It's Canada Day...do you know where YOUR dog is?

I recently received an email from a friend in the US who owns a Garmin Astro. The Astro is relatively new device that, in my opinon, should be ranked right up there with fire and the wheel in terms of revolutionary technology. In a nutshell, it allows you to know exactly where your dog is at all times within about a 7 mile radius! It does that by sending a signal from the dog's collar to a hand-held GPS unit carried by the handler. Astro's are really catching on in the US. In Canada however, they are not (yet) approved for use, so we can't buy one from a local GPS shop or even order one in from a US supplier.

So my friend was wondering what would happen if he brought his unit over the border and used it while he ran his dogs in Canada. Apparently there are internet rumours out there claiming that the Canadian authorities will confiscate any such unit and fine the user up to 20 grand for using it and then impound his/her vehicle! So far no mention of strip searches and waterboarding, but it is probably only a matter of time before the rumour goes viral and ends up with some sort of connection to 9/11 and ninjas.

So anywho, I decided to see if I could get to the bottom of this whole thing by contacting the Canadian Government department in charge of all things radio/gps related. After spending a couple of hours wandering through the Kafka-esque maze of Candadian Government bureaucrats and other forms of plant life, I finally found someone who knew what he was talking about.

Here is what I gathered from a very helpful fellow at Industry Canada, the dept. charged with regulating these kinds of things.

1. The Garmin Astro is not approved for use in Canada. This is because...

2. The Garmin Astro uses the MURS band to transmit from the dog's collar to the hand-held reciever. Unlike in the US, the MURS band is not free to use in Canada. You need to buy a licence for a specific frequency on it. Anyone can get a license for an approved devise like a radio and base station. It costs a few bucks, but is pretty much available to anyone with a walkie talkie. You just purchase a license from the Gov. and voila! You are good to go. Farmers, foresters, pizza delivery guys all over the place have licences for a MURS frequency. So in theory, you could just buy a licence for the frequencies that the Astro uses and head to the field. But....

3. The Astro is not approved for use in Canada. From what I gather, Garmin has not jumped through the hoops of submitting it for approval (yet?) since they know that MURS band is not free up here and in order for them to get exclusive use of the frequencies for the unit, they would have to buy out a lot of folks to get them off the band...ie: $$$$$$ Either that, or they realize that every Canadian Astro user would have to fork over more cash to buy his/her own license to use the thing in the field.

4. You see, the Astro uses all 5 frequencies of the MURS: 151.82, 151.88, 151.94, 154.57, 154.60. I did a check on one of them (151.82) just to see how many others are on MURS up here (there is a search function on the website of Industry Canada where you can find out.). Well, it turns out that there are lots of people and organizations that have purchased licenses for one or more frequencies on the MURS band. Everything from Government agencies (probably foresters) to some city of Toronto workers to farmers in Saskatchewan. So that means if you are using the Astro near them, you could interfere with their radios.

5. So there you have it. The reason is NOT some super secret Canadian Gov. frequency used to track drug lords and assorted terrorists. It is all about the way the MURS range of frequencies is managed in Canada. I suppose that Garmin could have bought out all the current licences users on the MURS band if they thought they could sell enough units up here to still make a profit. But alas, the accounting dept. told them "no way!" I figure that is why they haven't even sent the unit up here to be tested and approved for use. Even if it passed all the tests (I'm sure it would, all other Garmin devises are approved), it still could not be used due to the frequency thing...each and every user would have to buy a license for all five frequencies.

But fear not! Apparently the Canadian Gov. may be moving towards the same sort of set up as in the US, a free-for-all MURS band. Here is what they say on their site:

3.2.3 MURS in the 150 MHz Band

In its consultation, the Department proposed to designate five frequencies, after a five-year transition period, in the 150 MHz band for use by MURS devices. The frequencies were 151.820 MHz, 151.880 MHz, 151.940 MHz, 154.570 MHz and 154.600 MHz.

The Department also noted that MURS devices posed some potential for intermittent disruption to existing users on these channels and on some adjacent channels. However, historically, this has always been the case with the 150 MHz band, which has always been licensed on a shared basis to many private, commercial and public safety users. Therefore, all users have had to co-exist for many years with the realization that the spectrum is shared among many users.

