahTSHAO71ruk1PgLmR5W6tuNvDHTRgyMr6CO6ZxZaDBvCJ7tsv/s200/P1010662.JPG" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Pheasants had been Jake's undoing in the fall, too -- having access to a site like <a href="http://www.flahertyfta.org/Pages/default.aspx">Flaherty</a> that is field-trial-first is great, but I should have remembered that come October and November the State of Connecticut starts to dump out pheasants for the weekday hunters. This pict<span style="font-size: small;">ure is also from our trip to Primland with Jake<span style="font-size: small;"> pinn<span style="font-size: small;">ing a rooster on the other side of the pine. </span></span></span>This fall, especially, has been about getting Jake experience to round all the work we did last summer when I broke him out -- and in return, he has made me think about all kinds of different issues as a handler. For example, while it sounds dumb to say it, I was reminded to 'trust the dog' because even if he did point where a heron had just been during the previous weekend's trial, and even if he is apparently pointing in a spot you wouldn't have expected anyone to have planted a bird, a point is a point. Just because it's not on the normal menu of planted quail spots doesn't mean it's not an exhausted woodcock or, as it happened, a pheasant dropped off a truck the night before. Jake is also the first dog I've truly needed a scout for, as opposed to simply someone to handle my horse while I work the birds he's pointed. He is a dynamic dog who has on at least three occasions outrun the standard bird-planting schematic used by most clubs with limited numbers of volunteers. And so, as a handler, do you hack your dog onto the line that you know birds have been planted on? or do you let him make beautiful casts into the spots where wild birds really should be, knowing that unless you're either lucky to have had a liberated quail scuttle off there or a random wild bird or an enlightened bird-planter, you are more than likely going to go birdless?</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5NfFHoLv1YnjNmXG0xIJPMNwiK0cYDgg2ymF7O6Ni9u1yhzmGMXuDObBwRHHbbEmD81rc6wisjsFhynOoHLdBe24quuen3D8tpDftaY9sEKYVwS5PRmFXO7p7Y8u1SCiNlXADSngaONlY/s1600/P1010774.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5NfFHoLv1YnjNmXG0xIJPMNwiK0cYDgg2ymF7O6Ni9u1yhzmGMXuDObBwRHHbbEmD81rc6wisjsFhynOoHLdBe24quuen3D8tpDftaY9sEKYVwS5PRmFXO7p7Y8u1SCiNlXADSngaONlY/s200/P1010774.jpg" width="112" /></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">But it has been a very busy past six weeks. I was honored to be asked to serve as the reporter for the Masters Open Quail Championship, one of the top-tier all-age trials, held down in the mecca of wild quail habitat, Albany, GA. Make no mistake about it, these are wild birds but on absolutely privately-owned and heavily managed land. Fortunately there are still enough major landowners that enjoy bird-dogs and understand that well-mannered field trial dogs make wild birds wilder -- and so are willing to host major championships like this. And for the opportunity to see 53 of the best pointers and, arguably, the single best setter in the country, I am grateful to the Southern Field Trial Club and the Montcastle family (who owns the Blue Springs Plantation) and Mr. Ted Turner (who owns the Nonami Plantation) for making that possible. As the previous sentence implied, I was lucky to see the newest National Champion, <a href="http://www.amesplantation.org/field-trials/2013-national-championship/2013-national-champion---shadow-oak-bo/">Shadow Oak Bo</a>, as well as the 2009 National Champion, Lester's Snowatch, and the 2010 National Champion, In the Shadow -- and despite commendable performances from all three, this year's Master's was claimed by Big Sky Pete (in what I believe was his first major championship title). As I <a href="http://regalvizsla.blogspot.com/2011/03/grouse-palooza.html">noted </a>when I first reported the Armstrong-Umbel back in 2011, to call it an eye-opener was something of a misonmer -- because like the dogs coursing the grouse woods guided by voice and bell, 'watching' an all-age dog run in the undulating, unrelenting quail cover was hard to do. And it added a whole new appreciation for what is truly a tri-partite team: dog, handler, and scout. The pict<span style="font-size: small;">ure is of Larron Cop<span style="font-size: small;">eland's Showtime Charlie Chan after his <span style="font-size: small;">impressive four-find race.</span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">In news just in: I will be interested to follow how, or who, Robin Gates trains up as his new scout -- and to see father and son compete head-to-head now that Hunter has taken a position of his own at Mill Pond Plantation in Thomasville.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Three weeks after the Master's I headed out to Colorado to serve as Captain of the Guns for my FTFG ('field trial fairy godmother'), Joan Heimbach, the chair of this year's VCA National Gun Dog Championship. I had <a href="http://regalvizsla.blogspot.com/2012/05/busier-than-heck.html">gunned </a>for the GSPCA NAGDC last year and was looking forward to the opportunity to do it again. But no matter how much you psych yourself down for it, it is still not just shooting birds over dogs -- I hate to miss and I don't like excuses -- but worrying about gallery wagons, the gallery, handlers, dogs that break on the shot, in addition to riding every brace is hard work. And, of course, the truism is still holding true: the easy shots are the ones you miss, the hard ones the ones you make. While I rode every brace we had three other rotating gunners, and with exception of the guy who took the fewest shots (who didn't miss a single bird), all of us missed something. After riding 4.5days straight on four different horses at the Masters, I feel qualified to say that the horse that pitched me twice was perhaps not quite ready to be a field trial horse. Like my ego, my tailbone is bruised -- but no major damage done.</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNToSubYMqz_9SDO2po5oHPteN4Qd6dRjmNC_DywH0nyzI1E_joxSsshwcWL0uq0pRHzeHDs8JBDWjy9D12jqeJ-kSp0-WcMv9NkvU2i-z-QRaLfSErvLhbCYCJxvMBwqTpt4W51R-H7YZ/s1600/VCA.NGDC.Ocky2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNToSubYMqz_9SDO2po5oHPteN4Qd6dRjmNC_DywH0nyzI1E_joxSsshwcWL0uq0pRHzeHDs8JBDWjy9D12jqeJ-kSp0-WcMv9NkvU2i-z-QRaLfSErvLhbCYCJxvMBwqTpt4W51R-H7YZ/s200/VCA.NGDC.Ocky2.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">It was nice to see some old friends and to meet new ones -- like my fellow Scot, Laura Miller, with her very nice dog, Bull, and Ken Kuivenhoven who has been running <a href="http://redbirddog.blogspot.com/">Rod Michaelson</a>'s Bailey. Bailey did a respectable job at the NGDC, but was simply beaten by dogs with <i>more</i>. Clearly no-one had informed the old dogs that they were eligible for senior discounts: Ruger, Topper, and Octane, all beyond ten years old, ran like they would not be forgotten. I am <span style="font-size: small;">very happy to say that I shot Oc<span style="font-size: small;">ky's bird for him and he was clearly very happy to bring it back to <span style="font-size: small;">Joan. </span></span></span> Between seeing these seniors lay it down and the really, really strong Puppy stake, it was so encouraging as a statement for the health of the breed. It was also neat to be there to see Ken Kuivenhoven blush as Vetelytars Tuff as Leather's name, <a href="http://willowyndranch.blogspot.com/2013/04/2013-ngdc-vetelytars-tuff-as-leather.html">Tucker</a>, was called as the winner of this year's National Gun Dog Championship.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">*******</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">The sad news from that NGDC weekend was the news that, however peacefully, cancer had finally taken Upwind Shenipsit Rebel, aka <a href="http://www.remekvizslas.net/dog.php4?id=3490">Yogurt</a>, the VCA's Gun Dog of the Year for 2007 and 2008. With Yogurt's owner, Patrick Cooke, and her breeder, Lisa DeForest, <a href="http://regalvizsla.blogspot.com/2009/07/friends-passing.html">both </a>now also passed, it feels like something of the end of an era. But here's the story that ties them all together.</span></span><br />
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--></style><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black;">In the fall
of 1999, Patrick was still primarily a German Shorthair owner and had gone with
his trainer, Deb Goodie, to see his first field trial. Deb was braced
with Lisa, while Patrick walked behind in the gallery. At the end of the
stake, he was chatting with Deb about how it had gone -- as it turned out, his
puppy Torii would take 4th in her first trial, while Lisa's Garcie would be
awarded the blue ribbon for 1st. Nevertheless, he was puzzled and asked
Deb, "Why was that woman calling her dog Yogurt?," when he knew from
the running order that the dog's name was Upwind Very Garcia. It turned
out that what he misheard from the gallery was Lisa singing her dog around the
course with "Yo! Girl!" Patrick decided two things that day,
that if he became a field trial vizsla owner, he would only get a dog from Hank
Rozanek or Lisa DeForest -- and when "Yogurt" was born two years
later, he named her that because it was how he would always remember Lisa and
his introduction to the breed.</span></span> </span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span>Andrew Campbellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204944202954520498noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7720336639932650441.post-81760851337765654492012-10-23T17:52:00.004-04:002012-10-23T17:52:58.515-04:00back into the thick of thingsIt has been a busy six weeks -- as most of you who follow this blog could probably guess from the delay since the last posting. We had a great time up at Julie & Gordon's farm this summer and got a lot done with all the dogs.<br />
<br />
But before summer camp ended, I hauled the entire crew down to <a href="http://www.vccne.net/venues.html">Crane WMA</a> for the VCCNE + Mayflower GSP Club double-header hunt test -- for Jackson and Rye to try their luck at their first two JH legs and for Capo to try her luck at her first two MH legs (and for me to judge a couple of stakes).<br />
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The short version is that I quickly remembered that Capo is really only 2.5yrs old and, relatively speaking, hasn't seen a ton of birds and so, while broke, getting her exposed and proofed to all the random scenarios that come with the hunt test format just hasn't happened yet. Julie ran her in her first leg and I don't have a clear picture of exactly how it came to pass, suffice to say there was a bird in the air and she was moving after it; I ran her in her second leg and when her bracemate stopped-to-flush on a covey of 6-8 birds, she didn't recognize the situation as a stop-to-flush situation and kept moving. (She did then go on to honor, stop-to-flush, and then point so it wasn't all wasted.) But what our little whizz-kid really needs is a season of having birds shot over her to really get her primed for the hunt test big-time.<br />
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I handled Jackson in his first JH leg so that he understood that even this was a new venue and he had already seen his father on the grounds the same rules applied. And he did a really nice job both for me -- and for Jeremy the next day. I gather he and Jeremy will try to complete the JH title next weekend at the CVVC + Nutmeg hunt test double-header.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw26VfWWbC8Pub_Ln5kN7dtx3ndL2F-PwTdH6KfCkfnPQGX3cmbbOerbi__OL66hmV1EBS7ERaMu2koD9kosYCNRH5Vf_4nAUhmY_9Rgg8fU6c0-wte5kOhboEJtiIHUbbpHxurXUnZKm_/s1600/Rye.JH.VCLI.14Oct12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw26VfWWbC8Pub_Ln5kN7dtx3ndL2F-PwTdH6KfCkfnPQGX3cmbbOerbi__OL66hmV1EBS7ERaMu2koD9kosYCNRH5Vf_4nAUhmY_9Rgg8fU6c0-wte5kOhboEJtiIHUbbpHxurXUnZKm_/s200/Rye.JH.VCLI.14Oct12.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
To look forward a little and condense things, Rye did a great job out on the Cape and then again at the <a href="http://www.vcli.net/?page_id=1533">Vizsla Club of Long Island</a> hunt test out at the Sarnoff Preserve in far eastern Long Island. I had already agreed to judge and while it meant a lot of driving to pick her up and drop her off, I was eager to get her back out on birds and hopefully finish her title. Which she did. It was the first time I had been to the Sarnoff grounds, but it was a great place for an energetic, but still moderate ranging dog to do her stuff. And she looked as fabulous on point as she did in the previous post. And as can be seen, the VCLI has fabulous ribbons for those finishing titles at their test.<br />
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Momo also got to run as a bye-dog and I was able to run Jozsi and Jake on the grounds after the test. I have to admit that I am not sure how they run horseback trials at Sarnoff because it seems like your maximum vista is about 100yds and Jake, especially, was out of sight quickly and took some hollering to keep him on track and away from roads.<br />
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The rest of this fall is really about two things: trying to get plenty of horseback experience for Jake in trial settings and trying to finish up the final 2 points on Jozsi's Field Championship. My work schedule has gone a little funky so in order to do that, I've had to sacrifice our usual trip to western Maine to hunt the rumpled grouse. But hopefully, the additional experience will prove beneficial if not successful for both of them.<br />
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Here's a quick salute to Upwind Tonka Geode now called back to the second series of both the 2011 and 2012 VCA National Field Championships. At least for the 2011 <a href="http://classic.akc.org/events/field_trials/pointing_breeds/vizslaCOA/2011/">edition</a>, "only dogs with flawless manners on game and good ground pattern were considered for the second series." '<a href="http://www.remekvizslas.net/dog.php4?id=53332">Rocko</a>,' as he is known, is our Jozsi's full brother from the last litter that Lisa DeForest bred; I happen to think he and Jozsi look very similar in terms of their profile. I am so pleased that, like Rye, after an initial hiccup or two, he is also performing at the very highest level. Thanks to Phil Stout of <a href="http://www.winddancevizslas.com/">WindDance Vizslas</a> for this photograph from this year's second series -- and congratulations to Phil, <a href="http://www.remekvizslas.net/dog.php4?id=21683">Tori</a>, and <a href="http://www.oconeekennels.com/">Jamie Fountain</a> for their selection to the second series as well. And heaven knows, all three of these dogs are just hitting their prime years and so hopefully all of them will have this opportunity again.Andrew Campbellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204944202954520498noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7720336639932650441.post-60682253782061829912012-09-06T13:29:00.000-04:002012-09-14T10:02:44.087-04:00wrapping things up<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTheeXuCWuAHChPUgEuh0hvNXIuFcZLIrWEBf4zAuKHRJrhdcm-eTpB-F9tAUCgIzdPvlexyzE2_FCI1LM_Lji-NYFQuiz3C3DQ9K_dDyGX9JOxv2xMRslvlcIo3V_nijXuNGshzXrqvCg/s1600/P1010470.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTheeXuCWuAHChPUgEuh0hvNXIuFcZLIrWEBf4zAuKHRJrhdcm-eTpB-F9tAUCgIzdPvlexyzE2_FCI1LM_Lji-NYFQuiz3C3DQ9K_dDyGX9JOxv2xMRslvlcIo3V_nijXuNGshzXrqvCg/s200/P1010470.jpg" width="112" /></a> We're moving into our final week of camp and things are starting to come together for all the dogs -- in some way or other. Since I last wrote, Jeremy dropped off Jackson for two weeks of camp in anticipation of the VCCNE/<a href="http://www.mayflowergsp.com/">Mayflower</a> doubleheader hunt test down at Crane WMA this coming weekend (and in anticipation of his own wedding the following weekend). And while I wish I could claim to have really set up this picture this way, sometimes you just get lucky: from near to far, Jackson, Rye, Capo, Momo, and Jozsi.<br />
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Jack has enough strength and drive that he has caught a few (too many) birds and so I am working on having him establish a meaningful, deliberate point for at least as long as a judge can see him. In my opinion, I don't have enough time and he has too much drive to try any kind of 'pre-breaking' and so have been using good-flying pigeons in launchers that I set off as soon as he breaks point. I'm hoping that somewhere in his tiny, tiny mind there is a light going off that says 'movement = no chance'. I am also working him on coming back to me at a suitable point after he's chased the bird in the hope that we can keep a handle on him in the JH birdfield. I may not even try him on quail before we head down there with the goal of having him not catch any more birds before the test.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3jWT6s1Rcjcoudej01DcIE1RL792KVNH6UvS6yFAIUk31VXZp5dAZQ4tatypi2OaomW1IKDas59H1vNedHU_Dlnjqzx6tR020e3-lgbAiAgunkFIP30hk6ChkysSuCZDnpgMsQ9LB5l9F/s1600/P1010476.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3jWT6s1Rcjcoudej01DcIE1RL792KVNH6UvS6yFAIUk31VXZp5dAZQ4tatypi2OaomW1IKDas59H1vNedHU_Dlnjqzx6tR020e3-lgbAiAgunkFIP30hk6ChkysSuCZDnpgMsQ9LB5l9F/s200/P1010476.JPG" width="200" /></a>Rye has proven that she certainly has an inner bird dog -- and that she is pretty damn smart and has a dominant personality. I'm pretty sure that she has transitioned from blinking birds to pointing birds in launchers to blinking launchers, that she isn't gun shy, and that she has the capacity to point like a champ. She has a couple more days to go after quail up at camp and then we'll see what she does down on the Cape. But having an 'Amy Winehouse' (a rehab dog that someone else has already fussed with and confused) has been an interesting challenge in terms of trying to figure out how and where she became seemingly indifferent about birds and then trying to stoke her bird drive all over again. I ran her this morning and am having a minor 'moral' dilemma about posting a picture of a dog I don't own before her owners get a chance to -- but here she is, tail fuzzed out in the middle, and staunch.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizSFwfRpNb3WYpZX4pLlVCffSdYEfsu5fynQqE9MXjvW-LBpQz0xhnS7VzCnLt9oKRq4X1gMl-ADm109X1VWkFK-5_zXZmaAaFqBXZatyXXegOWBQe_Ccz4yvYJQfNpVI02Q1HdrWQTCE4/s1600/P1010426.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizSFwfRpNb3WYpZX4pLlVCffSdYEfsu5fynQqE9MXjvW-LBpQz0xhnS7VzCnLt9oKRq4X1gMl-ADm109X1VWkFK-5_zXZmaAaFqBXZatyXXegOWBQe_Ccz4yvYJQfNpVI02Q1HdrWQTCE4/s200/P1010426.jpg" width="112" /></a>I have been trying to put the polish on Capo for her MH debut at the hunt test -- working her with another dog to get her into backing situations, giving her retrieve practice, making her heel away from a find to avoid a delayed chase. Here is Momo backing the Princess in the quail pasture. It has been interesting doing this with her in part because I have seen the competitive side of her personality -- which also inclines her to make mistakes that she might otherwise not normally do. But one of the reasons I am so fond of her (and of Jake, too) is the relative calm with which they take corrections and bounce right back, eager to get on with the next task and do it right.<br />
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I have been working Jozsi out by having him pull cables every third day or so -- although the one piece of equipment I wish I'd been able to scrounge up for this summer is an ATV so that I could give more dogs a more structured exercise program, particularly on their off-bird days. Jake, Capo, and Jozsi, for example, have pretty similar gaits and cruising speeds; Momo and Rye would have paired up nicely as another team. It would also have saved my ankles somewhat: I figure I walk about 8miles a day, a lot of it in rubber boots with little ankle support. I also need to remember that the dogs are running in hay fields and that chest-high <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy-grass">timothy</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfalfa">alfalfa</a> provide plenty of resistance training as well!<br />
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I don't remember where I picked up this tip regarding exercising dogs, but I've seen plenty of evidence of its validity this summer that it's worth restating. Heat, by itself, won't necessarily hurt a dog, but the combination of heat and humidity will definitely sap a dog's energy and endurance. This is to say that asking a dog to run full-out in 95degs in TX without having adequate water on hand to cool and rehydrate them is irresponsible; but having water on-hand won't do a lot for a dog trying to work full out in 70degs and 80% humidity. The magic number I've heard some place is 140 -- as the combined total of temperature and humidity -- and which I like for a couple of reasons: there is no elaborate <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_index">heat index</a> formula to calculate, and it seems a more accurate predictor of low temperature exertion. While it might sound ridiculous to think that your dog would somehow
get exhausted early running in 60deg weather, if you're on the verge of
a thunder storm you'll watch them get tired in front of your eyes. (Thanks to Joe for sending me this interesting link to the <a href="http://troffpouch.com/hydration-calculator/?goback=.gde_155401_member_128955434">Canine Hydration Calculator</a> -- which in turn led me to this animal physiology <a href="http://www.bio.davidson.edu/Courses/anphys/2000/Hatfield/Hatfield.htm">course </a>on canine thermoregulation.) <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLFQ0CKfQcyQrcMGNRs33LZMwPVHoTbzLt_FhY_0SUHITQjrG-fY6IlfBQLOs-mBfnxp32QWwFwlMFmPhuGcpDVWanNHud09EhvmGqO08OueRLyfX9M9OsZCd3X7xUJ_fFZ1Gt3wC9qwko/s1600/P1010465.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLFQ0CKfQcyQrcMGNRs33LZMwPVHoTbzLt_FhY_0SUHITQjrG-fY6IlfBQLOs-mBfnxp32QWwFwlMFmPhuGcpDVWanNHud09EhvmGqO08OueRLyfX9M9OsZCd3X7xUJ_fFZ1Gt3wC9qwko/s200/P1010465.JPG" width="200" /></a>Jake the Snake has been doing great -- and has transitioned from pigeons to quail, and from running wearing his full uniform of pinch-collar, checkcord, and e-collar to running free. He's certainly not perfect, but happily he seems to fully understand his corrections and bounce right back with a clarity of purpose. While I have deliberately not been running him in the woods, he did take himself in there the other day and had to be cued to stop-to-flush on a woodcock that burst out of the woodline. While the johnny-house quail are not as dynamic as either the woodcock or grouse in the woods, that itself becomes a training asset for a dog that is relatively far along in the breaking process -- because while they might ultimately fly under enough pressure, flushing them can often be quite theatrical and the temptation high for a dog.Andrew Campbellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204944202954520498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7720336639932650441.post-87188665204945265082012-08-21T17:45:00.000-04:002012-09-06T13:29:39.694-04:00clearing the hurdles<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2mBsnPbVW-vc3-m-yhY6dZ-xx5RGxDLjbNIlvvQaTgn0JeED58LPAOioG287TPeEi_h0ayKC1Kd-m-ei6V91nkV35LF0FWv_JmOqu0VQffs57b98X8Ev8_y2aaoxIok_gnABcZZwXKYzq/s1600/P1060203.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2mBsnPbVW-vc3-m-yhY6dZ-xx5RGxDLjbNIlvvQaTgn0JeED58LPAOioG287TPeEi_h0ayKC1Kd-m-ei6V91nkV35LF0FWv_JmOqu0VQffs57b98X8Ev8_y2aaoxIok_gnABcZZwXKYzq/s320/P1060203.JPG" width="320" /></a>To start here's a picture of the entire crew staked out under the big willow tree -- and which includes Capo's sister, Moxie, and Rye's son, Waylon. It's been great to have Rob + Kacey be so close to bring me donuts and pigeons on a fairly regular basis -- and to be able to show them how I train so they can make decisions for themselves about how to bring along their own dogs. Incidentally, if you click on the picture, you may notice the new spiffy stainless stakes anchoring my chains: these are from Mike Coleman at <a href="http://www.thefieldtrialer.com/ads/heartland/heartland.htm">Heartland Dog Stakes</a> and all I can say is that they're worth every penny.<br />
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In the last post I mentioned that I had seen a few potential hiccups and was working out some strategies to deal with them. Martha Greenlee has posted a similarly-themed <a href="http://steadywithstyle.com/living-with-your-mistakes/">article </a>on <i>Steady with Style</i> which is definitely worth checking out. I experienced something <a href="http://regalvizsla.blogspot.com/2010/07/dog-camp-part-four-chicken-shit.html">similar </a>with Bill back in 2010 in that first month I was able to spend out in Arizona (before the White Mountains went up in flames). But the points are several:<br />
<ul>
<li><i>The dog determines the speed of the training</i>, not the competition schedule, not the friend or the pro bragging about breaking a dog in 6 weeks;</li>
<li>Keep it simple, stupid;</li>
<li>Establish a solid foundation: this can be tough if you're working largely by yourself because working one dog behind another can provide both a great canine model for the dog you have, the distance that hopefully prevents the dog behind associating the pressure they will experience with the bird, but the reward of seeing a bird in flight;</li>
<li>When you or the dog do make mistake, the solid foundation gives you something to come back to restart;</li>
<li>Stick to the plan, a mistake doesn't mean the plan is flawed -- merely that you now have an opportunity to reflect on why things didn't go to plan. Were you asking the dog to be perfect in less than ideal conditions? is it late in the morning and getting hot? is the air still and scenting conditions are lousy? is the air thick and humid such that even normally good flying birds just don't want to get up until absolutely pressed to?</li>
<li>Assuming your execution of the plan was perfect, a dog's mistake can be a great learning opportunity for the dog because a dog that is otherwise perfect only knows what's right, it doesn't know what's wrong -- and as such only has half the picture.</li>
</ul>
To give you an example, working behind this spring, Jake made few, if any mistakes and I wasn't even entirely sure that he was registering the e-collar cue to stop when overlayed with the pinch collar. I wrote about this in my <a href="http://regalvizsla.blogspot.com/2012/06/silver-linings.html">next-to-last post</a> and the remarkable silver lining experience we had despite having forgotten a key piece of training equipment. As I mentioned last time, though, as he realized that birdwork was going to be part of his regular day-to-day experience, his intensity and drive went through the roof -- and where heat, humidity, and far-from-explosive birds hadn't driven him mental before, up here in Maine he blew through the e-collar on at least two occasions faster than I could turn the dial as he broke on the flush and went for the bird. Again, mistakes help frame situations for both the dog and the handler. A week or so later after getting a nice solid rhythm of reliable stands, I decided to enlist a friend to shoot a bird for him. I popped the bird in the launcher and it flopped in the still air -- and instead of saying to heck with it, I picked it up and threw it. My gunner shot and missed and Jake was off to the races, ignoring the e-collar cue to stop. I wanted so hard to end on a positive note but could feel myself getting knotted up in my own confusion and decided to stop.<br />
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As I sat down with a sandwich, I recognized several things. While I don't want to waste valuable resources like pigeons, I had chosen a poor flier as the sacrificial bird. After being sure he wasn't sensitive to the gun (and in awareness of the various articles in <i>The American Field</i> about human and canine hearing loss), I have deliberately not fired a lot of rounds off around him. When he was working behind and a bird was shot for the dog in front, I would ask him to stand while the dead bird was waggled and thrown ahead of him, and then send him to go grab it. And while he might still be a pig-headed demon dog, I realized that I had put him in a situation where there were several cues that might have encouraged him to break -- a shotgun being fired, a crappy bird he knew he could catch, and a thrown bird to boot. I took him back out in the evening once it had cooled and a light breeze had gotten up with two uncarded birds in launchers with the intent just to work on stopping-to-flush, something he knew and could do well. Despite deliberately coming from mostly upwind, the breeze fishtailed and he caught of scent, began to style, and as he took a couple of steps, I popped the bird. As it turned out, he turned his head as I did it, missed the initial flush, then saw the bird flapping and stopped himself. It turned out to be a not-to-great bird and I was admittedly nervous. He took a half-step, got a correction, stopped, and I walked out in front of him and fired the pistol. As soon as he got scent on the second bird, he stopped and styled up. I walked out in front, kicked around, popped the bird, fired the gun, and all was good.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZZ57vEAd4uZfOrdl_HQ4Nt9X8VvsBGTqa_2fsRME8TLvNknGNECd5SyDwikDp7MlfBVB4M6q4TcfiAd9uOuyCbX5I-W2JlqNt4rdry_1xyyCJJWhULxtwRakiU4npv2cjQymUdMKKzz2q/s1600/P1060231.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZZ57vEAd4uZfOrdl_HQ4Nt9X8VvsBGTqa_2fsRME8TLvNknGNECd5SyDwikDp7MlfBVB4M6q4TcfiAd9uOuyCbX5I-W2JlqNt4rdry_1xyyCJJWhULxtwRakiU4npv2cjQymUdMKKzz2q/s320/P1060231.JPG" width="320" /></a><br />
As can be seen from this picture, if there is one thing about this dog that stuns me, it is that when scenting conditions are good, he will point a pigeon at 25+yards out. This picture is actually from this morning -- two or three sessions since I started writing this post -- but part of why I think he is doing so well now is because I eliminated those various points of potential confusion for him. I'll restate them, not to preach but to hopefully help other folks understand how they might not be clearly communicating to their dog and how they might unpack other training issues:<br />
<ul>
<li> Weak birds can be useful for less-experienced dogs whose fire and drive you really want to stoke by letting the dog break or chase up and catch a bird;</li>
<li>Weak birds are not useful for dogs who are in that intermediate stage before being fully broke but whose drive is intense -- and so <i>use the best birds you can find</i>. In an ideal world, your pigeons are strong-flying homers who don't need cards and your quail accustomed to a johnny-house and never touched by your hands;</li>
<li>If you've helped a dog understand the concept of standing still by throwing a dead bird for them during the introductory phases of this method, then make a decision about how far they are in their development and then <i>never throw a bird for them again</i>; </li>
<li>If the only time you bring out a shotgun is to shoot a bird (which they already understand they will be sent for), then keep the dog guessing by using a shotgun with a 209 insert or a primed, empty hull.</li>
</ul>
Talking to Lary Cox at Christies Saddlery last week, he reminded me of Buck Brannaman's <a href="http://www.angelfire.com/nh/austnathorsemanship/bbpage.html">introduction </a>to Bill Dorrance's <a href="http://www.billdorrance.com/book.htm"><i>True Horsemanship Through Feel</i></a>.
