Utah Training Day: What a Trip!

This post is a little late but here it is. Last weekend (6/12-6/14) I was lucky enough not to be working the weekend and took a trip to Utah to do some training with Artus with the Wild West Chapter of the VDD-GNA.

The trip down was uneventful except that I got detoured through Logan to get to Salt Lake City which added a lot of time to the drive. I stayed in Lehi with my friend Barrett Johnson, Who I've known since we were about 9 years old but I haven't seen since I was 16. It was great to catch up with him and meet his family.
Saturday morning I went to the Lee Kay Center outside if Salt Lake for the dog training. It's a public shooting range and also had grounds for dog training. I was amazes that something like that was right outside of SLC. I did some water retrieves with Artus and a field search after a pigeon we saw fly. We didn't find the pigeon but Artus did have some solid points on some areas he thought were interesting. Mostly I watched and asked tons of questions. There are some great guys down there who are great to talk to and very helpful. It was a very hot day so some of us went to 5 Guys restaurant for lunch. It was great to talk dogs and pick some people's brains about training and breedings.
My drive home was awful to say the least. I went back on Sunday and lost the treads on my tire before I got to the Farmington exit. I couldn't get the spare tire off because someone had backed into me the week before and damaged the hatch of the van so I bad to limp the van from Farmington to Centerville to Walmart to get the tire fixed. It took forever and Artus wasn't doing so well with all the heat. Finally, hours later, I was getting close to home and got a speeding ticket for $85. Oh well, the trip was so good I just have to chalk the ticket and tires up as a loss and move on. I'm glad I went and had the good experiences I did.

Somehow I didn't take any pics of Artus while I was down there but I'll add some pics of some other dogs I watched down there.

No Birds, Hydration, and Adding to the Pack

First off, we have added to our "pack". Before my divorce in 2009, I had an Australian Cattle Dog named Tess who worked cows with me on the ranch. I couldn't keep her while my living situation was in limbo so I sent her to live at the breeder's farm until things settled down. Well she's back with us now so we currently have a herd of dogs. It has changed the dynamics of the dog situation because Tess hasn't been as well socialized as my other two dogs. Artus thinks she should play with him which makes her grouchy. Aili thinks she's a threat so they have issues. Tess is great with the kids and an awesome cow dog but we just have this adjustment period to get through getting the dogs used to each other.

Artus and I have been searching for wild birds with no luck at all. Even places I've never failed to find grouse have turned up nothing. I'm thinking now that I'll need to buy birds and plant them to get us ready for hunting season. It's been frustrating to say the least.

I learned a valuable lesson the other day. Always stay hydrated! I was using a camelbak to drink from and still ended up dehydrated. Always drink more than you think you need while working dogs in the summer heat. It's important to keep the dog hydrated as well but sometimes we don't notice how little we've had to drink while we're out hiking. Be safe!

I'm including pics of Tess and also some more of the water work Artus and I have been doing. There's some pictures of this last Friday in the grouse woods as well. It was a treacherous hike through steep and thick territory. We didn't find birds but it was beautiful and Artus did a good job of staying out there and searching. Enjoy.



















Thick underbrush. The only reason I know Artus was in this pic is his orange collar.

Training, Water Work, and Meeting a Coyote

We've been doing a lot with Artus along with all the other things that keep us busy. I've been working some crazy hours lately but we still make time to do some training. Hunting season is getting close and we're just about ready for it. I just wish I could find an area with lots of wild birds to practice pointing on.

Two Saturdays ago, I went down to a VGP training day in Logan, Utah. There were three dogs there from the "A" litter vom Barenwald. They looked really good and it was a real eye opener for me to see all the work that goes into training for the VGP. The VGP is the "finished dog" test for Drahthaars and it is a pretty big deal. The guys there let me do a blood track with Artus and we showed him a (dead) fox as well. Those were new things for him. Something I notice and like about Drahthaars: We unloaded eight of them and they were all checking each other out but there was no posturing or fighting. Impressive to me. My wife and sons came down too and they had a good time shooting pellet guns and checking out the forest.

