Innehållsförteckning för March/April 2018 (Puppy) från Gun Dog

I’M EMBARRASSED TO admit that from time to time I grow weary of the expensive South American shooting expeditions, bales of cash and adulation I receive, gratis, for my humble role as the pointing dog columnist in this fine magazine. Perhaps, I was musing this morning, I need a few poison pen letters to swing the balance a bit in the other direction, the receipt of which my editor here at GUN DOG immensely enjoys. [Editor’s note: Not! ] So here I go, again. What follows are some common training myths that just don’t pan out. 1. NEVER SHOOT A BIRD YOUR DOG DOESN’T POINT. I got my first bird dog, a Brittany, when I was 12, and although a lot of my memory of those years is a bit…

I’M DEFINITELY CRYING a lot as I write this. It comes and goes. I’m just about an hour away from everything being done. Two weeks ago I took my old wirehair, Buck, on what I thought might be his last hunt.The gameplan was simple—just let him go into the wind on 80 acres of the best pheasant cover ever near our house. Also in the plan was silence. No commands, no whistles, just follow an old bird dog wherever he wanted to and let him go as long as he cared to. I started the hunt thinking he probably wouldn’t last long. I had to amputate part of his leg early last spring and he is thin due to loss of muscle and fat. But he is happy almost all…

French Britts average around 30-35 pounds, and come in a wider variety of colors and markings than their American cousins. Black, tan, brown (a richer red-brown many refer to as chestnut), liver and white are all in the Epagneul Breton palette. In the U.S., the AKC registers the “American Brittany.” The Epagneul Breton was formally recognized by the United Kennel Club, Inc. in 2002. In the field, the Epagneul Breton moves with a distinct “rolling” gait that is easy, enduring, yet powerful—and which gives the appearance of rolling effortlessly as the dog gallops across the terrain, with head and nose held high, in search of upland game. Learn more about this unique breed here: • Club de l’Epagneul Breton of the U.S. (breed club): www.frenchbrittany.org • Jackie Hutwagner, Hannahatchee Kennels:…

YEARS AGO I wrote a piece for this column about what constitutes a puppy. Here is a shortened version of that column’s initial paragraph. Puppy—The young of a canine animal; a young dog; a whelp. Such monumental understatements are all that the dictionaries littering my desk had to say about this complex word and what it represents. I didn’t expect humdrum linguistic tools to wax poetic on the subject of a puppy, but I reckoned on more than sorry definitions like “young dog” and “whelp.” Those meanings weren’t good enough when I wrote the article, and they haven’t gotten better over time. Shortly after this column appeared, a friend asked why I wasted my time using dictionaries to dig out the meaning of puppy. His point was that “puppy” is…

NORMALLY I ENJOY your articles about the different breeds of hunting dogs. I am a Lab guy but I love learning about (and hunting over) different breeds. But I must take exception to your recent article about the Boykin spaniel. In it the author describes hunting a Boykin along with a Lab near a farm pond in “freezing cold” conditions. Upon shooting a pheasant that landed out on “thin ice,” the owner of the 75-pound Lab sends the dog to retrieve. The dog breaks through the ice and cannot free itself. I am sure most if not all of your readers will agree—there is NO bird worth risking the life or safety of a dog. It may have been just a farm pond but the owner was wet up to…

BACK IN THE D ay, when I began any sort of actual planned/formal training of my hunting dogs, my tools were a check rope, choke collar and a “flushing stick,” along with the ability to run ’em down to make corrections when needed. Then along came the “shock collar” and in the beginning, that’s what it was, packing a big jolt with no variability and only one level option. It flat-out whacked the dog. While good trainers took time to learn how to properly use this new tool, it was easy to see how it could do more harm than good in the wrong hands. Even in the best hands and careful use, however, early collars were susceptible to inadvertent signals from garage door openers, airplanes, etc. You can imagine…

PROBLEM I’ve had four German wirehairs from established breeders.The first two fit the “aloof with strangers” breed description and were definitely “sharp.” The fourth is a female Drahthaar via the VDD-GNA, a huge improvement in performance and personality.Though we live in the country and she’s had few dog interaction opportunities, she’s not aggressive—very friendly with humans and dogs who visit our house. Last week a friend brought his golden along on a first visit. My dog wagged all over and bowed in a canine play pose. She’s done that with other visiting dogs. She and the golden quickly became friends. In the field, she ignores other dogs and people.When a dog and person visit, she is very friendly toward people and greets dogs with a “let’s play” bow. My…