It's a great story for many reasons, not least of which because Buck
concludes his interaction with Bill by saying "Considering I wasn't
really listening to me, he could have said a number of things to me." If you take time to consider your mistakes and ask for help, sometimes the solution is often exactly opposite of what you'd have thought.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieEDV6azD8mW3zmnE2QjrxW2tPzPJU6CGg1rah9TH1irDcjsNAmxIKqgK5fuGH19gYJJwSPqZ_mL_7VgnUok_mCQ9shHubne2i8vFHma-NOigkidJXNjvDNJ3aUiqen3Fy3t5UCo5YAhyW/s1600/P1010360.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieEDV6azD8mW3zmnE2QjrxW2tPzPJU6CGg1rah9TH1irDcjsNAmxIKqgK5fuGH19gYJJwSPqZ_mL_7VgnUok_mCQ9shHubne2i8vFHma-NOigkidJXNjvDNJ3aUiqen3Fy3t5UCo5YAhyW/s200/P1010360.JPG" width="200" /></a>In other related news: my johnny-house quail are now in fine form and so some of the dogs have graduated to them. After all my trials and tribulations with Jozsi outlined in this blog over the years, watching him do so nicely this morning was a real treat. He is another example of why, even after you've started down the wrong path, the first six points in this post hold true.<br />
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Andrew Campbellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204944202954520498noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7720336639932650441.post-54750701533395286452012-08-14T22:41:00.001-04:002012-08-14T22:50:52.668-04:00the way life ought to be One of the delays in posting these last couple of months was because plans for the summer and fall just kept changing. I knew <a href="http://magmabirddogs.com/">Bill Gibbons</a> wasn't going to be having a summer camp this year, but was still hoping to get out West to ride the range and watch dogs run big. But Plan A just couldn't materialize. Just as I was getting a little concerned, a friend called me and asked if I'd like to train dogs on her place up in central Maine -- to which I immediately said 'yes.' There is a nice symmetry to all of this, insomuch as this farm had previously belonged to Jozsi's breeder, <a href="http://regalvizsla.blogspot.com/2009/07/friends-passing.html">Lisa DeFores</a>t, before she passed away. Between the property and various pieces of Lisa's old equipment, it's reassuring to me that she is in some ways still right here.<br />
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As much as I wanted the romance of riding the grasslands of eastern Montana, the reality was that I really needed to spend time getting Jake broke -- not because he was being a real problem child, just that it was obvious that it was repetitions that would make the six months of gentle lessons to date sink in and become his natural approach to birdwork. And now, after three weeks of steady work, I realize that this is the advantage that pros have: we pay them to make time for our dogs. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtyPvav35kOWDzG4EylEoXRhFFMUvdidYg3xklAiUpWP5Xa5qEp89tMBJJps7Wbb0G-POpfQkOxHwZJc6P8LwMq9zf4bML_xwNHwcEqirY8axShsesKQGjuJGmGGrPI4NaK1mpEAx1cYMG/s1600/P1010295.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtyPvav35kOWDzG4EylEoXRhFFMUvdidYg3xklAiUpWP5Xa5qEp89tMBJJps7Wbb0G-POpfQkOxHwZJc6P8LwMq9zf4bML_xwNHwcEqirY8axShsesKQGjuJGmGGrPI4NaK1mpEAx1cYMG/s200/P1010295.JPG" width="200" /></a>I hauled my johnny-houses up to the farm and set them up in an old orchard patch -- and fortunately got a pigeon coop from Wendy at <a href="http://widdershins-fm.com/">Widdershins </a>for the pigeons. The farm itself is roughly 60acres, with roughly 50 of them in two hay fields -- which had been given their first cut probably a couple of weeks before I got there so the grass was about 6" tall. I also managed to figure out who owned the 180acre field on the north side and got permission to use that to exercise the beasts. Very excitingly, too, I quickly discovered that the woods to the west also held significant numbers of woodcock and also some grouse -- which is less important for Jake, but a great diversion for Momo who would otherwise be watching everyone else do their thing. With the main farmhouse gutted to studs on the inside, I am living in a camper trailer -- but am blessed to have access to both electricity and a well. While they can take a crate siesta in the house in the afternoons, the dogs -- Momo, Jozsi, Jake, Capo, and Rye -- all sleep in the Luxury Cruiser at night. The picture shows the Luxury Cruiser besides the old barn dated 1875 above the main doorway.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3g0Gg89_ixRml7WitJz3-6sP7DHL1XT3njgaUhHWsmsedarMSMk542BMfJnKUpe5lT9GsnWDSi2TSR0UcohMArwxMa5in0jOz5HMG-_VhNXIhmm-IukWf3Gy6UtwX87ncE1ZUYaK4VDOh/s1600/P1010262.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3g0Gg89_ixRml7WitJz3-6sP7DHL1XT3njgaUhHWsmsedarMSMk542BMfJnKUpe5lT9GsnWDSi2TSR0UcohMArwxMa5in0jOz5HMG-_VhNXIhmm-IukWf3Gy6UtwX87ncE1ZUYaK4VDOh/s200/P1010262.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>
Readers will be familiar with the first three names and may remember that Capo is the bitch we co-own and who I took to <a href="http://regalvizsla.blogspot.com/2011/06/holding-pattern.html">Arizona </a>last summer to get broke; Rye belongs to Wendy at Widdershins and is along for the ride to see if we can let her be a bird dog at her own pace. (This is just to say that she came back to Wendy after pretty obviously being forced into birdwork without every really being allowed to have fun with it first.) I am also lucky to be near several friends with bird dogs of their own that have been looking forward to getting in some regular work before the fall season -- and so while there is always some work involved getting everyone in synch with the plan for the day, it's nice to have enthusiastic company.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZOHzXWBuOCVMpN_1kpH2CIrbwMAHzKzpIC-LRsek1VhGFcBes2-cKphdBtqMtIn591kJX4R_carJJ0JFfaRKcnjJXojPWkh-ZKtibigqhiKP8qBZm1byBeZ2szkPhQf_94qv2ZojsIM8q/s1600/P1010270.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZOHzXWBuOCVMpN_1kpH2CIrbwMAHzKzpIC-LRsek1VhGFcBes2-cKphdBtqMtIn591kJX4R_carJJ0JFfaRKcnjJXojPWkh-ZKtibigqhiKP8qBZm1byBeZ2szkPhQf_94qv2ZojsIM8q/s200/P1010270.jpg" width="112" /></a>I spent the first three weeks doing pigeon work with Jake, Capo, and Rye -- seeing where each of them was and figuring out the best strategies to use with the resources I have. Incidentally, while I brought homing pigeons from New York, I have discovered that they are used to being handled and as such much less likely to spontaneously flush. I also haven't had them long enough to expect them to return to the coop with any kind of regularity. As I know to be the case with chukar and pheasant, weather conditions also greatly affect their desire to get up in front of a dog -- and with unseasonably high temperatures and humidity, by the time we even get to mid-morning on certain days, they can be very reluctant to take wing whether they are wearing cards or not. And so unlike the hot, very dry, and largely barren spaces of Arizona, I feel obliged to use launchers most of the time (which also protect the birds' feathers from any remaining heavy dew in the fields) to provide each dog with the most dynamic bird experience. Happily, Rob and Kacey (who own Capo's sister, Moxie) are able to trap wild pigeons with some regularity -- and they are imminently more spooky and require a lot more carding to prevent from flying into the next county.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBADUzK4ZZW8fAy6XtjxscCZlR4kIF7GHSK924sBGlFfQUDH_YxoXzNBmCqm6ECrINWUf1BajtINiyrdosijh1KBDhpiBnF2GJl-mvGVvF2WJ9shhHTbYgnU5yy5mlceSIc9Th7Ll9XSYW/s1600/IMG_0313.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBADUzK4ZZW8fAy6XtjxscCZlR4kIF7GHSK924sBGlFfQUDH_YxoXzNBmCqm6ECrINWUf1BajtINiyrdosijh1KBDhpiBnF2GJl-mvGVvF2WJ9shhHTbYgnU5yy5mlceSIc9Th7Ll9XSYW/s200/IMG_0313.JPG" width="200" /></a>As can be seen in the first picture at the top, Capo seems as though she never left bird camp, even though she hasn't really seen or smelled a bird in easily six months -- and if a pigeon someone eludes the designated 'pigeon spotter' in the crowd, I will use her to do clean-up duty to locate the bird in question. In my favor, Rye is certainly not afraid of pigeons and learned quickly she could probably catch them -- and so I have been building on those sparks to encourage her to seek out and now establish point on her pigeons, for which she then gets to play retrieve with the pigeon with the broken wing; I have just started asking her to hunt multiple birds and to introduce the pop-gun. As can be seen in the second picture, she is really beginning to look like the bird dog she wants to be. Jake is a demon: while I avoid working every dog every day, he has come to realise that he will be getting to do birdwork a lot and his drive has gone through the roof and, as a result, his e-collar 'number' to cue him to stop when he makes a mistake has also leaped multi-fold. After three weeks here, he is almost perfect on being steady-to-shot and, as can be seen in the picture, his style remains solid; if you click on the picture to make it larger you'll see the carded pigeon sailing off. And if I remember (and it coincides with going to the public library for internet service), I'll post some of the particular problems I've seen with my crew and (hopefully) post some of the solutions.<br />
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Momo is enjoying getting intermittent trips into the woods to look for grouse and woodcock -- and I feel blessed to have reliable bird contacts for him right over the wall. I have certainly never found such a consistent cover as this one before and am careful not to go in there every day to avoid pressuring the birds too much. For now Jozsi has been getting lots of exercise, but will be very excited to get back to come and work johnny-house quail and some more woodcock. I had to take him out of the woods about ten days ago because while the experience of wild birds is as instructive for him as it is for Momo, his enthusiastic bull-in-a-china-shop approach was scraping his face up something fierce. And for at least one weekend this summer I needed him not to have any actively open wounds because... I handled him in our first dog show. Since Lisa's passing, and out of gratitude for the dog have from her, I've felt a need to try and keep her name alive for at least a little longer. For the last two summers, I've been unable to attend the VCCNE Specialty show up in Keene, NH, and so, as one friend put it, I entered him in the conformation equivalent of Amateur Walking Puppy, the 'Field Trial Dog' stake. I had a pretty good idea there wouldn't be a lot of competition either -- and so while the judge could have hated him or he could have uncharacteristically savaged her, he won his stake of one and now has a genuine non-regular First Place conformation ribbon.<br />
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As another friend pointed out, with a number of folks there knowing it was his and my first show, and in a stake of one, the <strike>jeering</strike> cheering started as we went around, Jozsi suddenly understood the attention was on him and perked right up, the judge started laughing and as a result a lot more people paid attention to one of Lisa's dogs than they ever would if I'd just had him in one of the Open stakes. With Capo taking 'Field Trial Bitch' and her mother, Lucy, taking 'Hunting Dog Bitch,' not only was it a good day for Widdershins and Skypoint dogs, but as another show friend pointed out, it was actually refreshing to have a full Specialty -- with dogs representing all the offered classes. If pictures materialize, I will post them for giggles.<br />
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Right now, I am wrapping up a final day of work covering other people's vacations -- and can hardly wait to get back up to Maine tomorrow to keep working all these great dogs.Andrew Campbellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204944202954520498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7720336639932650441.post-65633987018905630482012-06-27T21:31:00.001-04:002012-06-27T21:31:49.307-04:00silver liningsAs the title and delay in posting would suggest, it has been six weeks of frustration waiting for some kind of clear plan or purpose for the remainder of the summer and fall to develop. Here in New York, all the moisture that you might have presumed to have appeared in January and February and coated the ground in ice and snow waited till May and June. And so we've had to try and slot things in between thunder storms and increasingly tall covers on our training grounds.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilHSO752U8M1cPLPW5MipUkob8cP33T_4rfBzxR53YD4BEIe8O3YdtiGnH2BSCRJHDanGQRd_sG5eG8iVem88kL9Gb2LMUn_roUKKFe5we81i5jCEaRw_FWKuQkznZxHZnjhKNYXV5m3uT/s1600/DSC_0004.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilHSO752U8M1cPLPW5MipUkob8cP33T_4rfBzxR53YD4BEIe8O3YdtiGnH2BSCRJHDanGQRd_sG5eG8iVem88kL9Gb2LMUn_roUKKFe5we81i5jCEaRw_FWKuQkznZxHZnjhKNYXV5m3uT/s320/DSC_0004.JPG" width="320" /></a>We did manage to fit in another group training day at TMT in the third week of May with Jack, Juli, Scotch, Dustin, Lyric, Gabi, Paige, and the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. It was nice to see friends again -- and we were blessed with good weather although a little more breeze would have made it perfect. But we got everyone run and everyone had fun. The top picture is of Scotch on just his second set of birds -- as I said to Josh, he's still very young and the fire needs stoking but when he gets scent, he knows what to do. Look at the tail on that dog! Fabulous. For young dogs, I prefer to use birds that are fully awake and placed in spots that require the dog to use its nose. For younger dogs with less prey drive, I think there's a lot of merit in a handler 'taking the dog for a walk' close to a planted bird -- in part because the young dog associates going with his handler with the excitement of finding birds. And as the dog associates going for that particular kind of walk, that will also build drive as well as reinforce the desire to work <i>with</i> his handler.<br />
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After a great winter starting the breaking process with Jake, we lost our rhythm due to crappy weather coinciding with my days off. He has been at the point of making the transition from the pinch collar to the e-collar for correcting him when he makes a mistake (ie. fails to stop or needs to be re-cued to stop) for some time -- and my challenge has been that he was simply not making very many mistakes. Jake seems to have internalized all the external cues for stopping -- pointing, stopping to flush, and honoring -- and was standing very nicely through each of those things while either someone else flushed for him or the dog he was working behind. In short, he wasn't doing anything to merit being re-cued to stop and stand still.<br />
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As I <a href="http://regalvizsla.blogspot.com/2010/07/dog-camp-part-four-chicken-shit.html">wrote</a> two summers ago about knowing when to stop and when to keep going, my dilemma has been whether to assume he does know it and potentially create a problem by going too fast or to potentially lose style by boring the dog with lessons he knows he knows. One nice part about the West method is that you're essentially teaching the dog the same skill in a variety of scenarios -- which is to say, you don't break the dog pointing birds, then teach the honor, or the stop-to-flush -- and so in that sense, you can mix things up with the dog by asking him to the same thing, albeit in a different (and hopefully interesting) set of circumstances. <a href="http://lindleykennel.com/">Maurice Lindley</a> had suggested that I use the stop-to-flush as the means to test whether he'd internalized the e-collar cue to stop -- in part because I could do it by myself using a launcher while still keeping myself in a position to correct him with the pinch if the e-collar didn't register. The challenge remained that he would stop himself properly and then, very often, make little or no effort to move after the bird. Nevertheless, the advice was sound. What I've also seen with him is that he seems most reliable on birds he's not pointing, whereas having scent drives him that little bit crazier even if I'm standing by him with the pinch collar and someone else is flushing for me.<br />
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Today's silver lining was that I got up to TMT to feed my birds and hopefully get some training in on pigeons with Jake and discovered that, of the five checkcords that I can think of that I own, I didn't have a single one with me -- and certainly not the one with the pinch-collar on it. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. So I cursed. I had been tidying up all the stuff in the back of the truck and in the trailer and had just plain forgotten to make sure I had one or the other in the truck again. I had already put out one pigeon in a launcher and two on cards but debated what to do. The short answer is that part of me wishes I'd brought a camera with me to get some nice pictures of me in front of a high and tight Jake, but then again anyone who reads this blog would have laughed their butt off if they'd seen his regular purple nylon leash hanging off his collar. He handled his stop-to-flush perfectly, broke on the first pointed pigeon after I'd flushed but I managed to stop him with the e-collar to style him up and reflush the bird, and he handled the final pointed bird really nicely. And this is one reason I have been frustrated by our intermittent training schedule -- because he handles corrections really nicely -- and wish we could have gotten a bunch of nice even repetitions in. This is largely what you pay a pro for: the time to establish a routine of (hopefully) productive behaviors.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAd7hGbE6FeRQ7gCx6PwNNxSTPfTHUb_ZlHzpJ9_ga8a9Z81F1g3Gw_nsqbEpli0Rv46rPb5aLVLUNaxdw-AqTtSaAFxHa49zmcXF4BmvSY-N2cGC5vNISm8K0bmIkjTfvXNDGBvp5RXwL/s1600/DSC_0010.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAd7hGbE6FeRQ7gCx6PwNNxSTPfTHUb_ZlHzpJ9_ga8a9Z81F1g3Gw_nsqbEpli0Rv46rPb5aLVLUNaxdw-AqTtSaAFxHa49zmcXF4BmvSY-N2cGC5vNISm8K0bmIkjTfvXNDGBvp5RXwL/s320/DSC_0010.JPG" width="320" /></a><br />
But the real silver lining wasn't that Jake did well, but that forgetting a key piece of equipment that I would have otherwise used as a psychological crutch in the name of 'taking it slow and steady' forced me to take a chance. Sometimes you need to have faith in yourself, in the training time you already have in, and of course in your dog. This picture is actually from a couple of days ago, but he's a pretty happy chappy.<br />
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In other news: Craig Doherty at <a href="http://www.wildapplekennel.blogspot.com/2012_06_01_archive.html">Wild Apple Kennel</a> has written a series of five blogposts on grouse trialing. Whether you do grouse trials or not, there's a lot of really useful and interesting stuff for trialers in here.<br />
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And: I had a nice time judging SH/MH at the Nutmeg GSP Club <a href="http://nutmeggspclub.org/Pages/HuntTest.aspx">hunt test</a> a couple of weekends ago and was pleased to watch another set of really nice <a href="http://pointingdogblog.blogspot.com/2011/07/breed-of-week-spinone.html">Spinones</a>. I realize I'm admitting to a stereotype-proven-wrong, but if there was a breed that has genuinely impressed me in the last year of judging hunt tests it has been these mostly white Spinones. And not because they performed the skills well enough, but because they looked animated and excited to be doing it.<br />
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Also: if you ever send something back to Garmin to get fixed, remember to take out your memory cards or the after-market extended antenna. I remembered the first but figured they'd just repair the busted screen on my Astro 220... no. They sent me a whole, newly refurbished 220 back instead. Fortunately, this is now my back-up unit and the 320 comes with an extended antenna in the box.Andrew Campbellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204944202954520498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7720336639932650441.post-12768169932943392912012-05-08T20:06:00.000-04:002012-05-12T15:45:37.699-04:00busier than heck<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3ljmLpwIBjJDzBFxpzbMrDSgtVjHuhO04WsTJ5oQcKB58uWWwG39JaDxluqMmAiOp6VXq8Qr-FuJbXaMBnyLuSDPxRrgHuvdtQP5Hx4BEE217LwZiO-ZNAOFp2IThdRzV5jdpVNe0z_mz/s1600/DSC_0019.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3ljmLpwIBjJDzBFxpzbMrDSgtVjHuhO04WsTJ5oQcKB58uWWwG39JaDxluqMmAiOp6VXq8Qr-FuJbXaMBnyLuSDPxRrgHuvdtQP5Hx4BEE217LwZiO-ZNAOFp2IThdRzV5jdpVNe0z_mz/s200/DSC_0019.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>
There's nothing like a good bird-dog addiction to keep you busy -- and April was another good example. Mid-month, I hosted a training day for a bunch of friends -- including son-of-Sally, Jackson, and son-of-Jozsi, Judd, as well as Scotch, PJ, and the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. This picture is of Judd throwing a really nice point during what was only his second time working birds. It was great to have a bunch of young dogs and watch them figure out what they had been bred for.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXV8HEAGy7eNhAe6L5IjKEDDr-8IPSTdf__VsLesxRv6ClaEpOD55xjxly0HUwpzKXRmDBo2myxL0s6Mn_2IXnIyXtFloJhKRJc95kQzh9AR9EN8g2G0nYVIQcgd935dZAH2OOQ_QW58qA/s1600/Zoom.AWP.CVVC.Apr12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXV8HEAGy7eNhAe6L5IjKEDDr-8IPSTdf__VsLesxRv6ClaEpOD55xjxly0HUwpzKXRmDBo2myxL0s6Mn_2IXnIyXtFloJhKRJc95kQzh9AR9EN8g2G0nYVIQcgd935dZAH2OOQ_QW58qA/s200/Zoom.AWP.CVVC.Apr12.jpg" width="200" /></a>We then held our CVVC Spring field trial at the end of the month, for which I served as the chair. It was my first time chairing a trial and thank heavens for a good group of folks behind me. In an effort to minimize some of our costs, we elected to run it as a two-day trial and still managed to run 100+ dogs in the course of 48hrs. On the one hand, it was a little frustrating not being able to accept all the entries received for our Amateur Walking Puppy stake, but on the other, it was truly exciting to see two large Puppy stakes with a bunch of first-time trialers trying their hand at the sport. Hopefully everyone had a good time running their dogs even if it probably felt a little frustrating to be the last stake of the trial run in the later afternoon on Sunday. Hopefully, they also came to understand two of the weird quantum physics phenomena of field trialing: on the one hand, even if you don't have many dogs to run, the trial will fill the entire time allotted; on the other hand, even if you do have a ton of dogs to run, your brace won't come soon enough.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTOZwFGeIjpXAlaQBPHHVi8NkaKOsY0SmZQLl53WAszt7BQieUos9LCNsRnSd0l0sED-YFSUcQgyytIALzi4FMuXA-Q_wkEm79C_0vSnk7u3QcTPdJIBvqDkTiGv3PRe5zz9nqkiwFsNGe/s1600/Jozsi.OLGD.CVVC28.April12.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="155" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTOZwFGeIjpXAlaQBPHHVi8NkaKOsY0SmZQLl53WAszt7BQieUos9LCNsRnSd0l0sED-YFSUcQgyytIALzi4FMuXA-Q_wkEm79C_0vSnk7u3QcTPdJIBvqDkTiGv3PRe5zz9nqkiwFsNGe/s200/Jozsi.OLGD.CVVC28.April12.gif" width="200" /></a>After an exhausting weekend of seeding courses, filling bird bags, and marshaling volunteers (all of whom I greatly appreciate), it was especially rewarding to read the placements for that 14-dog Amateur Walking Puppy stake and to hand over the blue ribbon to my friend, <a href="http://www.forestkingvizslas.com/">Kim Barry</a>, and her exciting puppy, <a href="http://www.remekvizslas.net/dog.php4?id=59185">Zoom</a>, who is out of <a href="http://www.remekvizslas.net/dog.php4?id=52812">Kyler </a>and Rene Blakemore's very handsome Dual Champion, <a href="http://www.remekvizslas.net/dog.php4?id=4129">Remington</a>. As you can see in the above picture, our club has a special trophy for the highest placed Vizsla in our Amateur Walking Puppy stakes in memory of a much beloved, much missed club member, Saul Himmelfarb. The Open Limited Gun Dog stake also has a rotating trophy in memory of another lost-too-soon club member, Patrick Cooke, the owner of the great <a href="http://www.remekvizslas.net/dog.php4?id=3490">Yogurt</a>. Yogurt is an aunt to our Jozsi through her mother, Shaker, and so it feels especially rewarding to announce that <a href="http://www.remekvizslas.net/dog.php4?id=24423">Jozsi</a> won the OLGD stake for 2 retrieving points towards his FC. A big thank-you to Dave Margolin for taking the picture of his successful retrieve. After a lovely long cast, he had a stop-to-flush, then quite literally a limb find -- a bird 4ft up on a branch -- which he handled beautifully and then hunted and searched like a madman for the remainder of his brace.<br />
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What follows is not to brag about me or my dog (in part because it's based on a compilation of several observations) but to hopefully encourage folks to think about what they're doing when they're trialing.<br />
<ul>
<li>Your dog needs to point a bird to place, but one spectacular find might trump a half-dozen ugly finds;</li>
<li>If your dog finds a gazillion birds, then it simply doesn't have time in a 30minute stake to really demonstrate speed, range, and/or confidence;</li>
<li>As a handler, you're putting on a show for the judges -- and whether you are or not, try to make it look like you and your dog are working as a team;</li>
<li>If your dog has faults, then don't give it the opportunity to demonstrate them by trying to show its strengths instead;</li>
<li>At some point, you will probably have to make a tactical decision about what is better for your dog's performance: if my dog has already had positive finds, does it make more sense to take an unproductive at the end of a stake rather than try to flush one more bird that might run or fail to fly or flush back into your dog's face?</li>
