A Change of Pace

In the interest of changing pace a bit, I thought I would post a few photos of something other than dogs. So click on the photo above to view a series of images of cowboys doing what they do best. Photos are mainly by local photo-journalist extraordinaire Dustin Leader, but I've added a couple of mine to the series and one or two from Ross Cornish. All shots were taken during the fall round-up near the small town of Saint Amboise, Manitoba

Grouse Hunting with Henri, Souris and Uma

So I've given up. I've resigned myself to the fact that I will never make a really good video. But I haven't given up completely. I've just lowered the bar a bit. I've stopped worrying about making the next Citizen Kane and joined the legions of handy-cam hacks posting to YouTube. I've even set up my own YouTube Channel.

Here's my latest block-buster. It is a jumpy, low-fi, patched together piece I call "Grouse Hunting With Henri, Souris and Uma".

It's coming to a theatre near you soon! (not).

Lazy no more!

Ever wonder what happens if you stop blogging for a few months? Well, since I have not posted anything to my blog since mid...uh, never... I am now in a position to tell you that:

1. A spicy red pepper of guilt takes seed in your noggin. It eventually grows into the conviction that you are as lazy as a three-toed sloth with a dime-bag of skunk weed and a skull- bong.

2. People start emailing you wondering if you are in a coma or have joined some sort of cult. Those emails eventually morph into rumours and conspiracy theories regarding your whereabouts. In fact, even some of my most level headed friends recently came to the conclusion that I had become a scientologist cool-aid salesman waiting for the return of the Halley's comet.

Truth be told (where DID that expression come from?) it is the hunting season; that time of year when the main activities around the Koshyk household are hunting game,eating game and tapping into the wine cellar to find just the right bottle of red to go with the game we manage to bag.

So that is my excuse for not updating my blog or website recently…and I’m sticking to it. The only reason I’m actually at the keyboard today is that we got hit with a foot of snow yesterday…oh, and my ten year old truck is now on strike.

But as soon as it warms up around here (and as soon as I can duct-tape the truck back together), we will be heading out to the field once again. In the meantime, I’ll update my website and upload some videos to my new YouTube channel. Have a look, let me know what you think (please be kind).

He's Heeeeeere!!

Lisa and I would like to announce the arrival of our new pup!!!


Say hello to Silvershot's Pocket Rocket, call name "Henri" (named after the famous Montreal Canadian hockey star Henri "Pocket Rocket" Richard). Henri is out of Judy Balog's Slivershot kennel and the son of NFC/NAFC/FC/AFC Grau Geist Lil’s Gust V Westend MH, CD, RDX, SDX, RN, VX and Gould's Truly Cool Falls Fun. I have posted the first of what will surely be many sets of photos on my website. Just click on the photo to have a look.

Cheers!

La Visite!

Souris and Uma welcomed a longhaired Weimaraner named "Zeiss" (rhymes with "ice") to our place last week. He's here for some last-minute preparation before his NAVHDA NA test near Fargo this weekend. His owner is unable to make it to the test, so I will be running Zeiss for him. Wish us luck, will ya? We're gonna need it!

You see, I'm a mediocre dog trainer on a good day. And my NAVHDA experience is slim. So it's pretty much a sure bet that I will do something to cost us a few points during the test. And Zeiss? Well he's a 65lb puppy! I think he has enormous potential in NAVHDA. However, at just over a year old, he's the canine equivalent of a daydreaming 10 year old boy. One day, he can do no wrong, showing a great search, fantastic point, excellent water work...and the next day, his head is in the clouds. So watch for either a great score...or a crash and burn on the weekend. With time, I am convinced he will be an excellent hunting dog. But for now, his NA performance could go either way.

What's in a Name?

As I worked my way through a few more chapters of my humungous book project last week, I realized that something as simple as the name of a breed, may not be so simple after all.

The most obvious difficulty in many cases is pronunciation. When it comes to tongue twister names there are some real doozeys among the continental breeds. Try saying Slovensky Hrubosrsty Stavac three times fast!

One obvious solution will be to provide a phonetic spelling of the name which best approximates the sounds of the original language. Another will be to list the FCI approved English translation of the breed name. Where no official FCI translation exists, I will provide the most commonly used English name for the breed.

With some breeds, English speakers have adopted the original name and anglicized it…with varying degrees of success. I cannot tell you how many different ways I have heard Weimaraner pronounced;

“Wee-mar-eener"
"Weisen-heimer"
"Why-nen-eye-man"

Even names that seem to be straightforward can sometimes be tricky to pronounce correctly. Since I speak French and have gathered most of the information on the various Braque breeds from French sources, I just assumed that everyone pronounced the word braque like the French do: "Brak", it rhymes with back. I’ve noted however, that many Americans say “Brock”, (rhymes with stock). I have no idea why.

Drahthaar is another name that gets mangled from time to time. The most common English twist on it is to put a “th’ sound in the middle. While Europeans say Drat- (rhymes with bat)-har, you will often hear North Americans say Drath (rhymes with wrath)-har. Some will change the “a” sound as well. They say Drawth-har.

So I guess I will have to come up with a quick and easy way to describe the various ways the names are translated and pronounced. And in so doing, I’ll explore some other questions such as:.

• Does Spaniel really mean “from Spain” ?
• Why do Hungarians call all birddogs “Vizslas” even the ones that aren’t actually Vizslas?
• Is the Pudelpointer actually part Poodle?
• Is Spinone a kind of icecream?
• And finally, the “big can of worms” question that I’ll tackle in my next blog post: “Are German Wire Hair Pointers and Deutsch Drahthaars the same breed?”*

Stay tuned! Oh, and if you have a question about a breed’s name, feel free to ask. I will do my best to get to the bottom of it.

*The same question can be asked of GSP’s/Kurzhaars or Brittanies/Epagneul Bretons etc.