When we left there, we took the boys to Bear Lake. It's on the border of Idaho and Utah. We had fun playing in the water and Artus swam like an otter. He also did a lot of retrieves with a Frisbee I borrowed from some people there.

Yesterday, I took him just outside of Idaho Falls to look for more birds. We were walking up a hill when he disappeared fifty yards to my left. I kept walking thinking he was just ranging out farther. Then I heard him on the trail of something about fifty yards farther in a straight line from where I had last seen him. I called for him but kept hearing the "sight loud" sound. Then that stopped and I saw a dust cloud. I ran down the hill in time to see a coyote race away and Artus chasing it. I called him off after a short chase of about fifty feet. He didn't get bit or injured and wasn't scared one bit.

Today we did some retrieving work with him in the canal. He does really well. It's hard to believe he's only six months old.

First video:


Second video:

Searching for Grouse

It's been hard to update my blog the last couple of weeks. I work road construction so I've had some crazy hours and have been gone a lot.

Kaci and I took the kids to Spencer, Idaho last week and we all had a great time. We were hoping to get Artus into some grouse but no such luck. It wasn't from a lack of trying on his part though. There are some more areas with birds that I plan on taking him soon. Hopefully we can get him onto some soon. He points all birds he sees, I just want to get him into an area he can really get his nose full of them and show him what I want.

I've never gotten so many comments about a dog I've owned in the past. Everywhere we go people want to stop and talk to me about him. He really is a striking dog with a great personality. He gets along great with other people and dogs.

I started looking for a new upland bird vest a while back. I wanted it to be hydration compatible without having to carry water bottles for me or the dog. (Camelbak style) I found one through Badlands and ordered it. A friend of mine who works there gave me a great deal. It came in the mail the other day and I can't wait to get out and use it. Here's a link to the vest I bought: http://www.badlandspacks.com/index.php?go=Packs_Other02

A few pics from the hike we went on for grouse. One video too. In the video, Artus had been eating something nasty and kept trying to out his nose on Kaci. It's pretty funny. Once again, I'm not sure how else to post videos so the link is the question mark icon.

Tracking Jackrabbits in the Desert

We took Artus out a couple of times this week. He's learning to adjust his search patterns based on the terrain we are working in. In the trees he sticks closer to me and when we are out on the desert he ranges out farther. Nothing I've done has taught him this, he just picks it up on his own as he gets more exposure.

One part of the VJP (the spring test for Drahthaars) is the hare track. In it, your dog is judged on how well it tracks a rabbit. We took Artus out yesterday and luckily found several. This was his first time tracking them specifically and he did good. It's fun to watch him work the track out and when he hits the scent he really takes off. It was about 75 degrees and a wind was blowing but he tracked well despite that. We'll work on ranging out farther as we continue to train. He was overheating by the time we were done but would still get up and go when I asked him to. I admire the drive in this dog.

It's hard to get good pics of him with my cell phone camera but here are a few. I'm also posting links to several videos from when we worked in the water last week.
I haven't figured out how to correctly post links from my Photobucket account to my blog using my phone yet so for now, the three boxes with question marks in them will have to do. They are the video links.















Here's a few of him just being a puppy around the house.

Introduction to Water

We live on a ranch with frontage along the Snake River. Lately the river has been running high with the spring runoff and flooding in areas. Kaci and I took the dogs down to play in the water and see if we could get Artus to go for a swim. The kids came along too and everyone had a great time. Once Artus figured out the water wasn't going to hurt him he was a natural. I forgot to bring training bumpers so I used sticks. I just threw the sticks farther each time and eventually he started swimming for them. Also, there were several times he caught the scent of something and it was like a switch was turned on. He started tracking and was all business. He followed some raccoon tracks for a while too. I have some pictures to go with it. Enjoy.









He's in this pic! He's the black dot way out in the water!














Aili played in the water too: