The Countertop Chronicles

This weekend was marked by extreme weather variability.

Yesterday, Saturday, I was scheduled to join the local chapter of Safari Club International on a dove hunt. Hurricane/Tropical Storm Hannah had different plans as she dropped (if the water in my garbage can is any indication) 11 inches of rain Saturday afternoon.

I’m hopeful the hunt will be rescheduled till next weekend, but even if not, Saturday’s rain was a blessing.

Knowing the weather would be beautiful (but expecting something warmer than the 73 degrees we had) my buddy Jason and his dog Max made plans to meet at the McKee-Besher dog training fields (just one more way in which Maryland is more friendly to hunters).

We were scheduled to meet at 1:30. Jason was running 20 minutes behind so I took Rex out into the millet field to see what we could jump up. Saw a few doves, and one chuckar, and was otherwise thrilled with how he quartered the field.

Rex and Max had never met each other before, so we let them just run around and get acquainted while Jason and I set the gear up. Training was less than successful, as we started with what were largely blind retrieves (someone standing in the woods to the side throwing a dummy while the guy with the dog fired a shotgun and sent the dog out).

Max had no problem running to get the dummy, he did a pretty good job of tracking it down. But he was completely unable to return it - running off in the other direction. Needless to say, Jason was a bit disappointed as its better (in my book) to get no retrieve than an uncontrolled dog running away.

Rex had some difficulty with the blind retrieves. He simply wouldn’t do it. He never marked the bird in the sky, and was too distracted by both Max and I, acting like the 8 month old puppy he is. I would send him out, but he wouldn’t go. However, if I started walking him in the direction of the bird, I could then send him out the rest of the way and he’d return to my hand.

We then went to visible retrieves, without the shotgun. Simply throwing the dummy where he could see them. Rex was marginally able to be sent to one or the other on command.

This is really the first time I’ve worked him since picking him up. I was a bit disappointed, and am thinking of taking him down maybe next weekend for more one on one with the trainer. In the meantime, I’m working with him every morning and evening this week. We will see how he improves.

After finishing with the training, we crossed the road and checked out one of the sunflower fields the state manages for doves. Saw a bunch flying about, and little evidence of hunting (ie: only a couple of shells on the ground). While there, we spotted some very fresh deer tracks, cutting across the field to a point in the far corner.

Turned around and then took the dogs all the way down the road to check out a swamped and an area that occasionally holds flooded timber. On the way, we saw two gorgeous Nerodia Sipedon hanging out in the spillway of a water control gate.

A little further down, just before the river, we hopped in through the hedge and popped out on an agricultural road. Saw a fair amount of deer activity in the area, with a huge corn field to my left. There were a number of great spots to hang a tree stand. We hiked down the road about a mile and popped into some seriously flooded timber and then followed the dogs pretty far into -at times waste deep water - till we hit a flowing flooded stream. The state usually keeps this area dry most of the summer in order to let vegetation grow, and then dams it up so it floods for duck habitat. This was prime prime duck habitat and will be a fantastic place to hunt this winter. At one point, the dogs flushed (is that the word) a slew of wood ducks.

On the way out, we saw a hawk take down a dove in mid air and stumbled upon the remains of another dove (feathers on the ground and in the trees) that met its maker.

So I was thinking, since it looks like Gov. Palin is going to miss at least the early part of this years hunting season (actually, I have no idea when it goes up in Alaska), I should blog mine. And, I get the double benefit of also getting to shill a little for Sportsmen for McCain/Palin (of which I have a role, but thats as much as I’m disclosing about myself) and continue the dog training blogging.

And so, today, labor day September 1 was the start here in Virginia of Dove Season. And a less than glorious start it was.

To start with, I got back from the beach last night at 1:00 am. Woke up at the crack of dawn this morning, and unpacked the cars. Rushing and racing, hoping to get out early so I can run down and pick up the dog and get out with him and the trainer. The only problem was - threefold.

First, for some dumb reason Virginia doesn’t allow you to shoot doves during the early part of the season before noon.

# Season Dates:

* September 1 - September 27
* October 4 - October 31
* December 27 - January 10

# Bag Limit: 15 daily and 30 in possession
# Shooting Hours: Noon until sunset in first segment, ½ hr before sunrise until sunset in last 2 segments.