<li>AKC weekend stakes might only be 30minutes long, but everything else being equal the dog that finishes looking like it's just warming up should place higher than the dog that looks like it's happy to be done.</li>
</ul>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv6r67KjrNecT9N9xvxq0beBuENlqUT9kpvXHGBnbK2q7TAj06a1vg2bPJbOjWPp0pN7tBiDt3JTRytLmBQjVSs8MjwfHGKwgz9Pg9JhX2c0o5Vd98Npw8Jhx4IjB4r13FdIbjP0Pj8ai4/s1600/2012+NAGDC.Raven.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv6r67KjrNecT9N9xvxq0beBuENlqUT9kpvXHGBnbK2q7TAj06a1vg2bPJbOjWPp0pN7tBiDt3JTRytLmBQjVSs8MjwfHGKwgz9Pg9JhX2c0o5Vd98Npw8Jhx4IjB4r13FdIbjP0Pj8ai4/s200/2012+NAGDC.Raven.jpg" width="200" /></a>This past weekend I was out in central PA at the GSPCA <a href="http://www.gspca.org/NAGDC/2012/index.html">National Amateur Gun Dog Championship</a> held at <a href="http://www.warriorsmark.com/">Warrior's Mark</a> Wingshooting Lodge -- I think largely because I can ride a horse and am a fairly good shot. For the first 30min series of the championship, every dog with birdwork had to demonstrate a successful retrieve -- with the first chukar encountered shot-on-course where possible. Maybe because it was an amateur event, maybe because it was a single-breed championship, but the atmosphere was very supportive and encouraging. For me, despite the slight pressure to shoot birds absolutely dead, it was a great opportunity to meet a bunch of new folks and to see a bunch of very nice dogs. It was an honor to shoot birds for all the dogs and especially those that made it through to the second series (which was a 45min brace with all the birds being pop-gunned). And while congratulations go to all the dogs that placed, it was very nice to see that Greg Nicholson and Greta took a 4th place and that our dear friends, Jen & Dennis Hazel, won the 2012 GSPCA NAGDC with their fabulous little dog, Raven.<br />
<br />
May will hopefully be fairly quiet -- although I have just committed to hosting another training day. June will be busy with three judging assignments on back-to-back weekends, two field trials and one hunt test. In between all of that, hopefully we can keep working on breaking Jake and keeping Jozsi on track to finish up his title sometime soon.<br />
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<br />Andrew Campbellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204944202954520498noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7720336639932650441.post-4145885427504299032012-04-09T16:39:00.012-04:002012-04-14T09:50:36.628-04:00where did spring goAs ever, it feels like I have to start a blog post with an apology, but sometimes writing really does have to take a second place to more important things like dog training, dog exercising, judging dogs, watching dogs, and trying to make plans to do more of the previously mentioned.<br /><br />The beginning of March saw the League take a road trip down to Sumerduck, VA, for the <a href="http://www.cvcweb.org/">Conestoga Vizsla Club</a> spring trial -- and while none of them were actually entered, I made my debut as a field trial judge judging three of the juvenile stakes. In much the same fashion that I actually enjoyed my apprenticeship period as a judge, I also enjoyed the opportunity to share opinions with my fellow judges and learn some more about how they assessed the dogs in front of us. While I know that you will most likely only make one person happy with your decision, I'm finding the opportunity to look at so many dogs with a different kind of eye also makes me look at my own a little differently, too.<br /><br />And in terms of perspective, I was also lucky to have lunch with someone with second-degree knowledge of several of the dominant field trial pointers of the pre-WW2 period. I wrote about it <a href="http://wenaha.blogspot.com/2012/03/few-links-to-history.html">here </a>at<span style="font-style: italic;"> Living with Bird Dogs</span> -- but it was neat to learn a little more about Mary Blue, Norias Roy, and their owner, Walter Teagle. While certainly from a subsequent generation, I was lucky to spend three days with Fred Rayl, son of Hall of Famer, Bill Rayl, at the <a href="http://www.strideaway.com/strideaway/index.php?/archives/192-2012-Armstrong-Umbel-Endurance-Classic.html">Armstrong Umbel Endurance Classic</a> way over in Guys Mills, PA. After the first day's running, sitting around a dinner table with various people, a discussion about pedigrees, breeding plans, and famous dogs inevitably occurred. Suffice to say, while one person was trying to tease out where the Rambling Rebel line had emerged and prospered, Fred asked him if he knew who owned Rambling Rebel's most famous daughter, Nell's Rambling on? The other person said "no," to which Fred replied, "My daddy." There was no ego or oneupmanship in the entire conversation -- and the answer brought plenty of laughter around the table. It should be noted that, in addition to her own <a href="http://www.strideaway.com/strideaway/index.php?/archives/132-Nells-Rambling-On.html">election </a>to the HOF, Nell whelped two other sons who have also been recognized to this same degree: Guard Rail and Addition's Go Boy.<br /><br />Going back to the Armstrong Umbel to report the trial was a treat. The <a href="http://regalvizsla.blogspot.com/2011/03/grouse-palooza.html">admiration </a>I felt last year for the handlers, trainers, and owners was no less diminished, but I had a greater sense of what I should be looking for to capture for the official report for the <span style="font-style: italic;">Field</span>. It was also nice to see many of the same folks I met for the first time last year again -- including <a href="http://harddrivingkennels.com/">Joe McCarl</a> and <a href="http://www.shadyhillskennels.com/">Marc and </a><a href="http://www.shadyhillskennels.com/">Scott Forman</a>. This year's trial was no less a game of faith than the previous year. If you go into the 'Galleries' section, you can see some of Chris Mathan's great pictures from the trial here at the <a href="http://www.chrismathanphoto.com/">Sportsman's Cabinet</a>.<br /><br />While it was sad to learn that his father, <a href="http://www.phillipswhiteline.com/championsproduced.html">White Powder Pete</a>, had passed away at the beginning<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJk-NKV0OFx4Rl31qjL2_LbAPOUfPxMOkBdgaWYcBrls0wm2C0cJPvSlNgiWmPhGvy-iml4g_M0eWQ0t0t_LvXIK-eWeOitIo6Rig2rs3gujpEEM1uSel_EoNo3qxlk4DX-d1Jac17qxY_/s1600/HardDrivingDot.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 75px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJk-NKV0OFx4Rl31qjL2_LbAPOUfPxMOkBdgaWYcBrls0wm2C0cJPvSlNgiWmPhGvy-iml4g_M0eWQ0t0t_LvXIK-eWeOitIo6Rig2rs3gujpEEM1uSel_EoNo3qxlk4DX-d1Jac17qxY_/s200/HardDrivingDot.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5730601106358809170" border="0" /></a> of the month, it was great to see Jake's mother, Hard Driving Rita, run and lay down a powerhouse race for her two hours. I wish I could have met Pete in person and seen him run in more than National Championship DVDs -- but it was also really nice to see how much of Rita is in Jake, too. Jake had a family reunion of sorts, as well, with his brother, Hard Driving Mo (owned by Joe), and his sister, Hard Driving Dot. Dot is owned by my now friend, Brian, and is as much the firecracker as her brother; she actually went on won the 22-dog Venango Puppy <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWUTOzXteG3om453WYQm5FiSmEIMaAVjUc623I6N8TFBmVynY16KGhI-t_4YtYYrJGWkS7NJtueTsozI7Pg08FYzFRKB-j53w3dxf40kQhtrJ4NEyfmMbndZstZNRAi5gufg1E2eyCqV9e/s1600/HardDrivingMo.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 75px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWUTOzXteG3om453WYQm5FiSmEIMaAVjUc623I6N8TFBmVynY16KGhI-t_4YtYYrJGWkS7NJtueTsozI7Pg08FYzFRKB-j53w3dxf40kQhtrJ4NEyfmMbndZstZNRAi5gufg1E2eyCqV9e/s200/HardDrivingMo.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5730601116460906786" border="0" /></a>Classic the weekend after the Armstrong. As you can see, these pictures came from <a href="http://www.chrismathanphoto.com/">Chris Mathan</a> who co-bred the litter with <a href="http://www.daviskennels.info/colin_mazie.php">Colvin Davis</a>: Mo is the upper dog, Dottie the lower.<br /><br />Since I started writing this post, I was also sad to see that Bert Wimmer, Pete's owner, had also passed away right around the same time. The Wimmers, both Bert and his father, Walter, were an integral part of the Indiana field trial scene for over a half-century. Here's hoping that owner and dog are reunited in a better place where the riding is easy and the quail plentiful.<br /><br />In other news, I have also begun my spring hunt test judging assignments, this past weekend up at the Swift River Sportsman's Club for the Central New England Brittany Club weekend, judging SH/MH the first day and JH the second. I had the whole League with me in the Luxury Cruiser and was able to get in some nice training runs with all of them. Momo is... well, Momo... not quite enough ooomph or style to be a trial dog, but if you ever need birds to be found, he's the doggie! Jozsi is actually starting to act like he's a broke dog: his final find at Swift River in three-foot tall pines on top of a stone wall a piece of brilliance. I walked around him twice, trying to use the Astro to locate him, and then realized I should probably just kneel down and try to look under the evergreens to find his feet. And he stood the whole time when he had plenty of opportunity to be a jackwagon. He's even starting to honor of his own free will (!?). His tail issues haven't entirely disappeared, but I suspect that the more reps we get in where he does well and earns praise, the less frequent that little tick or wag will become as he realizes that if he stands there and lets me flush then he'll get both a) to see the bird fly and maybe even get to retrieve it, and b) he'll get love from his pop. Mark Coleman at <span style="font-style: italic;">Wingshot</span> wrote a <a href="http://wingshot.blogspot.com/2012/04/patience-grasshopper.html">nice piece</a> recently about his own experience with patience in dog-training -- and I hope Jozsi's increasing willingness to do what I want and to make it his own is the product of my patience with him. As for Jake, he's taking to the breaking process really nicely, again, I hope the product<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizLRjZBjHOLWCekxbKyXe5NTA_LzKmN5MSWoiCmBfIypra0pMXXo80td80Pwr6jDNLk-P516jibXtnG33mrZH6Xjjj54OMwPOB5Q55jMLI3DPolkB9TggASX7A3OjJbKiIbnlrVnju1Mit/s1600/P1010246.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 112px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizLRjZBjHOLWCekxbKyXe5NTA_LzKmN5MSWoiCmBfIypra0pMXXo80td80Pwr6jDNLk-P516jibXtnG33mrZH6Xjjj54OMwPOB5Q55jMLI3DPolkB9TggASX7A3OjJbKiIbnlrVnju1Mit/s200/P1010246.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5730705800080360066" border="0" /></a> of the 'slow is smooth, smooth is fast' approach I learned from being out in AZ with Bill Gibbons. For those of you familiar with the West method, we're about at the point where we transition him to cues from the e-collar if he chooses to move after he's stopped himself. This picture is from our weekend at Swift River and, as you can see, he's showing tremendous restraint for a young dog sight-pointing a quail running in the open.<br /><br />We have a big training day planned for this coming Sunday and hopefully we'll have a bunch of pictures of a motley crew.Andrew Campbellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204944202954520498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7720336639932650441.post-41508918885919456792012-03-03T08:29:00.012-05:002012-03-09T08:14:03.279-05:00short days and a chance of snowMeg and I just got back from our annual February vacation. We had entertained going to Morocco for a while, but for those of you who follow this blog know, we have a perverse fascination with going to cold places in mid-winter. And so, we went to Iceland. Of course.<br /><br />I don't mind admitting that I have had an Iceland fixation since reading my father's copy of Desmond Bagley's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desmond_Bagley"><span style="font-style: italic;">Running Blind</span></a> in the late 1970s. I haven't read the book in maybe thirty years, but I can tell you that there might have been all kinds of references in that book to active volcanic activity (like the creation of the island of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surtsey">Surtsey</a> in 1963), but I remember river crossings, Land Rovers, and that the Russian KGB agent drank <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calvados_%28brandy%29">calvados</a>. In any case, compared to our flights to Mongolia, the Ukraine, and Sweden, a five-hour direct flight from JFK to Iceland looked both easy and, frankly, cheap. And admittedly, while the population of Iceland is only about three-quarters of the population of Staten Island, and so small scale makes things a lot easier to coordinate, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keflav%C3%ADk_International_Airport">Keflavik</a> is one slick airport some 31miles from downtown Reykjavik. Stylistically, it was reminiscent of the Ikea-type experience we had in Stockholm despite its shared history as a big-bomber USAF base. Buses to and from the airport are coordinated with the flight schedule so while there are taxis waiting, there's actually really no point to taking one unless you're going someplace other than Reykjavik.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8T_Vr9CuuUItL0UMt8Nt0qvBBatkTCgtAWGjdTXhT6nfcW-9ZsR1q4AZgLm_XcvaVU4kDvbt8CimPBY1VoX_VM4Bj847-kb5Quv75C4v5D9JpNrgWEO87XHAn79O8TRuUUMNx-Fh6ezZ-/s1600/P1010214.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 112px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8T_Vr9CuuUItL0UMt8Nt0qvBBatkTCgtAWGjdTXhT6nfcW-9ZsR1q4AZgLm_XcvaVU4kDvbt8CimPBY1VoX_VM4Bj847-kb5Quv75C4v5D9JpNrgWEO87XHAn79O8TRuUUMNx-Fh6ezZ-/s200/P1010214.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5715689964470729154" border="0" /></a><br />As with our trip to Sweden, we decided to base ourselves in one place and make short overnight trips elsewhere -- in this case, staying at the <a href="http://www.radissonblu.com/1919hotel-reykjavik">Radisson Blu 1919</a> downtown which was perfect for us. (I just made the mistake of looking at some people's reviews of this hotel and am a little surprised by some people's expectations: it's an urban Radisson, it's not a boutique froux-froux hotel; it's in Scandinavia, what kind of decor do you expect?; it's a downtown hotel on an island in the middle of the North Atlantic, would you like cheap with that, too? please don't go out to eat anywhere because that will really wreck your budget; room check-out is 12noon, how is housekeeping going to get your room ready when you arrive four hours before that time?) In short, the location is great to walk to museums, shopping, restaurants, and probably even the bus station if the weather was a little nicer; the staff were unilaterally extremely helpful and imminently more fluent in English that we will ever be in Icelandic. That latter observation goes for Icelanders in general, too, and when you do completely mangle a place name, they all seemed to laugh it off with a lightness that comes from a certain cultural self-confidence. Incidentally, the first picture on the right is taken from the top of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallgr%C3%ADmskirkja">HallgrÃmskirkja</a>, the striking Lutheran church in the middle of the city. The dark-grey boxy-looking structure three-quarters of the way up the picture is the <a href="http://en.harpa.is/">Harpa</a>, Iceland's new, <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOiMz9awVotGbMpbN1lUTMKm8BdOuRF-DC9iSMNCp8UB-_sbJXT4_jbqflyvkbEGTWx5LjLhrVGLCz5PfkTmO4GLOUz7Inx4koQc9aUZkitEucftGVp7NqRNPy82KSVHmvVdHXmHuJR8dd/s1600/P1000943.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 112px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOiMz9awVotGbMpbN1lUTMKm8BdOuRF-DC9iSMNCp8UB-_sbJXT4_jbqflyvkbEGTWx5LjLhrVGLCz5PfkTmO4GLOUz7Inx4koQc9aUZkitEucftGVp7NqRNPy82KSVHmvVdHXmHuJR8dd/s200/P1000943.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5715688177258210866" border="0" /></a>premier concert hall. I can only describe it as being like a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TARDIS">TARDIS</a>: on the outside, it is certainly innovative with its angled panes of colored glass that mirror and mimic the sea that surrounds it, but once you get inside, it is massive and light at the same time. And I just saw that <a href="http://allmusic.com/artist/buika-p580291">Buika </a>is playing there in early June -- might be time for another trip!<br /><br />In addition to a couple of side-trips to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vestmannaeyjar">Vestmannaeyjar</a> and then to the peninsula we abominated to '<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sn%C3%A6fellsnes">Snuffaluffagus</a>', and after our equine excursion in <a href="http://regalvizsla.blogspot.com/2011/02/xtranormal-pirates-of-caribbean-rudolf.html">Sweden</a>, I was determined to ride an Icelandic horse in Iceland. From what I gather, <a href="http://eldhestar.is/">Eldhestar</a> might be the largest horse-riding outfit in Iceland and, whether cause or effect, actually does offer riding year-round, is <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-sc5cBgIM3qOAdGHyU_C9nBUNUEQXmQUbT7Z5WTsw2IWqe9fUa33sZlP4cG-AMM4vhB3ZqBCCAUolJTfQDR0yrkKoZ1horGSSm9M4VLBksbhR7F_8qibpe8aCXsnKVPsT-PTTg888Siep/s1600/P1000953.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 134px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-sc5cBgIM3qOAdGHyU_C9nBUNUEQXmQUbT7Z5WTsw2IWqe9fUa33sZlP4cG-AMM4vhB3ZqBCCAUolJTfQDR0yrkKoZ1horGSSm9M4VLBksbhR7F_8qibpe8aCXsnKVPsT-PTTg888Siep/s200/P1000953.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5715688187762842370" border="0" /></a>close enough to Reykjavik that they'll pick up at your hotel, and has access to enough space that you really do get ample opportunity to get your horse up into a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tolt#T.C3.B6lt"><i>tölt</i></a>. I wanted to ride and have sat in a cold saddle enough that if I'm going to do it, I'm getting as much saddle time as I can. And my darling wife is a trooper -- and as you might imagine, we were the only two people signed up for a full day-tour. (There were actually a bunch of people who came through for a one- or two-hour ride while we were there which was pleasantly surprising.) Meg was pleasantly relieved that we would come in for lunch after about four hours and that she could then stay inside and stay warm. This was especially relieving after we watched our ridiculously upbeat guide literally break the ice for us on our way back in to the stables: we had to cross a slow-moving, but three-foot deep creek with pretty solid ice shelves on the entry and exit; after coaxing her horse into and across the river, it decided to try to stand up on the ice shelf on the exit, stumbled, and dumped her. But here's the happy picture of us all bundled up in our coveralls. (Incidentally, to protect the indigenous horse population of Iceland, you cannot bring used horse tack or clothing into Iceland without a certificate of sterilization from a vet.)<br /><br />I don't know if it was anything other than the remarkable pictures in the various Rough Guides and <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCUqZRoGs1_I_w4TYN849-EqzLrUooah1N6KIOA51ZCdUCoKz20EL8zZbvYJDlmZKS2p_XVhHq8i5kLolEzKgoOpNP2HrF1pWNTuduf42iELWbj9AH2hRmc04jjlzrxn0mBeOH8qBfaA9X/s1600/P1010018.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 112px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCUqZRoGs1_I_w4TYN849-EqzLrUooah1N6KIOA51ZCdUCoKz20EL8zZbvYJDlmZKS2p_XVhHq8i5kLolEzKgoOpNP2HrF1pWNTuduf42iELWbj9AH2hRmc04jjlzrxn0mBeOH8qBfaA9X/s200/P1010018.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5715688195493848738" border="0" /></a>Lonely Planets that made us decide to go to the <a href="http://www.vestmannaeyjar.is/?p=100&id=2260">Vestmannaeyjar</a>, but we're sure glad we did. Truly an an archipelago, only the largest island, Heimaey, is inhabited and dominated by its safe harbor and fish processing factory. But the northern end of the island, and which provides such a safe harbor for its fleet, is surrounded by high cliffs that seem somehow more Pacific than Atlantic. This picture is looking northeast from the edge of the lava field from the 1973 eruption of the Eldfell volcano towards Elliðaey and the massive<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_eruptions_of_Eyjafjallaj%C3%B6kull"> Eyjafjallajökull</a> glacier, also infamous in recent history for being the site of the 2010 eruption that disrupted plane travel across Europe for over a week. Being on Vestmannaeyjar in February was a little like being in Mongolia the first time: while no-one (understandably) asked to touch my beard admiringly, we were the two tourists. There was a Japanese guy there, too, but he was there to buy 'caviar' (which I took to be roe) from the fish plant. We were nevertheless treated with the utmost hospitality, almost apologetically in fact, by the brand new owners of the hotel we were staying at -- apologetically because they had literally just taken ownership of the hotel, were in the midst of renaming it and literally tore out the old dining room while we were there. But their kindness and introduction earned us a free car tour of the island from another friend of theirs (which was appreciated because it was raining when we first arrived) and a ride to the far end of the island the next morning. But it was something of a Central Asia experience: we wanted to go into the Folk Museum but being winter, it was only available by appointment. It was in the public library so Meg, with her usual aplomb, just asked if we could get in. The curator was off-island, but a trusting surrogate took us up, turned on the lights, and then left us alone to wander through (and in that regard, it was not like the <a href="http://www.pbase.com/buznsarah/image/72687032">Aimag museum</a> in Choibalsan where we were shadowed by a Mongol grandma who turned lights on and off as we entered and exited each room). And so we learned about the history of the fishing industry, the <a href="http://www.heimaslod.is/index.php/Turkish_invasion_walk">Turkish pirate raid in 162</a>7, the 1973 eruption (which had a great video collage of survivor's reminiscences, and the <a href="http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/unique-project-tells-story-of-icelandic-mormons">surprising percentage</a> of Vestmannaeyjar residents who made their exodus to Utah to join the Mormon Church. While it took even the very helpful receptionist at the Radisson four phone calls to figure out the details (it being winter even website updates get delayed), the Vestmannaeyjar were easy to get to by bus and <a href="http://eimskip.is/EN/iceland_domestic/herjolfur/">ferry </a>from Reykjavik to <span style="padding: 1px;">Þorlákshöfn</span>. Like any small island destination, I probably wouldn't want to go there in summer to avoid the extra people -- but having the place to ourselves albeit with a fair amount of drizzle was just fine.<br /><br />After another brief stop-over in the big city, I got to fulfill my Desmond Bagley fantasies and we rented a Land Rover Defender to drive up to the Snaefellsnes peninsula to stay at the <a href="http://www.hotelbudir.is/">Hotel Budir</a>. All hype aside and the fact that from the exterior the hotel looks a little boxy and otherwise not too distinctive, this was a fabulous place. Cosy, exemplary customer service, and the food fantastic. And the location, on a river estuary, <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6I11i3-pdkkgbaVrWs9fPKQ3xaMRJXa2t7N28Xtu3X71k1KLVsMiE6MzzSyPmhVegFpMmu_8Cn-LgHUMCHVpcP6rezH2F5bXTtwVDAmOAfusl3oYOltSUOm92WDEePuAvBW7HKwhJcb8U/s1600/P1010162.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 112px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6I11i3-pdkkgbaVrWs9fPKQ3xaMRJXa2t7N28Xtu3X71k1KLVsMiE6MzzSyPmhVegFpMmu_8Cn-LgHUMCHVpcP6rezH2F5bXTtwVDAmOAfusl3oYOltSUOm92WDEePuAvBW7HKwhJcb8U/s200/P1010162.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5715688208050377026" border="0" /></a>with a view of the waves breaking on the beach from the lounge, and a backdrop of steep-sided mountains topped by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sn%C3%A6fellsj%C3%B6kull">Snæfellsjökull</a>, the mountain and adjoining glacier. The picture on the right is of the old Lutheran church and graveyard a few hundred yards from the hotel, the walls of the yard made from lava boulders topped with sod.<br /><br />Leaving aside my boyhood memories, we had rented a Land Rover because it was winter, after <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXnJl7Nr4JbdQmEuE1m8gm8W_qTUWIHIYC_ONaLgIe9FhAsk83LJ6OsQMYdpbULSRRGdiLVPwyiQznHuuJEVnrP-WWhBQDemNnKRb1YFt4iKRb-I_ntJkpa54L93lM8UciDHIRPdLN24sL/s1600/P1010109.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 112px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXnJl7Nr4JbdQmEuE1m8gm8W_qTUWIHIYC_ONaLgIe9FhAsk83LJ6OsQMYdpbULSRRGdiLVPwyiQznHuuJEVnrP-WWhBQDemNnKRb1YFt4iKRb-I_ntJkpa54L93lM8UciDHIRPdLN24sL/s200/P1010109.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5717883098325556754" border="0" /></a>all, and the weather unpredictable. Happily, too, I have driven in snow in Maine, Michigan, and Oregon -- otherwise, even with studded snow tires and 4WD, I might have soiled myself coming over the mountain road to ÓlafsvÃk on the northern side of the peninsula. It wasn't that it was snowing as much as it was a winding road with no guard rail covered with ice that you could see was at least an inch thick in places -- oh, and it was gusting about 40mph. And then the road went from hardpack to gravel about three-quarters of the way down. Time for third gear all the way down. I had forgotten that Snæfellsjökul is the origin point for Jules Verne's <span style="font-style: italic;">A Journey to the Center of the Eart</span>h (1864), but I am not surprised; nor were we surprised to find <a href="http://www.snaefellsjokull.com/olafsvik">The Hobbit Inn</a> in ÓlafsvÃk. The whole vacation was a little bit like <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfmRvL1tbLkxBkN8S9AMPW6-b9ZMb6YSib29g697dKMA8GRPc_x0iSTomSlF1acOtMpgKMZXhbnbbAg1STPeokTgWrjGT4y5dqRSZnQ6UdhD0YMWknaZQ94Rza8xUOoNOy543ae7StURVl/s1600/P1010152.