Summer camp

I have not posted in about a month... sorry. I have been busy with the business and have been making plans for the Summer.

I've been talking to Paul Garrett, making plans to go to eastern Montana for a Summer training camp. So as it stands right now I will be heading to Montana at the end of July for 6 weeks of fun training and running my setters. When we are done, I expect to spend a few weeks just bird hunting in Montana or Saskatchewan. I have never been able to spend that much focused time training, and jumped at the chance to do so... especially with such an experienced 'setter man'.

I expect to post some photos and notes, as well as get Cody green broke for his derby season, and work with Tommy and Ted on sharptails.

IB Fenway's tragic end

I B Fenway, an accomplished field trial pointer, and littermate of the late, great champion Kelly's Talkin' Smak was shot and killed in Reno, Nevada.


I received this bulletin by Dr. Charlie Hjerpe, DVM today:


During the 13th brace of the National Am Chukar SD CH in Reno, IB Fenway was lost and subsequently shot and killed by an area landowner who is a practicing veterinarian. Fenway was Runner-up Champion in the 2006 National Amateur Chukar All Age Championship, and a littermate to 4X Ch. Kelly's Laser Eye and 9X Ch. Kelly Talk'n Smak. At the time of his demise, Fenway was owned by Nard Bailey of Alturas, Cal., and was being handled in this stake by his former owner and trainer, Torben Hansen, the current 3rd Vice President of AFTCA.

Although Fenway was wearing a Garmin tracking collar, Torben  and Nard were never able to pick up a signal. In all likelihood, the Astro 220 had not been properly tuned to the specific collar that Fenway was wearing.


According to Dr. Scott A. Thompson, Fenway attacked some of his free-range, egg-laying chickens, killing 7 of them, and then "charged" Dr. Thompson when he attempted to intervene. Dr. Thompson is a 1976 graduate of the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, and owns and operates a 3-veterinarian specialty practice in Reno (Feline Medical Center) that is limited to cats. The website for this practice can be reached by clicking on: http://fmcreno.com/about/

Although Fenway was wearing both a tracking collar and a regular collar with Nard Bailey's name, address and phone number on it, Dr. Thompson never contacted Nard to advise  him about what had happened to his dog. Nard and Torben did not learn about Fenway's fate until more than 24 hours after Fenway had disappeared. Apparently, Dr. Thompson did not recognize that Fenway was a pointer, because he had called the owner of "Green Feed", a local Red Rock area feed store, told him that he had shot a dog that was attacking his chickens, and inquired as to whether the owner's son might be missing a "hound". On Monday, April 18, Jarry Walton was in the "Green Feed" store buying chukar feed, and learned that a dog had been shot (the previous day) that might be Fenway.

As of the present time, Dr. Thompson is refusing to return Fenway's remains or his tracking collar, and is threatening Nard Bailey with a $4,500 lawsuit for the loss of 7 chickens. In fact, the damages may well exceed $4,500, should it be determined that the psyches of Dr. Thompson's 2 cows have been permanently damaged by the commotion caused by Fenway's actions. The dollar value of the claim is said to be based upon the value of the "organic, free range eggs" the chickens would have been expected to produce, if they had been allowed to have live out their normal life expectancies. However, if Dr. Thompson was so much concerned about the value of his chickens, why did he not catch Fenway, call the number on his collar, return Fenway to his owner, and ask the owner (Nard) to reimburse him for the value of 7 laying pullets (for which I have recently been paying $10 to $15 each). It is simply not credible that Dr. Thompson was so fearful of Fenway that he needed to kill him to protect himself. All of Fenway's former owners are unanimous in stating the Fenway did not have "mean bone in his body". Even if Fenway had growled at Dr. Thompson, veterinarians are trained in the handling of such animals, and Dr. Thompson was in general small animal practice for more than 25 years before he began limiting his practice to cats.


Shame on a man who practices small animal veterinary medicine for this belligerent and unwarranted behavior. 

When you see how bad it can get ...

My wife and I just returned from a 15 day trip through China. I've practiced Tai Chi Chuan for 7 years and the trip was sponsored by the studio where I train. We spent the first week in classes with the very best Tai Ci masters in the world and then spent the second week doing the usual tourist stuff in Xian and Beijing. My overwhelming reaction: nearly all of the enviroment that I saw was was horribly damaged. During the entire time in country I saw only a handful of songbirds, a few magpies, no rodents, no hawks. Certainly no game birds. Anything that looks green is under mono-species cultivation. Most of the country is covered by a cloud of smog from the coal-burning electric plants. 5,000 years of human occupation have left a mark on the land and the animals that will not disappear until the next ice age. So, get out your checkbook and send some money to you favorite environmental advocate group. This trip really brought home to me how much we stand to lose if we do not learn to live in a balanced relationship with our environment.