WTF???????? Today, it was about 90 degrees at noon. There were no doves flying about. If they are going to impose a stupid restriction on hunting till mid afternoon - do it in December, or October, when its cooler.

Second, rushing down I realized I hadn’t gotten my license yet. No problem, I drive right by Gander Mountain. Rush in, grab some ammo, head to the counter and . . . . . VADGIF computer system has crashed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Gander’s computers can’t log in and get me a license. Holy crap!?!?!? Well, no fear I continue on and stop at the general store near the dog trainers, and low and behold I get my license at 12:50pm.

Three, get to the trainers, and we are out in the field by 1:45. Its hotter than the hinges of hell, and my poor black puppy dog isn’t taking the heat well. He’s quartering the field, heck he flushed a couple of quail (not in season) but by the time we worked the field a full 3/4 miles he’s clearly a little overheated. So we rest under a tree, and then work back to the creek and let him swim and discuss dogs and life and where his training will go.

Doug, the trainer, has some sage advice. He’s a great dog. He’s a smart dog. He’s an energetic dog. He’s still a puppy. Don’t train him at all. Give him a break, don’t press him this week. Get him out next Saturday and shoot some doves over him. Make it fun. Don’t overwork him. He’s gone through training, now its time to play the game. At this point, he thinks the best training for the dog is to get him in the field and have him

We also talked about future hunts for this season. He thinks Rex is big enough and certainly trained enough, to start in on the early goose season. He referred me to a local guy who went out and got 10 geese this morning and was asking him if he knew someone with a dog. Hoping this one works out.

He also referred me to someone who has a hunting preserve - both for Sportsmen for McCain purposes as well as someone who is much closer to me (Doug is about 2 1/2 hours away, this other guy is 40 minutes away) and has a hunting preserve. He said that he’s always looking for guides with dogs to take his clients out - and suggested I think about bringing Rex over and getting lots of experience by helping to guide on the weekends with him this winter. Pay is in tips, and having been to a shooting preserve before, those tips might very well be high enough to pay for most of my hunting this year (well, local stuff, not the trip to South Dakota or Missouri). We also talked some about getting pheasants and bringing Rex back down to run on those with Dog’s dog later in the fall when the weather gets better. Oh yeah, and I can hunt deer on his land . . . . sweat!!!

So, all in all, it was a great day (any day in the field is) even though I returned empty handed.

I made three visits down to the trainer this week, Last Saturday’s was not very productive, thanks VDOT, but I was determined to work with the dog. I found time to do that on Tuesday, and left the office early to make the drive down. We spent about 2 hours with him.

Rex is coming along nicely. He’s turning into not only an incredibly intelligent lab but a picture perfect lab - with the height and dimensions of an American field dog and the gorgeous blocky lines of an English show dog. Jack Jagoda and the folks at Deep Run really know how to bring out the best in a litter of pups. My trainer, who has a gorgeous black lab puppy 1 week older than Rex has consistently called Rex smarter and better looking than his dog: a perfect lab.

We’ll see if I can turn this terrific foundation into a field champion and hunting master.

Anyway, on Tuesday we took out 3 dogs - Rex, the trainers black lab pup Dylan, and his 3 year old German wirehaired retriever who’s name I forget (Sandy??) and worked on double inbound retrieves.

We would switch each dog off to work the retrieve, with the other two staked out to the left and right. This worked to train the dogs both to be obedient until it was their turn as well as to get the dogs generally excited but able to maintain discipline.

Trainer went out about 30 yards and blew the duck call, then threw dummies to the right and left. On my command (and we worked on both my command and my signalling) we would send dogs out IN A STRAIGHT LINE to retrieve dummy and immediatly return it to hand and then come to a heel/sit position for direction for the next retrieve. Dogs had this down cold, but it took some work with me to get my motions and direction down. We discussed pack theory some, and how dogs learn/respond and take command in wild (and his experience training wolves compared to training coyotes) and how that relates to my role as team leader. We also worked on the form of my hand signals and my presentation to the dog, as well as little things like clearly demarking for him the difference between work and play (attention/at ease).

