Halloween Gruel

All Hallowed Eve found us feeding the pups their second feeding of Gruel.  Yesterday was their first effort and it took a little coaxing as it's definitely not "Mom".  As you'll see in the video - they're quick studies though!  Very cute, and very messy.  Enjoy!

Puppies are growing

This clip is really the first time the group has played.  They are developing quickly now and we'll start seeing more what each one's personality will be like.  The play didn't last long, only a few minutes before they all piled together again for yet another nap.



I like this short clip - The puppies had been playing for a few minutes then all gathered into a pile, this little one (pink girl) faced me and gradually nods off...  zzzzzzzzzzzz 

South Dakota - Finale

yes, I know - I already typed this up though, so I'll post it then go back to adding more pictures and video's of the puppies, which takes some time...  thanks for hanging in there!

Friday, October 22, 2010


Today was a great day. It was, to me, the epitome of why we came here. Our young string of dogs has had hundreds of bird contacts and gradually, they are putting the pieces together. It was a day of singular hunting. Rod and I have very much enjoyed each other’s company – today I yearned to just spend time alone with my dogs, and Rod felt the same. To come to this place, be alone with your thoughts and your dog is an enormously fulfilling and satisfying experience.

Hank and I went to a several hundreds of acres open prarie field that had old coal diggings at the back of it. He launched with exuberance having had Thursday off and swallowed the dry grassland with each powerful bound. Not long, he passed over a rise and I could only see him on the Garmin Astro receiver I carried. He swung left to right and passed over the coal dig tailings at the rear of the property. Here movement slowed, then the Garmin chirped that he was on point. I could not see him, he was beyond my sight and nearly 400 yards out. I began resolutely to walk towards him, mostly expecting another bump or wild flush. The yards ticked down slowly on the Garmin and between us now was a large pond, which I had to detour, backtrack and resume my long trek to the standing dog. Climbing up the rise I reach the top after at least a five minute hike and the Garmin indicates he’s about 34 yards away – I see his flash collar through the brush, still unmoving. As I approach, two pheasant give wing. The first breaks from cover to my right – a hen. The second pitches up and straight away downslope and my shot finds it’s target, tumbling the bird among the broken sage and grass slope. These are the moments one hopes for when hunting. At that moment, all things came together. The dog suddenly understood fully the aspect of hunting together and for the remaining hour and a half he stayed in contact with me as he never had before. We were becoming a team. Finally.

Scarlet also has the fire of our breeding. Though not as independent a dog as Hank, she definitely has her own mind. Of particular interest to me, twice this week, unbeknownst to me, I dropped my tri-tronics electric collar transmitter through my vest rather than in the front pouch where I keep it. Scarlet twice smelled and pointed the transmitter, saving me several hundreds of dollars and the aggravation of replacing it!

How she found them, whether it was the scent of my hands or from some bird smell from it’s riding in my hunting vest, I will never know. What I DO know is that she was very happily rewarded and told what a fantastically wonderful dog she was when she located them!

The week has found her overly excited with hundreds of bird contacts, many being multiple bird rises, whether coveys of sharptail or bands of pheasant, not many of her contacts were solitary birds. Her first introduction was on a treeline the first day that she and her cohort in Crime Bailey bumped and chased probably around 40-50 birds with several coming up together at nearly every stride. That’s enough to unglue even a seasoned dog, let alone a couple of first season youngsters. But, eventually she began to respond a bit better and work more “with” me than to pursue her own dreams and aspirations. When I began to drop birds and she discovered her natural retrieve to hand, we – like Hank and I earlier in the day – began to gel as a team.

We paired up on sharptail and pheasant alike and my shooting was improving along with that of the dogs. The end of the day found Scarlet and my efforts rewarded with a nice brace of Sharptail Grouse, a rooster pheasant that gave her the slip and fine memories of time spent together in simple yet breathtaking landscapes.

I look back with happiness that I was able to share this with great dogs and a great friend.  I already miss being out on the Prairie, and the dogs are looking at me at home wondering the same thing - when can we go back...

