Next-generation bird location and retrieval device

[poopgiggle]

After waiting for a good 2 years to get a bird dog I finally brought my new Brittany, Olly, home on Friday.

Here he is finally taking a break from chewing/peeing on everything


I'm going to start getting him out into the world after his first vet checkup and shots tomorrow. I can already tell he's got a great nose; it turns out that something killed a squirrel in my yard a while back and he's been sniffing out squirrel pieces from the weeds. Hopefully enough quail survived last summer that I can get him into some birds in a few months.

PS big thanks to dennishoddy for suggesting I get a Brittany a long time ago on a different forum.

 

[dennishoddy]

Man, he's a good looking pup! Sounds like his nose and instincts are already kicking in.
You probably already know this, but let him be a puppy for about a year. If he wants to chase butterfly's or whatever, it won't hurt his serious training.

 

[aeropb]

cute doggy

 

[Dux-R-Us]

cute pic. get lots of puppy pics now, cuz they grow so fast!

puppies at that age are great. full of promise and potential. we don't yet know what wonderful adventures we'll have with our gun dogs afield, only that we will have wonderful adventures. the dog work is really the only reason to go hunting for me.

according to my neighbor (rangeland biologist and hunter), SW OK is still good for quail hunting. of course, one can always go to a shooting preserve and shoot birds in lieu of actual hunting. a good way to concentrate on handling your dog by getting some guns whom you trust to shoot for you.

what kennel and breeder did you get him at? got a name yet?

tally ho!

K

 

[poopgiggle]

what kennel and breeder did you get him at?

Got him from Elkhorn Gundogs. I picked him up at the kennel and got to meed Randall and Lola. They're real solid dog people. They also breed Red Setters, which are an attempt to breed hunting instincts back into the Irish Setter. Their website doesn't show them yet but I saw that they had just whelped a litter of Red Setters when I was up there.

got a name yet?

Olly, named after OllyDbg because I am a huge nerd.

 

[aeropb]

Ollie Williams!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXBdowl-dno

 

[poopgiggle]

Update: today I went out for a tour of some organic farm in Bixby that also raises guinea hens. I took Olly along because I thought it would be fun to let him run around a farm a little bit.

Long story short, as soon as he saw the guineas he went NUTS. The farmer told me to let him off leash, and Olly spent the next half hour or so chasing them. He only stopped because they all flew up on top of their cage to get away from him and he got bored.

So at 3 months old his bird drive is pretty strong.

 

[dennishoddy]

Cool!

 

[Vash1023]

congrats, looks great

 

[poopgiggle]

So, unfortunately my grandpa's health doesn't allow him to train dogs or hunt anymore. The upside to this is that I just got a bunch of his old hunting and dog training stuff.

I was thinking of doing a thread cataloging all of the stuff. Is there any interest in that? Or will it just be me saying "hey guys check out this old thing!" and dennishoddy saying "hey I bought one of those new you whippersnapper!"?

 

[dennishoddy]

BWAAAA!
Actually, I've been fortunate in just putting my pups on birds, with some yard training to whoa, and get used to hand directions.

So, any thing I can learn would be a benefit not only to me, but to others wanting to start an upland dog, and hesitant to buy one.

Go for it!

First tip, is to train each dog individually, and not put the pup with experienced dogs, as they become a "follower" instead of a "hunter".
Its all yours buddy.

 

[poopgiggle]

It wouldn't be a thread about training, just about all the vintage hunting gear. There's quite a bit. Most of it is in that old "duck hunter camo" pattern that I don't think they make anymore.

My favorite so far is the shirt with this patch on it:

 

[dennishoddy]

What part of the country did he live in?

 

[poopgiggle]

What part of the country did he live in?

He lived in Chicago for most of his adult life but he used to hunt grouse in SW Michigan. He and my grandma then retired to SW Michigan. Now they bounce between Michigan and AZ. He's not even well enough to keep Pointers as pets anymore, let alone hunt with them, so he's been excited to help me get going.

I took the dog out to the Ft Gibson PHA again today. I heard a Bobwhite calling in the distance and got really excited, only to discover that it was on the other side of the fence in private land. ARGH.

 

[poopgiggle]

Finally got out Monday to Ft Gibson. Expectations were pretty low but I wanted to get the dog out.

No quail but the dog can find rabbits like nobody's business. The search continues.

 

[dennishoddy]

Don't let him run rabbits unless you want a rabbit dog. Thats a capitol offense for Gunner to do. I've seen a few quail hunters out in my area while I've been deer hunting. Watched a covey of 8 birds working their way through the grass under my stand yesterday.