Yesterday, I woke up at 4:00 am, packed the car (was heading down to the Georgia coast for vacation) and was on the road by 4:30 to meet the trainer. Hit traffic, at 5:00 am, on I95 in Stafford (VDOT’s 511 traffic info called it “congestion from volume,” they had closed 3 lanes and an exit down for construction/re-paving”), and made it to the trainers just before 7:00 am.

Had another client there (with an english pointer) and Doug anounced that he saw the quail moving and wanted to get the dogs on em quick. We immeditly let the dogs out - Rex, Dylan, the german wirehair, the english pointer, and a springer spaniel. Had them quarter the field, crossed a stream, and drove the quail into a thick brush. Dogs then rouded up the birds, got real birdy, and started to flush them directly at us one at a time on Dougs command.

Nothing as pretty as a covey of quail launching. Really, all the upland game birds are gorgeous on take off.

Afterward, we went back up to the kennel, put a bunch of pigeons out in traps in the brush, and then worked the dogs on them, releasing and shooting them, and sending dogs out one at a time to retrieve.

Very good day, worked the pups hard, and was back on the road by 9:30 am (finally made it down to Georgia at 5:30 pm).

Well, there is something fundamentally wrong with the road system in Virginia. Somewhere, someone, screwed up in a tremendous way, and frankly I doubt this state will ever be able to fix what is wrong. And no, simply throwing money at Northern Virginia isn’t the solution - in fact, the idiots at VDOT have shown time and again that more money only leads to more ill considered worthless projects.

No, things need to be peeled back - and the entire morass needs to be examined and perhaps, if possible, ripped up and started all over.

Case in point:

I was supposed to do three things on Saturday. I was going to head down to meet my trainer and work with the dog. Then, I was going to head over to Richmond to the Virginia Sportsman’s Show - I had free tickets compliments of the Roanoke Times. Then, we were gonna race back up to NoVA and shoot some skeet.

We had it timed out right, but then we hit the Virginia road system.

Dog Training
Told the trainer, I’d be there at 10:30 with my buddy. We were gonna work the dog a couple of hours in the field . . . shooting some birds over him and working on different retrieving scenarios. I left, for the hour and 45 minute drive, at 8:30. No traffic at all, till I got to I-95 - and then just sat. And crawled. Finally making it to Fredericksburg at 10:30 and not getting down to his place till noon. Where I got to spend all of 15 minutes with him because I was so damn late.

Sportsman Show
We then left, drove on I64 over to Richmond. No problems here, and the sportsman show was neat. Great, impressive, buck collection. Someone clearly has better property to hunt than I do. Saw lots of neat hunting gadgets, almost bought a couple of duck calls, and got to speak with some hunting guides. All in all, it would have been worthwhile, except I was so ticked off about not getting to train with the dog it just ruined the whole experience for me.

Skeet Shooting
We raced on out of the Sportsman Show by 2:00pm, with what should have been a 90 minute drive on a lazy Saturday afternoon to get to shoot skeet. Heh. By 3:30 we had traveled 30 miles and reached Fredericksburg, where I tried to hop on VA17 to save time - and went 3 miles in 1 hour - before bailing and hopping back on 95. In another hour we moved another 25 miles and I was able to hop on VA 234 to cut across over to Mannassas. By then, it was nearly 6 and having sat in a car for 8 hours already it was too late to do much skeet shooting - so we hopped on I66 - and sat for another hour, not getting home till 7:30.

Thanks Virginia, For Ruining My Day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sunday
I made up for it Sunday.

Started the day looking at canoes. I think I found a great one - I’ll be testing it out tonight to see if I want to buy it. Its an Old Town Duck Hunter - about an 18 year old canoe - thats perfect for hunting as well as for trips down the river with the family.

From there, I threw my kayak in the Potomac at Pennyfield lock. It was a gorgeous ride.

I paddled up into the islands and explored them a bit, taking coordinates on my GPS and checking out how they had eroded since last duck season. Your not allowed to built permanent blinds on them, but we constructed a series of makeshift blinds with deadfalls, etc. last season that survived most of the winter. Unfortunatly, it doesn’t look like any survived the spring floods. Whats more, there was a fair bit of erosion going on, and some new channels opened up.

