What are the odds?

While driving a decent dirt road in Montana in September a rear tire went very quickly flat. When I changed the tire I saw this small pebble protruding from the center of the tread:

The idea that such a tiny rock could cause immediate failure had me thinking about changing my prefered brand of tires. But after Malta Tire installed new rubber I saw that the "pebble" was just one end of this: A perfect tire assasin. My best guess is that the front tire tossed up the rock which then fell in front of the rear tire in a perfect jabbing position. Nasty rock and worse luck. But I always carry two spares on a long trip, and it was about time to change out the rear tires anyway, so just a mild inconvenience in a wonderful bird hunting trip.

East of San Diego

I've enjoyed some great hunts the last couple of weeks and will post a bit about them. First, a couple of weekends ago I hunted quail with Rosie (foreground, she's actually backing) and Silk (background, she found the birds first) in a area east of Julian (San Diego). The cover looks perfect, and I know there is some water around, but for some reason the bird populations are never very good. But I did get some nice work from Rose and Silk, and killed a couple of birds over their points, and had a very nice few hours walk, so who could complain?
By the way, Silk will be 15 in January. Anyone have a picture of an older bird dog pointing wild birds? She has never run big, but she will hunt all day, she handles birds well, and we've killed a lot of birds together. I'd take another one just like her if I could.

You know you're a bird hunter when...

You retire 10 years early with no plan other than to hunt birds everywhere they exist.

You own an equal number of shotguns and bird dogs.

Your hunting truck cost more than your daily driver.

You realize that ALL your good friends are also bird hunters.

You take your best dog and a shotgun on an elk hunting trip -- planning to shoot the first legal elk you see and spend the rest of the two weeks hunting birds.

You wife AUTOMATICALLY assumes that you have some special bit of hunting gear in mind for Christmas.

You look in you closet and you have more hunting boots than dress shoes.

You spend more time in Montana than in your second home in the Caribbean.

When you do go to the Caribbean with your wife, you are invited to shoot birds by your friends... and you go.

Your vet bill equals or exceeds your own medical expenses.

You spend your cross country flight time looking out the plane window trying to spot likely places to go in the Fall.

You realize that all your non-hunting friends have given up on you... you're getting more invites to go hunting than to attend Christmas parties. 

Kris - Showing Progress

Kris is now nine-months old and is coming along really well. Ground work has been done mostly with pigeons and launchers, with the occasional bobwhite and chukar thrown in to keep things interesting. She is standing her birds well and holding most of the time after the flush and shot. Since she was about three-months old she has been worked regularly in the yard; standing on the bench, barrel, and platforms; crating, heeling, and whoaing. She responds to her workouts and training with enthusiasm and has a lot of energy. She is roaded regularly off an ATV and has been run in a few derbies off horseback. Now that chukar season is here it's time to introduce her to some wild birds.

Eastside Finn - RIP

About a week ago I had to put the "Big Boy" down. Finn was suffering from Spondylosis, a chronic condition caused when bone spurs form on the spine due to progressive disc degeneration. It wasn't apparent to me that he was suffering from anything but old age, and the arthritis he had in his front elbows. But overnight, he had gone from moving around slowly in what appeared to be a somewhat arthritic walk, to being debilitated.

This past summer he had enjoyed many days on the dining deck of the "Staff House" of Laurens summer camp, at the feet of the children as they ate their meals. In true Lab fashion, not a crumb was spared. From breakfast through dinner Finns presence was enjoyed by the children and staff alike. Many nights I had to go to the deck to retrieve him. He would grudgingly follow me back to the kennel, his head slung low and moving at a snails pace.

I quit hunting him in the uplands a few years ago, as the ground was just not compatible with his aging frame - the steep rocky ground of chukar country is not forgiving. But we did have opportunities to hunt the Valley for ducks, and shoot a few doves at home. The sight of a gun and the closing of it's action still causing him to whimper, whine, and dance.

He is buried above the barn. It is where he spent most of his days when camp was not in session, acting as the official greeter to all who came to visit. His presence will be missed, memories cherished......

Report from Montana

Paul Garrett and I have been in NE Montana working dogs since August 3^rd. We have had good grounds on which to run dogs, thanks to several local ranchers. We are making progress and so are the dogs.

The long cold winter followed by a wet Spring resulted in some rank growth and many farmers were not able to get wheat in the ground until mid-June or later. Where we are most of the wheat is still standing, but finally browning off, so it should be harvested over the next week or two. This will redistribute game birds and make more ground available for dog work.

Cover on CRP ground here is very heavy and tall, It has been difficult to get much done in this cover – a mix of grasses and yellow sweet clover. It is tough on the dogs and it is hard to get birds pointed in this type of cover.