I hope next year brings a couple more friends with us - who knows, it could be you! 

South Dakota Part III

Wednesday October 20th, 2010

This morning I did some errand running. Rod stayed at the house (working on his blog no doubt - http://www.redbirddog.blogspot.com/)

Rod working on his blog http://www.redbirddog.blogspot.com/

I went into Isabel, which is a town about 9 miles away. I had to pick up a few items from the Hardware store get an extra key made and settle up my account from repair work that I’ve had done on the place. It’s interesting in small towns – everyone knows about others and Tammy at the hardware store was very nice and greeted me warmly. It felt good. I can’t put into words the feeling I get when I’m here, but I’ve immediately come to appreciate the genuine people in this area and am already starting to feel sorrow in leaving in a few days.

a clip from the internet of Isabel Hardware

Rod and I decided to branch out and try some new areas to hunt today. We’ve had limited success in bird counts, but great fun and the young dogs are getting better at handling these wild birds. We’ve found that running “two tracks” which are much less used county roads has worked pretty well. As my feet are trashed, I let Rod and Bailey out, drive ahead about 400 yards and get out with one of my dogs and start walking back towards the Michaelson team. This “pinches” the running birds between us and offers more opportunities with less energy expended (can you tell we’re tiring!)

Hunting the two track

While driving some of these smaller back roads, we came by a neat old place on a hill that piqued our interest.  Over the next few days, we dubbed it "Rod's Place".

Rod's Place

Thursday October 21st, 2010

Today Rod and I decided to take a trip into Mobridge, which is about 50 miles to the East. It is a larger town, with most of the amenities one would expect in a city. We stopped at Runnings Farm & Fleet which has nearly anything a guy could want from Hunting gear to tools to dog supplies. It was a nice morning trip and reminds me of how little of the area we’ve really seen yet. I’d like to do more exploring, but time and energy wanes…

The Railroad bridge on the Missouri River at Mobridge, SD.
Picture clipped from the internet

We took the dogs to a favorite area of ours today and had a good hunt. It’s difficult here to keep track of how many birds one encounters. By our estimation, in three hours of hunting with Bailey and Nellie we probably had around 20. Of those we had at least half a dozen shots and if we were shooting better could have reached near our limits. My shooting is sporadic, I definitely need more practice with shooting left handed, but it is gradually coming more comfortably.

A "honey hole" where we nearly always found birds

The conditions are very dry now. We dropped three birds today. Two of which we never recovered. Nellie worked hard with Bailey - The marks were good, the dogs were on top of where the birds fell within seconds and the search fruitless. It’s amazing how hardy the birds are – as dry as it is they don’t seem to be leaving trails to track wounded birds. Frustrating yes, even more so the thought of game going to the coyotes.

After our hunt we stopped by the Boysen Farm and visited with the family that helps take care of our place here. They are wonderful people and have made us feel very much at home here. New found friends that seem as though we’ve known each other much longer than the time we have. They have friends coming next month for deer season and Bernie commented that they weren’t sure where they were going to fit them. I’m honored to be able to offer them the use of this place. I know it is in good hands.

The lodge at Firsteel Creek

After that we drove on to Firesteel Creek Lodge about 5 miles away. It’s an absolutely beautiful place that high rollers come to pheasant and sharptail hunt. They use four wheel drive hunting buggies to cover the vast lands that we are working on foot. Guess that’s where paying the fees pays off! They are also great folks and it was nice to see them again. Tomorrow is the last day of hunting and a quick pack up for an early departure Saturday morning.

A couple Puppy video's

Ok, so I'll try this again!  Here is a little clip that we took today.  You'll notice their eyes are opening up and their mobility is increasing.



Here's a longer clip - I cut the resolution so it wasn't so huge a file, but it's still pretty large.



We'll post more soon!

