Ok, one of my pet peeves is a dog loose in the back of a truck. How many times have I heard, “he’ll learn not to jump out the hard way,” or some variant? This kind of red neck thinking really irks me. I have seen lots of dead dogs along the highway, and even come across one that wasn’t yet dead, but his back end was so busted up it was a tragic sight. Just put them in a dog box. If you can’t afford that, at least get an eye bolt and 2′ of chain and clip up the dog’s collar so that he can’t get his front shoulders over the edge of the truck.

I’m sure this guy was wondering what I was doing taking pictures. I was ticked. The dog was back and forth and all over the back of the truck. Several times he wobbled and regained his footing.

     If you are looking for a yellow lab puppy, I just heard about a breeding that should be dynamite. Wasatch Labradors in American Fork, UT just announced a litter that should be born in July. I have a dog that is out Yellowstone Kennel’s Nitro, a maternal grandfather to the litter and have been really pleased with the dogs drive, desire for birds, and natural marking ability. Also, I have heard really good things about the sire, FC-AFC Pin Oak’s Texas Rex. There seems to be a basket full of field champions as you look at the pedigrees for these puppies.
     I’ve never met Gordon or Nancy Miner, but the breeding looks really good on these puppies. Also, I really like what they have to say about socializing puppies. It’s important to start with good breeding that brings together the best traits in a breed, but even more critically, puppies need to be socialized properly over the first critical two months of life.   So, if you are looking for a lab pup this summer, you may want to check out Wasatch Labradors at http://www.wasatchlabradors.com

A little neighbor girl got a new puppy the other day. She is so cute with the pup. Kids and puppies just go together. She came over to find out all about puppies and how to take care of him. I hope the excitement lasts. She sure does love this little puppy.

 We had Oakley (black lab) out last weekend trying to polish him up on both flushing and retrieving. It is getting near the end of the pheasant season on the shooting preserves here in Utah. The birds all worked great for the dog, they held fairly well and flushed strong and wild. It was a great workout for Oakley, plus it was a great time for Jake (owner) and his brothers.

Three times now over the last thirty days I have had people call me saying they have found my dog. While it hasn’t been my dog, they have been dogs I have trained. In each case, I sent the dog home and thankfully forgot to take off my collar, which has my nameplate. Somehow the dogs have gotten out and been running around the city and have been picked up by people in the area. Each time they had a cell phone and called right away. I have been able to call the owner and put them in touch with the person that found the dog and the dogs have been returned quickly. If those dogs hadn’t had a nameplate and weren’t microchipped, I hate to think of the heartache it might have caused.

The first thing we do when we get a new dog is to take photos of the dog, put a good sturdy collar with a metal buckle (not a fastex-type) on the dog with a name tag and get the dog microchipped (avid - home again). That way, if anything were to happen and a dog got out and was picked up it can be returned quickly. 

Since most folks now carry cell phones you have a good chance of getting a call right away if someone finds the dog. I suggest putting your name (not the dog’s), your home phone and cell phone on the tag. Some folks I know also put the phrase “Needs Medication!” or “Needs Meds” on the tag with the idea that the finder will feel a greater sense of urgency to get the dog back, or if they were considering stealing the dog they wouldn’t want something that’s going to fall over with seizures at any moment.

If you don’t have a nametag on the dog and don’t have a microchip implanted, here’s a to-do list for you:

1.) Get your nameplate on the dog: Get online and order a metal tag. They cost about $3 including shipping; some of the best money you will ever spend. Many of the hunting/training dog suppliers will provide a free name plate if you purchase a collar from them. Collars with nameplates range from $4 to $24 depending on how fancy you want. GunDogSupply.com
2.) Take new photos of the dog: Take them from different angles and photograph anything unique about the dog.
3.) Get the dog microchipped: Make an appointment with the vet or animal shelter and get the dog microchipped. If you have microchipped the dog, but have not yet sent in the paperwork, send it in. Often clinics make you fill out the paperwork there and they send it in so they insure that it gets done. Otherwise the dog registration comes back to them and they don’t often have a record of who the owner is. Make sure the paperwork has been sent in.

Jump on it and get it done today, you won’t regret it.

Every morning we let the dogs out for exercise and to do their business. (Which is a lucrative one for our kids because we pay a “by the piece” rate for clean up.) The dogs tend to pair up, the two older males play-wrestle and they do it a LOT. This reminds me of my son and nephew, both 5 year olds, when Chris took them on a scout camping trip and all they did was roam around camp and roll in the dust wrestling. They could not keep their hands off each other.  They had a blast. The two younger puppies roll around and play keep away with a stick and the new rescue dog we are trying out plays and checks things out, like he is trying to figure the pack out. This doesn’t take long; he has already gotten the hang of the exercise program every day with the roading set up. Eventually they all end up in or near the kennels waiting for the morning feeding. They get an hour or so to digest then it’s off to the run.

Odi, the little male German shorthair pup we got from Kojac kennels is coming along nicely, although he has hit his teenage stage and has become much more independent. He has a strong desire for birds and loves to retrieve. He is somewhat sensitive to loud noise, so I am carefully working to desensitize him and get him ready for the gun. His most enduring attributes right now are his cuteness and character. The family just loves him. He makes it easy to want him around.

We’ve gotten a lot of snow this year and the dog have loved it. Today we had a good long romp in the fresh snow. It was kind of an ethereal experience because it was foggy and you couldn’t see more that 50 meters, but the morning sun was filtering through and provided a beautiful light for taking photos.

This past weekend was the local Boy Scout winter Klondike campout (our theme was Blue Hawaii). There were probably a hundred scouts, plus leaders. As always, I took several dogs along. There’s nothing better than a bunch of boy scouts for socializing a dog. I think the boys and the dogs are on about the same maturity level, they both will play with each other for hours on end, plus there are lots of boys always swarming around to acclimate the dogs to crowds of people.

We had a great time. After the official Klondike sled race, where the boys pull their sled over a course (our patrol took first!), I hooked up my two best sled dogs and we re-ran the course and smoked our previous time. The boys and the dogs loved it.

It was a great experience for the dogs and the boys. The only misadventure we had was with Blade, the young black lab in the above photo. Blade peed on some kid’s sleeping bag. Luckily, he was from another troop. It made me think of the window decal that was popular awhile back with Calvin peeing on some brand of car. I guess Blade was just telling him what he thought of our sled competition. Luckily it was in the morning, after the kid slept in the bag. Sorry, Kid.

I got a note from Kent of Snow Canyon Outfitters today that Gubby passed away a couple of days ago. Back in December I blogged about going out with Kent and Gubby for one last hunt. It was one of those moments that as you were having it, you knew that it would always be special. I didn’t know Gubby other than this one day, but she became special to me, probably because of my Drahthaar Aika.

Kent, I was sorry to hear about Gubby’s passing. It is tough to lose a long time friend like Gubby.