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 112px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfmRvL1tbLkxBkN8S9AMPW6-b9ZMb6YSib29g697dKMA8GRPc_x0iSTomSlF1acOtMpgKMZXhbnbbAg1STPeokTgWrjGT4y5dqRSZnQ6UdhD0YMWknaZQ94Rza8xUOoNOy543ae7StURVl/s200/P1010152.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5715688198182198434" border="0" /></a>being in a Peter Jackson film. However, in another Mongolian moment, reminiscent of the ginormous long-wave antenna in Bayan Olgii, we also saw the massive <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longwave_radio_mast_Hellissandur">radio mast</a> at Hellissandur, the tallest structure in Iceland. The picture on the right was taken on the beach below the radio mast and illustrates the wind speed pretty clearly -- but it was really neat to walk on a black lava pebble beach despite the gale-force gusts.<br /><br />Incidentally, the best<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_metal"> town-name-for-a-death-metal-band</a> was also on Snaefellsnes: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellnar">Hellnar</a>.<br /><br />In short, we had a great time, saw some incredible scenery, stayed in nice warm hotels, and ate like champions. There are several very good restaurants in the downtown 101 area of Reykjavik: our favorite was <a href="http://www.fishcompany.is/English/About_FishCompany">Fish Company</a>. I like actual food and will admit skepticism towards foams and vapors and freeze-dried who-knows-what à la <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferran_Adri%C3%A0">Ferran Adrià </a> -- but leaving aside how good all the hormone-free, fresh-caught meat and seafood tasted, my deconstructed tiramisu was phenomenal. Twice.Andrew Campbellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204944202954520498noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7720336639932650441.post-31537992781127172852012-01-29T09:33:00.008-05:002012-02-01T00:03:52.528-05:00happy new yearSince I last wrote, we've only been able to get out and train a couple of times with the League. Between trying to find windows in the weather and coordinating various friends, it's been a challenge. Arguably the biggest hurdle to training using the West method is one of manpower -- and it is no wonder that a lot of folks migrate to something like the <a href="http://ronniesmithkennels.com/training.htm">Rick & Ronnie Smith</a> method with its utilization of 'whoa posts' and such. And I mean no disrespect to the Smith family who have trained more great dogs than I ever will -- but I have seen the West method and it makes sense to me. Even though <a href="http://www.lindleysboarding.com/index.html">Maurice Lindley</a> has figured out ways to train dogs by himself using the West method by using launchers, I know that he prefers to work dogs with a group. Fortunately I have been blessed to have found friends with broke dogs to work behind and others with puppies who can also flush and shoot.<br /><br />I recently wrote a small piece for a <a href="http://www.vcli.net/">Vizsla Club of Long Island</a> newsletter which, in short, hopefully encouraged folks to get their dogs out and do fieldwork with them. One of the highlights of our training trips has been watching Jeremy and his puppy, Jackson, really come along as a tag-team. Jackson is from the most recent litter out of our friends', Jen + Dennis Hazel's, Sally. His whole litter are looking like bird-finding machines and there is no shortage of drive in this little dog to the extent that I asked Jeremy what he wanted to do with his dog -- did he want to play the field trial game? did he want him to be a hunting dog? These aren't exclusive categories, but to my mind I'd develop a pup a little differently if I knew I wasn't going to play the trial game. As I've said in previous posts, my goal with Jake was to establish a handle on him -- but if I had also intended him to be primarily a hunting dog, I'd also be working on limiting his range when I turned him loose. (And so, for example, when Jake lights out on a cast when we're out for a walk, I keep singing him out and only really reel him in if he's headed off in a drastic tangent or headed behind me.) I think it's also easier to encourage a dog with drive to stretch once they're broke, than it is to try and hunt with a free-running, green-broke dog. And so Jeremy and Jackson have been doing long-line work to really encourage the pup to go with him and not hunt independently -- and in doing so, to be rewarded by bird contacts.<br /><br />We had run Jackson on johnny-house quail and after still managing to catch a couple and seeing his intensity, we decided it was time to get him on a checkcord to develop his handle and nurture the idea of working with his handler. The last time we got together (which may have been two weeks ago), we tried using chukar with flight limiters -- but the challenge I've had doing that is that there is a huge variance in the relative strength of chukar and if you weight the limiter too much they can barely fly and then you end up with a very expensive, dead training bird, too little and you lose both the limiter and the bird. And to my mind, the goal at this point is to have birds that will fly promptly when a pup charges in on them (and have the checkcord stop them after the flush, not before). Because Tom's property is much more wooded than the desert plains of Arizona, I was wary of using <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrZxyYvj_bLpgdXfBNd7zNl_bXRkcURl7DxPg88Or0N6RSLofWiH7_7nKu0O3N0Uu95X_hzC07sHxxT9lTldt2Z3MLrpz5tjCnjMTfHa5VhiuXPEx09aeASQMe59vfvASYDLgoOrin7c7u/s1600/DSC_0016.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 134px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrZxyYvj_bLpgdXfBNd7zNl_bXRkcURl7DxPg88Or0N6RSLofWiH7_7nKu0O3N0Uu95X_hzC07sHxxT9lTldt2Z3MLrpz5tjCnjMTfHa5VhiuXPEx09aeASQMe59vfvASYDLgoOrin7c7u/s200/DSC_0016.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5704026179729396226" border="0" /></a>carded pigeons -- but decided we would give it a go. Now sometimes it's important to make your own mistakes so you know why the guy you've spent three months apprenticing with in the last year does something the way he does. And that thing is: <span style="font-style: italic;">don't sleep the pigeons</span>. We had some concern the pigeons might disappear before Jackson and John & Linda Morris's pup, Dustin (whose handsome picture is alongside), or that if the pups came across the birds walking in the open they might be less inclined to point and more inclined to chase. But here's the thing: if a dog tries to chase up a healthy bird and it flies when the dog gets too close, the bird will get away and <span style="font-style: italic;">then</span> the dog will get checked by the cord; if the bird can't escape quickly enough because it's dizzy, the dog maintains the hope that it can grab a bird on the ground and will probably keep trying longer.<br /><br />This was where I was with Jackson, concerned that he might be turning into a diver, emboldened by his successes. And I mean this as no slight on him or his owner, but this is a <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWrGdxfnySiYGjshFyhF9WT9M240KgXi-7Zvgr2CF9jXkrn3Ysmygj3J1ZymgXicwiYi68cRKgFAPFfZqknqHryC5dbA_tLNXrECIFsJgpGyIuryrbXNwmpHFyTv0HYy1leXVXo-9DNgS6/s1600/DSC_0011.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 134px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWrGdxfnySiYGjshFyhF9WT9M240KgXi-7Zvgr2CF9jXkrn3Ysmygj3J1ZymgXicwiYi68cRKgFAPFfZqknqHryC5dbA_tLNXrECIFsJgpGyIuryrbXNwmpHFyTv0HYy1leXVXo-9DNgS6/s200/DSC_0011.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5703615606386086354" border="0" /></a>young dog with a ton of drive and if others will read this and see parallels in developing their own dogs and so avoid a few hiccups, then all of this disclosure will have served its purpose. And so, Jackson got to run on fully awake carded birds -- and as much as I will try to encourage young dogs to find their first birds with their noses, the important thing to consider when beginning to encourage a younger dog to establish a solid point and stand is that whether it's a hunt test or a hunting situation, if it comes across a bird in the open, it is still expected to sight-point. But whatever it was about the pigeons, whether they were deep in tall grass or walking in the road, they stopped Jackson in his tracks. And he stood really nicely all the way to the flush. I was so very pleased with both Jeremy and Jackson. The next question for Jeremy is how he wants to break his dog now that we've started down this path.<br /><br />By contrast, Jake has started down the West method path and is doing great. This was his third time being worked behind John's Juli -- a very pretty dog I have been braced with and who I was fortunate to judge in both SH and MH. And it was great to have Jeremy there to be the designated <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOtvpUNDDTJx8ZyC5rv1KCql_xKQbF9ucMyNji8DkPFE11Ihyphenhyphen9mx8hgWxNw0gLTcxsAdXeEY39TdqsEXvwh3ZovEl-ChUQLQGbEh7H-ln74ABECNpa9og-fP8ALiE5_6cMuyb2plN2BHQa/s1600/Jake.2.25Jan12.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 132px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOtvpUNDDTJx8ZyC5rv1KCql_xKQbF9ucMyNji8DkPFE11Ihyphenhyphen9mx8hgWxNw0gLTcxsAdXeEY39TdqsEXvwh3ZovEl-ChUQLQGbEh7H-ln74ABECNpa9og-fP8ALiE5_6cMuyb2plN2BHQa/s200/Jake.2.25Jan12.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5703624050002632898" border="0" /></a>gunner so that Juli could also get a nice chukar retrieve or two. The amazing thing with the little white demon (who has now weighed in heavier than Jozsi!) is his natural inclination to honor -- and sometimes from so far away that he has already figured out the context for a situational honor. Again, while a judge might ask him to move up in a hunt test sensing it was not a true honor of another dog's point, in a field trial a situational honor is as good as any other -- and I'll take it. What I hope this picture (courtesy of Linda) illustrates is multifold: first, this dog has style; second, he is wearing all his work clothes -- his e-collar and his pinch-collar; third, that there is very little tension in the actual checkcord and collar as evidenced by my loose grip; and fourth, that he is being rewarded by two things for standing still -- the sight of a bird being flushed and a gentle reassuring pet before being moved on. At this point, I touch him more than Bill does, meaning that if a backing situation is becoming complicated and taking time, I will gently stroke his side in the middle of it in addition to petting him and tapping him on the side to move him on once we're done with a situation.<br /><br />To round out things: I've been trying a new twist on things with Jozsi, adding a little more pressure and adding a much bigger reward. If it works out, I'll post specific details -- but suffice to say, he's being kept to a higher degree of honesty and in return, he gets birds shot for him which he then gets to retrieve. He is broke in practice, but I think that once he's actually broke in his head then all his tail issues will disappear -- which is to say that I think while he knows what I want, he hasn't settled the issue in his own mind that this is also what he wants to do. On the upside, while it's not quite a Master Hunter quality retrieve, his retrieve is solid, to-hand, and will hopefully satisfy field trial judges should he get called back.<br /><br />Like Bill said to me, two summers ago, "If you can get him straightened out, you'll be able to genuinely call yourself a dog-trainer." If breaking Jake is all about starting a dog right the first time, then Jozsi is a conundrum that is so very worth the challenge. I love all three of the Gentlemen albeit for different reasons, but Jozsi is such a goober that you can't help want him to be fantastic.Andrew Campbellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204944202954520498noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7720336639932650441.post-69319845679263667322011-12-15T07:59:00.008-05:002011-12-18T21:53:48.818-05:00missing in actionApologies to the faithful followers of the Regal Vizsla for my absence. On the one hand, we've been busy and any time spent outside with birds and dogs is good time spent. Since I wrote last, we've been to a couple of trials, taken our annual trip to western Maine to chase rumpled grouse, and started to break Jake. All in all, a pretty busy schedule.<br /><br />The first few days of November we went over to Flaherty to support the Mayflower GSP Club's first field trial in many years. Congratulations to all the folks there who contributed to making it a well-run, enjoyable event. Momo did his usual, not-quite enough horsepower performance and we both had fun; Jozsi ran in an uncharacteristically odd fashion, was honest but didn't look great on his birds, and took 3rd in ALGD; Jake suddenly decided he likes to run.<br /><br />The transformation of this little pup from the excited little gun dog who ran at Conestoga to the horizon-seeking demon was remarkable. I was genuinely surprised. And very very happy. He showed his intensity, his application, and his handle and left me just remarking at how much he must have inherited from all the great dogs behind him. My plan for developing him has been pretty simple: establishing a handle on him, giving him just enough birdwork to see what his style looks like and to keep him hungry for birds, and to break him to the gun. I did enter him in a JH stake and I will say no more than he got hosed. But the intent had been to see if he would stick with me without singing him too much, to run him with a bracemate, and to reassure myself about his being broke to the gun. In that regard, he exceeded my expectations.<br /><br />Know the rules: you may not be able to change a judge's mind, but you'll figure out quickly whether you'll run under him or her ever again. After the fourth invalid reason for his non-qualification, I realized the judge was either not looking at my dog or had forgotten the standard for Junior Hunter. I do believe there is merit in JH for any pointing dog, whether they are going to be trial dogs or hunting dogs -- and my plan had been to get Jake broke to the gun and then run him while he was wicked young just to get him fired up and used to running with a bracemate. From his first trial down at Conestoga to his JH run, he has shown no interest in his bracemates whatsoever. But with the summer getting all messed up due to the Wallow Fire, Jake's development was a little out-of-synch with the plan, and with the JH title really being a means to an end, his 'not-qualifying' run was disappointing and will probably be his only run at that title. In short, I got a pointer because I like their style and, frankly, I wanted to see what it would be like to try and raise a potentially all-age dog. And trying to handle a young dog into a small birdfield four more times for the sake of a introductory level title doesn't fit the plan in the long view.<br /><br />*******<br /><br />After the Mayflower trial we headed up to <a href="http://widdershins-fm.com/">Widdershins</a> to pick up Miss Capo and take her for a ride in the Luxury Cruiser. It was hard to imagine that it had been four years since we were there the last time when I went up to pick up Jozsi -- but it was great to see Chris & Wendy, to see all the renovations they've made to the farm, to get reacquainted with Munro (the <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgAJri-b8h37V6k4CB8g6cM33KcMEYaNsY9iptWk5dsIERf-mm8KQDu-C-8tvPyEITi-ZM4n_BInXeuS6Th5hSlBFPWaHj3HbuT9JQH_FG2SyhiwHiPKNVe4oxOr79pGJja7ZJWkOoHF_A/s1600/P1000837.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 112px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgAJri-b8h37V6k4CB8g6cM33KcMEYaNsY9iptWk5dsIERf-mm8KQDu-C-8tvPyEITi-ZM4n_BInXeuS6Th5hSlBFPWaHj3HbuT9JQH_FG2SyhiwHiPKNVe4oxOr79pGJja7ZJWkOoHF_A/s200/P1000837.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5686339770472865090" border="0" /></a>ridiculously ripped cat), and to meet the goats, cows, and sheep. We headed over to our usual spot around Oquossoc and waited to meet up with our friend, John DeSantis, and his great young vizsla, Luna. Unlike all four previous years, the weather was in the 50s with bluebell skies -- no hint of snow or rain in the air -- and it proved to be a real challenge when it came to finding birds. Luna ran over a bird in our first cover which I shaved some feathers off, but which otherwise left unscathed. And then we hit a drought. We saw a few other birds, but I don't think either of us fired our guns in the next day and a half. I felt bad for John who could only stay 36hrs, but I guess this is why they call it hunting. The picture here is of Luna standing behind a couple of trees scarred up by fresh moose scrapings.<br /><br />Nevertheless having five dogs to run, I left with a whole new-found appreciation for pro trainers like <a href="http://www.harddrivingkennels.com/index.html">Joe McCarl</a> who specialize in field-trial cover dogs. We were certainly able to pair some dogs: Momo, Luna, and Capo are pretty evenly matched; Jake & Jozsi seemed like it could work nicely, too. I wasn't smart enough to get data off my Astro to figure out what I actually walked, all I know is that I walked for four hours straight the first afternoon and then had two seven hours straight days after that. What I did discover was that pairing Jozsi and Jake was akin to dedicating profound faith in the battery life of the Astro and the ability of the whistle to penetrate grouse cover. Our little dancing pirate clearly enjoys a little competition -- and Jozsi was not up to the task. In the cover I shot 'Grousezilla' two years ago, John and I watched Jake tow Jozsi out past 500yds before Jozsi clearly realized he was further out than he felt comfortable. After another hundred yards, and realising he was about to crest a hill, I hurriedly chanked up the path and ultimately needed the e-collar to get his attention. I don't want to imply that Jake was blowing me off, I genuinely believe that he couldn't hear me in his excitement at that distance -- but again, with all the work I've put on him developing his handle, and getting him used to the e-collar, he knows my touch well enough to know the difference between being punished and being cued and showed up shortly thereafter cheesey grin on his face and happy to see me.<br /><br />(Of course, as we all walked back to the truck, in much the same <a href="http://regalvizsla.blogspot.com/2009/10/chasing-pahtridges.html">spot</a> that I missed an easy bird two years ago, John and I were caught entirely off-guard by a grouse that had sat tight through two dogs running past it but which popped off as we walked by in conversation. We quickly christened this the 'FU Bird'. I resolved to come back for it the next day with Mominator and The Princess.)<br /><br />John then left and I resolved to find more birds the next day. I took Momo out early by himself, carrying my precious <a href="http://regalvizsla.blogspot.com/2010/11/gun-trades-and-good-kharma.html">Grant</a> sidelever, hoping to find birds still on their night roosts and hoping to extend the life of this beautiful gun. We found nothing in the strip of cedars along the path, no trace of the bird Luna had flushed the day before, but as I rounded a corner where Dudley and I had both missed a bird over Momo four years before, there he was 25yds ahead pointing with a 90degree bend in the middle. I snuck toward him, cocked the hammers, and when nothing flushed, I relocated him. The bird must have left its roost shortly before Momo got there and kept moving as I came up because as we then headed off in a new direction, we heard the bird flush off to our left.<br /><br />Jake had actually had a spectacular point on a grouse the day before, looking <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnU7F0Tccu2e6ZdQTQ-JCZ9pI4Xu24bQOa9YCNAnVJ2yJW-7Un9MlcMGlCTlNP1kcWLTrFTgX9V5apfy-AgAEPX8akijtwl-4Wv1LNsuZkN-dPLT8RL4J9acmq4y0ohiYrqCKD-OQawsJ9/s1600/P1000850.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 112px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnU7F0Tccu2e6ZdQTQ-JCZ9pI4Xu24bQOa9YCNAnVJ2yJW-7Un9MlcMGlCTlNP1kcWLTrFTgX9V5apfy-AgAEPX8akijtwl-4Wv1LNsuZkN-dPLT8RL4J9acmq4y0ohiYrqCKD-OQawsJ9/s200/P1000850.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5686340518591600914" border="0" /></a>just marvelous all the way through the flush (which I can only credit to the genetic payload that he carries from his mother's side and especially his <a href="http://regalvizsla.blogspot.com/2011/03/grouse-palooza.html">grandmother</a>, 7xCH Hard Driving Bev). But I felt bad for Capo who had, so far, failed to have any bird contact. This picture is from our failed attempt to find a new cover, but it was a neat downed tree and a good place to take a quick break. Sadly, the closest she got was a nice honor on a stopped-to-flush Momo after we went back for the FU Bird. Jozsi redeemed the team the final day, too, stopping-to-flush on a grouse in what I call Momo's Rain Cover and then repointing it in a tree with wonderful intensity. We were past being terribly sporting at that point and one tossed branch later, the bird came down -- it's crop full of clover leaves like all the birds we've taken in November. The sad statistic was that in the indian summer weather we had a total of 9 birds moved in two-and-half-days.<br /><br />*******<br /><br />After a couple of judging assignments, the first weekend of December meant our Connecticut Valley Vizsla Club all-walking trial -- and the joys of <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW5tHihzts1WJANKB0_BE9aa-xtvvyTtsQhc-_7MIgze-lrQSiqsiDM5fPL89yTjre8Rh3p_vbxrnRziIKBkMKn7DX_qq-_FAi7mi0JKhax24oTGMbAI00mtc7ZA320ko0DpUCrGB2AlzO/s1600/P1000864.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 178px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW5tHihzts1WJANKB0_BE9aa-xtvvyTtsQhc-_7MIgze-lrQSiqsiDM5fPL89yTjre8Rh3p_vbxrnRziIKBkMKn7DX_qq-_FAi7mi0JKhax24oTGMbAI00mtc7ZA320ko0DpUCrGB2AlzO/s200/P1000864.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5686339775248215394" border="0" /></a>bird-planting and hosting the raffle and trying to fit in running the dogs between all that. Although a little out of sequence, to summarize: Momo wasn't going to be a contender anyways, but got picked up early somewhat uncharitably; Jozsi acted like a complete ass and I didn't need to be told to pick him up; and Jake ran like a real champ. And won. All I can say is that we'd put the work in and he and I have figured out our timing so that I can let him make a good cast, anticipate a turn in the course, and then sing him around without having him necessarily lose ground. And so, with a win in both AWP and OP, he is done with Puppy stakes and the process of breaking him begins.<br /><br />My plan is not to run him in Derby till I feel like he is virtually broke -- and then either till he has his Derby points or till he starts obviously misbehaving and acting on his own behalf (whichever comes first).<br /><br />*******<br /><br />Since we all came back from Arizona, I began working with Jake just using his <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCYOa1BazeVnIWf-X7sBmCmPds1esomglmr_Xno64r7CIv9MYJfu8MStIFGZ9-kvvoCV1MRqYGxPB0WiyONh9goWo1nWbhO-TybtHe-_iaoQE6vRWVbRN79fcARtwWdegrnL_CpcVGK3B6/s1600/P1000886.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 112px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCYOa1BazeVnIWf-X7sBmCmPds1esomglmr_Xno64r7CIv9MYJfu8MStIFGZ9-kvvoCV1MRqYGxPB0WiyONh9goWo1nWbhO-TybtHe-_iaoQE6vRWVbRN79fcARtwWdegrnL_CpcVGK3B6/s200/P1000886.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5686339762552681602" border="0" /></a>regular leash and collar to get him used to the idea of a small tug as a cue to stop and stand still. (This is in addition to the more general, good citizenship kinds of routines where he isn't allowed to leave his crate or step through the front door until told and to stand to be wiped down when he comes in from a run in the woods.) We have since transitioned to the checkcord and pinch collar as part of his regular yardwork -- and also to the whistle as a cue to stop-and-stand-still. For us, the whistle cue to stop is an important one in our life here in the Bronx where we never know when we might need to stop and/or corral the dogs when we encounter a deer/a paintballer/a drunk/a park ranger/someone looking for random stranger sex. In any case, we've also begun to overlay the e-collar over both the whistle and the pinch collar in preparation for his actual birdwork.<br /><br />And that began this past Wednesday. We were lucky to have both Jeremy + Jackson and John + Juli + Dustin. While Jackson and Dustin are still puppies, Juli is a MH qualified dog and a great candidate for Jake to learn what 'working behind' means. He's already shown some fairly natural inclination to stop-to-flush (which he actually displayed earlier that morning on an exultation of mourning doves) and to honor (which he did rather humorously on a birdhouse in his first trial down at Conestoga). But now it becomes about combining natural inclination and structure. And he did a great job -- and while this is a wide-angle lens, he has already figured out the cues for either a situational back (on the humans) or an actual honor (on Juli) even at some distance. Exciting stuff, for sure.Andrew Campbellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204944202954520498noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7720336639932650441.post-87841410526628362762011-10-11T00:23:00.010-04:002011-10-13T15:02:50.548-04:00work finally paying off?Since I owned up to not being the calmest dog trainer on the planet, a whole lot has gone on. First of all, Her Majesty, Widdershins Skypoint <a href="http://www.widdershins-fm.com/capopage">Capo</a>, came back from Arizona after Bill was kind enough to finishing breaking her for me. As with Jozsi's <a href="http://wenaha.blogspot.com/2010/09/flying-your-bird-dog_22.html">return </a>last year, she flew direct from Phoenix to Newark through Continental's <a href="http://www.continental.com/web/en-us/content/travel/animals/default.aspx">PetSafe </a>program and arrived in fine shape. As one indicator of what kind of environments she was being kept in before, during, and after her flight, the waterbowl that Tamra had frozen for her was still three-quarters solid when I picked her up.