In general, Canadians expect to have access to the same range of electronic and wireless products and services that are available elsewhere in North America. However, making these frequencies available for these wireless consumer products often poses several challenges. One of the primary challenges is that the desired spectrum is often already in use. This means that incumbent licensees need a reasonable notification period to move to other frequencies to avoid interference to their radio services.

There were several public comments received from fire departments, their associations and the municipalities in which they operate. The comments voiced concerns about the potential for interference from MURS devices to their operations and their desire for exclusive public safety spectrum. Industry Canada has met several times with senior representatives from the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs (CAFC). Through this ongoing dialogue, a better understanding of the implementation and timing of this policy has been achieved.

Decision:

The Department establishes the following spectrum utilization policy to permit the operation of MURS devices, on a licence-exempt basis, and to enable current licensees to eventually migrate to other channels should they so desire.

The Department designates the following channel limits for the use of MURS devices:

151.81438 - 151.82569 MHz
151.87438 - 151.88563 MHz
151.93438 - 151.94563 MHz
154.56000 - 154.58000 MHz
154.59000 - 154.61000 MHz

In addition, a moratorium on any further licensing of these channels to new land mobile systems is now in effect.

The Department establishes the following time frame to permit MURS devices to operate in these five channels in the 150 MHz band.

1. a five-year transition period is established from the publication date of this spectrum policy, after which the distribution and sale of MURS devices will be permitted;
2. all affected licensees will receive notification letters following the publication date of this spectrum policy and two years before the end of the transition period;
3. affected licensees that wish to move to other frequencies, at their own cost, will be accommodated with new frequencies where possible. The Department will inform licensees of the availability of alternate frequencies, on a case-by-case basis, at the request of the licensee;
4. licensees may continue to use these frequencies on a secondary, no protection basis, but may be subject to interference from the operation of MURS devices; and
5. the Department will establish appropriate technical limits for the MURS devices in a relevant Radio Standard Specification (RSS) and/or a Standard Radio System Plan (SRSP). The provisions of paragraph (iii) and (iv) will also be applied to certain adjacent frequencies, as listed in the relevant SRSP.

So the bottom line is this. The Garmin Astro is not approved for use in Canada and even if it were, each unit would (currently) need a license for the frequencies. But wheels are in motion to change all of this. From the document quoted above, dated June 1, 2009, it looks like it will take FIVE YEARS, for all of this to be cleared up. By then, I expect that other manufactures will have Astro-like devices, maybe ones that use a different band..who knows?

So, to get back to the original question: if you bring your Garmin Astro with you to Canada this season and use it in the field, will you be treated to a waterboarding session while government ninjas impound your car and bank account?

No.

Industry Canada is interested in compliance, NOT punishment. And they are not in the business of skulking around hay bails in Saskatchewan with scanners looking for law breaking Yankies with fancy collars on their high falutin dogs. So if a guy were to bring an Astro up here and it did happen to interfere with farmer Brown's radio base station and tractor in the field, or with a hydro worker repairing a line, he may be asked to turn it off and to stop interfereing with the frequency. No fines, no waterboarding.

However, if he then continued to use it, despite the warning, he could face stiff penalties. But twenty grand and the loss of his car? Nope. Unless he was following fire trucks in downtown Toronto and deliberately screwing with their radios as they tried to save a burning convent and orphanage, I doubt he would get anything more than whatever equivalent of a speeding ticket gets handed out by the radio/tv cops.

Of course, I'm just some guy on the net, not a laywer, not a cop, heck, I'm not even coherent most of the time. So take lots of salt with whatever advice I may provide and weigh the risks-to-benefit ratio of whatever action you may take.

Trouble in Griff Land

WWKD 

(what would Korthals do?)

Yesterday, as I was working on the Griffon chapter in my never-ending book project I went looking for a few more details on the early life of Eduard Korthals. What I found instead was a pretty intense shit-storm swirling in French Griff-land.

It has always been an open secret in dog circles that crosses to English Setters, GSP's, GWP's and Pointers have occurred in some Griffon lines in France for decades. I've alluded to it before in various forums, offering only the information I had been given "off the record" and what I had seen in the field with my own (non-expert) eyes. And I've known for a long time that an internal squabble over the issue of cross breeding had been brewing within the parent club for the breed in France. In fact, there had been warnings about excessive cross breeding coming from some sources as early as the 1990's.

Now let's remember that cross breeding is nothing new in France. Breeders of all kinds of dogs over there are quite "creative" and the French kennel club system actually has a mechanism in place for cross breeding under certain special circumstances. So I am fairly confident in saying that pretty well every breed of pointing dog in France has had at least a shot or two of English or German blood sneak its way in at some point in the last 130 years. And the French are not overly puritanical about it either. Like everyone else, they know how to play the "pure-bred" game and they stick to the official party line in public. But in private they are among the few who will admit that there is some "wiggle room" and that a dash of this or a dash of that from time to time is not such a bad thing. And to be honest, I find their attitude refreshing in a way. At least they admit that no breed is as pure as the driven snow and they certainly don't have a hair trigger aimed at any heretic that even thinks about cross breeding.

But it seems that what was going on in French Griff-land had finally gone too far, even for the French. The battle is now out in the open and it looks like the gloves are off. The biggest, best-known breeder of Korthals Griffons in the country is being accused of crossing to "foreign breeds" (mainly English Setters) and of even faking HD reports on some of his pups. It's as if Bob Whele (r.i.p) were being accused of breeding GSP's into his line and paying off a vet to rubber stamp their hip x-rays!

The people making the accusations point to strange colored griffs popping up with black, white and tri-coloured coats ranging from wiry to long to slick. They claim that some field trial Griffs are now just as fast as Pointers, that they run to the horizon and point laying down; they "set" (I've actually seen this myself). And they claim that most of the dogs seem to trace back to two or three lines, mainly the biggest one in France, a breeder with more field trial wins and show titles than almost all others combined.

Now, let me just say that I have no dog in this fight. I've met some fantastic Griff people in France, Quebec and in the US. I really admire the breed and am very impressed with the progress it has made. But I am an interested bystander and I believe that politically, this may be a real brouhaha. But on a practical level, I am actually optimistic that the breed will benefit in the end. The French seem to have a worldly, pragmatic view about these sorts of things. They are certainly much less evangelical about it than some of the more zealous purists in the US and UK where a similar situation would end up with torch carrying mobs hurling accusations of witchcraft. No, in France there will be lots of political/personal mud slinging, but in the end once the issues have been thrown around the Octagon for a while, dedicated Griffon folks will work together to put the breed back on a more or less straight and narrow path and continue to breed some really, really good dogs.

Anyway, I'm making popcorn and sitting back to see how it all turns out. It should be interesting. If you want to try to follow along, here is the site that is the center of the movement to bring all the shady dealings to light http://www.griffon-korthals-authentique.com/ It's in French, but remember, Google is your friend. Just click the "translate this site" option in language tools.

Bonne lecture!

Internets, E-Lists and Other Forms of Madness

Remember way back in the 90's when Internet version 1.0 had a cutting edge feature known as the e-mail list?

I thought those things had gone the way of the Dodo bird when version 2.0 of the internet came out with forums. Well it turns out that email lists are still around. I joined one the other day. It's on Yahoo (is that still around?) and is set up to discuss a kind of dog I am interested in.

Well, to make a long story short, my foray into the time-warp of email lists did not go very well. Within days of signing on, I signed off. Not only did the list seem like a sort of Jurrasic park relic from a time when shoulder pads and hair bands were cool, but it turns out that a small group of people who would should probably look into the benefits of psychotropic medication actually dominate it. I don't want to get into the details of what transpired, but suffice it to say that despite my best diplomatic efforts to point out that maybe, just maybe, there were a few problems in the breed, some of the thirstier cool-aid drinkers on the list came to the conclusion that I was the Anti-Christ.

Now, I know what you are thinking..Oh that's just crazy talk from Koshyk...

But I've got to say that some of the reaction bordered on the psychotic. I mean I'm as passionate about dogs as the next guy or girl. And I hold opinions that many people may not agree with. But what I read in the few days I was on the list went beyond passion; way beyond opinion. It bordered on what you would hear at an a exorcism performed by Anne Coulter after a three-day meth-binge.

So I ended up doing the Internet equivalent of "backing away slowly"...you know, that kind of move people make when they stumble on a bridesmaid and best man humping in the bathroom at a wedding reception?