Time in the Praries - Part II

Monday, October 18, 2010

The dogs slept very well last night and don’t seem to mind lounging this morning inside where it’s warm. The day broke clear and cold. Outside temperature on the window thermometer read 28 degrees with a constant 10+ mph wind. Then about 8 a.m. fog came in and it is currently gloomy outside and quite cold. We will go out again this afternoon.

I have concerns of the dog’s physical ability to make the full week. It’s only the second day and there are numerous abrasions and scrapes, a slight cut on Scarlet’s pad. I will definitely try to limit each dog to about an hour and a half hunt each day.

Public Walk in area sign

This is all entirely walk in hunting, no quads, nor horses.  All on foot.  I also will see how my feet hold up. After one afternoon of hunting, I have large blisters on each heel. It won't let it stop me, but it may slow me down.

We returned to the area we hunted yesterday. Today I decided to carry a different gun and see if I felt more comfortable with it. Apparently – YES! The first bird came up and one shot it was down!

Each of the dogs ran about 1 1 /2 hours. Hank seems to handle big country better than the narrow ravines and treelines where he easily separates.

tighter cover at Little Moreau Recreation Area

He had several sharptail grouse finds today and I managed to bring down a few birds for the dogs. Nellie had much fun in the corn fields and then a section of prarie grass adjacent to the corn where she had numerous points on hen pheasants and a few wild flushes of sharptails.

Mixed bag of South Dakota Rooster Pheasant and Sharptail Grouse

Tuesday, October 19th,

Today we decided to give the girls a day off. They are stiff and sore. Hank seems to be getting stronger if that’s possible. We decided to try our hand hunting Sharptail on the prairie with him. The first section we ran he handled well and though it looked promising, no birds were found. We moved to another piece of ground a mile or so away that we’d gotten sharptail contact and took a bird on Sunday. Hank opened up on this huge tract of land. We started off running into the constant 15 mph prairie wind and as he reached out, he could no longer hear any whistles or signals to change direction.



Rod Michaelson heading to Hank on Point (clik on picture to zoom in)

 Hank is home. To see this dog run on the wide open prairie in South Dakota is spectacular. I wish I had a horse or quad that we could use for these hunting areas we have access, because the country is so huge. He swallows ground so easily that we are working mile square tracts of ground and he covers all of it. When he was able to see me waving on top of a rise, he returned from his cast that the Garmin said 673 yards away. He came in to me and I gave him water. He’d been running for nearly an hour and stood next to me not even panting. I’m so impressed with his strength, stamina, bottom and drive. He’s an incredible dog – but he’s not made for hunting pheasants in tight treelines or draws.  As Rod and I agreed after listening to Atlas shrugged for a dozen hours of the drive - "A is A" and Hank is Hank.

A  happy tired Hank sporting his new cold weather coat

Puppy Update

It's been a big growth spurt from the last update on the puppies!  They are growing so quickly and all of them are solid and getting stronger every day.  Their eyes are beginning to open and their world is expanding. 

We've completed the bio-sensor training.  Yesterday was the 16th day.  We did this training from day three to day sixteen (see "Super Dog" Post ) for more information on Bio Sensor training and it's benefits.


Tessa keeping tabs on Janet with black collar pup



It's been interesting watching them progress through the training.  Initially, much resistance to lying on their backs, now though, they all seem to just melt in your hands.  The cool rag portion gets them standing quickly.  No one cares for the inverted hold very much at all, and they seem oblivious to the toe/foot stimulation. 



They all like the lying on their back... now.



We'll post a bunch of pictures in the next day!  Thanks for your patience while I went to play with the grownup dogs!



A great trip

Rod and I and the five red dogs returned this weekend from our 6 days of hunting in South Dakota.  It's difficult to put into a blog the adventures we had.  I ran a spotty journal of the trip, so will try to break it down into maybe a post a day.  I promise I'll get back on blogging about the puppies as well ASAP as I know you all are really interested in them! (any why wouldn't you be!)

Here we go...