<br /><br />Once again, the headline you'll never read: "Healthy female vizsla arrives safely at Newark airport!"<br /><br />With The Road Crew reunited, I immediately loaded them into the Luxury Cruiser and headed <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEDKRYhLTJlLP9tdlJo-Nwtge4e2dF8l-zOtYPgUwMsLpnOywY6pBb4ExbLK1KMMM7TaaZCoJVZR_ExyYPKt8SG-ETCpQa2R5dmMUhm_PAJYOZMHxZLEGfWdUCSRJX4htT2JFN4pBep2hu/s1600/Imported+Photos+00061.JPG"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 134px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEDKRYhLTJlLP9tdlJo-Nwtge4e2dF8l-zOtYPgUwMsLpnOywY6pBb4ExbLK1KMMM7TaaZCoJVZR_ExyYPKt8SG-ETCpQa2R5dmMUhm_PAJYOZMHxZLEGfWdUCSRJX4htT2JFN4pBep2hu/s200/Imported+Photos+00061.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5662088960073759170" border="0" /></a>up to TMT to get in a morning's training before turning right around and heading south to the Conestoga Vizsla Club trial down in Clear Spring, MD. We met up with Jeremy and Jackson again and immediately began by running the little liver dog through his paces. As you can see in the picture, he is showing a great nose and some very nice style at 12wks of age. Once again, he got to make a retrieve with the birds not wanting to fly in what was a 90% humidity morning. His future is very promising.<br /><br />Then we put down Her Majesty in an effort to remind her that even though places and faces had changed the rules had still applied. In this way, I feel spoiled. I know how Bill trains, I know how the dog was broke, and I know how to keep her honest and maintain the training so that at whatever point it will become second-nature to her. And as I've said to a bunch of folks in the last couple of weeks or so, the beauty of the West method as practiced by Bill Gibbons is that, even if she messes up, there's no hooting or hollering. I had said this to Jeremy before we went out, to think about how different what he saw the previous week and what he'd see with me working Capo would be. And he did. As should be expected, she tried to bust in on her first bird, got corrected, broke on the shot with her second bird, got corrected, and then stood like a million dollars through all the hoopla of trying to get two running birds into the humid air. Not a word was spoken. All we got to watch was a jacked-up 19mos old vizsla working birds.<br /><br />With the West method what I've come to realize is that in the absence of any handler <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiou5Z3uvtbpAjB7WaeAsN_NF9U-_0O54EFLvAu49i7mN3T6J13Q4rAkU0kzl1qz_q4ethABPo6-BqJWQDpM1cxc6der1PNpQJXP_GIP7l0uEab3jrvvc0dxSog6H1fov0yHNu93oo82A22/s1600/Imported+Photos+00090.JPG"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 134px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiou5Z3uvtbpAjB7WaeAsN_NF9U-_0O54EFLvAu49i7mN3T6J13Q4rAkU0kzl1qz_q4ethABPo6-BqJWQDpM1cxc6der1PNpQJXP_GIP7l0uEab3jrvvc0dxSog6H1fov0yHNu93oo82A22/s200/Imported+Photos+00090.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5662093370383610146" border="0" /></a>theatrics, even if the dog is imperfect, all the focus remains on the dog. Whether you're a hunt test judge or a field trial judge, or simply a guy watching someone else's dog hunt, your eyes never come off the dog standing, you're never distracted by a handler pleading, cajoling, or bullying their dog. Jozsi ran next and while there was still a little tail ticking till I got to him, he stood his birds beautifully and honestly despite having plenty of opportunity to roll out of sight and commit a felony or two. Momo, too, did a nice job -- this great point in truth being a long, long sight point on a pair of birds walking together some 40yds away. Jeremy and I spoke about this, about dogs' <a href="http://www4.uwsp.edu/psych/dog/LA/davis2.htm">color-blindness</a> relative to humans (not that it really helped us last week as we walked right past the hen quail buried in the dead leaves and then noticed Jackson had stopped and was pointing it), but that their eyes have proportionally much higher percentage of of rods in their eyes and a much higher <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flicker_fusion_threshold">flicker rate</a>, or refresh rate, giving them a much higher ability to detect <a href="http://knol.google.com/k/canine-senses-how-dogs-see#Dog_Vision%283A%29_What_Dogs_Can_%2826%29_Can%2827%29t_See">even small degrees of motion</a> in the world ahead of them.<br /><br /><a href="http://lassiegethelp.blogspot.com/">Luisa </a>or <a href="http://smartdogs.wordpress.com/">Janine</a>: if I've somehow gotten this piece of canine physiology wrong, please correct me in the comments below.<br /><br />We then hauled ourselves down to northern Maryland to the <a href="http://www.dnr.state.md.us/wildlife/Publiclands/western/indiansprings.asp">Indian Springs WMA</a>. I hadn't been here before and was a tad concerned that it looked pretty compact for running trials at. Compact it is, especially for anything closely resembling a true All-Age stake, but there are enough fields and edges that each stake could be run on a slightly different course -- and with Blair Lake on one side and a rising ridge of hardwoods clearly in the early process of turning, it was a beautiful spot. All the same, while some cutting and management had clearly taken place, it was clear that it had been a warm, wet spring and the cover was very high in places. And while the temperature cooled while we were there, scattered showers were largely interrupted by rain all weekend. It was a great weekend to have an abundance of long riding coats -- but despite the weather, the dogs all did well sleeping in the Luxury Cruiser and I was perfectly comfortable sleep in the back of the truck under the cap.<br /><br />Jake did a nice job in Open Puppy, showing no signs of being at all unnerved by being handled from a horse for the first time nor any indication of interest in his bracemate -- both great for a 7mos old dog. As I've said previously, my initial want for Jake's development was to build a relationship and establish a handle <span style="font-style: italic;">and then </span>encourage him to run far and wild. And while his range was moderate, he dug into cover when he felt the need, would pop out to the front at appropriate times, and handled like a charm. It was a very nice start that earned him compliments if not a ribbon in a fairly large puppy stake.<br /><br />For her first trial, Capo also more than acquitted herself -- handling nicely even with a relative stranger. By the time we got to the backcourse, she had really started to open up, rolling out along the eastern woods line. She then disappeared and the judge and I both knew that she was <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxEiyUCY24N367Tn4fgXg8IBccV3cXXXoLNmSnAQVET_xcsTjUpgL55WZ7QmDwr0Z8EKx2Fddu-BizlldNAdGWB5WqYki3oALkT_oV9xQQoit4feJkyFj7yNENBx42piicZBNLPJH1RSxr/s1600/Imported+Photos+00111.JPG"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 134px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxEiyUCY24N367Tn4fgXg8IBccV3cXXXoLNmSnAQVET_xcsTjUpgL55WZ7QmDwr0Z8EKx2Fddu-BizlldNAdGWB5WqYki3oALkT_oV9xQQoit4feJkyFj7yNENBx42piicZBNLPJH1RSxr/s200/Imported+Photos+00111.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5662093372814951042" border="0" /></a>standing someplace -- and then she reappeared and brought me a feathery present, directly and gently to hand. We had run out of course and so the judge alerted me that we could turn back -- at which point, she promptly nailed a point looking like the Million Dollar Baby. The judge gave me the option of collaring her and trying to flush the bird, but I elected to treat the whole situation as if she were a truly broke dog. She stood through the shot and then broke and retrieved her bird to hand. This earned her a 3rd place ribbon, a nice testament to a very promising dog.<br /><br />While I would have loved her to have acted completely broke, she is still a mere 19mos old. And the best part about the whole situation is that I know exactly how to review the lessons she learned this summer and so we did so on Monday morning after the trial, again progressively improving from grabbing the bird, to breaking on the shot, to standing high and tight all the way through. While the picture above shows how nicely she'll self-stack, this is how she sets up on birds, too.<br /><br />Open Gun Dog was the actually the first of the stakes the Road Crew ran in and it was raining softly throughout the stake. Jozsi ran in the very first brace and on a course that the judges were not entirely sure of to start with. I think having to make mid-course corrections actually worked in our favor because if there is one thing that I can rely on all my dogs for, it's to handle for and with me. His bracemate was picked up for an infraction around the 5min mark and that, too, probably worked in his favor -- or, at the very least, and in contrast to Momo, causing him no detriment. Jozsi doesn't need a bracemate to make him run hard and so we did our best to look like a well-synched team. Birdwork was at a premium for the entire stake and Jozsi established the precedent by not making bird contact till the 28min mark. There was a little tick in his tail as I rode up to him which disappeared by the time I dismounted. The bird went up, all was in order, I took him on, the brace ended shortly thereafter. On the Jozsi scale it was about a 7.5 out of 10, but truth be told it was also only his second, clean broke dog run. And I was pleased.<br /><br />Momo went out in the fifth brace and was braced with another lower-powered dog. Both hunted nicely, but neither really got out there. With time coming on, I took Momo back to the same spot that Jozsi found his bird and he made contact, too. His bracemate honored him, all was in order, and the brace ended shortly thereafter. I was pleased with him -- and while I knew only a few dogs had made it round with birdwork to that point (and did all day, in fact), I doubted he'd end up with a ribbon.<br /><br />But the highpoint of the day was hearing Jozsi's name mispronounced as the winner of the OGD stake at dinner that night. I have deliberately not run him a lot in the last two years because I don't need to try and show a dog that I<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJxFi6ZezGQvjczD5SjFsmiNc1clzW7UI9jAFAujgtlU4n7yxj-rBtbp1kMihNXjzSgLGdwyjk8C_849hq9EcnOK8uOdebYozVJEstjUvKTWRilJEVv5aPC52ln14QwRiYCUZU-q21ywYw/s1600/Imported+Photos+00106.JPG"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 134px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJxFi6ZezGQvjczD5SjFsmiNc1clzW7UI9jAFAujgtlU4n7yxj-rBtbp1kMihNXjzSgLGdwyjk8C_849hq9EcnOK8uOdebYozVJEstjUvKTWRilJEVv5aPC52ln14QwRiYCUZU-q21ywYw/s200/Imported+Photos+00106.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5662093389170151938" border="0" /></a> am not proud of -- and while I would rather he fail gloriously than lay down the mundane, I also didn't need to keep paying entry fees just to watch him blow me off. But to have him take a four-point major towards his Field Championship after carrying the day from the first brace despite strong performances from some local favorites was a real treat. The bittersweet moment is that I no longer have the opportunity to call Lisa DeForest and tell her how proud I was. But I am grateful to the Semper Fi crew for letting me join their toast and remember her in the process.<br /><br />*******<br /><br />This past weekend we went to the Finger Lakes region of New York to celebrate our wedding anniversary and so that Meg could test herself one more time in a ridiculously long running race, the <a href="http://canlake50.org/">CanLake 50</a>. The race features both a 50mile and a 50K race, the 50K folks joining the super-crazy around the 19mile mark. Unlike the previous <a href="http://regalvizsla.blogspot.com/2009/10/endurance-exemplified.html">50K </a>she did two years ago, the CanLake 50 is all on roads and follows a counter-clockwise route around Canandaigua Lake and compared to her previous race relatively flat (a mere 2200ft of ascent as compared to the approximately 5000ft she experienced the previous time). One side-effect of this was that Meg bested her previous 50km time by over 3hrs! As she'll say herself, she's not fast but she'll get there -- a great illustration of why the tortoise will beat the hare. At the end a number of folks commented on how well she looked during the race.<br /><br />I pulled a hammy slightly doing a trail run with the League at the awesome <a href="http://fllt.org/protected_lands/protected_lands1.php?id=31">Wesley Hill Nature </a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikOE1l1dz3bYgzfaTCQeLauPppc5ElgWHcOBTYM7iHvRd6-O2ZWUiXPX5bUAbC89yjyqHh4WSUyAivqg12ozNMsCqqT8TS5EaZC4Z1fE-5K5X5nSzBcg-qyG3xd4ggysO6KfJWcQTixHWD/s1600/Imported+Photos+00017.JPG"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 112px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikOE1l1dz3bYgzfaTCQeLauPppc5ElgWHcOBTYM7iHvRd6-O2ZWUiXPX5bUAbC89yjyqHh4WSUyAivqg12ozNMsCqqT8TS5EaZC4Z1fE-5K5X5nSzBcg-qyG3xd4ggysO6KfJWcQTixHWD/s200/Imported+Photos+00017.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5662093399233864386" border="0" /></a><a href="http://fllt.org/protected_lands/protected_lands1.php?id=31">Preserve</a> in an attempt to get them exercised between meeting Meggers at the aid stations at 9.6miles and 23.7 miles. I love places that state that 'dogs under full control' are welcome, not 'dogs on leash' but dogs under control. A good argument could be made as to whether field trial dogs are actually under 'full' control, but I like the logic that says that a dog on a leash is not necessarily under full control either. In any case, the League ran there three days in a row -- and heaven knows, Jakey loves running in the hardwoods. And I am glad that I had an Astro and that he has a handle on him. Zoiks. He needed a whole day to recover from all his exercise once we got home. But here is a nice picture of him looking out on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honeoye_Lake">Honeoye Lake</a> early one morning. I don't know if the Iroquois have a word for fog rising off water, but from living in Portland, OR, and kayaking on the Columbia, I remember that in Chinook the word is 'skamokawa'.Andrew Campbellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204944202954520498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7720336639932650441.post-54995367538644918742011-09-26T10:15:00.014-04:002011-09-27T07:50:46.506-04:00don't hand me no lines...I have a confession to make: I lose my cool sometimes. I went training with a couple of friends last week, got upset at Momo's shenanigans, and lifted him off the ground by the scruff of his neck, took him 15yds, put him down and heeled him back to the truck for a time-out. Wasn't pleased. Especially with myself.<br />
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I'm owning up to my mistakes in public because, like all the other sophomoric mistakes I've made, I hope others will recognize potential error in what they're doing and hopefully not have to go there. I do also believe that sometimes and some dogs do require a more physical intervention -- what I called 'leverage' in this <a href="http://www.strideaway.com/strideaway/index.php?/archives/125-A-Month-With-Bill-Gibbons.html">article </a>about my first month with Bill Gibbons -- whether it's spinning a dog during the breaking process like Bill, Dave Walker, and Maurice Lindley do, alpha-rolling a dog, or indeed pinching a puppy's jowl under its teeth when it tries to gnaw on you. Some of these physical interventions provide the dog with a literal sensation of what it feels like for them to keep doing what they're doing, some really are about asserting yourself as the top of a hierarchical social order, and the various forms of 'leverage' are much more about providing just enough of an external cue to prick the dog's consciousness, remind it of its working relationship with you, and ask it to merely repeat what you have shown it and which it has demonstrated numerous times (which in the West method is almost exclusively to stop-and-stand-still).<br />
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But this was not one of those times. I can make excuses about the dog, but the fact is that aside perhaps from taking a time-out, this wasn't the way to correct his behavior.<br />
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While I was out with Bill this summer, I would watch him intently while he was working dogs <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLkOaTlQlWsD0esulZOMNbL9LF7eFjw5tlqkGrgL_LazEyWkHdT5Uhc-6GBdptF6oXOnr0aZDcGDwa7h7RL_ekCYUAYXUKniHvaMzVea4uUxUynZ512N030oXxVsCREiw4lFivDKrbj-WQ/s1600/Imported+Photos+00122.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5656830323124308114" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLkOaTlQlWsD0esulZOMNbL9LF7eFjw5tlqkGrgL_LazEyWkHdT5Uhc-6GBdptF6oXOnr0aZDcGDwa7h7RL_ekCYUAYXUKniHvaMzVea4uUxUynZ512N030oXxVsCREiw4lFivDKrbj-WQ/s200/Imported+Photos+00122.JPG" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 112px; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; width: 200px;" /></a>with the checkcord and pinchcollar -- short of actually wearing them myself, I was trying to see his 'touch' on the dog. As I wrote in the <span style="font-style: italic;">Strideaway </span>article above, Bill uses a different pinch-collar a little differently than Dave Walker, in particular. Neither is necessarily better, although I understand clearly why Bill does it his particular way. As opposed to the combined pressure and acoustic cue that Dave Walker describes, Bill is pure pressure -- but it took almost two weeks before I could see him apply it. When a dog had stopped, but moved slightly to the side when the bird was flushed -- as Bill would say, it knew it couldn't go forward so the motion it wants to make comes out in a different direction -- he would reset the feet using the pinch-collar (and the tail if necessary) to reset the dog. He would chastise me when I did it, saying that we're not trying to dump a dog like it's a load of dirty laundry, that we need to show it respect. I've already admitted here that I used a heavy hand last week, but what I'm trying to convey now is that I was trying <span style="font-style: italic;">desperately</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">hard</span> to mimic what Bill was doing but somehow he was seeing me do something a little different. The best I could translate what he was physically doing was that he was pivoting the dog in a single fluid motion rather than lifting and turning (and potentially 'dumping') the dog.<br />
<br />
Touch is learned through experience.<br />
<br />
What I realised even as I was hoiking Momo off the ground was that I was frustrated, frustrated with the call from work that told me someone had managed to blow-up a deal I had been working on for several days, frustrated from what felt like a lack of help from the folks I was with, and frustrated at the high humidity making the johnny-house quail run rather than pop nicely. As for the lack of help, I realized that I also hadn't given enough information to my helpers for them to be useful. Now again, I've been that helper before, presumed to know something I've never been shown or had explained to me -- so you would think I would have figured that out! But the point of this post is to say that it is important to train to a plan each day you go out and make sure everyone who is supposed to be taking part knows what the plan is. Keep in mind that you may be working with people who are very well intentioned but have no idea what they don't know and shouldn't therefore be expected to ask for help.<br />
<br />
Train to the plan and stick to the plan. One of the reasons Momo is less than immaculate is because he was trained by a complete novice using whatever method made sense at a given time. There was no long-term plan or vision: I had no idea what I was training towards. The same applied to some extent with Jozsi: I realized I had a really nice, powerful dog but had no idea what my long-term goals were and therefore how I would train to that larger, overall goal. I'd already made some mistakes with him and tried to apply what turned out to be poor advice before I came to the West method. If you have a long-term plan, you can then do two things: figure out the overall strategy for getting there, and break it down into more manageable chunks.<br />
<br />
So, for example, I hope Jake will turn out to be a great broke dog capable of competing in a variety of different trial formats (ie. walking, HB, maybe cover dog, but certainly quail trials). If he never shows the ooomph to be a great trial dog, he will still be a stylish hunting dog and loved all the same. Style is critical for the FT game and a dog should be broken in a way that maintains that dog's style to the highest degree possible. In my opinion, the West method is that method. Now I've never owned a pointer but I do know his pedigree and what he might be capable of in terms of run; we also live in a city and while we have access to more space than most, a dog without a handle is likely to end up in serious trouble. I have therefore spent the majority of my initial time with him developing a handle on him, birdwork has come second, and breaking him to the gun has come third.<br />
<br />
While I may well still run him through a Junior Hunter title, it will be to stoke the fire, encourage the run, and get him used to the brace format -- it will not be before I've started any significant steadying work with him. I debated whether to run him at the Cape, and even at the <a href="http://www.westminsterkennelclub.org/2012/show/news/huntingtest_082411.html">Westminster Kennel Club</a> hunt test this past Sunday, but I have seen how long it takes to rehabilitate a gun-shy dog -- and so, running him without feeling like he has enough gun time on him really doesn't make sense. I have seen nothing to make me nervous about him, but I have no control over other handlers' gun manners and have been standing next to, judging, a very experienced hunt-tester inadvertently fire a gun close to another dog's head when it raced in from our blindspot having ditched its handler elsewhere in the birdfield. The long-term goal has to outweigh the short-term fun.<br />
<br />
And this same logic has to apply to each training day: for example, if you want to work on your dog not breaking at the shot for the retrieve, how do you plan to stop it if it does break? Is it conditioned to stop with an e-collar command? Do we need a checkcord, even if the dog just drags it while it locates the bird? If the dog appears to be steady with a pop-gun, should we then test it with a 209 primer in a shotgun? Will we, and if so under what criteria, shoot an actual bird for the retrieve? And if I'd taken the same time to initially talk through what I wanted to achieve with Momo with my two helpers as I did with each of their dogs, if I'd taken that time to put the dumb work phone-call out of my head, maybe I'd not have gotten so pissy with the Mominator.<br />
<br />
*******<br />
<br />
On the upside, the shock of my over-reaction created a need for a time-out for me and The Mominator. I have been working on a few things with Mr. Enthusiasm and, if it works out, I'll post more about it. But I knew I wanted to test him with small coveys of johnny-house birds to give him lots of scent to work through in a finite area and potentially get over-amped on. Again, Jozsi knows his cues and I can stop him with the e-collar so that part of the plan was all set, too. (I know I'm writing here about training to a plan: the thing to keep in mind here is that Jozsi has had at least two different plans and one set of bum advice worked on him. So I'm being a little coy about what I've been experimenting with because the problem isn't the West method, as an example, but that various other things were already ingrained in him before we got to it.)<br />
<br />
And as much as I anticipated correcting him, he looked as good as he has in a long, long time. I mean, really really good, like exciting, dynamic, and honest good. The kind that makes a judge sit up. Again, there were still a couple of tail issues which we've been working through for well over 18mos -- but even when there was still some tail movement, the magnitude of those, too, was diminished and at the invitation to move up and relocate, everything went super solid. I was so very pleased with him.<br />
<br />
*******<br />
<br />
