POINT!

Well I took Henri and Maisey out today and managed to get some photos of Henri on point.

It was a windy day, which usually makes the birds quite spooky, but they seemed to cooperate fairly well despite the strong and frequent gusts. Henri did very, very well. He ran like a champ and had 5 points on wild sharptails in just over an hour!

Here are some photos (curiously, in some of them his ears are flipped back. I think it was due to the fact that he was running across the wind and when he scented birds, he would snap into the wind and the ear(s) would get blown back...that is how windy it was!).

First point of the day (pair of sharptails)



Second point of the day...a single



There it goes!!



Henri holds steady (I actually had my shotgun and held it in one hand to shoot in the air and then snapped the photo with the other hand...don't try that at home kids...)



Point number three (this was a covey...about 10 birds in total. They took off in ones and two's...poor Henri stood through each flush but by bird number six he started to almost bark at them!)



Different angle of point number three. I am not sure why he was making the bulldog mouth thing..."drinking" the air?



Point number four (single)



Point number five (three birds...two got up about 10 yards in front of Henri and one got up about 2 feet from me...I almost stepped on it!)

The Season So Far

Well it's here!

The 2010 waterfowl season is open in the great white (and wet!) north. I've been out every day since last thursday and will be heading out again this afternoon. This time I will bring the camera. I really should have had it yesterday, the action was FANTASTIC.

I guess Murphy's law says today will be crap, but what the heck. I will try to get some shots to post.

Anyway, here's a dog-by-dog report of the season so far:

Souris Manon (10.5 year old little grey rocket ship, Grau Geist line, Weim.): Can anyone explain to me how a dog can spend every day since last Xmas basically sleeping 23 hours a day - under the covers - with no more exercise than an occasional walk around the park and then on opening day absolutely smoke through a field looking for birds?

Personally, I run all year round trying to stay in half decent shape and I am still pooped after the first day of the season...and I am not ten and a half dog-years old! Yet somehow Souris Manon still runs like she is in peak shape...and looks like she is three years old. Show people can go on and on about how their dogs are "built correctly to do the job" and how field bred dogs "fall apart" after a few years...yada yada yada...but if they could get past the fact that Souris Manon is not exactly Selma Heyek, they would see a dog that is from a line of dogs that mainly lived into their teens and that even after 10 years and running thousands of kilometers is still able to outwork dogs half her age.

Yesterday, I decided to run Souris with Maizey (1.5 year old German LH weim, v. Fenriwolf line) to see if it would get Maizey to range out more. It worked...and how! It turns out that Maizey has a sort of competitive streak in her and when she saw the "old woman" blazing across the field, she just had to get out there faster and further. Fortunately Maizey is also a natural backer (with a wee bit of cautioning from me) so when Souris pointed, Maizey backed on all 6 points ( six points on wild sharptails! holy shit!). Maizey had 2 points of her own, one she shared with Souris and the other Souris backed from a good distance.

Uma (7 year old Pont Audemer Spaniel, imported from cheese eating surrender monkey land) also ran with Maizey and Souris. I was half expecting a total free for all, but the girls worked very well together. Uma also backs so she was in on a few of the points and managed one point by herself on a snipe (which I missed). Uma is a really quick, busy worker, but she works much closer in (50 to 75 yards, ideal for pheasants). When after sharptails, I think I should run her alone. Otherwise, the bigger running dogs find all the birds first.

Henri (2 year old Weim, Silvershot-bred, grey lightning bolt) is really something to see. If Souris is the kind of dog that will make folks realize that Weims can really rock and roll in the field, Henri is the kind of dog that will make their jaw drop. As the judge in his UT test told me, "He's a lot of dog". On the first day that I ran him after getting him back from the trainer he worked fast but relatively close. He was used to working the fairly small patches of field out east where he spent the summer. But by day 2 Henri was stretching out more and more. By day three he was....waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay out there..at times probably in the 400 to 500 yard range ie: barely visible.

Day 4 (yesterday) he had figured out the happy medium range he should be working at...well to the front from 75 to 200 yards. And he also figured out the wild bird thing. Since all of his training this summer had been on planted birds, he was at first trying to get too close to the wild sharptails and snipe. After getting too close on a few and seeing them flush, he figured it out. Yesterday he NAILED two points on sharptails (both were pairs), had two points on snipe and one stop to flush (also a snipe).

And that is when I realized that I was an idiot for not having my camera. Not only does Henri run like the wind, but holy intensity batman, his points were really something to behold. He's got that super-crouching-panther front end but with the head and nose tilted way up and the ass in the air back end that is sooo cool to see. He was also steady to flush and shot (in the air, sharptail season is not open yet).