My good friend Rod and I began our trek to South Dakota Friday the 15th of October. Rod arrived at 5:00 a.m. and we moved his gear and dogs to the truck and were on the road about 6: 20. 30 or so hours driving later, Saturday noon found us arriving at our Firesteel Camp. Though very, very tired from the drive we cleared the five kennels from weeds and gave the dogs some quick exercise, moved gear into the house then finally got a much needed and deserved nap.

Sunday morning we went scouting the country we could hunt and it was almost overwhelming in it’s enormity. We drove for over two hours and we only scouted one large area within 9 miles of the house. This was our first time ever hunting in South Dakota – no guide, pure freelance on public ground on opening weekend. What would the hunting pressure be like? Would there be numerous hunters to compete for the same patch of ground? These concerns quickly faded. We saw three or four other hunters and they had their places “staked out”, but we just went on to a spot we saw birds earlier and no one was nearby. We hunted for five hours and only saw a few hunters in the extreme distance. Much different than the competitive hunting in California.

But were there birds? Dewey County is not in the prime pheasant habitat of the State. Areas like Pierre or Chamberlain are world famous for their concentrations of pheasants. Thankfully, yes, there were many bird contacts for the young dogs we had on our string. Gradually, they began handling these skittish birds with more care. Shots began presenting themselves at more regular intervals. I am still very bad at left handed shooting. I’m not fluid on the mount and feel clumsy and slow. As a result, though I had half a dozen opportunities, I was unable to connect on these fast Prarie Pheasants. Hopefully I will gain skill over this week as I hope the dogs will.

Gone Huntin'

Well, I know I'll be back, but my Buddy Rod and I are heading East to the Plains of South Dakota for a week of Pheasant and Sharptail hunting with 5 lucky Vizslas.  There's no internet at the Cabin and it's not like there's a 'bucks with wifi down the street, so we'll be offline for a good week and a half. 

Sorry, as I know you'll all be looking for puppy updates, etc.  We'll have lots to post when we return!

Dew's and Docks

Yesterday Janet and a very good friend and fellow Vizsla enthusiast and Breeder "Auntie Lynn" took Mom and her seven dwarfs to see the Vet for the first time.  It was for their initial health check and to get their tails docked and dew claws removed.  They all came through fine and seem very content and happy.

In the US, the AKC standard is that the Vizsla tail is to be docked at 2/3 it's length.  This is typically done between day one and day three as the Pups nerve system is not yet fully developed.  There are some factions that feel this is a cruel and un-necessary procedure.  It has been banned in some European countries by legislators listening to the Animal Rights crowds rather than the Sporting breed owners and Veterinarians.

Some excerpts from a well done article by Steve Peacocke and re-produced on Vizsladogs, Ltd.
         

So why don't we ban tail docking if it's such a barbaric practice? The answer is plain and simple, it is detrimental to the health and welfare of some breeds of dogs not to dock their tails - i.e. it is cruel not to dock. Let's examine the reasons behind why docking is done today. Let's examine each argument that I have heard to date…

The tail bone of a pup at less than 3 days old is still soft and the nervous system undeveloped. Consider that a young lamb or calf is so developed at birth that they can stand and walk besides their mothers within minutes of being born; a human, although not able to stand for many months, is still fully formed at birth; a pup though is essentially still developing after birth, the eyes, for example, do not open for many days. The pup is still developing hearing, sight, and the nervous system for many days after birth. As a hunter and scavanger, the dog has developed the ability to carry pups for only 63 days before giving birth to allow to mother to venture from the den to obtain food. The pups are still forming after birth, docking at this age causes only a momentary discomfort that is almost instantly forgotten.

Argument:     There is no reason to dock dogs’ tails.

Response:     The Hungarian Vizsla is a hunter, pointer and retriever with 1 third docked from the tail. Although the remainder of the tail is strong, the third docked is thin and whip-like and is open to damage in the field. The Vizsla holds it's tail horizontal to the ground and wags it forcefully while charging through rough scrub and undergrowth. The unprotected tip is docked to keep it from splitting and bleeding. Once damaged, the tail is extremely difficult to heal, sometimes requiring amputation later in life when the dog must be placed under general anaesthetic causing undue stress and pain.



