We have had record cold temperatures here in Southeastern Idaho so far this spring. We got snow here last week above 6300 feet and we lost our tomatoes for the second time to frost. I heard somewhere that May was the coldest on record for this area. I have tried to take it in stride and enjoy the cool weather.

That said, I have enjoyed the cool weather for training and running the dogs. I believe now have hit the hot weather with little time for my internal thermostat to adjust.  When talking to some folks in Arizona and Las Vegas, they are already seeing temps in the upper 90′s and even breaking 100.

I have started to get things ready for the hot weather by filling the 50 gallon trough and putting shade up for the kennels. Soon I will be wetting the dogs down good before roading them, and will be switching to early mornings for training to take advantage of the cool. Spring was nice while it lasted.

While preparing your kennel and dog area for summer, consider the following: make sure your dog has shade accessible from at least 11:00 am to four pm, make sure there is plenty of fresh drinking water available. If you are going to be running the dogs, try to do it in the cool morning or evening. Also, make sure they are watered well. Since dogs don’t sweat (the cool themselves by panting), wet them down thoroughly before running them.

If you have read much of this blog or know me, you know I like quality and I think it is worth the extra effort. If you have the same tendencies, here’s something to watch out for. The other day at the local feed store, I bought a couple of new 3/4″ vinyl coated nylon collars to replace the chewed up collar straps on several of my bark collars. I thought they were reasonably priced at around $8. When I got home and compared them to the original collars I was amazed at the difference in quality. The nylon collar itself was significantly thinner, as was the rubber-vinyl coating. The worst, however, was the hardware. The buckle was much lighter, and the tang is more like a thin piece of wire than a good buckle tang. I’m sure they will work, but I was amazed at how cheaply they are made. If you are buying new collars, look carefully at the quality, they’re not all equal. When I checked a couple of the reputable online suppliers they were selling the higher quality collar with durable hardware (double buckle with a stout tang, rather than a thin roller buckle and flattened wire tang) for around $4 (check Lion Country Supply).

Let’s see, which would I rather have, a cheap piece of junk for $8, or quality stuff for $4 plus shipping and a couple days wait?

Last Saturday we had a great time training dogs. I had several folks come for field work with birds. Besides my regular dogs, we got to work a setter, brittany, and a bunch of American and English cocker spaniels. We had a ball working these dogs in the field. It is really fun to see a cocker spaniel bounding through brush working up a bird. Another huge reward was seeing a dog that I force fetched last fall come back and had a perfect retrieve every time.

I hope I get the chance again this fall to hunt behind one of these field breed cockers.