I ran into this guy right in front of one of our old blinds.

I also got out and did a bit of scouting in one of the areas I go deer hunting. The corn didn’t look so good, but they had a real healthy crop of beans. It should be a good season!

Getting ready for shotgunning season around here. Doves and Resident Goose open up Labor Day weekend, Teal is September 15. Dogs back down to training this week for a month, while I’ll be stepping up the skeet shooting in preparation.

This was played once, in an acoustic set on 12 July 1970, and is also on Pigpen’s “home tapes” (which is where the lyrics below are taken from).

Bring Me My Shotgun
Words and Music by Lightnin’ Hopkins

Go, bring me my shotgun, bring me back some shells
Why don’t you just bring me my shotgun
Bring me back about a pocket full of shells
Well you know if I don’t get myself a little competition
You know there’s gonna be some trouble ’round here

Well you know my mama told me, when I left my door
She said, “you gonna have bad luck, son, don’t care where you go”
So why don’t you bring me my shotgun
Bring me back a pocket full of shells
Well you know if I don’t get myself a little competition
You know there’s gonna be some trouble ’round here

Early in the morning when the sun gonna rise
She’s laying there rolling them old bloodshot eyes
In the morning bring me my shotgun
Well, I can stand any mess for a while
But I can’t stand it for very long

Woke up this morning
Found out some [jack strap?] had gone took my room
Woke up this morning
Found out some [jack strap?] had gone took my room
Yeah you know he took along with it my woman
That [jack strap?] going to meet his doom

That’s why I say bring me my shotgun, boy
I want you to bring me back some shells
I said why don’t you bring me my shotgun
Bring me back a pocket full of shells
You know if I don’t get myself some good competition
There’s gonna be some trouble ’round her

If it’s smelly, we roll in it. If it can be upchucked at 3 a.m., we eat it. Porcupines should be chomped, snakes should be tossed, and by all means, if there’s a hornet’s nest in a rock wall, we darn well need to excavate and there’s no human bed too small to be shared.

Rex is cute and sweet as can be. He’s going great - he goes off for a couple of weeks of mixed waterfowl and upland training this coming weekend - but I still miss Beaux.

Rex’s training has been continuing. At 5 months he’s mastered obedience and the basic commands (sit, stay, come, heel, go git it (instead of fetch), and release). He retrieves to my hand, and releases on command. He will sit on either verbal or whistle command, in any situation and from any distance from me, and stay until I command him. He is well on his way to earning his JH title and achieving the legacy of his father and grandfather (a 10,000 point Grand Champion Hunter).

As the weather improves, and he grows, we will begin upland training, hand signals, and blind and multiple retrieves. The one concern I have, living in the suburbs of DC, is that I can’t keep a steady supply of birds on hand. Also, as we move onto more advanced training skills, I simply don’t have the time to work with him. As a result, he will be sent away for finishing this summer. I was thinking of sending him back to his breeder but was convinced by a friend to look at another trainer outside of Richmond. We will spend most of tomorrow there, introducing him to the new trainer and playing with live birds.

Right now it looks like he will spend 2 weeks (last week of June, first week of July) and then the entire month of August in training. Dove season, and early resident goose, arrive the first week of September.

But thats all secondary to what transpired today. Rex is a lab. As such, most people think he’d be a natural waterdog. And indeed he appears to be - but he still needed an introduction to water. He received his first introduction earlier this year, as a young puppy during the warm spell in January (he was also introduced to gun shots and birds at the time). We’ve been pretty good to keep him near water, but like many dogs, while he was thrilled to play at waters edge, he wouldn’t go deep than he could stand.

Today, I took him to Roosevelt Island again. There is a beach on the North West edge, directly across from Georgetown. We were playing retrieve on the beach and I was throwing the ball progressively further out. Rex was soaked and loving it, but wouldn’t go all the way out and swim. Finally, after 30 minutes I threw the ball too far for him. So I walked out and got it.

Water was COLD!!!!!!!!!!

But he followed me out part way and when he saw I could stand, came a bit more. I decided to grab him, and with him kicking and shaking, held him up and allowed him to kick until he figured out how his feet were working. Within minutes the light turned on and he was a swimming machine. He grabbed the dummy and began swimming all around me. We continued back to the shore and then I launched the dummy out about 50 yards. He dove straight in, swam directly out and immediately returned it, delivering to hand before shaking off.