Argument:   Tail docking is completed only to win shows.

Response:   There is no rule made by the New Zealand Kennel Club that requires any breed to be docked to allow it to show. The Hungarian Vizsla has been around since the 10th century and earlier and even early records show a docked tail yet, other than a brief test at showing early this century in Hungary, the first Vizsla to show anywhere in the world was in the mid 1960's. Docking is performed to save the dog pain and hardship.



Argument:   Tails are required to aid in swimming.


Response:   Many docked breeds including the Vizsla, and even fully docked breeds, are excellent swimmers.


Argument:   Tails are required for balance.

Response:   Despite this seemingly plausible argument, no dogs to my knowledge, have ever fallen over due to the lack of a tail. Wobbly dogs are almost non-existent.



Argument:   Tails are required for expression.

Response:   The tail is immediately seen by humans but the full body language is used by other dogs. Even a fully docked dog can easily give the full range of emotions to both other dogs and to humans. Arguments to the contrary usually go along the lines of "why then are most aggressive dogs the ones with the docked tails?" When the word "aggressive" is used people usually conjure up images of the American Pit Bull Terrier (which is not docked), the Rottweiller and the Doberman. These latter dogs are bred to be guard dogs and have their tails docked to prevent intruders gripping the tails making the dog ineffective. Docking their tails didn't make them aggressive, they were docked because they were trained to be aggressive.



Argument:   Docking tails is "Cosmetic Mutilation".

Respons:   This is the "catch-phrase" of the SPCA. It means nothing and is specifically designed to bring emotion into the argument. It is hard to argue against as it contains no facts to argue. It's like saying "I think you're ugly", it's designed to get an emotional response.



Argument:   Other hunting dogs don't have their tails docked.

Response:   The practice of docking some hunting dog's tails was done for practical reasons, if there is no practical reason, why dock at all? The Labrador has a thick, powerful and well padded tail throughout the full length, the Irish Setter and the Golden Retriever have long course hair for protection the Vizsla, GSP and Weimeraner have no such protection. There is also the question of the type of hunting done, the Labrador is the traditional retriever with the likes of lowland ducks where tail damage is unlikely. The Vizsla on the other hand hunts ducks on rivers and ponds; pheasants and quail through the rough; and even deer in dense bush.


Argument:   Other countries are banning tail docking.

Response:   While this is true for some countries, this experiment has proven disastrous for working dogs such as the Hungarian Vizsla, the Weimaraner and the German Short Haired Pointer. Most countries that have banned tail docking are currently considering, if not totally reversing the law, allowing docking of hunting breeds for humanitarian reasons. In Denmark, the Anti-docking law specifically excludes five hunting breeds, the Hungarian Vizsla is one of those five. Even there, the law is being reconsidered due to the number of reported tail damages in all traditionally docked breeds.

Tessa's Litter day zero

Thought I'd load up a short video clip and a few more pictures!  YAY! 

Is anyone else noticing that Sarah seems to be in the litter box as much as Tessa?

Yes, we're proud parents so we'll do as typical and take a million pictures the first week, half a million the second, 12 the third and maybe another four in the four weeks after.  :-)

Here's a link to a short YouTube video.... still can't figure out how to "embed" one.

 Video - Tessa puppies day zero

10-10-10

It's been both a fast and long nite at the same time. I guess she just wanted the unique birthdate! Tessa whelped her  pups starting a little after midnite. 

We'll post pics etc. later - just very tired and very busy right now - but the tally is - 7 total - 3 girls, 4 boys!  All seem to be doing well!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Sunday didn't go quite as planned - we had hoped to mess with the pups and wish all of them and our friends who have one a Happy Birthday! They all turned Two, and now are officially aged out of Derby competition. We just didn't "git 'er done".


So to Pearl, aka "Pearly May", Willowynd's Rebel-Ette - HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

To Ara - Willowynd's Aracelli - HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

To Scarlet-ta - Willowynd's Scarlet Letter - HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

and finally to Hank, aka The Hankster, aka Buddy Boy, aka "bubba" aka, wiggle butt - Willowynd's Arctic ET Express - HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Yucky Yucky!