The other major highlight of the morning was taking young Jackson out for his first introduction<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJyXXT5CxMkvnPEA22E_mMc6wLqao0SC5cAMcp7ZvaQbQKDfDZ_ZZRNuTgZ8WBAVKI0pfs4fTPzgtg1kRH0i-0bIeZFHm5jmnxg0h4DkvR9mObg_HGGB_QcpwezSDSz-R18FFXKOtAW-20/s1600/Imported+Photos+00022.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5656692035749377618" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJyXXT5CxMkvnPEA22E_mMc6wLqao0SC5cAMcp7ZvaQbQKDfDZ_ZZRNuTgZ8WBAVKI0pfs4fTPzgtg1kRH0i-0bIeZFHm5jmnxg0h4DkvR9mObg_HGGB_QcpwezSDSz-R18FFXKOtAW-20/s200/Imported+Photos+00022.JPG" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 134px; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; width: 200px;" /></a> to birds. Jackson is from my dear friends, Jennifer + Dennis Hazel, bred from their truly wonderful bitch, <a href="http://www.remekvizslas.net/dog.php4?id=24832">Sally</a>. I had no doubts recommending them to Jackson's owners, Jeremy + Katie, and was so pleased to hear that I was going to be able to keep tabs on one of their dogs. Jackson is all of 11wks old: he tracked and found this johnny-house bird all by himself -- to the point that we were still walking ahead when I realized he had stopped in his tracks behind us. He held long enough to get this and a couple of other pictures before ripping out the bird. But I'd say his future looks pretty rosy!Andrew Campbellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204944202954520498noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7720336639932650441.post-53169561971475576312011-09-15T08:12:00.003-04:002011-09-15T23:35:34.844-04:00just geting warmed up<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;">It's hard to believe it's been over a month since I posted last -- and heaven knows,</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWmkTgDNl2Kwo87c5tIAAQKVsqX05AZ9uhf_iEi6MmUfGz_402-tVwUYuzAeMd0I7EJR-UMQ3_dhSi5kvqhv9MHC-Cx50wqWksmr5IEK2Y5xcWX4WajKwfIEgLIG54w7tW7sYBKqN9883d/s1600/TheLeague.VCCNE.HT.Sept11.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWmkTgDNl2Kwo87c5tIAAQKVsqX05AZ9uhf_iEi6MmUfGz_402-tVwUYuzAeMd0I7EJR-UMQ3_dhSi5kvqhv9MHC-Cx50wqWksmr5IEK2Y5xcWX4WajKwfIEgLIG54w7tW7sYBKqN9883d/s200/TheLeague.VCCNE.HT.Sept11.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5652310629274027874" style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" border="0" /></a></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;">things are going full steam ahead already. Hunting season may not begin for a couple of weeks, but the hunt test and field trial season has already. The League and I just got back from a great weekend out on the Cape at the second annual VCCNE/Mayflower doubleheader hunt test. None of the Gentlemen were running (and more on that), but I had volunteered to gun for both clubs and judged JH for Mayflower on the Sunday afternoon. The League did a great job hanging out at the<a href="http://jonestrailers.com/">Luxury Cruiser</a> for most of the</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;"> day, but making good use of the cool weather at dawn and dusk to stretch their legs and work the leftover birds. The first picture is courtesy of Julie Smith and shows Momo using his usual Jedi Mind Trick on Gordon to get the attention he thinks he is entitled to.<br /><br />This was the first weekend of taking the Luxury Cruiser for a weekend event and sleeping in the back of the truck. While space was a little cramped, it seemed to work pretty well -- especially after I'd resuscitated my Coleman two-burner stove and had remembered to bring all the accoutrements to make a solid cup of <a href="http://www.howtobrewcoffee.com/Turkish.htm">Turkish coffee</a>. With the good weather, having the stake-out chain really made things a lot more enjoyable, I'm sure, for the League -- and having dogs that are used to it makes it </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjchUi7eMhakMw8lmRzWdwPyMH5FQfI2Q5ysmwgPpNgSXPBXFstv7jZVkOY3YxlAddW9x3o6cqQQ_AniIXv1sM1MB6kkKlmf3HhHt9_n1PXFNrdQGjHQNKdDIr-VAtWcfE3g_4rmKVhcSWP/s1600/Imported+Photos+00058.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjchUi7eMhakMw8lmRzWdwPyMH5FQfI2Q5ysmwgPpNgSXPBXFstv7jZVkOY3YxlAddW9x3o6cqQQ_AniIXv1sM1MB6kkKlmf3HhHt9_n1PXFNrdQGjHQNKdDIr-VAtWcfE3g_4rmKVhcSWP/s200/Imported+Photos+00058.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5652319856909201250" style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 200px;" border="0" /></a></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;">a lot more enjoyable for me, too. Jake's ability to just roll with whatever is happening continues to amaze me.<br /><br />Taking a step back or so, it's been a great month to really get to know Jake. As frustrating as the summer was </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;">for everyone remotely affiliated with the Wallow Fire, not being able to run him frequently or expose him to birds for</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;">almost two months had me wondering 'what if'... and heaven knows, his sister Dot won her first Puppy stake the day she turned six months old. But the fact is that there is a time for every dog -- and I think we have plenty with the Dancing Pirate.<br /><br />Living with three hunting dogs has proven interesting: we have definitely had to institute a more regimented schedule for us and the Gentlemen. After their breakfast (Momo and Jozsi just get a small handful of kibble after their morning run, Jake still gets a solid cup-and-a-half in the morning) and after their dinner, they have crate time to let them digest and to give us time to get our own food. Once we've eaten they get supervised playtime, although last night was the first night that Jake actually abandoned wrastling either Momo or Jozsi and came over and lay down on me on the couch, much to Jozsi's chagrin.<br /></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;"><br /></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;">In an attempt to let Meg get a normal run in first thing in the morning and to give me the chance to really work on developing a rapport and a handle on the Jakeasaur, I've been taking him out by himself in the mornings and really letting him run in the woods, albeit with both an e-collar and an Astro. There'll be a few words on e-collars at the end, but I have been frustrated by the Astro's sometimes inability to combine correct range <span style="font-style: italic;">and</span>direction. I did purchase an extended <a href="http://www.gundogsupply.com/supra-tuff-antenna-for-garmin-dc30-dc40-.html">antenna </a>for the DC40 collar and I see now that the long-range antenna that comes on the new <a href="http://www.gundogsupply.com/astro-320-long-range-antenna.html">Astro 320</a> is now available as an accessory upgrade for the older 220. I have not been necessarily looking for more range, but more accurate communication between the collar and the receiver, and to that end have also experimented with re-tuning the frequency between the two units. In theory, shorter wavelengths (and therefore higher frequencies) can pass between obstacles more easily and with less corruption of the signal. And so I re-tuned the Astro to its highest frequency range; oddly, Garmin doesn't tell you how to do it in their manual, but it can be found in various places including <a href="http://www.nqhfs.com.au/astro%20220%20DC30%20DC40%20frequencies%20factsheet.html">here</a>. Those two changes did make some difference, although at this point I can now tell that we have pending thunderstorms when it loses some of its normal accuracy. Having the Astro really lets me work on encouraging Jake to range and cast even after I've lost sight of him -- which in our woods is often soon after 30yds out. On our trail system, he does have some favorite spots that he really likes to explore -- and being able to not panic, and instead keep singing him out once he's hit 100yds+ is a real bonus.<br /></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;"><br /></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;">He has had one run at Flaherty already, but the grass was so high in the spot</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-7JkA1ahghOFoBYeIOQLCcwnQxHg0muLDwn9C2Z7ovzGljeu2HQPUMja38JC7nR8U3rMgXanwotLiD29cYWI98U8sj1h4HUSsyPESM5BX79xYc-4aiGXSX8zSWjLPuqEc9YDNJBRY7P8n/s1600/Imported+Photos+00003.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-7JkA1ahghOFoBYeIOQLCcwnQxHg0muLDwn9C2Z7ovzGljeu2HQPUMja38JC7nR8U3rMgXanwotLiD29cYWI98U8sj1h4HUSsyPESM5BX79xYc-4aiGXSX8zSWjLPuqEc9YDNJBRY7P8n/s200/Imported+Photos+00003.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5652364437724953218" style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 200px;" border="0" /></a></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;">we went to that he couldn't hardly range and was suitably exhausted and abraded after his time on the ground that he slept wonderfully that night. He did also get to run at Crane this past weekend -- and it was pretty great to run him on wild-planted birds and watch how he dealt with new types of cover and tons of old scent. After his first bird contact, he certainly kicks it up a notch and, as a result, having a pretty good handle on him already is a bonus. In addition, I have been able to get my Evil Empire set up and birds acclimated to their respective drums. Today was the first day I released a couple from each barrel and left the recall doors open -- that a hen was already waiting to go back in when I went to open one of them. Hopefully this will be the first of many successful recalls -- I really do think it makes a difference using wild-planted birds, especially if you have stocked your johnny-houses. The two areas we need to work on with him are breaking him to the gun and running from a horse. </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;">I'm waiting till he is chasing, not merely following, the bird to the point that he is about to grab it to fire the gun. I've been able to do it a couple of times with a 209 in a single-shot .410, but </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;">one of the challenges in the place I train is that it is in the woods and if a bird flies behind a tree where Jake loses sight of him as he chasing, he'll just stop and either try to get a scent or come around in search of the next one. Again, there's a time for every dog and doing it right the first time means not having to take more time to rehabilitate a gun-shy dog.<br /><br />He met Jen + Dennis's horses at Crane this past weekend, but time just didn't allow for me to take him for a jaunt and I'm hoping to have that opportunity this coming weekend. But this is the beginning of the season, the trial and hunt test season as much as hunting season -- and I'm looking forward to judging for the<a href="http://www.westminsterkennelclub.org/2012/show/news/huntingtest_082411.html">Westminster Kennel Club</a> hunt test at the end of the month, then heading down to <a href="http://www.cvcweb.org/hunting-field.html">Conestoga </a>to judge their Hunting Dog stake with my good friend, <a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.broadrunvizslas.com">Michele Dowd</a>, along with running all the members of the League as well as a newly-returned Miss Capo. The Road Crew reunited!<br /><br />*******<br /></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;"><div><br /></div>For some reason, it seems that the debate over e-collars has risen to the top again, maybe only in my world, but Pat Burns also felt the need to write a detailed (and to my mind, balanced) <a href="http://terriermandotcom.blogspot.com/2011/08/limits-and-strengths-of-e-collars.html">post </a>about e-collars as a training tool. And from an e-mail exchange with </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Janeen over at <a href="http://smartdogs.wordpress.com/">SmartDogs</a>, she said this: </span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;"><span>"</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span>Good working dogs, those bred to do specific jobs brilliantly well, have incredibly strong behavioral drives that both work for and against their human partners. When those drives are emitted as dissenting opinions they put the true working dog at odds with the job he was bred to do and there is no reward strong enough to break that focus." Janine remains one of very few folk who I know who has actually researched the '<a href="http://smartdogs.wordpress.com/2010/04/27/see-no-evil-read-no-evil-cite-no-evil/">research</a>' about e-collars. But like Donald McCaig wrote in a comment to Pat's post: "But there is a substrate of the pro and anti ecollar argument that quelches rational discourse."</span></span></span><div><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span><br />As for the guy who yelled at me last night for running my dogs off-leash at dusk in the park who got to watch a pointer turn on command 15ft from him without using the e-collar (but still having it as back-up): bite me!</span></span></span></div>Andrew Campbellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204944202954520498noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7720336639932650441.post-61942863334880132772011-08-07T15:51:00.011-04:002011-08-07T22:01:54.620-04:00thwartedThe short version of the story is that after a phone-call from work asking if I could come back earlier than planned, I did. After seven weeks in Phoenix in a holding pattern and no concrete assistance from the USFS till literally the day I left, it was an easy decision to make -- and made easier with the support of Bill. As he said, if he'd had 25 dogs to break and no other help, it might have been a different conversation -- but as it was, and in this economic climate, a job is a job.<br /><br />I certainly learned a bunch of things, albeit mostly things I hadn't planned on. Namely, that I don't think I'll be becoming a professional trainer any time soon -- any residual glamor or romance that might have remained from last summer has dessicated and blown away. This is a tough life for the best of people, especially for a pro who is campaigning dogs and on the road for large chunks of time. I've said it elsewhere, but if I go to a trial and see a pro there with their family helping out, I'm immediately impressed. After seven weeks, I did learn that I could probably enjoy owning and operating a boarding kennel -- which is useful for Meg and me to keep in mind for our next move. I also learned that, in an ideal world, a pro owns or works directly for an owner who owns their training grounds -- being at the mercy of a federal agency as well as natural phenomena like fire will test the patience of a saint.<br /><br />As a testament to the kind of class act Bill is, though, he did offer to keep Capo in AZ to finish her getting broke -- which was a huge relief to me because of the four-member Road Crew she was the one dog getting worked and making progress. And so we will wait till mid-September to see how much progress she's made. Now that they're home, all three of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen are enjoying very regular exercise and the opportunity to get back in shape for the fall.<br /><br />Despite 36hrs of food-related turbulence between NM and TX, the <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJOu9FDvIKYi2nmC7dinF3tVKBECoi7P9zWukkxnFcVl9eSNMVOFy2zj8RumNDSGMCxt_sPkhV4x92FdibFAGUhYj2xShzHCTkTQKWM8IKB5vvbHKksONmHSE1T07ghH30eaeWCCs6T1ZO/s1600/Imported+Photos+00193.JPG"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 112px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJOu9FDvIKYi2nmC7dinF3tVKBECoi7P9zWukkxnFcVl9eSNMVOFy2zj8RumNDSGMCxt_sPkhV4x92FdibFAGUhYj2xShzHCTkTQKWM8IKB5vvbHKksONmHSE1T07ghH30eaeWCCs6T1ZO/s200/Imported+Photos+00193.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5638210773364458402" border="0" /></a>drive home was actually quite pleasant. This first picture, though, is from the initial trip up to Bill's temporary camp the morning I left, hauling my and his remaining dogs up to him in our trailer, aka. The Luxury Cruiser. Driving up into green scrub country with a beautful Arizona sunset in front of me almost made me rethink the decision. Instead, I took an extra two days to come home, stopping off first of all in Magdalena to see Steve + Libby. The drive between Springerville and Magdalena was interesting because while I could see little direct evidence of the fire which consumed over a half-million acres, semi after semi barreled down the road laden with hay. With a significant amount of the ground cover burnt off and the arrival of monsoon season, the next concern for the USFS were run-offs and mudslides (like those that wrecked homes in Flagstaff after the Schultz fire last summer) -- and bales were arriving by the truckload to try and anchor the top soil and channel water.<br /><br />We stopped over in Alvord, TX, again at Lary + Ann Cox's <a href="https://christieenterprises.com/index.php">place</a>. A late <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcoNLJsbot6e3mKoguPcY-FWJHZ1ySyE46nrb-CKA0n9BNABBJfFQvAojMM5zzduXAMAxr18FutQWR2ddJ35wZLC-fJDKRazkE_DY3RK7ATq3cqIKexchG3TECu_ZHoBNW_YYGNpvN49VM/s1600/Imported+Photos+00201.JPG"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 134px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcoNLJsbot6e3mKoguPcY-FWJHZ1ySyE46nrb-CKA0n9BNABBJfFQvAojMM5zzduXAMAxr18FutQWR2ddJ35wZLC-fJDKRazkE_DY3RK7ATq3cqIKexchG3TECu_ZHoBNW_YYGNpvN49VM/s200/Imported+Photos+00201.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5638211838517543186" border="0" /></a>start had meant that we initially overnighted just outside Childress but I managed to find a rails-to-trails site just outside <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estelline,_Texas">Estelline </a>to let the League stretch their legs. (As I read this Wikipedia entry, I realise that I was lucky not to fall prey to one of the worst speed trap towns in the nation!) This picture of Jake is just a testament to his confidence and increasing strength as he powers through brush. He's certainly already got a ton of road miles and experience in different terrain in his short life so far: he was hauled from Alabama to Pennsyslvania as an 8 or 9week old even before this trip, and has already run in the low deserts around Phoenix, the higher deserts and pines of Flagstaff, the grasslands of northern Texas, and the mixed woods and grasses of Virginia plantations. Spending time with Lary is a great excuse to sit and talk about dogs -- and he also made arrangements for the two of us to lunch with WC Kirk, handler of the last setter to win the National Championship, <a href="http://www.settersunlimited.com/info.aspx?a=15&b=166&c=5">Johnny Crockett</a>, back in 1970. I wish I hadn't been trying to overcome the last of my turbulence to be a little more talkative -- but it was still fun to listen to all of WC's various stories and suggestions. "Get a good-looking horse and learn to ride him well. If you have to do a little horse show to take the judge's mind off something else your dog might be doing, then so be it." (Or words to that effect.)<br /><br />Before leaving Alvord, I got up early to run the League on a section <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCEuombbI2Bq4qxo2iyNvQ2wH3sEjS1J5_WwxKPPKtQv9jxpmDp9u4AIQ2hyOv18DWQhF4j7rXOerm4UCtIIALHGhGZtYppGJQmWiSh07VY3c3B9Bbd8hXkMWU4c2Zal-6i1lsW-W_Jtod/s1600/Imported+Photos+00221.JPG"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 134px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCEuombbI2Bq4qxo2iyNvQ2wH3sEjS1J5_WwxKPPKtQv9jxpmDp9u4AIQ2hyOv18DWQhF4j7rXOerm4UCtIIALHGhGZtYppGJQmWiSh07VY3c3B9Bbd8hXkMWU4c2Zal-6i1lsW-W_Jtod/s200/Imported+Photos+00221.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5638211852259412562" border="0" /></a>of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyndon_B._Johnson_National_Grassland">LBJ National Grassland</a> and between the rising sun, lower temperatures, and the beautiful countryside, all four of us had a great time. Certainly to me, the name mistakenly implied something more like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palouse"><span style="font-style: italic;">palouse </span></a>-- when in fact, grassland in Texas can take a <a href="http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/publications/pwdpubs/pwd_bn_w7000_0120/grassland/index.phtml#grass06">variety </a>of forms. My guess would be that the portions of the LBJ that I saw on my visit most closely resembled 'Post-Oak Woods, Forest, and Grassland Mosaic.' The important features for me were that there were woods that presented edges, if not the kinds of prominent field and pasture lines commonly found in the northeast. There was certainly room for a dog to run, but real cover for a dog to hunt (and potentially get lost in) -- it made me want to come back during trial season to see how good dogs and handlers negotiated it. As you can see from this picture, there are also stock tanks -- and all three of the dogs paid a visit. One of the traits I like about Jake is that he will water himself if he's feeling hot, including dunking himself in ponds; Jozsi will do it to some extent; Momo not really -- his genius is pacing himself so that he can hopefully establish a pace he can easily maintain for several hours.<br /><br />We hauled our way over Arkansas and into Tennessee -- where the giant wall of humidity hit us. Blah. This might have been where both the Astro and my cell-phone got a little hinky and are now both headed for some hammer-therapy. In any case, the sad part was that we reached Memphis on a Sunday night which meant that as we headed to Grand Junction the next morning, I knew the <a href="http://www.birddogfoundation.com/">Bird Dog Foundation Museum</a> would be closed. Needless to say, though, I stopped by and enjoyed the Walk of Champions and the flushing quail tableau featuring and dedicated to John Rex Gates, Mr. Thor, and Crossmatch. I also did what any decent bird dog nerd would do and visited the <a href="http://www.amesplantation.org/">Ames Plantation</a> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjppmKCzIksV5s93PzXv6rT83zjC_hVCTiyP5YCCRu46f-FIrkltoRfoLrXbARBnD5A7tImU70Doczyn0lluK5ohHsFSCEujmED5d4RmLuHNfovh5j_jQ3Na_pnIN8Aa6Ajm2H0MD-1h4PA/s1600/Imported+Photos+00232.JPG"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 134px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjppmKCzIksV5s93PzXv6rT83zjC_hVCTiyP5YCCRu46f-FIrkltoRfoLrXbARBnD5A7tImU70Doczyn0lluK5ohHsFSCEujmED5d4RmLuHNfovh5j_jQ3Na_pnIN8Aa6Ajm2H0MD-1h4PA/s200/Imported+Photos+00232.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5638212255272556386" border="0" /></a>not far up the road. It was a little odd driving up to the main house and recognizing the stables, kennels, and clubhouse just from watching several of Brad Harter's great National Championship <a href="http://pleasanthillproductions.com/">DVDs </a>-- although they, like the rest of the grounds, look a little different at the height of the growing season than they do in February. The plantation is primarily administered by the University of Tennessee and I guess the administrative assistants are used to idiots like me asking if its okay to walk around the back of the Main House to see the steps. As the picture shows, yes, it is. Leaving aside the much longer history of what was originally the Jones Plantation, evidenced by the family cemetery fairly close to the house, it's still a little unnerving to think that every National Champion since 1915 has been posed on these steps.<br /><br />We continued on our merry way, eventually winding up in <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTUtOGqdkUExP85UfQjeYXEIrKgcmIdW4-oapeI4KmM02SzrdiXBm-3n6hTtukTl7EzMGU37n0ODCNRzLotfMA8_QM1hyLfk4wLBwMqZNvzHxKOk_0kq2wvlLHEvM4EP8nOpQGA4hti67U/s1600/Imported+Photos+00150.JPG"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 134px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTUtOGqdkUExP85UfQjeYXEIrKgcmIdW4-oapeI4KmM02SzrdiXBm-3n6hTtukTl7EzMGU37n0ODCNRzLotfMA8_QM1hyLfk4wLBwMqZNvzHxKOk_0kq2wvlLHEvM4EP8nOpQGA4hti67U/s200/Imported+Photos+00150.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5638212704552367506" border="0" /></a>southern Virginia, passing <a href="http://regalvizsla.blogspot.com/2009/11/400yds-on-left.html">Cloverdale Farm</a> on the way to visit another vizsla friend, Don Brown, who manages a private plantation in Clarksville. The sad part about that drive-by was the knowledge that Mr. Leggett had sold the grounds recently, apparently to a developer. I had set things up so that we had a short drive to Clarksville so that, in turn, we had time to relax at Cedar Grove and let the League get some well-earned exercise in. The grounds at Cedar Grove are set up to allow the owner to enjoy quail hunting in Southern style, either dismounting from a well-mannered walking horse or from a mule-drawn buggy -- and Don breeds his vizslas accordingly. These are not stretch-for-the-horizon field trial dogs, but dogs able to sustain a well-paced hunt for an entire morning or afternoon without being changed out. And he gets paid to spend the same amount of time and diligence maintaining the grounds by thinning trees, and carrying out controlled burns of understory, and planting warm season grasses, sorghums, and other varieties of beans and seed plants as food sources. It's certainly not easy work, but it's a heck of a nice spot to raise and train bird dogs. Here's a picture of our giddy fool enjoying some cooler weather and friendlier cover to let loose in.<br /><br />In the meantime, it's back to work and enjoying time with the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Birds are ordered for the Evil Empire and hopefully we can start training these guys again soon.Andrew Campbellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204944202954520498noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7720336639932650441.post-20821205382040004742011-07-08T13:31:00.007-04:002011-07-08T17:17:46.376-04:00slow bake and a craving for rain......not down here in Phoenix necessarily (although we have had our share of incredible weather phenomena, and our <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84ZZi75w0qk">haboob </a>in particular). Bill tried to explain the particular combination and sequence of things like relative humidity and dewpoint that we need in Phoenix so that we might reasonably anticipate rain in the White Mountains -- but as many times as I read the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dewpoint">definitions </a>of these things, for some reason I can't figure out how to interpret these numbers.<br /><br />While the Wallow Fire is now 95% contained, the developed campgrounds at Big Lake, Greer, and others are <a href="http://www.inciweb.org/incident/article/2262/12218/">scheduled </a>to open again this afternoon, and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/InciWeb">InciWeb </a>will no longer be posting any updates on the fire's status, we still don't have any updates to tell us when we can leave the Valley of the Sun. As far as we're concerned, we're on 24hr standby. But with the opening of the developed campgrounds, hopefully general access to the Apache Forest will come soon.