Excellent!!

Way to go Rex!!!!

Xavier has a great post about fat dogs

If you own a dog, and your dog is fat, take a look at yourself. You are in total control of it’s diet. Use a measuring cup or a tin can to dole out the kibbles, and cut back on the amount. Send the table scraps down the garbage disposal. If your dog is fat, it’s because you feed him to damned much. He doesn’t need dope. You need to stop being one.

Couldn’t agree more. I hate fat dogs, and I hate fat dog owners even more. Its cruel to do to a helpless animal who is fully dependent on you and whats more its gonna cost you a ton down the road as your dog fights all manner of health problems. Plus, don’t you want a dog who can play with you???

If you don’t know whether your dog is fat or not, I’d recommend you check out the Purina Body Condition System (see chart to the left)

1. EMACIATED
Ribs, lumbar vertebrae, pelvic bones and all bony prominences evident form a distance. No discernable body fat. Obvious loss of muscle mass.
2. VERY THIN
Ribs, lumbar vertebrae and pelvic bones easily visible. No palpable fat. Some evidence of other bony prominence. Minimal loss of muscle mass
3. THIN
Ribs easily palpated and may be visible with no palpable fat. Tops of lumbar vertebrae visible. Pelvic bones becoming prominent. Obvious waist and abdominal tuck
4. UNDERWEIGHT
Ribs easily palpable, with minimal fat covering. Waist easily noted, viewed form above. Abdominal tuck evident.
5. IDEAL
Ribs palpable without excess fat covering. Waist observed behind ribs when viewed from above. Abdomen tucked when viewed from the side.
6. OVERWEIGHT
Ribs palpable with slight excess fat covering. Waist is discernable viewed from above but is not prominent. Abdominal tuck apparent.
7. HEAVY
Ribs palpable with difficulty, heavy fat cover. Noticeable fat deposits over lumbar area and base of tail. Waist absent or barely visible. Abdominal tuck may be absent.
8. OBESE
Ribs not palpable under heavy fat cover, or palpable only with significant pressure. Heavy fat deposits over lumbar area and base of tail. Waist absent. No abdominal tuck. Obvious abdominal distension may be present.
9. GROSSLY OBESE

Rex is a very active 5 month old black lab puppy. We keep him somewhere between 3 and 4. He will fill out as he ages, but for a puppy, thats ideal.

Between my wife and I he walks at least 2-3 miles a day, exclusive of training and fetch. He’s fed 1 3/4 cups of Purina Pro Plan in the morning and 1 1/4 cups at night plus some supplements. He gets plenty of water - as much as he wants. We have never fed him table food, indeed he goes into the crate when we eat. However, he’s starting to pick up the taste for people food thanks to my youngest who enjoys throwing food on the ground. Its a struggle, but we generally control his intake enough that I don’t think it amounts to more than if we gave him the occaisional doggie treat.

Doggie Treats are something else. I don’t do them (though my wife does). I think they lead to disobedient dogs, not to mention fat dogs. My dogs are trained to respond to my praise. Rex has never been, and never will be, rewarded for good behavior with a treat. A well trained dog should be satisfied by doing the job his master demands, and if anything his reward is further attention and more play.

Spent the weekend hanging with the dog. Yesterday, we went to Roosevelt Island for a nature walk. Saw a baby turtle, a bunch of ducks in the marsh, and two different snakes sunning themselves. That got the oldest pretty excited.

Oh, and we also went to the beach opposite the Georgetown waterfront and played fetch with Rex. He’s a little leary of going too far into the water - wont easily go up past his tummy but after sploshing around has no problem getting fully immersed, as long as he can still stand. Its not really a problem, yet, as he is still a puppy so I want to ease him into this.

I’m training him according to Dick Wolter’s Gun Dog book - which co0incides with the instructions he has received and will receive from Jack Jagoda (his breeder and trainer) later this summer (who, incidentally, is mentioned a number of times in the book).