We discovered something new yesterday!  As life with Vizslas is always interesting, our Scarlet decided to give us a scare.  She also must've thought that we somehow managed to save a few dollars that really should go to the vet.

She has a scrape on her foreleg.  It's nothing much, but she was licking at it so we decided to treat it with a product we've used before many times on the horses and I'm sure have used it on the dogs as well called Wound Kote.

It's a purple spray and good for abrasions, scrapes, small cuts, etc.  Janet applied it yesterday morning and then let Scarlet into the backyard.  Ten minutes later I look at the back door and there is Scarlet with a foamy mouth and hyper-salivating.  Immediately we think she must have had an allergic reaction to the medication and must be in dire conditions.  We rush to UCD Veterinary Hospital where for the low low emergency fee of $190 (because the $175 they used to charge simply wasn't enough!) you get the best of care!

After an anxious wait, they come back with our purple tongued girl and let us know that everything is fine - heart rate is perfect, no respiratory issues, no temperatures, nothing wrong except....

It tastes really really bad!  That's why she was hyper-salivating.

Thanks Scarlet!

New Left Handed Shooter

It has been interesting becoming a Leftie after shooting right handed for so many years.  Not by choice but by necessity, a medical condition took most of my sight in my right eye and now I am left eye dominant, but still right handed - this is known as being cross dominant in the shooting world. 

I've been practicing gun mount every day trying to get muscle memory and fluency left handed.  In doing so, it was apparent that my guns are all set up for right handed shooters. 

To my good fortune, we had met a gun fitter a couple years ago and I still had his card so we set up a meeting for Sunday.  I highly reccomend Lance Keller.  He re-shaped and custom fit my Browning Citori, aligned and reground the pad on my Benelli SBEII and custom fit Janet's Remington 870 in a half a day.  He even gave us half off on Janet's because he likes to encourage women and kids into the sport!  We still need to do a little finish touchup, but the guns fit sooooo well!

note the palm relief beveled into the stock for Left Handed shooters

His website is http://www.gunstockfitter.com/ and he explains in much better detail than I ever could the different components and setups on a gun that aid in your shooting.  If you're in Northern California and shoot and have never had your gun custom fitted to you - I'd say find him at a club nearby and at least have a chat with him.  I don't think you'll regret it.

Now it's practice practice practice to hopefully be tuned enough for the fast flying targets in South Dakota!

X-Rays reveal

Well today we took Tessa in for her X-ray.  (Somewhat surprised by Woodland Veterinary Hospitals charge of $200 for two pictures!, but they did give us a pretty neat program that goes on our old computer - not compatible with windows 7 apparently - that lets us scroll around and peek at the little skeletons)  Seems somehow fitting for the Halloween season.

We were able to share them with a great couple - Hi Jodi and Ed - that is on the list for a pup as they came over to visit with all the dogs - oh yes, us too.  :-))  I'm struggling though finding a good way to post the images to the blog...

Without further ado, drumroll please.... The radiologist that read the x-rays says - 6 puppies.  I know that makes some happy, and some sad.  I'm sorry for the folks that won't be getting one this litter!  I wish we could give all the wonderful homes that have met the criteria a pup.  The one thing about this is we meet such fantastic people!  

I'd say don't give up hope yet - without knowing what we're getting, we don't know yet who will get a pup - some want only females, some only males, some either.  Hang in a little longer - after they're whelped and we have a solid idea of what we have and who still wants a pup if we don't have enough to go around, we will be happy to refer to other reputable breeders.  For those who don't mind waiting a few more months, we do plan on breeding Nellie in December - then we're done for a while.  Not that we don't love doing this, but we want to have some fun with the girls outside the whelping box too!

So the next step is we wait to see what exactly we get for boys/girls and hopefully in another week we'll be able to post some pictures of the new munchkins!  Hope everyone has a great week!