<br /><br />In the meantime, we continue to train a little north of Phoenix -- getting up at 3am to get <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj-gnDk08PlrBNKinCOHOmND-zdZ6GQTXeSZ_R3cwc_WLoUYuuY5tjETYmBkR9lHQM6vPyaIQ4tt-SFQPSAU6uPjHmmdgU7kS_O-xd_YwUdjFYeVnEMfSDqqX7aMEUWt4whRbHY8B5eu4R/s1600/Imported+Photos+00106.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 92px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj-gnDk08PlrBNKinCOHOmND-zdZ6GQTXeSZ_R3cwc_WLoUYuuY5tjETYmBkR9lHQM6vPyaIQ4tt-SFQPSAU6uPjHmmdgU7kS_O-xd_YwUdjFYeVnEMfSDqqX7aMEUWt4whRbHY8B5eu4R/s200/Imported+Photos+00106.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5627038792242599618" border="0" /></a>everyone loaded and to be at the grounds to start at 5am. It certainly can be beautiful as hopefully this picture shows. Taken at roughly 5:30am before the direct rays of the sun, it felt relatively cool -- but it was already 88degsF and by the time we were done at 8:30am, it had already broached 92degs. For where the dogs are now in their breaking process, it's actually important not to try to do too much irrespective of the weather -- but especially for the dogs that get run later in each session, we have to pay particular attention to their demeanor because of the additional stress factor of temperature. Besides the pretty colors and striking backdrop, I realise that this picture also has one of our carded, training pigeons in the right foreground. Carded pigeons are a huge part of Bill's system for breaking dogs (and while I don't agree with everything in this <a href="http://www.thecheckcord.com/archives/cbirds.html">article</a>, it's more right about more things than most). (Lacking the kind of open spaces that Bill has to train with, <a href="http://www.higginsgundogs.com/CalmDogsCalmTraineraninterviewwithMauriceLindleybyMarthaGreenlee.htm">Maurice Lindley</a> uses homing pigeons and launchers for much the same effect.) But going up to the mountains means that we set up our larger johnny-houses for quail (and maybe chukar again this year), and our smaller '<a href="http://regalvizsla.blogspot.com/2010/09/building-evil-empire.html">Evil Empire</a>' johnny-houses on what will be our horseback course. In the progression of things, dogs will get broke on carded pigeons, then have the lessons re-affirmed on johnny-house quail, and if they've progressed quickly, then get turned loose and run from horseback. (In the meantime, the horseback courses will get used by the already-broke dogs in camp for conditioning and polishing.)<br /><br />A quick word on what 'broke' looks like in this system: a customer came by this week to pick up his dog, a started dog he'd bought sight unseen and, looking for a broke dog he could take hunting almost immediately, he'd sent the dog to Bill for three months of training. He'd never seen his dog before, he'd never met Bill, and he's had several good dogs from several reputable folks before -- in short, he was not a novice to bird dogs. We have also been blessed with a crop of very spooky, healthy pigeons -- and so the first thing he saw was his new dog stop-to-flush, high and tight, without command on a bird that took us all by surprise. He then went on to point two more birds and had the third shot for him -- all in order and all without any vocal command. He was stunned. He asked Bill if he'd bought a miracle dog: "No, they should all do what he just did. He just looks particularly pretty doing it." This is to say that in several ways, Bill's breaking process relies on dogs being exposed to honoring and stopping-to-flush at the same time as being steady-to-fall. In fact, using Capo as an example, I would guess that she has been asked to point perhaps 4 birds in a month, but has been exposed to roughly 20 stops-to-flush or honoring situations.<br /><br />In other news, Jake gets bigger and bigger. Taken over the Independence <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh283kFwWK1J75ET90MiGmmYXkOu6ilc35nnnAydsPw1siIWtFM4pklvpbaJBfPVAqf72IA8Q0a8bTMc5h1_idg5E38ygf0FhsoSQUOOoGMSXTRJdGnL4dc8YzJgrA2iHoaQWPmdcQ4Z1hg/s1600/Imported+Photos+00122.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 134px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh283kFwWK1J75ET90MiGmmYXkOu6ilc35nnnAydsPw1siIWtFM4pklvpbaJBfPVAqf72IA8Q0a8bTMc5h1_idg5E38ygf0FhsoSQUOOoGMSXTRJdGnL4dc8YzJgrA2iHoaQWPmdcQ4Z1hg/s200/Imported+Photos+00122.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5627038795180215938" border="0" /></a>Day weekend, I love this picture for his high tail, goofy smile and his loping stride. We also got confirmation that his official registered name will be Seabank's Dancing Pirate. Meg and I decided that we'd like to start naming our own dogs with out own kennel name (hopefully in anticipation of moving and actually having outside space for our dogs) and Seabank was the name of my maternal grandparents' house in Campbeltown. 'The Dancing Pirate' was the name of a very early Rita Hayworth movie in honor of his mother, <a href="http://www.harddrivingkennels.com/news/?p=405">Hard Driving Rita</a>.Andrew Campbellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204944202954520498noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7720336639932650441.post-58779661205629962832011-06-21T18:23:00.011-04:002011-06-22T19:18:36.717-04:00holding pattern<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >First of all, I may need to come up with a new collective name for the congregation of dogs formerly known as Team Vizsla -- Bronx Chapter so I have a good shorthand moniker for Momo, Jozsi, Jake, and the fourth member of our road crew, <a href="http://www.widdershins-fm.com/dogs">Capo</a>. And maybe, especially because I've been reliving my appreciation for </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia;font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;" ><a href="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/motrhead-p4965">Motörhead</a>, The Road Crew may in fact need to be it.</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:medium;" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;" >We left New York and headed south for the C<a href="http://www.cvcweb.org/">onestoga Vizsla Club</a> Fun Day -- where I judged several dogs for the Field portion of their <a href="http://vcaweb.org/versatility.htm">Versatility Certificates</a>, and where Momo got to see his brother, Tavish, for the first time </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;" >since they were littermates. As you can see, they share more </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;" >than a little resemblance to each other.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;" >I had then planned to long-haul it directly from VA to west TX in one giant 23hr leg. The reasons</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;" > for considering this were that, with four dogs in tow, any fewer nights I could spend smuggling dogs into hotels would be a good thing. (Even pet-friendly hotels rarely accept more than two -- and for good reason.) And while I am sure the dogs would have adapted just fine, having two dogs in crates on my back seats, and two more dogs in wire crates in the bed, plus all the stuff I</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;" > need for three months away from home, I wanted to minimize the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;" >possibility of any negative associations with road-tripping -- </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;" >although arguably Jake has more road miles under his belt than most other dogs his age. The</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcO9HWghprabuVOv1PC7ZWi9-z0C-e_edr1DVjPA9KD3vmSNGYFR0bUo0SP3UtKlyl0hIV_1wtLrHggg1bAto6ccby6WrtqXWxnUabLBhX0Uz0SfqaWaqZqc83RC03OwHOZjzYyFV-EMot/s1600/TheRoadCrew.Christies.June11.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcO9HWghprabuVOv1PC7ZWi9-z0C-e_edr1DVjPA9KD3vmSNGYFR0bUo0SP3UtKlyl0hIV_1wtLrHggg1bAto6ccby6WrtqXWxnUabLBhX0Uz0SfqaWaqZqc83RC03OwHOZjzYyFV-EMot/s200/TheRoadCrew.Christies.June11.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5620885985737390850" border="0" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;" > primary reason for making </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;" >Woodson, TX, our destination was also two-fold: Woodson is the home for <a href="http://www.jonestrailers.com/SportingDogs/tabid/54/Default.aspx">Jones Trailer Company</a> wher</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;" >e we were picking up our new dog trailer, and fairly close to Alvord, TX, home of <a href="http://www.christiesaddlery.com/">Christie Saddlery</a>. I've spoken to Lary Cox pretty regularly since I first started getting involved with trial dogs -- and, in person, too, he is one of the true gentlemen in this sport and a real master craftsman. He was kind enough to let me and The Road Crew recuperate for a day before </span>we made our next jump to Magdalena, NM.</div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;" ></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;" >In the meantime, we'd already started to hear the news and get the phone calls from Bill that</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;" > there was a serious fire in the White Mountains. As of writing right now, the <a href="http://www.inciweb.org/incident/2262/">Wallow Fire</a> has become the largest fire in Arizona's history and while 51% contained, there is still a lot of dry fue</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;" >l on the ground, unpredictable winds, and no start in sight to the summer monsoon season.<br /><br />Even though it was no longer en route, we dropped down to Magdalena to see Libby and Steve again, to enjoy a home-cooked gourmet meal, drop off some more ammunition for the <a href="http://stephenbodio.blogspot.com/2010/11/gun-deal.html">Sidley </a>that I'd since found in the garage, and catch up on gun and dog gossip. When I got there, I knew that that US60 to Springerville was already closed and there was a solid pall of smoke off to the west. After a fabulous dinner of <a href="http://stephenbodio.blogspot.com/2009/09/only-one.html">mushroom </a>risotto, the examination of firearms new and old (Steve's new Ithaca, my Holloway &</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;" > Naughton), spirited conversation, and a breakfast at the <a href="http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g47102-d515951-Reviews-Magdalena_Cafe-Magdalena_New_Mexico.html">Magdalena Cafe</a>, I headed east and north back up to Albuquerque to skirt around to Phoenix via Flagstaff. The wind had clearly changed direction and the soot and smell of the Wallow Fire were clearly discernible some 170miles away.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;" ><br />It was nice to come through Flagstaff and spend an extra day with</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsY97P3XdGRbXfFEbAj8KUUHRsfQOd7CGUYFdQHv3ZwcNmYWqY0O2kBxnn1lqRkXJMAG9V8h8Yu5HJ3wxHVB89Rucafm9PKCwR5Z_tj_kUhirQ6zmdXFnwmGP9f1yqxw5fE_Qrg57-yIz6/s1600/Imported+Photos+00084.JPG"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 189px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsY97P3XdGRbXfFEbAj8KUUHRsfQOd7CGUYFdQHv3ZwcNmYWqY0O2kBxnn1lqRkXJMAG9V8h8Yu5HJ3wxHVB89Rucafm9PKCwR5Z_tj_kUhirQ6zmdXFnwmGP9f1yqxw5fE_Qrg57-yIz6/s200/Imported+Photos+00084.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5621182390391764946" border="0" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;" > Denise and Steve -- and for them to also finally meet our dogs. Having a fenced-in yard, a dog trailer, and access to public land to run the dogs was a real blessing. I hauled the dogs over to Marshall Lake to give them all room to really stretch and was really pleased to see both little Jake and Capo really get their legs under them and handle for me. This picture is of Momo and Capo watching a random pair of ducks hidden in one of the few damp, marshy spots -- and I love her intensity and style. She's taken to life on the road and to training like a real treat.<br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;" >For now, at least, then we're based down in Phoenix and getting up at 3am so's we can get to our training grounds to start at 5am. For now, at least, Momo and Jozsi are making do with kennel life and getting run twice a week; Capo</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCZZ8vfm_6R4mfzILU4SKIp0ap8SCCpOnUXE0OqKIkTp_wMHO-nMjFKA25ZQVUdmomzJiEdF3ZNJbEHzf-HSg1_IymFgn9wmiOt7o53xFeILSBFATTW4myJj-cSMkaMXRLUjmZ1hx6ICfi/s1600/Imported+Photos+00044.JPG"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 134px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCZZ8vfm_6R4mfzILU4SKIp0ap8SCCpOnUXE0OqKIkTp_wMHO-nMjFKA25ZQVUdmomzJiEdF3ZNJbEHzf-HSg1_IymFgn9wmiOt7o53xFeILSBFATTW4myJj-cSMkaMXRLUjmZ1hx6ICfi/s200/Imported+Photos+00044.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5620887931021420018" border="0" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;" > is part of the regular training string and coming along really, really nicely; and Jake gets to beat up on two of Bill's puppies every night. We did take Jake, Tina, and Fey out on Sunday to let them all stretch their legs and get used to handling and going with us. Tina and Fey are from a repeat breeding of Hytest Skyhawk and Tekoa Mountain Phoenix ('Remi') that produced Bill's two, nice Derbies, <a href="http://regalvizsla.blogspot.com/2010/07/dog-camp-part-four-chicken-shit.html">Jack and Jill</a>. They are roughly a week younger than Jake who turned 4mos old the day we were out. I love this picture of Fey thinking she's about to ambush Jake who's in full tilt. (She failed.)<br /><br />All of The Road Crew have been getting used to the various prickers, stickers, lizards, </span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL1OjyzXoltHIsn3B9ajEh5fk6HSK1rM5SysJI2Zrz5YRuUZd8BDqdsVQaR2XlYwQ1_y38hYuLUvD6U7NVVZxoqaS2jWCqd9JMB9bEBCQLyVK1hm076RWXGc0zNgoJsTdiQANniWb6pjAz/s1600/Imported+Photos+00037.JPG"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 134px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL1OjyzXoltHIsn3B9ajEh5fk6HSK1rM5SysJI2Zrz5YRuUZd8BDqdsVQaR2XlYwQ1_y38hYuLUvD6U7NVVZxoqaS2jWCqd9JMB9bEBCQLyVK1hm076RWXGc0zNgoJsTdiQANniWb6pjAz/s200/Imported+Photos+00037.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5620887946826554242" border="0" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;" >jackrabbits, mourning doves, and decomposed granite underfoot and in front of them. Figuring out how to extract a cactus spine from a pointer puppy's tongue was an interesting, novel challenge -- I imagine he'll think twice about trying to lick spines out of his foot pads. Nevertheless, he has been showing both really nice initiative and an attentiveness to me that is reassuring in lots of ways. This picture came out really nicely with the arm of McDowell Peak in the background and the simple colors of the sky, path, mountain and dog.<br /></span></div>Andrew Campbellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204944202954520498noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7720336639932650441.post-58955521627155876652011-05-22T17:54:00.007-04:002013-06-25T11:59:09.347-04:00a couple more updatesAfter almost a week with us, both our regal vizslas have realized that the little, long-tailed terror is here to stay -- and in that realization have decided to welcome him into the pack. Jozsi, in particular, was a little intimidated by the whirling white fireball but, with reassurance and encouragement from us, has embraced his role as big brother. For all his little quirks, Momo has always had both a strong sense of self and control -- and as such, has given Jake appropriate feedback since Day 1. But three-dog group-play in our living room is quite the sight to see. We're still structuring their days pretty heavily with solid spells of crate time in part because while accidents in the crate have been <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7S94IhOJ9DZK612MR24Ii1RZRUdw5HpMUWfJ0z3oy-9fxogzRRGRDsn0phyphenhyphenj6_2zi5RpzGcc9wFE0xGmAvIuw0nEx5rVPJVDHOn0tqB5k49DWeR78D-GnZr3lIhIBfWDzO5vAQQ4DOVxc/s1600/Imported+Photos+00025.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5609693054889540434" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7S94IhOJ9DZK612MR24Ii1RZRUdw5HpMUWfJ0z3oy-9fxogzRRGRDsn0phyphenhyphenj6_2zi5RpzGcc9wFE0xGmAvIuw0nEx5rVPJVDHOn0tqB5k49DWeR78D-GnZr3lIhIBfWDzO5vAQQ4DOVxc/s200/Imported+Photos+00025.JPG" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 134px; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; width: 200px;" /></a>non-existent and accidents in the house have been minimal, we are still hyper-vigilant about Jake's puppy ADD taking over in an instant as the need to relieve himself suddenly crops up in his juvenile consciousness. Here is the little prince with his new favorite pacifier! What a handsome chappy!<br />
<br />
I don't know for sure, but I suspect that Jake had never worn a collar till he came to us -- and now he wears one constantly. (You can see in the picture that while we had an old one of Jozsi's that would go tight enough, I had to make a zip-tie retaining loop so he couldn't chew it.) It struck me that this was something that he should get used to because his initial training cues will come through a collar, whether for yard work or field work. A friend told me that Delmar Smith had told him that when the pups were very little, he put tiny collars and cords on them, just long enough that if they didn't hold their heads up, they would trip themselves. In any case, we're working on having him wait to be told to come out of his crate, to stand and wait to be told to go through the front door, and to stay to the front when we're out walking off-leash. He's doing great. Jerry Kolter, incidentally, also starts his pups out young on a <a href="http://www.northwoodsbirddogs.com/blog/index.php?/archives/180-Puppies-on-stakeout-chain.html">stake-out line</a> also to acclimatize them to neck pressure -- preparing them for leash work. I also much prefer a stake-out chain to a minefield of individual stakes, and while I don't know if I'll have a legitimate chance to chain out our dogs before heading to Arizona, they will all spend a good chunk of each training day waiting their turn on the chain gang.<br />
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What I didn't mention about Jake was the primary reason we got <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBoN-HchPVzeDYtPIvftj6WyhmDBiCq7uGEhy4T1NV05tlD8Z_GvtwfolwyNfYj-gsPyUcaSegkbs6AP_QH40_rR0HmI9ZY3-f3J_veSozWRpXT2tMKhRVjjWSYwTMC5fhKQZjJFh0znWR/s1600/Rita_2010.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5609693058334572482" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBoN-HchPVzeDYtPIvftj6WyhmDBiCq7uGEhy4T1NV05tlD8Z_GvtwfolwyNfYj-gsPyUcaSegkbs6AP_QH40_rR0HmI9ZY3-f3J_veSozWRpXT2tMKhRVjjWSYwTMC5fhKQZjJFh0znWR/s200/Rita_2010.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 156px; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; width: 200px;" /></a>this particular pointer at this particular time. After seeing some nice dogs at the <a href="http://regalvizsla.blogspot.com/2009/10/endurance-exemplified.html">2009 Northeastern Open Shooting Dog Championship</a>, seeing more at Bill's camp last summer (including Harold's beautiful bitch, Sage), I knew I wanted to own at least one pointer in my life. And unlike vizslas, there are no shortage of pointers -- which are arguably the Ford F-150s of the pointing dog world -- and so I wanted to wait for a special breeding. While Jake's mother, Hard Driving Rita, has yet to earn any major field trial wins, she contains the genetic code of two phenomenal grouse and woodcock dogs -- Joe McCarl's <a href="http://harddrivingkennels.com/field_trials.html">Hard Driving Bev</a> and Frank Lanasa's Centrepiece -- who between them have accumulated at least 12 wild bird championships. I don't mind saying that I have been in love with Jake's daddy, White Powder Pete, since watching the <a href="http://www.pleasanthillproductions.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/2008.jpg">2008 National Bird Dog Championship DVD</a>. And everything else I've <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF1XF2Hjl6-URonuzKzRWe_7XwkWwbffNM6jR3Ob3IwnZaFGZesYoFx6MhrGWhxHdL3Ccy-SutObXvhrxTPWXhemy_uaQaMT9qOKkiaN_AKH_I7-MNyDM-zTcIAZ9JhbDHWw0qNHqU4qNc/s1600/Pete.6.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5609693053416297634" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF1XF2Hjl6-URonuzKzRWe_7XwkWwbffNM6jR3Ob3IwnZaFGZesYoFx6MhrGWhxHdL3Ccy-SutObXvhrxTPWXhemy_uaQaMT9qOKkiaN_AKH_I7-MNyDM-zTcIAZ9JhbDHWw0qNHqU4qNc/s200/Pete.6.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 200px; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; width: 144px;" /></a>learned about Pete, especially, tells me that he is something special -- an all-age dog who is also used as a quail plantation guiding dog, a pointer who would as happily as any vizsla sleep on your bed with you. Pete ran his seventh and final National Championship this past February shortly before his pups were born -- and William Smith, who scouted for <a href="http://daviskennels.info/colin_mazie.php">Colvin Davis</a> this time around, has written a nice tribute to Pete's trial career on <a href="http://strideaway.com/farewell-to-a-champion/">Strideaway</a>. (The pictures of Rita and Pete are both borrowed from Chris Mathan and <a href="http://sportsmanscabinet.com/">The Sportsman's Cabinet</a>.)<br />
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*******<br />
In other news, my official report for the Armstrong-Umbel Endurance Classic appeared in the May 7th issue of the <span style="font-style: italic;">American Field</span> and which has also recently appeared in full on the <a href="http://www.strideaway.com/strideaway/index.php?/archives/160-2011-Armstrong-Umbel-Endurance-Classic-Report.html">Strideaway </a>site.<br />
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*******<br />
And in a pleasant repeat, I heard the <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130115562">segment </a>of NPR's "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me" from September 25, 2010, and recorded on location in Oklahoma City that featured Delmar Smith as a celebrity guest. What a hoot that man is!Andrew Campbellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204944202954520498noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7720336639932650441.post-26661326022310412782011-05-16T20:20:00.007-04:002011-05-18T19:02:06.474-04:00forgive the absenceSo much has happened in the last six weeks and it's time to come clean.<br /><br />While we were in Sweden, Jozsi was bred to Mike & Kim Barry's Rogue, also a super nice, <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5L5zyOiUrJANUZ-cxBfbJlI2zy9w7XgmD3xoXpPmnQ4sQVJ7FFiwx_W1YmSWJWK3s-QUef47xBhiiXS0TZMso9zPsi4jU5oi8MMvKG208o4qkrCb7qyTE5qYFhACt77n00tKdkEc6RudU/s1600/DSCF3741.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5L5zyOiUrJANUZ-cxBfbJlI2zy9w7XgmD3xoXpPmnQ4sQVJ7FFiwx_W1YmSWJWK3s-QUef47xBhiiXS0TZMso9zPsi4jU5oi8MMvKG208o4qkrCb7qyTE5qYFhACt77n00tKdkEc6RudU/s200/DSCF3741.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5607480920939859378" border="0" /></a>hard-running dog who, like Mr. Enthusiasm, will hopefully blossom into a great trial dog. I kept quiet about it because it was the first litter for both of them -- and I wanted to be sure everything had gone right before announcing my grandfatherly pride in my boy. As of this evening, I believe all the puppies (which were born on April 25th) are spoken for. But here's a great picture of Rogue, taken by Jaida, nursing her three boys and three girls. At this early point, Blue Boy seems like the earliest iteration of his father both in terms of looks but also in terms of his fondness for taking Jaida's hands in his mouth.<br /><br />We also had our CVVC Spring Field Trial ten days ago. Momo ran in AGD and did a fine job -- unfortunately his greatest display of manners also meant that his race, such as it is, was also cut shorter. He stood perfectly through his bracemate stealing point and then grabbing the bird, but in the absence of a bracemate, his run shortened and while he got round clean with another find and a stop-to-flush, I was pleased with him but knew he wouldn't get put up. Jozsi's run in AGD was short, but he got picked up for an honest mistake after relocating too close, so I was disappointed but not displeased. His run in ALGD later that day was, frankly, and I know he's my dog, virtually everything I could have asked of him. He flowed great, checked covers, and handled like a dream. I took him around his bracemate twice to avoid a possible honor situation -- the first time gave me an opportunity to run him down a line I'd always wanted to try with him and which few dogs ever attempt. And he did it beautifully. But sadly, he took himself out at minute 29 when his bracemate raced in, 'honored' touching him, then broke on the bird, and Jozsi went with him. It was another illustration that you need to proof your dog for as many scenarios as possible and that you can only pray that your bracemate is as well prepared.<br /><br />The other detail I've been keeping fingers crossed about was our decision to bring a third dog <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoAFkgeTIcj_3g2LxIF7DUw2aUzUMBtE7XPWcogUhvcp1H9tqM8hv8RB54XH5KSQirtS-hmvW4_iBHilT5NCdDxnNpS69eqeWz_FvpgfJHIM7o_7o8a2Xy5wW9e2RlBdEoGpKmq-6m_-me/s1600/Imported+Photos+00004.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 134px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoAFkgeTIcj_3g2LxIF7DUw2aUzUMBtE7XPWcogUhvcp1H9tqM8hv8RB54XH5KSQirtS-hmvW4_iBHilT5NCdDxnNpS69eqeWz_FvpgfJHIM7o_7o8a2Xy5wW9e2RlBdEoGpKmq-6m_-me/s200/Imported+Photos+00004.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5607480927289271170" border="0" /></a>into our house (and he will be a house dog). It has been in the works for at least a half-year, but we now have a pointer in our house. I may need to rename this blog, but I want to reassure my loyal readers that we will always be a red-dog house. But I like how pointers do their job, too, and I'd rather get one than try to make my vizslas be pointer-substitutes. And so, welcome to Jake! We're now into Day #2 and things seem to be going well -- although, much to the chagrin of our two, we're trying to make the transition easier by starting with a lot more structure which hopefully we can relax as they all find their place. But for now, lots of structured crate time, lots of structured play time, and LOTS of exercise.