lefty's random dog thread.

[Digmenow]

I've been away from this part of the forum for over a week and was saddened to read the events of the past days.

Deepest sympathies for your loss, Teger.

 

[limping_decorum]

a breeder of ridgebacks i had been keeping up with had one of their dogs poisoned at a show....

RIP Denga....

 

[gomestar]



a breeder of ridgebacks i had been keeping up with had one of their dogs poisoned at a show....

wtf????

 

[Find Finn]



wtf????

+ a lot

 

[JLibourel]

Fine-looking animal! Can we get more facts? Was the poisoning deliberate or accidental? If deliberate, any possible motives? Dog show people can be insanely competitive and extremely hateful, as I know from experience. Or it could have been animal rights nuts with a vendetta against the whole business of breeding and showing pure-bred dogs. Sounds like it could be a good start for a Susan Conant novel, for those of you familiar with her works.

A bad, sad business in any event.

 

[limping_decorum]

info on their facebook page....

some people had issue with the color of their ridgebacks in the past...

 

[Thor]

My condolences, Teger...that is never easy...

...and yes, double ++ to "WTF?" on the poor Ridgeback..

with so much death and sadness on here lately, here is a bit of a lighter note:

I was in Paris recently and spotted some dog walkers who actually used Belgian Tervurens and Malinois to walk other dogs!

It was fascinating- the Terv and Mal were full-on worker dogs literally walking the other dogs. Here is a pic of the Mal- the hefty Rotty-mix tried to head over to some other dogs and Mal would have none of it- he pulled and tugged and dug his feet in until the other dog acquiesced and went where the Mal took him...fascinating to watch and made me proud as a Belgian owner myself.

 

[LawrenceMD]

Teger... I'm so sorry. I hate to admit it, but I actively avoided this thread because I'd get broken up reading your posts and then thinking about how I'd deal with losing my puppy.

At least its over now, and you have a lot of awesome memories with your dog.

The saturday before the storm hit we hit sterling forest and hiked a trail. Buster did great, it was a pretty tough 4 mile hike up to a fire tower, fall colors were so so pretty:

the week before we went to Fort Tilden/Breezy Point. Unfortuneatly according to the news Breezy Point (coastal beach town in Queens) was hit hard by Sandy (lots of flooding, fires, damage).

breezy point has these mini cape cod like 15foot san dunes..... the dog was climbing back and forth/up and down over those mother F***ers for like an hour.

 

[rnoldh]

Teger, you truly went over and above in your handling of a very tough situation.

I'm sure she was a great dog. And I'm just as sure you were as good a companion-owner.

Hang in there.

 

[Virginia Dandy]

Teger - deepest sympathies to you and the GF. Brutal. Just brutal.

Thanks for sharing your experience.

I dread the day when I will inevitably face a similar situation with my little guy.

 

[Wallcloud]

 

[Find Finn]

Was at a dog shop yesterday, where they had alcohol free dog beer.

 

[Cold Iron]

In the last 2 weeks the thought crossed my mind each day how lucky I am to have a dog that I don’t deserve. Just got back from the annual pheasant hunt in South Dakota. Half a dozen retired military men and their dogs get together there for our annual “veterans day” hunt on the prairie. Leading up to that most of us spend a couple of weeks hunting ruffled grouse in Vermont, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Washington State. The pheasant hunt in SD is a very social event and something we all look forward to each year, and so do the dogs. We eat and drink very well including a little pheasant valley wine.



Served with smoked salmon caught in Alaska on a fly rod, steaks from elk shot in Colorado, antelope backstrap and of course lots of pheasant. 3 retired Air Force pilots and 3 retired Navy we take turns each night trying to out cook each other. Rank and service branch has no place or meaning, how you shoot, hunt and your dog works and handles are what matter the most.

This is likely the end of the golden years for SD pheasant hunting. Much of the CRP land is not being renewed and it is likely that SD will go the way of Kansas and Iowa with declining population of birds. But for now it is still the best pheasant hunting in the States with people and dogs coming from all over the country to hunt pheasant and sharptails, you see a lot of dog trailers hauling up to half a dozen dogs. The limit is 3 birds a day.