WINK (registration name, In The Wink Of An Eye) is an English setter owned by Peter and Kathy Gross of Cartersville, Georgia. Wink was bred by Jim and Gia Barger of Daybreak English Setters and is currently in training with Mo Lindley, who says, “He’s a fun and sweet dog.” HANK is a 10-week-old German shorthair having his first bird encounter and getting his first taste of feathers. A perfect shot! Pictured here, out of Cedarwood Kennels, is seven-week-old SADIE , a pudelpointer owned by Tom and Trish Randel from Boise.. Cuteness overload! PHOEBE GRACE is out of Flush Master Kennel in Altoona, Pennsylvania. Phoebe Grace is her owner’s retirement plan with lots of good times ahead for both of them. Putting his best foot forward, three-month-old BOOKER is an…

Dietary needs of our gun dogs are affected by several basic factors. Age and activity are the most significant common variables. Other less common variables include reproduction, active disease processes and temperature extremes. As most people know, the main components of the diet include fat, protein, carbohydrates and micronutrients. Fats provide most of the energy component for the diet of dogs. The more active the dog the higher the need for fat in the diet. Less active senior dogs require lower fat amounts. Carbohydrates provide a portion of the energy component. Different types of carbohydrate sources break down at different rates. Our young and very active dogs need faster rates of breakdown than slower senior dogs or dogs that need to be in a weight loss or weight control plan.…

1 MADE TO MARK The Dokken DeadFowl Trainer has a hard head to encourage proper retrieves so your dog won’t ever mangle a trophy greenhead. A Power Throw Grip allows for long tosses into the field or pond when your dog is ready to fetch beyond the decoys. You can also inject scent into the soft body. The dummies are available in a variety of upland and waterfowl species. $25 deadfowltrainer.com 2 SAVE YOUR MORNING The Kolpin DryArmor is a protective polycarbonate case that floats up to 30 pounds. Completely waterproof, it is constructed of 900D, three-layer laminated TPU fabric and a 5mm closed-cell EVA foam m i d - l a y e r p r o v i d e s impact protection. There is an internal waterproof…

A BASIC PREMISE that I somehow missed during my formative years of training dogs is that dogs will do whatever you train them to do. If, for instance, you want to train a dog to sit, and you go through the proper sequence of gradually escalating challenges to increase the dog’s responsiveness to the command, then the dog will sit when you tell it to no matter what else is happening at the moment. But let’s suppose that, while you were training that dog, you repeated the sit command numerous times before you enforced it and the dog finally obeyed. Let’s say that number was six. Since dogs are intelligent creatures, it would quickly learn that it didn’t have to obey your command to sit until you had repeated it…

IN THE ANNALS of fine American-made double shotguns, a few names stand out such as Lefever, L.C. Smith, Parker, Ithaca, and A. H. Fox Co., among others. Today, all are gone. But another historically important American arms maker, Savage Arms Co., has resurrected one of these. The Fox A Grade has returned. In 1906, Ansley H. Fox started his company to build what he advertised as “The Finest Gun in the World.” While Fox doubles did not reach the level of the best European guns, they were excellent field guns, and probably indeed did represent the “best” American shotguns of the day. Fox’s 1906 catalog listed five grades, A (the lowest grade) through F (the highest). All were 12 gauge, and differed only in embellishments and quality of the wood.…

Mr. Wilson was rightfully proud of his recently acquired English setter pup. Countless hours of research and time on the phone with many breeders and (mostly) satisfied clients had led him to choose this beautiful little orange belton firebrand. He wanted only the best for his new hunting partner, as he was looking forward to at least 12-13 years in the grouse coverts and woodcock bogs with her. Today was to be little Aspen’s first visit to Doc Newby, the freshly minted vet recently hired at the local animal hospital. The visit was pleasant, and little Aspen passed her exam with flying colors. Appointments were made for vaccinations and dewormings, heartworm preventative and flea and tick repellent were discussed, as well as feeding protocols, and Mr. Wilson proudly accepted the…