It’s a muddy spring here. We had 15 tons of gravel delivered today to cope with the mud. Chris, the kids and I spent the morning shoveling gravel. Allie wanted in on the action. (Sorry about the cheesy photo. I couldn’t resist.)

At this time of year I am really glad for the kennel decks I have. The dogs are clean, dry and comfortable, when everything around them is a soupy mess. We’ve had a pretty good snow year this year and now everything is melting off. The ground is still frozen about 8 inches down, so the water just sits on the top and the yard is like a soppy sponge. 

We have seen some really poor housing facilities for dogs, and they become much worse during the spring because of wet muddy conditions; dogs chained up in a mud bog, on muddy, poopy ground, and other such. If you’re in this situation, know that your dog deserves better, and there is a better way for a lot cheaper than pouring concrete.

Title: How To Help Gun Dogs Train Themselves; Taking Advantage of Early Conditioned Learning

Author: Joan Bailey
ISBN: 0-9630127-3-8
Swan Valley Press, Hillsboro, OR

What does a woman know about training hunting dogs?
Answer: A lot! As one of the entry pages states, Joan has been a versatile hunting dog field judge for 29 years, editor of Gun Dog Supreme for 25 years, and the winner of 13 awards from the Dog Writers Association of America (who ever they are). So, she’s been around, she knows her stuff and is a good writer that’s enjoyable to read.

I particularly like Joan’s method of training. That is, start with proven bloodlines, then keep the dog with you as much as possible, take it everywhere, especially the first year, expose the dog to everything. Teach the dog through learned conditioning; “conditioning is learning in such a way that the dog thinks he invented whatever you want him to learn.”

This book is a great read for someone about to get a puppy or is in the first year raising a gun dog. Joan give simple, clear advice and lays out sound principles. For example she gives the following five basic rules:

1. The first and most important concept to remember is that a dog is a pack animal. This means that there is always a leader and the rest are followers. You have to be the pack leader.
2. Always be consistent.
3. Keep your commands simple (one word)
4. Use a command only one time.
5. Never give a command that you cannon enforce.

I have not seen any earlier editions of this book, but I assume that the old (1970’s vintage) photos were from the first printing, nevertheless, the material has been revised and is up to date and right on. This book is not a dog training book per se, but rather a way of thinking about raising and conditioning dogs over their first year to become wonderful companions and great gun dogs. I though it was a great read.

I just heard what some of the 2008 Utah Governor’s hunting permits went for this last week at the Sportsman Show in Salt Lake. All I have to say is WOW!

       Mule Deer $187,500
       Rocky Mt. Elk $150,000
       Bighorn Sheep $85,000
       Desert Bighorn Sheep $55,000
       Shiras Moose $24,000 

This is hard to wrap my head around.

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.

Our roading rig wasn’t up to snuff when it came to the dogs we currently have; a couple of BIG labs that love to pull. The chain link fence top rail pipe wasn’t strong enough. Last night we loaded up to go, I started slowly and they shot off like we were in a race. The pipe just folded. Today I’ll be looking for a heavier duty pipe. Otherwise the outfit is working great. The kids love to hook up their sled behind and go for a 4 mile sled run in the dark with all the snow we have.

There are times when you should not give attention or affection to your dog. It may seem counterintuitive, but when a dog is scared, in pain, or their mind is somehow unstable, you should not give them attention. Turn and move away, or go on with what you were doing like you didn’t know they were there. If you give them attention at this time, it feeds their instability and worst case, can even give the dog an irrational superstition or fear of something associated with the incident.

I learned this principle many years ago from David Bowman, a very knowledgeable VDD dog fancier. A cute young Drahthaar pup he had tried to jump into the back of his truck, it missed and whacked its face on the tailgate and landed on the ground like a sack of flour. I immediately raced over with an, “Aaaaawwwww, poor puppy.” David sharply stopped me with a command like he would give to an errant pup. He pulled me back and we just watched the pup. The pup got up, shook it off and trotted over to us. David explained to me that there were times when you shouldn’t give affection to a dog, or they would develop and unreasonable fear of some object, action, place or other thing they associated with the event. The more anxiety you show in the situation, the more it will feed the instability.

In such a situation you should move on like nothing ever happened. Keep the dogs mind moving forward. Come back later and retry the action. David and I walked over to the other side of the yard for a minute, the pup trotting along. We gave him a few minutes to check out that part of the world and let his mind move on to other things, and then David then circled back to the truck and loaded the pup up without problems.

There are lots of times when you should praise your dog, but also times when you should withhold attention. When the dog’s mind is unstable or fearful, turn and move on like you don’t even know they are there. It is my belief that as a social pack animal, they surrender their fears to you, the pack leader. If you are not afraid of something, they feel that there is no need for them to fear it and they move on.

Here is a photo of what my kids call the Annabella Town Ghost. He is on Cove Mountain just south of town. They say the ghost only comes out during the winter. You have to use a kid’s imagination. He has two eyes and an open mouth and two upreaching arms, and is spooooky.

This is our family’s all time favorite pheasant recipe. (I think you could use it for any game bird, but it is particularly delicious with pheasant.)

Grilled Teriyaki Pheasant

1 cup oil
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 TBSP Garlic Salt
1 TBSP Horse Raddish
1 can sprite (or Mt. Dew)
2 pheasants, quartered

Mix the marinade ingredients and soda, add the pheasant pieces and marinate in refrigerator for 12 to 36 hours, stirring every so often. Grill on BBQ or in oven just until the inside barely starts to loose the pink color. Note that the different pieces (breasts vs leg/thighs) will cook at different rates. The key is not to over cook. Serve hot over mixed wild rice. The grilled pieces are also excellent cold the next day. 

We obtained this recipe from a friend and long-time hunting buddy, Damon Swenson, some 20 years ago and have been enjoying it ever since.