We have been concentrating on hay/alfalfa field edges that have had the first cutting, edges of wheat fields, and prairie ground. We have been finding adequate birds for training – sharp-tails and more Huns than I expected. Pheasants are scarce. The weather has been hot, so we are working dogs morning and evening.

I am excited with Cody. He has been running well from horseback, staying to the front, responding to voice and paying good attention. He is very appealing on the ground. I have also been check cording him on wild birds and he is pointing Huns and sharp-tails – and becoming a bird monster. He was the primary reason I came to Montana and his progress is well worth the trouble and expense of making this trip.

Ted is getting fit and finding birds. He is hunting birds near camp and running hard. Tommy is still crazy. I still don't know if he is going to be a bird dog, despite the progress we made late last season.

Paul has several nice setter pups on his string that are starting to hunt and run well. They are starting to point game birds and look good doing it.

I will try to post some pictures next time, but I have to get in the truck, drive to the top of a hill a mile and a half away and post via a cellular connection.  

Grass seeds and infection

Canada wild rye - a dangerous grass, one among many you may encounter this Summer or Fall

Summer, and the time that many of us begin training dogs for the Fall season. Spring was late in the northern prairie. There has been a lot of rain/snow in most places this year and grass is high. There are a number of grasses that pose a serious and widespread risk to dogs, and this seems a good time to post again about the hazards or grass awn infections.

My setter, Ted, had a nasty infection from a cheat grass awn in his front paw last season that sidelined him for much of the season. With treatment, he recovered completely. But grass awns can kill your dog. They may be inhaled and cause disabling or fatal lung infections, or enter the mouth and be swallowed when the dog drinks and infect/perforate the walls of the stomach and digestive tract, or they can enter the dog's body through the skin and travel remarkable distances carrying infection with them. None of this is easily diagnosed or treated.

I am heading to Montana to work with my dogs on sharp-tails, young pheasants, and Huns for a couple of months at the end of July. Through Torben Hansen's thoughtfulness, I received a copy of documents by Cathy Lewis and Dr. Pat McInteer, DVM that were presented by Cathy at the Purina Pointing Dog Awards weekend last month. She has consented to my reproducing parts for her work here on Living with Bird Dogs. I'll put some links and citations at the end of this post and encourage anyone to learn more about this widespread and not easily diagnosed health risk. Here is the her (slightly edited) paper:

Grass Awn Infection, by Cathy Lewis (e-mail) and Dr. Pat McInteer, DVM

...you are your dogs best defense against this danger. Learn to recognize threats and avoid them, and carefully observe and know your dog. Recognizing subtle changes early may make a huge difference in successful treatment should your dog fall prey to a grass awn infection.

The most common grass threats to our dogs (my comments in brackets):

Foxtail Barley – if your live, train and/or compete (or HUNT) in the western United States or Alaska, especially, but this foxtail is spreading throughout the U.S.

Cheatgrass – a known threat in the Rocky Mountain states (and the entire Great Basin). Residents know that this becomes a problem when the grass begins to dry and drop its seeds, sometime around July, through the first freeze or snow.

Canada wild rye – unlike the above, this grass is actively cultivated as an effective cover crop for other, slower to establish grasses. It features a particularly aggressive awn. Popular with state and federal conservation authorities, and bird and habitat preservation organizations due to its low cost, it has become widespread through the Midwest and Mideastern states over the past ten years.

Find a full list of known problem grass species at www.meanseeds.com

Grass awn infections can manifest in multiple symptomspatterns (or combinations thereof): pyothorax (an infection in the chest cavity), pneumonia, and/or body wall or internal abscesses. Based on my experience and the case histories I am gathering, Many infections show up as an acute illness. The dog seemed fine two hours ago/yesterday, but nows/he has an elevated temperature, is lethargic, and has no interest in food…

The symptoms of a grass awn infection overlap those of other fairly common threats, such as tickborne disease. Your powers of observation may be key in making an accurate diagnosis quickly. If you have reason to suspect that your dog has been exposed to a problem grass, make your veterinarian aware of that fact and the likely manifestations. Veterinarians that do not see many working dogs in their practice may not consider the grass awn possibility in their early workup.

Treatment in most cases is costly. Even “medical management” of a pyothorax (Chest infection) is most times not a matter of simply giving some pills. With my own dogs, treatment costs have ranged from approximately $1000 to $12000...

In most cases that I am aware of where treatment has successfully resolved the infection, the dog's health has been restored to the point of returning to the field, though for competition dogs the consequences of surgery, e.g. removal of a lung lobe, ribs, and/or muscle tissue may effect performance to the point where retirement becomes advisable.

Sadly, the threat of grass awn infection appears to be rising. YOU are your dog's best defense.

Be careful out there...

Links:

Meanseeds.com (The Grass Awn Project)

Nocardia Infections in Bird Dogs, Dr. Pat McInteer, Dr. Kames Mills, and others

Speargrass, Dr. Pat McInteer