Me (48 year old brilliantined stick-insect of Icelandic/Ukrainian heritage). As mentioned, no matter how much I run in the off season, the opening week always tuckers me out. But so far I have stuck to the plan for Henri. I am keeping him steady to wing and shot. I was proud of myself yesterday when he pointed the sharptails. I did not watch them fly away but watched the dog and whoed him when he took a step. I also managed to bag a snipe and a duck over Souris with my new Darne 12 gauge. We had them for diner last night and let me just say that there is NOTHING in this world that is better on the plate than snipe and/or duck. Pair either of them with the right wine (cab/sauvignon, zinfandel or pinot noir) and you basically have a party in your mouth.

Props to the Politicians!

Politics?

Not really my cup of tea.

But today I want to give props to the provincial government of Manitoba.

First of all, for readers outside of Manitoba, I should explain that the NDP (New Democratic Party) has been in power since 1999. They are a left-of-center party in a generally left-of-center country with the kind of platform that makes regular viewers of Fox News reach for their asthma inhalers and emergency stash of metamucil.

And I've voted for them in every provincial election since I was old enough to cast a ballot.

Why?

Hunting.

You see, under the NDP, hunting opportunities in Manitoba have improved nearly every year. The powers that be have actively promoted youth hunting initiatives with special seasons and programs for 13 to 17 year olds. They've extended most seasons, introduced new ones, opened up Sunday hunting province wide, increased bag limits on many species and last year passed The Hunting, Fishing and Trapping Heritage Act which basically enshrines every Manitoban's right to hunt, trap and fish.

This year, they declared that from now on, the fourth Saturday in September will be Provincial Hunting Day with events being held around the province to celebrate Manitoba’s hunting traditions.

But the most surprising thing was something I found in the printed version of the 2010 Hunting Guide. It is a blaze orange 7 inch square printed card that says:

WE NEED YOUR HELP. Please introduce your family and friends to hunting in 2010.

It goes on to explain that Manitoba Conservation wants to increase the number of hunting activities and requests that hunters:

• Ask friends, children, relatives or co-workers to join you on a hunt.
• Get to know the hunter educator in your area and see how you can bring new hunters to them.
• Start a mentored hunt in your community.
• Engage someone who use to hunt (seniors get special rates on licenses and in some cases, do not even need a license for some species).
• Invite friends for a wild game supper to introduce them to hunting and the great bounty it provides.

How cool is that?

You may or may not agree with their other policies, but when it comes to hunting it seems that the NDP "get's it". And as long as they continue to understand the importance of hunting in Manitoba they will get this hunter's vote.

Coming Soon...Dog Willing!

Awkward Snapshots Part II: Can't Stand the Heat

A friend of mine is Chinese... and a very cheap drunk.

A sip of beer makes him flush beet-red. After half a beer, he is on the dance floor flopping around like Iggy Pop having a seizure. If he ever drank two beers - something he would never do - I'm pretty sure he'd look like Jacky Chan on a meth binge for about 5 minutes then fall into a coma.

He can get drunk just by watching a beer commercial mainly because of his genes. He is from an an ethnic group (East Asian) that has low levels of the liver enzyme that breaks down alcohol. And over the weekend, the reason my buddy's Longhaired Weimaraner named Zeiss did not get a prize one in his UT test is probably also because of his genes: he lacks the ability to function well in the heat.

Uma, our Ponto is the same. As soon as it gets to T-shirt temps outside, forget even trying to run her for more than 10 minutes. The build, coat, and genetic predisposition just will not allow it. Of course when the temps dip to hat-and-scarf territory, watch out. Both Zeiss and Uma will go all day, every day.

So during the field search portion of his test, Zeiss covered the ground at a gallop for about the first 15 minutes or so. But it was 86 degrees that day and with the humidity it probably felt like he was running on the surface of the planet Mercury.

In a fur coat.

With mittens.

By the 20 minute mark Zeiss was trotting. At 25 minutes he was no longer reaching out. By the time the judges called "time" he was practically at heel, tongue dragging on the ground. Despite his handler pouring water on his head, he simply could not shed enough heat to keep going. Its a good thing he is a sensible dog. He slowed down to avoid burning up completely. Henri is just too dumb right now to ease off the gas when he starts to overheat. Last year he took off after a deer on a hot day and came back wobbly and disoriented. Good thing there was a cool creek nearby to soak him in. He was fine, but it scared the bejeebus out of me.

