When a new puppy joins the team, one has to make sure that the existing dogs don't resent the addition. We have two dogs now--Blackie, our oldest at 15, has knows every single dog we have had since the wife and I married over 27 years ago. She has known: Sinbad, Buck, Phoenix, Scruffy, Fruscy, Nala, Max, Bailey, and soon...Manny. Blackie suffers from a degenerative condition which atrophies her hind legs. We don't know how long she will be around, but, other than struggling to get up, she is fine. On the other hand, we have Fruscy. Fruscy is the ALPHA dog from hell. She does not want anyone to be petted before her, go outside before her, eat before her, play before her, or bed down before her. She will have an adjustment to make. I will make sure of that. Manny is going to be a 'working' dog which will entitle him to a different type of treatment which means that Manny will be 'working' instead of playing. The dogs will be separated during this process. Manny is also a male Brittany and will not tolerate 'heavy handed' training. Fortunately, male dogs often ignore the females unless they get 'excited'. We will try to manage the transgressions without too much trouble.
So far, Manny has his own 'bed', feeding bowl, collar, puppy chow and leash. The adjustment should be comfortable.
Manny's focus from day one will be to learn the art of finding things with his nose and pointing things that smell like a pheasant. I hope to help him with that ability. I have acquired a significant amount of "pheasant scent" from LP. Once Manny learns how to do the basics like, sit, stay, and heel, I will teach him to fetch. We will make it fun. Then, once he gets that behavior learned, I will introduce the fine aroma that will make him hopefully lock on point at the slightest whiff. I will add it to the "wing" on the string that I use to trigger his pointing instinct. The real fun with the scent will occur when I start encouraging Manny to "hunt em out" and find the "scent" on the retrieval dummy. By hiding what Manny will be looking for, I hope to get him to trust his nose and lock on point. Finding things at night that smell like pheasants will reinforce him to be instinctive during the day when he is seeking the real thing. The process of growing up from a puppy to a producer is an every day thing. I cherish each one.
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2 comments:
Ahhhhhhh, and the first story teller never has a chance! Don't ya know?
JB, me boyo, I wasn't aware that Brittany's were pointers! I was thinkin' they were Spaniels, and that Spaniels are flushin' dogs!
I might be wrong, but if the truth is that Spaniels are flushin' dogs, then you have your work cut out for ya, teachin' Manny to point.
It'll take SEVERAL drams o' Black Bush to do that lad.
Sure, and it would have been grand had I been able to shoot me piece on the hunt. It got to the point I was wantin' to obliterate one o' the tiny grass birds that kept flittin' and flyin' around durin' our walks throught the tall grass prairies that had no tall grass!
HB
HB,
The term Brittany Spaniel has been dropped by the AKC because they are pointers and do not flush like spaniels. They look like spaniels, but their pointing instincts are like English pointers that are smaller with a short tail. Basically, Manny should look like Sinbad and point like Buck. Which is exactly what I am looking forward to. Fortunately, Manny will be a little bigger than Sinbad was. That should help him bust through the tough cover of the 'tall grass prairie'.
I recall Shapelli getting frustrated about not poppin his lead slinger until we hunted our very last field and I threw a clay pigeon I found in the grass. Shapelli popped it pretty good.
I will take some pictures of Manny on point during training and post them to the web site for ya.
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