Ya, that's how I spent my New Year's Day. How about you?

Even NAVHDA!

It looks like the AKC isn't the only organization that plays fast and loose with gun dog histories. It turns out that even NAVHDA indulges in some pretty sloppy pseudo-history as well.

In its Aims, Programs, Test Rules booklet , NAVHDA states that:
There are several breeds of versatile dogs common in continental Europe, and with four exceptions, all were developed during the last decades of the 19th century.

I take issue with parts of the above statement. First of all, the number of versatile dog breeds developed in continental Europe is obviously more than just “several”. The actual number is close to 40. NAVHDA recognizes 22 of them. In addition, NAVHDA recognizes the 4 pointing breeds developed in the UK, breeds that that were not developed “in continental Europe” or traditionally bred and trained for versatile work. As for the 4 "exceptions", well that is just plain horse hockey.

The four exceptions are much older breeds that provided a base for some of the others. These are the Weimaraner, the Vizsla, the Brittany, and its German cousin, the Small Munsterlander.

While it is accurate to state that the versatile breeds were developed at the end of the 19th century, claiming that the Weimaraner, Vizsla, the Brittany and “its German Cousin” the Small Munsterlander are “much older breeds” is simply wrong. They were all developed around the same time as the other versatile breeds and in the case of the Vizsla, almost completely recreated from scratch in the first half of the 20th century.

The text goes on to provide even more astounding inaccuracies.
The tracking hound, pointer and waterpudel were the basic breeding stocks most widely used to develop the short and wirehaired groups.

I have no idea what “The tracking hound” is. While there were types of dogs, hounds if you will, that were used to track game: Lymers, Schweisshunds, Bloodhounds etc. there was no breed known as "The tracking hound".

And what the heck is a "waterpudel"? It think it may be a reference to water dogs. Since one kind of waterdog is called the "Pudel" in German, it looks like the author just cobbled a word together in an effort to sound sort of German-ish.

And then there is this whopper:“The longhaired group evolved from the Small Munsterlander and flat-coated retriever.” Just how the “longhaired group” evolved from breeds that simply did not exist before the middle of the 19th century is quite a mystery.

Finally there is even a specific statement aimed at closing the list to dogs that some feel should be on it. "No distinctive versatile hunting breed has been developed in North America.”

This statement is not really there to add anything to the subject of gundog history. Rather is is a thinly veiled argument against the recognition of the pointing Labrador; a strain within the Labrador breed that can do all of the things the versatile breeds do, but for whatever reason is not considered by NAVHDA to be a versatile breed.

C'mon NAVHDA, you can do better. In the eyes of many, you stand as the North American authority on all the versatile breeds. You are certainly the largest and best known organization that tests them. You could at least check the facts on their histories before you send your booklet to the printers or post it to your website.

Lebensrum aus der Kanada?

WARNING:
What follows is a blog post written well before my morning triple espresso kicked me up a notch. I may come across as being somewhat of a sour old fart. But then again according to my wife , I am a sour old fart.

Let me tell you about Living Room...

Up here in Manitoba we have a whole lot of empty. The province is something like twice the size of England and home to about a million people. In fact we often hear our well coiffed politicians bemoan the fact that our population is stable at best and in many years it actually declines. You see, the old timers around here have a nasty habit of passing on to the happy hunting ground once they reach their 90's. And too many youngsters are accepting jobs offers "down east" in one of the new tatoo/piercing parlours that are springing up like magic mushrooms in downtown Toronto. What's worse, most working couples are so stressed out just trying to eake out a living that if they ever do get around to having sex, it is more like trying to shoot pool with a rope than it is about making babies.

The general reaction around here seems to be mild hand wringing. There might even a bit of teeth gnashing going on. For some reason forecasts of "zero growth" generate fear in some folks. Personally, when I hear that there simply "aren't enough people" in the province I can't help but grin.

You see, I don't like people.

I like dogs. I love my wife. My family is alright most of the time.

But people? They're the worst.

That's why when I find myself in a church for a wedding, funeral or to ask directions to the nearest Hooters family restaurant, I get down on my creeky knees and thank the Large One upstairs for the fact that I can go an entire hunting season without ever seeing another person.

Praise the lord and pass the amunition!