I have heard that low heat tolerance is a Weim thing. Certainly none of mine are very good in high temps. They much prefer a little frost on the pumpkin as it were. But I think most other breeds share the same traits. In 2003 in South Dakota, on a very hot opening day an estimated 100 (yes one hundred) hunting dogs of all kinds of breeds actually DIED of heat stroke!

The heat exhaustion from the field must have carried over to Zeiss's duck search. From all reports he looked like he was trying his best, slogging through thick mud and reeds but about half way through he just did not have the energy left to put on a prize one performance.

But he did pass the test! He earned a prize III and the respect of those who where there watching him run under the hot sun wearing a double layered fur coat!

Awkard Snapshots Part 1

Anyone who runs their dog in a hunt test like those offered by NAVHDA or the VHDF realizes that what the judges see is just a snapshot of the dog on the day of the test. The dog may be good or bad or somewhere in between, but how it performs on test day is what is recorded on paper.

One of my dogs ran his NAVHDA UT this weekend, and the snapshot that developed could be in the hall of fame on one of the best sites on the net: Awkward Family Photos.

The site features a collection of the kinds of family photos we all have. You know, the ones of special occasions when everyone puts on their best photo face and favorite outfit...but when we look at the image now we can’t help but cringe?

But it is not really a sense of horror or shame that makes us cringe. I think it is more of a tender sympathy for the awkwardness of the photo and knowing that we have ALL been there. We all have awkward family photos tucked away somewhere in our photo albums. And now I have a new awkward snapshot of my own to file away. It is a big, glossy snapshot of Henri, my 2 year old Weim, without a doubt the most gifted, athletic dog I have ever owned.

Here's how the image was made:

Over the course of last year's hunting season I saw so much potential in Henri, I thought he would be ready for UT level training this year. But since I am, at best, a mediocre trainer and I really needed more time to finish off my book project, I decided to send him to one of the most well respected pro trainers out there, Al Burhart. Al agreed to train him and then run him in the UT.

For the most part, the training went very well, Al really liked Henri and Henri settled in to kennel life easily. But I think I may have miscalculated, I probably sent him a year too soon.

In retrospect, I can now see that over the summer, Henri turned into a typical teen. If he were human he would probably have a mohawk hairdo and be yearning to get a dozen tattoos. But he was sneaky about it, he actually waited until test day to reveal his "new look" to Al and the judges. So the snapshot that we got was the equivalent of the captain of the high school wrestling team showing up for class pictures in a t-shirt that says F##$% You and then choking the photographer out with an arm-triangle.

You see, Henri is the kind of dog that lives to gobble up a field at 100 miles an hour and churn up the marsh searching for a duck. His test scores perfectly reflect that. In every category that evaluates natural ability and drive …stamina, field search, duck search, pointing, desire… he earned the highest scores, all 4’s. But when it came to steadiness, the snapshot clearly caught that F##$% You t-shirt he was wearing. In fact, on the Saturday, Henri did not even prize due to a low steadiness score. Al ran him again on the Sunday and managed to steer him to a prize 2.

I visited Al the next day to collect Henri and he ran him through his paces. The snapshot on that day was pretty. I saw a hard hunting, happy dog with good manners. Henri still had all the "go" and style I could ask for and handled well, was steady to wing, shot and fall and was exactly where I want him to be for the upcoming hunting season.

But as he ran, I could see a sort of teenage edge about him. He was in control, but only just. I could see he is in his “terrible-two’s” right now and Al agrees. He knows Henri has what it takes to earn a prize one and more. And like the true pro he is, Al took the awkward snapshot of the weekend in stride. He said "Years ago, I would have been looking for hole to crawl into when he came unglued. But now, I know that it's just one day, one snapshot of the dog. Henri is a nice dog, and he loves to really get out there and roll. You will just need to keep on him for a while until it all sinks in".

And that is exactly what I am going to do. Henri's upcoming hunting season will be a training season. I want him to have fun, hunt his butt off, but I will also expect good manners. And I know I will need to rely on the most powerful tool in a trainer's tool box and the greatest asset of a parent of a teenager...patience. Henri needs time to grow up, to lose the mohawk and desire for tattoos and settle back into his normal temperament.

The whole situation reminds me of a now famous photo of President and Mrs. Obama with Spanish President José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and his family. The Zapatero daughters were clearly “going through a phase” at the time and when they look at the snapshot a few years from now, I am sure they will cringe. But I am also sure they will laugh a bit at how awkward they were, just as we should all laugh at how awkward each of us...and our dogs...can be!




Next: Awkward Snapshots Part II: Can't Stand the Heat!