<br /><br />Speaking of crates, but maybe I'm late to the party -- but after talking to several friends, we <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdzk-lMN2dPb2Vf_WInOsPX2nexGng94Vmr88FrjZMopJR3bMyeI_AYvBqb7L4YSYaKaglykhy4QLm-zKflRpTnjUeW6zMwlpcs9DK2QnoYvyww_Q1eX3o4zGa0RjaN-vbZCO8-9cRsll4/s1600/Photo05171222.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 160px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdzk-lMN2dPb2Vf_WInOsPX2nexGng94Vmr88FrjZMopJR3bMyeI_AYvBqb7L4YSYaKaglykhy4QLm-zKflRpTnjUeW6zMwlpcs9DK2QnoYvyww_Q1eX3o4zGa0RjaN-vbZCO8-9cRsll4/s200/Photo05171222.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5608004195506745218" border="0" /></a>bought a <a href="http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=15281">MidWest Life Stages crate</a> for Jake. After having one dog who cribbed on the wire, I have been wary of them and, heck, you can't fly with them, so where's the versatility? All I can say is that whether it's the internal divider, whether it's the fact that he was hauled up here in a crate from AL to PA, or the frequent exercise, but we've had no crate accidents so far. He even slept seven hours without waking me up to go to the bathroom last night. So, for now, at least, I'm loving the Life Stages crate.<br /><br />Momo is being a really good older brother, putting Jake in his place in appropriate moments and <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKfdhFeXgnEVHsDSXn0oO1cLHNxq_OHvjTOarUEVvANBPtg01s45fd7b7NPnXMKkVQRrTo3t6TDogd34KMK2Q2LtlpDdkcJ4-PJOdpMqnQTKK0_8ydW1qAcu4CztCn0u3q0cAlGdCi49jJ/s1600/Photo05160839.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 160px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKfdhFeXgnEVHsDSXn0oO1cLHNxq_OHvjTOarUEVvANBPtg01s45fd7b7NPnXMKkVQRrTo3t6TDogd34KMK2Q2LtlpDdkcJ4-PJOdpMqnQTKK0_8ydW1qAcu4CztCn0u3q0cAlGdCi49jJ/s200/Photo05160839.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5608004202017118146" border="0" /></a>with the appropriate amount of wrinkle-face. Jozsi is unsure what he's supposed to do just yet. Bearing in mind we still call him 'Big Puppy,' you would think he'd recognize puppy energy as non-threatening and just put him in his place. But in addition to fathering puppies, this will be another part of his maturation process. But Jake is enjoying his new brothers and feels quite comfortable jamming along with Momo on the trail --except when his puppy ADD takes over and he has to sniff flowers or ponder the meaning of life in a tree. Pardon the crappy cell-phone picture, but it's also been raining here for a gajillion years.<br /><br />And the next detail that has been in the works for a little bit is my intent to go back out to Arizona to work with <a href="http://www.magmabirddogs.com/">Bill Gibbons</a> -- except this time, it will be for the entire duration of summer camp. I leave here June 4th, head down to the <a href="http://www.cvcweb.org/funday.html">CVC Fun Day</a> so that in addition to seeing a number of our Confederate friends, Momo can see his brother, Tavish, for the first time since they were littermates! And then not back to NY until mid-September.Andrew Campbellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204944202954520498noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7720336639932650441.post-22357559561908163562011-04-04T13:46:00.008-04:002011-04-05T14:54:58.215-04:00congratulations + training updates + plansBefore we go any further, a hearty congratulations goes to my FTFG (that's 'field trial fairy <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX9bASK0xu2G1x16NkhcvwzE2u7fufpWcNMRBpaNbzRC1W2DlwLGrWcjkr03Fo9dKxxcx8JiM7kE2P5alt7laShWA3jzhpMJvYj3EKtE7xvJi5nKVDBtM8lDVFFFqTg3Hx9WliFtgryq0F/s1600/Joan.Geena.NGDC.2011.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX9bASK0xu2G1x16NkhcvwzE2u7fufpWcNMRBpaNbzRC1W2DlwLGrWcjkr03Fo9dKxxcx8JiM7kE2P5alt7laShWA3jzhpMJvYj3EKtE7xvJi5nKVDBtM8lDVFFFqTg3Hx9WliFtgryq0F/s200/Joan.Geena.NGDC.2011.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5591796957125827490" border="0" /></a>godmother'), Joan Heimbach, and <a href="http://www.remekvizslas.net/dog.php4?id=3924">FC Fieldfire's Spark of Genius SH</a>, aka Geena, aka the G-Funk Endurance Express. Handling her own dog, Joan and Geena took on the rolling, muddy course of Blake Kukar's <a href="http://www.circlebkennels.com/index.html">Circle B Farms</a> in Somerville, TN, at the <a href="http://vcaweb.org/events_f.htm">VCA National Gun Dog Championships</a>. I mean no disrespect to <a href="http://www.crimsonskyvizslas.com/">Mark Spurgeon</a> and Ruger, a truly great dog I feel privileged to have watched and who has now won the NGDC three times in addition to the NAFC, but Mark doesn't have a medical exemption from the AKC that allows him to carry a walking stick if need be or have the services of a horse handler (in addition to a scout). In short, Joan handled Geena to third place and I am in awe of both of them.<br /><br />*******<br /><br />On the way back from the Armstrong-Umbel, I did stop off at <a href="http://www.zukovichgamebirds.com/main.htm">Zukovich Game Birds</a> to pick up a new flock of quail to repopulate my Evil Empire. For a variety of reasons and with the kindness of Tom Mackin, I finished a fourth barrel and did move the empire over to <a href="http://www.tmthuntingpreserve.com/">TMT Hunting Preserve</a>. With the NY preserve season coming to a close in ten days or so and with Tom's business largely shifting to sporting clays shooters, it was a good time to get the barrels and birds installed so that by the time they have 'cooked' long enough and gotten habituated to the safety and security of the barrels, we can start training them to recall without worrying about hunters inadvertently bagging them.<br /><br />I've set up the four barrels in mostly mix hardwood glades which should start to leaf up and offer more aerial cover from predators, but which don't have a huge amount of ground cover. In my ideal training world, I want to be able to see my dogs from a distance, have no problem with a dog sight-pointing, but as importantly want a good flying bird to be able to see the dog -- and pop if the dog starts to move and pressure it.<br /><br />Folks have asked me for detailed plans for each of the barrels, none exist as such. Besides a 55gal drum, the two core pieces of hardware are a Less Mess watering and feeding system from <a href="http://www.qualitywildlife.com/">Quality Wildlife Systems</a> and a decent, framed recall funnel like this <a href="http://gundog.stores.yahoo.net/k9k-recall-funnel.html">one </a>from GunDogSupply. Each drum needs three doors: two roughly 4" x 4" ground floor doors, one with the funnel installed; three-quarters of the way up, and on the side away from the recall funnel, there needs to be a flight door (roughly 7"w x 4"h). You will also need latches, hinges, and either a snap-link or a lock for each of the doors, two long carriage bolts to lock the caps on the Less Mess tubes and prevent raccoon filching, a pair of handles to carry the whole thing easily, some right-angle braces to support the 'sun-deck' and the floor, some solid wire-meshing, a ratchet strap to lock the thing against a tree and stop it getting toppled, and then a rivet gun, a jig-saw, and a drill (with a 1" circular cutter as a useful accessory). Cut out the bottom of the drum, flip it over, and then work from the top down. Install the Less Mess feeders, cut the doors, put in the 'sun-deck' by the flight door (I wouldn't suggest having it extend more than a third of the way into the interior), install the recall funnel, then put in the suspended mesh floor. (In case you are wondering, the other lower door is for sticking your hand in and spooking the birds through the upper flight door, if they don't immediately seize that opportunity when you open it.) Finish carpentry this is not -- and I am no handyman genius.<br /><br />*******<br /><br />Bob and I went up to TMT yesterday to see how his younger <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfwYCd4grak2TAa9DqIUt770Yn12Xx6Lp7cfYJBqCfsKF7maJ_-Uygw-Vqw5oLitqRTtZsz7A2lePm1elN-CHLWK4geUMKBB5v_Jj4kdsioZiGBPnKv-RkqZsA0zNT02lkIonKzPAJuRD4/s1600/Momo.Belle.4Apr11.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfwYCd4grak2TAa9DqIUt770Yn12Xx6Lp7cfYJBqCfsKF7maJ_-Uygw-Vqw5oLitqRTtZsz7A2lePm1elN-CHLWK4geUMKBB5v_Jj4kdsioZiGBPnKv-RkqZsA0zNT02lkIonKzPAJuRD4/s200/Momo.Belle.4Apr11.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5591796960186244370" border="0" /></a>setter, a rescue I might add, got along and to give Momo and Belle some tag-team fun. Eva looks like she's come with a few gun-shy issues, but we have a plan for her and hopefully we can convince her that birds are a lot more fun than she thinks.<br /><br />Bob will be the first to tell you that Belle isn't hardly trained and at ten-years-old not likely to suddenly get trained. This is to say that she'll break point while you're moving in on the bird, will break on the flush, and steal another dog's retrieve. But she backs like a fiend. Sure, she'll move when you go to flush the bird for the front dog, but she gets herself stopped and focused like a champ. This was a great photo opportunity on their penultimate bird. And thanks to Bob for the pictures.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPAISQCe8d5qVKwWlPXku3eH46jD_ptDPgR2rKwhbuMz6NzHlpmr58JPIP7Vz2902rlevp7Lpbc4DCLZptwc_4w1QbHq6SPyn0U5xohuIgQ0rn9Q8c3RrOpyI6sQNQkbHicMHy5cBjID4N/s1600/P1010332.JPG"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPAISQCe8d5qVKwWlPXku3eH46jD_ptDPgR2rKwhbuMz6NzHlpmr58JPIP7Vz2902rlevp7Lpbc4DCLZptwc_4w1QbHq6SPyn0U5xohuIgQ0rn9Q8c3RrOpyI6sQNQkbHicMHy5cBjID4N/s200/P1010332.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5592171152847736258" border="0" /></a><br />We then took a final swing in a spot we'd been before to try and pick up the first bird that I missed -- when we'd just had Belle and Eva on the ground. And Momo got to show his own honoring style even when all he could see was the feathers of Belle's tail. Despite a charging setter, I managed to safely take the chukar down for Belle to retrieve.<br /><br />We had put down a couple of quail to see if we could get Eva excited, but she seemed reluctant so we didn't force it. And while I had hand-planted them (and want to be careful about getting him on birds that might not be fully awake), I then put Mr. Enthusiasm down briefly. He ran over a bird unexpectedly, stopped-to-flush like a champ, and was then sent on. He ate up the field we were in and started to dig into the denser cover to fulfill his quest for coturnix. He nailed another quail in a thicket, tail looking like a million dollars, held while I thrashed around after the pitter-patter of quail feet, then went back to him and relocated him. Shaboom. I got the bird up, fired the gun, then sent him up the hill away from the bird. And he lived up to Bill's description of him as 'industrious,' finding a running chukar left over from someone else's hunt. Again his manners were good and I took him back to the truck, very encouraged. Once we get the Empire up and running, hopefully we can get the final polish on him and start trialing again.Andrew Campbellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204944202954520498noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7720336639932650441.post-68581609732475984122011-03-28T10:44:00.017-04:002011-04-02T13:23:38.943-04:00formula 1: grouse-a-paloozaI just got back from the <a href="http://www.strideaway.com/strideaway/index.php?/archives/152-2011-Armstrong-Umbel-Endurance-Classic-for-Grouse-Dogs.html">3rd Armstrong-Umbel Endurance Classic</a> held out in western Pennsylvania on the historic Marienville trial grounds. I still have to write the official report, and so what follows is more about the general experience of not merely a wild bird trial, but a true canine endurance event.<br /><br />As far as I can tell, grouse dog trialing is a game of faith. It might even be blind faith because a true all-age contender will be out of sight for large periods of time, and ideally seen through glimpses in cover coursing across the front in search of the next most likely covert. It takes faith on the part of handler and dog, again, because maybe 75% of what is happening is happening by sound alone. The talisman of such faith is maybe 1.5" deep and 1" at its widest, often copper, sometimes brass or nickel, frequently with an apostle's name attached. (Bob Sorri's is the one that immediately comes to mind.) The chorus of this faith is the jingle or clank of a bell through the trees, and the whoops and hollers of handlers trying to steer their dogs as the course turns and winds. Wild bird trials take faith, too, because one hopes, prays, and makes mystical incantations that grouse and woodcock will be in those next most likely coverts, and that the luck of the drawing also coincides with the luck of weather, course, and cover.<br /><br />It was cold this weekend -- which might sound goofy from a guy who takes vacations above the Arctic Circle -- but I doubt it got much above freezing, if at all, all weekend. Long-timers familiar with the courses didn't lament the cold so much as the sunshine, claiming that birds would be even harder to find in clear sky weather. And along with the luck of finding birds, there's also the equally strong prayer that a dog doesn't get pulled off course and out of contention by the white flash of deer, or get embroiled in a painful argument with a porcupine. Both of which happened.<br /><br />A two-hour stake, especially relatively early in the spring grouse trial season, is itself a game of faith -- especially if you live in the snowbelt and don't have the ability to send a dog south for the winter to be conditioned for a two-hour slugfest through mud, marsh, water, high-bush blueberries, and conifer thickets -- in short, grouse cover. I saw some dogs never get their ground race on, a bunch of dogs downshift noticeably at the hour mark (but still finish strongly, credibly, and to the front), and a handful still pulling away as strong as they started, still craving the next objective. It takes faith to run a dog for two hours. And the dogs that can will make all our dogs stronger.<br /><br />I don't normally care too much for most of the articles in <span style="font-style: italic;">North </span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb4qo7Cr11P6X3ikcCfmDz89Jv3sADRqdt6ZY_7ekGjealrrDcecFRCAleG5pzZpx4n7n-kMFZ8b_XYg2cTegosgRRFqF44HNicC40ARjHoy7YPzkLQcM_Mi2mlCGVNY_LtGdvtZWAatUk/s1600/Imported+Photos+00020.JPG"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 112px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb4qo7Cr11P6X3ikcCfmDz89Jv3sADRqdt6ZY_7ekGjealrrDcecFRCAleG5pzZpx4n7n-kMFZ8b_XYg2cTegosgRRFqF44HNicC40ARjHoy7YPzkLQcM_Mi2mlCGVNY_LtGdvtZWAatUk/s200/Imported+Photos+00020.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5589331681801870258" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">American Hunter</span>, but Joe Arnette wrote a great piece in the February/March 2011 issue called 'High Octane Dogs Aren't for Everyone.' He concludes in the following way: "Although I still have no interest in following dogs on horseback, and I've long ago thrown away my track shoes for chasing points, when spring is on the make, I'll continue to dream dreams that will never be. Magical dogs with music in their feet, speed in their stride, and distance in their brain are better left to range the forgiving covers of the mind's eye." (p. 61) Nevertheless, as William Brown wrote in <i>The Field Trial Primer</i> back in 1934, "It [the sport of field trialing] aims to provide competition of the highest kind among bird dogs, to stimulate enthusiasm among owners, and to act as a practical guide for breeders by setting a high standard of performance." (p. 8) In short, while most of these screamers will make the average foot hunter a little nervous, the genetic cache of their stamina, strength, and bird-sense is something all of us would want in even our hunting dogs.<br /><br />But the game of faith is perhaps even more profound when one considers that, firstly, an all-age caliber dog will be stretching the limits of bellshot. (And keep in mind that at this time of year, in these temperatures, with this much moisture underfoot, handlers were frequently de-icing bells to be sure that their mutual faith could hold.) The paradox of course is that the adrenaline actually only truly spikes when the bell falls silent. The true genius of the grouse dog handler is knowing when the quality of an absence of sound signifies that a dog is now standing a bird -- as opposed to having slipped over a rise, the sound of its moving bell caught in a hollow, trapped by brush. And then triangulating the likely invisible dog's position from a sound that only meant something truly crucial after it had stopped.<br /><br />In ancient Greek, the word <a href="http://www.cobussen.com/proefschrift/200_deconstruction/220_undecidables/221_pharmakon/pharmakon.htm"><span style="font-style: italic;">pharmakon </span></a>has multiple oppositional meanings including both poison and cure. And arguably the bell is the same. I know I'm not alone in saying that when I hunt grouse I don't use a beeper or a bell. And <a href="http://regalvizsla.blogspot.com/2008/11/and-back-to-our-normal-programming.html">Dennis and Bob</a> have seen the proof of what happens in our western Maine covers when a hard-running, jangling dog approaches a brood sunning by a trail. And so, it was no surprise to come across at least two dogs, stopped and silent, but who before even a flushing attempt was made were indicating that their bird had left, if not as it heard the bell, then perhaps as it heard the relative cacophony of a handler calling point, horses carrying judges, and maybe even the gallery's whispered conversations down the trail. The short version is that the single piece of equipment critical to locating the dog locating the bird may also be the same thing that scares the bird out of its roost.<br /><br />Besides watching mostly red-phase grouse boil out of covers ahead of dogs standing tall, the other major highlight of the trip was getting to meet <a href="http://harddrivingkennels.com/">Joe McCarl's</a> 7x grouse champion, Hard Driving Bev -- there to be run by Joe's grandkids in a junior handler's stake after the main event. At 12yrs old, a little deaf, and a little heavier from a well-earned life on the couch, she was still looking into the trees, eager to to get going and find just one more ruffed grouse. I can only imagine how many hundreds of grouse and woodcock that dog has smelled and seen -- I know I'm still having audio-hallucinations, wondering if the bells I can hear are really there or just out on the edge of my imagination.Andrew Campbellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204944202954520498noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7720336639932650441.post-58001002731740050842011-03-08T10:56:00.009-05:002011-03-09T11:06:58.293-05:00exciting springJust got back from a weekend down in northern Virginia at the <a href="http://odvc.org/">Old Dominion Vizsla Club</a> trial on the grounds of the very beautiful <a href="http://www.blandfieldplantation.com/">Blandfield Plantation</a>. I was asked by my wife to be out the house one weekend in March so she could do our taxes -- and then my field-trial-fairy-godmother, Joan, asked if I'd care to run her nice little (Field Champion) dog, <a href="http://www.remekvizslas.net/dog.php4?id=3924">Geena</a>, in a couple of amateur stakes to see if a) I could earn a placement or two towards my judging qualifications, and b) we might get a few more points towards finishing Geena's AFC. That was all the excuse I needed.<br /><br />Jozsi isn't ready to run yet, so I elected to enter Momo in Amateur Gun Dog as well to merit the six-hour drive. We met up with <a href="http://www.oconeekennels.com/">Jamie Fountain</a>, the professional trainer who is getting Geena and Joan's great dog, <a href="http://www.remekvizslas.net/dog.php4?id=3550">Octane</a>, ready for the <a href="http://vcaweb.org/events_f.htm">VCA</a> National Gun Dog Championships at the end of the month. I had first met Jamie at the VCA <a href="http://regalvizsla.blogspot.com/2009/11/400yds-on-left.html">Nationals </a>in Danville back in 2009 and was really pleased to spend a bunch of time with him. In addition to scouting for Jamie in the Open Gun Dog stake, I also ran his Brittany pup, Chip, in Amateur Walking Puppy, and was then able to scout for my southern friends, <a href="http://www.broadrunvizslas.com/">Michelle </a>and <a href="http://www.vitessevizslas.com/">Stephanie</a>, with their Derby dogs, <a href="http://www.broadrunvizslas.com/luna.html">Luna</a>, Frida, and <a href="http://www.vitessevizslas.com/reece.html">Reece</a>. All three of them ended up with a ribbon, but amidst three solid performances, the highlight came while scouting Reece.<br /><br /><span jsid="text">His third find (of six) was that thing of complete magic that we all want to see a pointing dog do, a full 180 skid stop, high and tight front and b<span class="text_exposed_show">ack, and a bird too uncertain to move because of his precision and certainty of motion. It was a truly lovely moment in a very competent run.</span></span> And while at least one other dog ran bigger and required some actual scouting, Reece looked so much like an aspiring, and potentially great, broke dog that he came away with the blue ribbon. I have been to a number of trials recently where it seemed that 'run' was being prized more than anything -- even if the dog was gone for minutes, never found on a bird, and brought forward by a scout -- and this was reassuring to me that even for a Derby stake, bird finding and style were being placed on a premium.<br /><br />Shortly thereafter it started to rain. The birds started to get wet and the wind even less predictable. Joan's Geena has a heck of a nose and, like Momo, is a bird-finding machine. After breaking away like a bat out of hell and a solid first find, sadly our AGD run together was cut short as Geena then found herself on an exposed slope and stuck a point. I was already working the bird in front of her when the wind puffed from a slightly different direction and indicated that the bird was in fact running behind her, and she did a full 180 to indicate her mistake. I was allowed to relocate her, worked the bird successfully, and sent her on. However with the other dog committing a felony on a random resident pheasant ahead of us, and the rain coming down, Geena's previous footwork was sufficient to now get her picked up and end the brace. In the meanwhile, Momo had gotten bumped to the final brace and hit his first bird within 3-4mins. Three more finds, a perfect stop-to-flush, and a really nice run in the back course, and he and I were having a great time!!! My hunting buddy (who's only been trialed from a horse once before) came through like a champ. He placed FOURTH!!! I was told by one judge that if he hadn't taken a couple of small steps before I got in front of him to work the bird on a couple of his points, he would have placed higher. I knew he'd probably creep some after he saw his first bird, the steps an attempt to stay in contact with a wet, running bird -- and I couldn't really fault him for it. But his style was good and his footwork after the flush great, so I was still really satisfied.<br /><br />*******<br /><br />I am also very excited to serve as the official reporter for the 2011 <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizGTDSzLIMrIAYUT4AYB85UQJsgJLJf-U84lj_VthPVYlo_Pls0kN_gCyRTxRkcXPPL2NApAuksQeEnl5de-8yedYhcTSeDPKKF7onSiWp3D-naMjjA-ZtTwf9xqUXVxqRjBh9_cOhpky7/s1600/Armstrong_Umbel_2011.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 196px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizGTDSzLIMrIAYUT4AYB85UQJsgJLJf-U84lj_VthPVYlo_Pls0kN_gCyRTxRkcXPPL2NApAuksQeEnl5de-8yedYhcTSeDPKKF7onSiWp3D-naMjjA-ZtTwf9xqUXVxqRjBh9_cOhpky7/s200/Armstrong_Umbel_2011.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5581744465667010818" border="0" /></a>running of the <a href="http://www.strideaway.com/strideaway/index.php?/archives/152-2011-Armstrong-Umbel-Endurance-Classic-for-Grouse-Dogs.html">Armstrong-Umbel Endurance Classic</a>, a two-hour wild bird stake under the auspices of the <a href="http://americanfield.com/">American Field</a>. For those of you who don't subscribe to the <span style="font-style: italic;">Field </span>-- and especially those of us that live in the snowy northeast and would rather be working dogs than digging -- it's almost like a time-travel trip getting that white-covered magazine every week. It's like being a kid again, literally waiting beside the letter box every Wednesday morning for my comics to drop through -- <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warlord_%28DC_Thomson%29">Warlord </a>and then <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000AD_%28comics%29">2000AD</a> -- so's I'd have them to read on the way to school. In this age of Tweeting and Facebooking, actually reading paragraphs devoted to trials big and small all across the country, sometimes months after they'd happened, feels delightfully idiosyncratic.<br /><br />But then again, I like shooting a hammer gun.<br /><br />In any case, I was flattered to be asked -- and I hope that I can not merely accurately capture the details of what happens but also the dogs' enthusiasm and application. If I can come remotely close to the skill of the great reporters -- Bill Allen, William Brown, William Bruette, amongst others -- I will be pleased with myself.<br /><br />*******<br /><br />Next weekend is back to Virginia to meet up with Jamie again, this time for the <a href="http://cvcweb.org/">Conestoga Vizsla Club</a> trial -- and hopefully Geena and I can figure each other out a little better and maybe Momo can squeak out another meritorious performance. Wish us luck.Andrew Campbellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00204944202954520498noreply@blogger.com1