Sorrow at a loss and helpful advice

I received this sad news this morning...

It is with great sadness that I relay that Sean found Smak dead in his kennel on Thursday morning, April 7th.  It is believed that his death was caused by an injury that occurred on Wednesday during a training session at Red Rock, Nevada.    Sean had seen Smak being chased by 2 coyotes at about 300 yards.  Due to the distance and the rough terrain, it took Sean sometime to close the distance and catch up with Smak. At that time, Sean found him underneath a pickup belonging to some BLM employees.  Smak appeared to be shaken from his experience but not seriously hurt.    By the time Sean reached his trailer, Smak seemed to be O.K.  Upon arriving home, Sean noticed a small amount of blood in his crate and upon further examination he found a cut on Smak in the area where his front leg joins his body.  He cleaned the cut and doctored it.  It did not appear to be serious.  Smak was eating and drinking normally.   The next morning when Sean went to the kennel he found Smak dead.  Upon close examination, he found a small hole penetrating in approximately 4".  Sean believes it may have penetrated his lung.   Smak was 6 years old and had won 9 Championships and 5 Runner-up Championship placements.  He was admired by all who had the privilege of seeing him compete.  Frequently, field trialers would ride in the gallery just to watch him .  He was qualified to run in the Nationals and competed in the Amateur Invitational held at the Ames Plantation in which only the top 12 dogs were invited.   There are only a few dogs who have earned the right to be called great. In my opinion, there is no doubt that Smak has earned the right to be counted among those privileged few!!

Sean is a sportsman and is dedicated to his dogs. Kelly's Talk'n Smak was a truly exceptional bird dog. I saw him run many times and have run in brace with him a few times at trials. My condolences to Sean at his loss.


In light of the risks that our dogs take, I am again recommending that you take a minute to look at Birddogdoc's (Shawn Wayment) blog - he has a lot of good advice that might help us treat the inevitable injuries that our bird dogs sustain while doing what they do.


Be careful out there!

AKC Mean Seeds grant

Grasses cover approximately 25% of the earth's lands and are a very rich and productive environment. We all know that grasslands mean game birds. So we run our dogs most often in areas that have at least some grasses present. Last year I presented a piece about speargrass on this blog and it has received several thousand page reads, so this is a subject of some interest. 

The AKC Canine Health Foundation has now established a Mean Seeds grant to investigate “mean seeds” and the role they play in grass awn migration disease.  According to the AKC news release, "In the sporting dog world, there is a perception among owners that there has been a dramatic escalation in the incidence of grass awn migration disease in the last 20 years."


Hopefully this research will equip us to better deal with the risk that these grass seeds pose to our dogs.

Thinking about fishing, and other stuff

Weather was wonderful this morning - temperature about 50, overcast, a bit of wind, took the dogs for a 2 hour walk in the mountains behind our home. Heard a few quail calling in the distance. They have not really recovered since the last fires but I'm hopeful that the wet winter will bring back the local coveys. Nice just to see them, and good for dog work in the off season.

Last summer my cousin Rod presented me with a fine gift - a full set of float tube equipment. We used it on some Sierra lakes and I landed a couple of very nice trout. Now I'm thinking about bluegills and bass. There are a couple of small lakes close by, each only a couple of acres, but with a year-round water source. I've thought about fishing them for years but they are entirely circled with cattails. Now that I have the float tube I think I'll give them a whirl. I bought a half dozen poppers on-line and will have a go at it when the weather warms in a few weeks.

Also thinking about ocean fishing. The party boats out of San Diego can do pretty well. Surface fishing for bass, bonita, barracuda, and yellowtail starts in June or so. I've got a Shimano Bait Runner spinning reel (it can be put into free spool) and it works really well for fly lining a live sardine. I can toss those greenies 50 yards or more without any weight on the line, then put it in free spool and wait for a strike. Much more fun than bouncing lead off the bottom.

Cody gets something done

Took Cody to his first field trial yesterday at Setter Springs Ranch near Maricopa, California. He got his first placement in the Open Shooting Dog Derby, so he is now qualified to run in AF/AFTCA open and amateur championships. He is eleven months old and ran with the older derbies and did not disappoint me.