It was thought that "The Dog Trailer" was crushed by a chicken house (somewhere in Jackson County). The sky is falling is no strange occurrence to these chickens. It appears that we have new information it may have been a different chicken house that collapsed. JB will be going on a Dog Trailer reconnaissance to get the status. It seems unlikely that we would pull the dog trailer for one dog unless storage becomes an issue. Once JB does reconnaissance, we'll determine what we need to repair the the trailer and get it in working order.
JB lost Buck a few weeks ago. He was in pretty poor health and just went outside and laid down. I guess that's the way a bird dog would want to go. It is certainly easier than putting a dog down. It took me a long time to get over putting Duke down.
Scooby had visitors on Saturday night. We had a going away party for Soccer Girl as she heads to UAB in a week to start soccer practice. Division 1 soccer will be a new experience for her but if she can make it through 2 knee surgeries in 13 months and still play at the highest level, I think she'll do well. Scooby is so full of energy. He visited everyone, multiple times and was a bit wild at first but he settled down after a little while. Settled down for Scooby is still kinda wild but he's learning...I have to remind myself, he's still a puppy.
I hope everyone enjoys reading the "dog blog". Please comment and send me any content you want added. I have a new picture of Bubba to add soon.
Have a great day!
8 comments:
One correction. We lost Buck in 1995 and acquired 'Buddy' that same day. 'Buddy' is the one that passed a couple weeks ago. His health was fine, but he was blind from lenterior sclerosis. The day he passed, it was beautiful outside. He went out, laid in the sun a while with a 'smile' on his face and sometime later got up to get a drink from the fountain on our deck (as he always did) but on his way, he was dying. He made it up on the deck (only one step) and collapsed. Based on the 'trail' from the yard to the deck, he was gone before he hit the ground. We found him about 5 minutes later. He had had a great day. He was happy. Lord, please take me that way. We will miss Buddy. I told the wife yesterday that if the dog trailer is in ok shape, we will be getting something to put in it for next year....
It would be good to have the dog trailer here since we'll have 2 dogs to deal with while hunting. It also provides a warm and comfortable place to keep them at night.
I will do the 'recon' for the trailer this week. I was certainly excited to learn that when Hurricane Katrina came over the area and blew down the chicken house, the dog trailer had been relocated to a different chicken house that remained standing. No doubt that it will probably need tires. Can't wait to check it out....
Oh, I noticed that SP wrote that we would have TWO dogs to deal with while hunting....Sounds like BUBBA is gonna get a cram course about the WILEY RING NECK PHEASANT!
Scooby sleeps indoors. I don't know if he would take to kindly to his first Nebraska night.
Bubba sleeps indoors too but I don't think Diana will take too kindly to two big dogs chasing her two house cats through all the rooms. Actually, it won't be too cold in late October. The dogs will be fine if we have the trailer. Just need to put bedding in the compartments. In other years when opening week was in Nov. it was much colder but the dogs had no problem.
As for Bubba being ready for hunting, he now comes when called, retrieves, drops the "bird" in my hand, and finds "dead" birds in cover. FYI I found a great training dummy. It's a typical canvas retrieving dummy with a couple of pheasant wings fastened tightly around it. He enjoyed fetching old shoes, sticks, etc., but once he got a whiff of the pheasant wings I couldn't keep the thing away from him; I've had to hide it in the shed. Haven't seen him point yet, but will try some pointing training later. Don't know how all this will translate into performance in the field though. We'll just have to wait and see.
For pointing training, I would recommend the 'wing on a string' tactic that I learned from the 'Gun Dog' book. Simply attach a very strong line (40lb test) to a stiff pole (I use an off shore fishing rod) and attach a 'wing' to the end of the line. Just whirl it back and forth in such a way that the dog begins chasing it. NEVER let the dog catch it. Then begin casting it side to side. You stand still and play 'keep away' with the dog. He will start barking out of frustration, just keep going until he 'points'. It will be instinctive for him and that is what you are trying to trigger. Do this a couple times a day and after about 3 days, the dog will begin chasing and will 'point' very quickly after that. Once that happens, you can begin the learning process for staying on point while you work toward the 'bird'. It works. The dog loves to do it too.
Trailer recon has been done. Bottom line...it is ugly on the outside, pretty on the inside. Tires and a lot of TLC would take care of it. It was in a lot better shape than the chicken house it was in....
Post a Comment