The one thing Wolters recommends is playing it slow and letting the dog have fun in the water and get used to it at his own pace. We did that, and I further walked out with him into the river (the air was 80 degrees, but the river was fricken cold) and held him as he got a hang for paddling. It seemed to work for a second, but then he splashed around hitting the bottom again.

We did that for some time, and then some other dogs showed up which made it difficult to train, but made it very exciting for him to play. And, he is a playful puppy after all, so play they did. Of course, in playing with others (even dogs that aren’t nearly as trained as he is, he is still learning - and from these he learned a bit about swimming).

Incidentally, some bitch came walking up to the beach - and was just standing there amidst all the dogs, when she suddenly started yelling at them all to behave as they started coming up to snff her (as dogs do). She was clearly not a dog person, which begs the question, why would she put herself amidst 3 playing dogs????

The rest of the walk went well. Rex is really progressing, and I showed off some of the skills I was working on that morning to the wife - much to the amazement of others who saw him. For instance, he will know (largely) sit on (whistle) command from a distance and then stay till I release him. I was able to walk 150 yards away from him whistle him to come, and then stop him on a dime half way to me, to sit, until I released him again. Its a pretty basic skill, but still something to see in a little puppy.

Today, I took him over to the Izaak Walton league to introduce him to gun fire. Went first to the skeet range, backed my Cherokee up to the field I was on and opened the back with him in the crate. We shot 3 rounds of skeet (I sucked hard), with him there and then I went to the rifle range and played with the WASR (more on that later), in a similar setup (though he was a bit further away). Afterward, we jumped into the pond and splashed around. Without a beach, he was a lot more hesitant to jump, or even, crawl in so I laid off the training and just let him chill and play and splash.

Tonight, though, things got interesting. We had some chocolate cake for dinner, and my son got up without finishing his. It took only a second for the dog to jump up and grab it (a bad bad habit that seems terrible difficult to break - especially with my wife unwilling to properly discipline a puppy) so I ended up spending the night at the emergency vet clinic. They induced vomiting and gave him some medication, and kept us there for 4 hours. Oh, and it cost $389, which is a lot but not as bad as I thought it would be.

Well, it doesn’t look like I’ll be getting an EBR this year.

Or, make that, I got a different kind of EBR this year.

Haven’t agreed on a full name yet (right now we are torn between Elvis, Presley and Bubba) but we just got a fantastic black lab puppy from Jack Jagoda and the good folks at Deep Run Retrievers here in Virginia.

Here’s his pedigree

WOW!!!

For those who don’t know him, Jack is one of the foremost trainers of hunting dogs in the country.

Jack has over 25 years experience training and handling retrievers for hunting, field trials, and hunt tests. He had the first-ever Master Hunting Retriever, GMHR Trieven Thunder Annie. Jack is co-founder and current president of the North American Hunting Retriever Association (NAHRA). Jack developed the NAHRA hunting retriever training clinic program and is co-author of the Waterfowl Hunters Guide. He participated in the South African National Retriever Championship and in the Game Fair at Rome, Italy. Jack is the founder and director of the Richard A. Wolters (RAW) Foundation, Inc. The RAW Foundation is a charitable, educational and scientific nonprofit corporation dedicated to the advancement and improvement of purebred working retrievers.

He is also the co-founder of the North America Hunting Retriever Association.

n the 1980s hunters with good retrievers, but without the resources, or time, to be able to be competitive in field trials were anxious to have an avenue to test their dogs for hunting abilities. The Qualifying and then Hunting Dog stake at field trials satisfied that need for a while, but did not offer titles. Thus something more was desired.

The North American Hunting Retriever Association (NAHRA) was formed to satisfy this need. AKC and NAHRA worked together for a while developing a joint hunting test for retrievers. After a time AKC and NAHRA went their separate ways. At this point AKC began it’s own Hunting Test for Retrievers program with titles offered for Junior Hunter, Senior Hunter and Master Hunter.

He wasn’t cheap (I could have gotten a few EBR’s for his price), but he’s a gorgeous puppy from impeccable lines and I expect great things from him in the future.

Expect to see lots of retriever training posts here too! Our goal is to get him his junior hunt title by this fall.

Pics and more later!

UPDATE

We are struggling over a name. I thought, how about a poll!?!?!