The Spelga.
This was a sort of a shakedown cruise for the trailer and the car. This is the first time I have driven the car with the trailer fully loaded since I had the air flow sensor replaced. The Skoda pulls really well and is quite capable of exceeding the legal limit for a trailer and pulls away from a standing start really well. Only problem is that the side lights aren’t working again.
The car was the only good bit. Yes, the dogs enjoyed the skip down to the reservoir and most, including Lucky had a swim, or at least a paddle. The bad news is that there is a flock of sheep in the fenced off area. Over the last twenty years there hasn’t been any sheep at all. I can only assume that either the Spelga no longer supplies water for human consumption or it is no longer a requirement to keep sheep away from drinking water. I think I feel a FOI enquiry coming on. It is a real kick in the wedding tackle if I can’t use this place in June.
Tam is being very hard on Coco and Basso equally so on Lucky but if I put the two pups together they make such a racket playing.
The Wee Res.
I remember watching a television programme a long time ago about “Natural Instinct” in animals. It went into great detail about such phenomena as the geese flying south in the winter. The programme concluded that this was not instinct or intelligence but simply a demonstration that the geese had triggers that they could feel that we couldn’t. Perhaps it was the temperature or the number of daylight hours. I was unable to look at peoples’ assertions about the intelligence of there animals in the same light, after this.
When Jalad pointed his first snipe on the mountain after watching Jump, his sire, produce in the region of two dozen the same afternoon I didn’t know if it was instinct or intelligence. Well it was real Wimbledon weather here this afternoon, 28c and only the merest zephyr of a breeze. I decided to take Tam and Coco to the small reservoir to give Tam a swim. Even with his coat thinned out Tam suffers in these conditions. He could cope with the water retrieves but the few on dry land left him a good deal drier but knackered. Coco had watched all this and run about with Tam while he was searching for the dummies. Sitting till Tam got his breath back I threw the dummy and said, ” OK Coco, fetch.” and he did. Not, once, or twice but three times. Does this mean he’s intelligent, or was this instinct? Whatever it was it seems to run in the family. I sincerely hope it’s not intelligence. Intelligent dogs are never easy to train.
Beechfield.
James Smith remembered me talking about trying to see Wm. Arkwrights Ch. Sea Breeze. Well I would have looked a long time to see her in Tain Museum. She is in TRING.
I had seen her described as “lemon” which appears to be borne out by the nose colour. It is difficult to see how she could have been described as “leggy” as she appears quite squat but then that’s photography for you. I’ll just have to go see for myself.
Black Mountain.
Jay, Ross and I took Tam, Coco and Lucky up the road to Black Mountain. The intention was to go to the summit but Jay threw the towel in on the shoulder. Tam suffered in the heat and Coco seems to have sore feet. We were out for about an hour but obviously we were on the road and that’s probably why Coco is suffering.
With the exception of Coc0 I have all the dogs in reasonable shape. Coco is looking a bit spare just now and I have upped his grub by 20% and he may get another 20% for a while. Basso’s pad is healing steadily but is still far from right.
I have had to do some of the dogs’ ears for wax which is something doesn’t usually need much attention at this time of the year.
I am off on holidays for the next fortnight and will be away for a week of that. When I return I will make a concerted effort to start the job of getting the dogs fit. The Old Girl, Judy will take some work this year as she is now eight and I don’t want her to damage herself as she is a dog that wouldn’t spare herself. Judy doesn’t do “Taking it easy” The rest will get a fair bit of work as well. It will be interesting to see how difficult it will be to keep the condition on Jalad once he starts working. I will have to get him weighed to see just how heavy he is.
Beechfield.
So that was The Med. Haven’t seen rain in a week. Thermometer wasn’t under 20c any time I saw it, day or night and it was somewhere around 40c in Rome. Hot and cold running waiters and smashing entertainment.
