| With DEC in a slump, and the Middle East in a knot, it's nice to get
some encouragement once in a while. I got one of the Brittany pups
from this litter and I think he's going to be one hell of a bird dog.
We picked Sparky (Col. Zachary Spark's Purdey) out of the litter because
he alone out of the litter of nine zeroed in on my son Matt (Matt had
a parakeet in his room at the time, so the pup had to be a bird dog).
I had never trained a pointing dog before, but I had trained retrievers
by following a book (Water Dog by Richard Wolters). This time, I turned
to one of his older books (Gun Dog) which I had a tough time locating.
I used Wolter's trick of a wing (got some pheasant and grouse wings that my
brother had been keeping in his freezer) on a fishing rod to teach the
concept of pointing. Sparky just seemed to pick it up like magic.
Later, I got some bottled bird scent (grouse and quail) and some canvas
dummies from Cabelas. I would dribble some scent on the dummies, hide
them around the yard, and let Sparky out. Pretty soon, again like magic,
he would point out those dummies and hold until I kicked them up. The
question is, will he be able to transfer this to live birds?
Last night, the family was out on a blackberry picking expedition and
Sparky was along for a romp. I missed it, but my son Matt found
Sparky pointing a Grouse from about 10 feet. That in itself is very
encouraging, but this AM was even better.
Sparky and I headed out into the back yard this AM for our morning
constitutional. As we were heading around the house, Sparky locked up
in a picture perfect point. There on the side lawn, about 25 yards away,
was a plump round buff colored object. I moved in on it and verified
that it was a Woodcock! The bird wouldn't fly, but instead trotted into
the woods. I called Sparky up and we went in after it. After a bit
of rooting around, Sparky bumped the bird from under some ferns and it
flew off and landed on the other side of my yard. Sparky and I then
went around the house the other way and I looked for it (no sign of it).
As I was looking around, wondering if I had been mistaken, Sparky locked
up again. Sure enough, there was the Woodcock about 10 feet away under
a bush. This time when I put the bird up, we said thanks and goodbye
to it and went in the house.
This pup is a natural. I am so psyched, I can't wait for bird season.
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| I was searching for a good spot to stick a note about this year's bird hunting
and ran into this string. Since mostly I was planning on bragging about
my Brittany, Sparky (a member of the litter in .0 and previously lauded in .4).
Sparky will be 4 in November.
Sparky has got this bird season off to a rousing start. Since the October 1 NH
opener, my hunting partners and I have accounted for 20 Woodcock and 4
Pheasants as a result of Sparky's efforts. If my gunning had been up to snuff,
there should have been several more Woodcock in the pot. We have not got any
grouse yet, but there just don't seem to be very many around this year.
He is not the perfect pointing dog by any means, but most of the faults are
because I trained him on my own with only a book and video for help. Also,
sometimes I have trouble deciding whether I am looking at a feature or a bug.
He has a pretty big streak of independence - he knows that he can find the
birds a lot better than I can, and he doesn't listen real well when he
thinks he knows where to find one. He is right a lot more often than I am.
I didn't train him steady to wing & shot but I sometimes wish I had - maybe
I can do that, but I'm not sure if it is worth the effort. He just doesn't
know when to relax. As soon as we get a bird in the game pouch, unless I
practically tie him up, he is off at full speed to find another one.
I never trained him to retrieve, but I think he may have learned it by watching
my brother's Golden. We were hunting Woodcock in an overgrown X-mas tree
farm (some spruce up to 20', and some poplar mixed in). When Sparky went on
point, my brother and I would move into position and then send the Golden in
to flush (a person flushing Woodcock out from under a 20' Spruce has no shot).
Sparky must have noticed the praise we gave the Golden when he brought the
first couple of birds to hand. Without prompting, Sparky was the one who
brought back the third bird. After gently depositing it in my hand, Sparky
turned on the Golden and told him (translation assumed) "Buzz off Bozo, I
don't need any help from the likes of you - that was my bird and I'll take
all the credit."
I have sometimes thought that it would be great to find a good working lady
Brit willing to help continue the line, but don't really know how to go about
it. If anyone out there (within striking distance of the greater Nashua area)
is looking for stud service in return for a pup, give me a shout. I'd be
happy to go over pedigrees and take the dogs out for a workout or two for
evaluation.
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