We do it the old fashioned way pinching ditches, walk in areas, waterfowl production areas and after 11 years of networking some private land. On some of the private land a thousand birds can get up at the end of the walk, a dog that isn’t experienced at that will go crazy and even piss all over itself in excitement the first couple of times. It isn’t easy hunting and there are hazards. A lot of skunks and getting skunked is common. Badger holes are hidden by grass and go straight down for a few feet, they injure both dogs and men. Barbed wire is a threat to dogs when they are chasing a bird, many dogs have to get stitches and then trying to keep the dog from bitting the stitches out is a problem. The chest is the most commonly damaged area. We have found that instead of the traditional cones around the neck a stiff elongated collar to restrict bending the neck is better along with a youth T-shirt taped to the dog to cover the stitches work best.



A split nail can be fixed temporally with super glue and dental floss but when the split goes to the nail bed it requires a trip to the vet and then nightly soaking in Epsom salts.



The Admiral has a brace of female Weinheimer’s which are great hunters. The young one is developing nicely and had 4 points in a row on roosters with 4 kills and retrieves. They really seem to like each other a lot…..



Maggie is a 14 year old water spaniel that has no quit in her. But at the end of the day wants to be left alone to recover.



Pete is a 7 year old lab in his prime. He sees ~1,000 pheasants a year and when we have a problem finding a cripple he is the one we call in. He is on the left.



Shiloh is a year and half old pointing lab. And yes can point, he is going to be one heck of a hunting dog, in fact already is. Shiloh only weighs 40 pounds and is the smallest lab I have ever seen.



The Toller is getting old but doesn’t seem to know it. He made a 150 yard blind retrieve on a runner in tall grass pinning and killing the rooster. With age he keeps getting better and when needed is not so slow despite the joints in his hips being almost totally gone. Sunflowers to the left of me, grass to the right, why are we not hunting there has to be a phez in here somewhere…



Hey I found a phez in the neighbors front yard! Got to love SD.



Wish I would have taken pictures of another dog in attendance, a French Britt that is hell on wheels. I am seriously considering getting one after watching her hunt the cattail sloughs. A friend that I hunt ruff grouse with in the Mn. Arrowhead has 3 FB so I have seen them in action in the woods. 2 of his made the cover of Bird Dog and Retriever News last year. He was hunting pheasant about 80 miles from us this year but it is hard to be at 2 places at the same time.



The Skipper is currently without a dog after his last GSP passed, he lives 6 months at his house in Mass. and then 6 months at his house in Hawaii (Oahu). Hawaii has no rabies and wants to keep it that way so there is an extended quarantine on dogs coming to the rock from the States. He will pick up a dog this spring while there, Maui is second only to SD for pheasant hunting so there are some good kennels there.

When a dog is left in behind in the vehicle to rest while you and everyone else goes hunting they usually start crying and howling. This is commonly known as a Montana GPS, you can find your way back to the vehicle by the noise. The Toller is no exception but does what is known as the Toller scream. It sounds like a person screaming and can make your hair stand on end. When coming home every time I stopped at a rest area or for gas he would start screaming as soon as I stopped, he didn’t know why I was stopping and thought it was time to hunt. I stopped in Sioux Falls, SD to get gas and a young lady was filling up on the other side of the pump. My vehicle was rocking from the dog thrashing and it sounded like someone was being tortured in there. She glanced over nervously a few times and finally I said guess the dog wants to hunt. You can’t really explain it to someone, it has to be experienced to be understood. It is what the dogs were breed and live for.

 

[lefty]

Nice write up, CI. Seems like a great group of dogs.

lefty

 

[Bakes11771]

That sounds like my idea of a good time. I am super jealous. I have been trying to hunt the stocked pheasant at the state game land by me, but haven't gotten to shoot my gun once yet this season. Have gone out with my dog, a lab/shepherd mix who doesn't hunt, and is just along for some fresh air, but also my GF's dad who has 3 GSPs. Will probably go back out tomorrow, even if we don't put up any birds, my dog and I need the exercise.

Do you have to worry about snakes out there? I hope to hunt wild pheasant one day, its amazing what you mentioned about putting up a flock of hundred/thousands at a time. Also, I never would have guessed there are pheasant in HI.

Thanks for sharing.