I have been very lucky to have Ryan to look after the dogs when I’m away but I always like to give them a once over when I get home. In general they are all in good shape but Lucky and Coco look a bit spare so I will up their grub. Coco has a lump in this throat. I don’t know what happened but I think it must have happened before I left. I reckon a flesh wound has healed from the outside. I’ll get a course of strong anti bods and hopefully that will clear that up. In addition Chris has a number of sores on his rump. He is a creature of habit and lies exactly the same way in the kennel every night with the result that these sores appear. The only way to keep them in check is to move him between kennels on a regular basis. I normally alternate the dogs every day but I forgot to tell Ryan to do it. In fact I h0ld him to leave them in the same kennels for the time I was away so it’s down to me.
I have the tripe out to defrost so from tomorrow afternoon, I’m going to Specsavers, it will be “Game on” for 2009.
P.S.
Pigeons looking fat and sleek but there’s no sign of any eggs.
Cave Hill.
16.5c. Humid. Dull at times, threatening rain but mostly sunny.
Jalad, Roxy, Judy & Chris.
I wasn’t expecting any discipline problems and I didn’t get any but to start off I only ran the dogs in rotating pairs but eventually I just let them all go. We were out of about an hour and a half and they all did OK but Jalad did drink a lot of water. I use Cave Hill for this time of the year because for a start off it is the only place I can go before 1st July and also because there is always water available and if I can keep dogs properly hydrated then they can run for longer, even when unfit, and therefore real fitness comes more quickly.
Before we went to the hill I got Jalad weighed and he is 30.35 kgs. I guess if I can get him fit at 30kgs then I will be really pleased.
I can’t say why but I decided to try one of the pigeons out last night. I had it out twice and on the basis of the success with that bird I tried another this morning. As I write it is sitting on a roof of the house behind so I hope it will be back in tonight.
The Practice & The Big Res.
Jay and I first off took Coco & Lucky to The Practice and just let them gallop about. Lucky is a lot firmer on his feet so he was able to keep up with Coco a lot better, until, that is, Coco took off after a swallow. Both then ended up giving tongue but it was towards the end of their walk so it didn’t last for long.
We then went back and took Tam and Basso to the Big Res. I let Jay give Tam his water retrieves and I spent the time dropping Basso and keeping him down. This hard ground is exactly what Basso was bred to run on and he is really impressive when running. He is also is a relative compliant dog and he is quite easy to handle.
I have decided that Jay is now capable of handling a dog but there is just one big problem. He isn’t unique as I have found that young handlers have difficulty blowing a whistle. Oh they can get a noise out of it all right but Jay just can’t blow ther required sequences for a trained dog. He’ll just have to work at it.
I have had the first pigeon out several times this morning but there hasn’t been any sign of the second bird since it was seen on the roof yesterday afternoon.
The Wee Res.
18.5c. Clear blue sky, sunny.
Because of the on going dispute in The South there are no trials before 1st August this year and because a fair number of Northern Ireland competitors head for the circuit on The Mainland thare are none in Northern Ireland either. The net result is that I’m not in as big a hurry this year so I have decided to do things slightly differently. I am concentrating on control, dropping and all that good stuff. I take the dogs to the reservoir, let them gallop about a good bit, until they start to blow ( not too long at this time and with these conditions) and then I do two minute drills.Tonight it was Jalad and Judy and as two auld hands they did it perfectly.
I’m not going to test any more pigeons as they are dropping like flies. I only have one that’s doing the biz, the others that I have tried have buggered off. I have four more unfledged squabs lined up and it they don’t work out I’ll shoot myself.
Coco’s overall condition improving and Lucky looking great.
The Signal Centre.
I took Chris and Roxy to the Signal Centre after work. It was a really sunny, warm (26.5c) and nearly windless day. I actually wanted to see Chris backing Roxy but it didn’t work out that way at first. Chris got to the bird first and then both he and Roxy left the point. I get the impression that they didn’t believe that there was a bird there. Eventually it worked out as I wanted. Chris and Roxy did a big cross wind cut to the right. Roxy was back first and on point long before Chris hove into view. He feathered up and eventually backed at about fifteen yards. Both dogs were more or less perfect on the flush. It was quite strange as they had left a point when nearly on top of the bird and here they were, more or less perfect, from forty yards.
The dogs know the routine. After they have been fed I empty a 210l. plastic barrel of water over the runs. The dogs usually head for the safety of their kennels when I start to tip the barrel over. Coco had tried in vain to pull a wayward piece of dog food under the dividing fence. He then sat down and watched the bit of food intently, not moving when I started to pull at the barrel. When the barrel was tipped over the water washed the bit of food under the fence where he pounced on it. I know he’s a smart dog but I just can’t believe that he anticipated what was going to happen. Or did he? He is turning into a fine lump of a dog. With the tripe ration his coat is gleaming and he is going to be a brute. Not so sure that the proportions are going to be completely right as he looks a tad short in the leg but he’s a handsome one, if you like that sort of thing.
The Wee Res and The Practice.
Took Basso and Tam out after tea. The idea was to let Tam cool down in the water and to get Basso a find. Tam thoroughly enjoyed himself. But even after all the swimming he was still badly under pressure due to the warmth in the evening sun. Technically I succeeded with Basso. He had a find, but it taught him and I absolutely nothing. The meadow was mowed sometime this week but I was still able to hide the launcher in a rut. Basso lept out of the car went through the gap in the hedge and pointed the pigeon about sixty yards away. He was a bit sticky when roading but as usual was impeccable on the flush.
The Wee Res.
Jalad.
After doing the dishes I took Jalad for a spin. I planted the bird right at one end of where I had been with Basso and took Jalad further in the other direction. The net result was that he had much more of a run around before he came to the bird. There was no perceivable air and he did really well to take it but then Jalad, for all that he was trained on quail, pigeons and even the odd planted pheasant is just about the best dog I have ever owned, around game. I don’t know if there was a puff of a breeze for a second but he took the bird at about fifteen yards from the side. He was as steady as a rock and after a short road his manners were impeccable on the flush.
There was more to this than just a bit of a gallop. With the exception of Judy, who just doesn’t do pigeons, all the adults have had a find. Judy will point the bird if everything is dead on but if I have miss marked the launcher, which I do frequently, and Judy ends up on top of it a pinioned bird means just one thing to her. A free lunch. This has confirmed my thoughts that Jalad, and Basso will be the best dogs to help introduce Coco and Lucky to pigeons. I will probably start with Basso for the two pups are best friends with Basso but once they show any inclination to point I will use Jalad. He is just so much steadier, especially if he is close to the bird, and it is helpful if the puppy can actually smell the bird. They will go to the pointing dog in the first place for no other reason than to see why it is standing like that. But the ones that actually pick up the scent seem to catch on the quickest. I wonder how long it will be before I have Coco pointing. A week, or a year?
Signal Centre
The first, and perhaps the only, effort today was a dismal failure, or to be more precise, battery failure. Just because of the way the dogs were split up at feeding time I took Jalad and Coco. Gave Jalad a good bit of space and he did what little ground he had to do quite nicely. I kept Coco on the lead after an initial blow out and Jalad eventually came to the bird and pointed. He was fairly close due to virtually no wind again but this was just what I wanted. I walked Coco up to a point slightly to one side of Jalad and about ten yards back so that he would have unrestricted sight of the flush. Initially he stood and watched and eventually sat and watched. Quite intently, obviously wondering what was going on. I waited until Coco was looking directly at Jalad and pushed the button. Nothing happened as the battery in the launcher had failed. I tied up the dogs and released the bird by hand. That got Coco’s attention but was way short of what I had wanted.
After tea.
Same venue. A bit cooler and a bit of a breeze.
I asked a rhetorical question yesterday. Would Coco point in a week or a day? Well how does a day sound. Even after replacing the battery there were issues with the launcher so I decided, even before I had the dogs out of the car, not to let Coco off. He may have behaved correctly but if the launcher hadn’t functioned then the dog could have been put back weeks. I let Jalad have a good wander about before he got to the bird and just as required he pointed about six feet off the bird. I positioned Coco about ten feet back and slightly to the right so that he could see the flush. He backed/pointed. The lead was slack and the dog was steady and in a loose pointing stance. When I triggered the launcher he started, just a slight forward jerk and then he stood and watched the bird away with his ears up. There’s no doubt that if not on the lead he would have gone after it but, what the heck? He pointed!
We have had a mini drought here of late and Jalad was uncomfortable on the hard ground and it’s going to be interesting getting him fit at his new fighting weight of 30 kgs.
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