Tooey turns out to be a spaniel

Back in January, Russ wrote about taking Tooey upland hunting. He mentioned when he came back that the lightbulb really seemed to have flipped on in Tooey’s head — there are birds out in those fields that must be flushed and retrieved! Little did I realize the significance of what lay behind his words. Yesterday [...]

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Ring nerves visualization

I’ve been searching around for ways to handle my nervousness at dog shows. I love this quote*, which I just found in the Yahoo group, Clicker Competition Obedience Training: …Any time you start to feel nervous, take a nice deep breath and picture three images in your head. First think about the first time you [...]

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IWS Syncronized Sleeping Team

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Role changes

I am noticing some changes in the relationship between Cooper and Tooey. Don’t know if they’re permanent or temporary: Last weekend at the beach, Tooey began to get to the retrieve object before Cooper. Prior to this, Cooper always, and I mean always, got to the stick, bumper, or ball first. Tooey has been standing [...]

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Dogs as protectors

Last night, Russ noticed a really, really big spider crawling along the dining room wall. Normally, he picks spiders up and puts them outside. But this time, something made him get up, grab the telephone book, and proceed to pound the spider. Now, here’s the interesting thing. When the pounding started: Cooper turned and ran [...]

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You know she’s home ’cause she sings

We don’t hear Tooey whine very much. Oh, sometimes when she wants out of her crate, or when she realizes she’s close to her favorite swimming hole. But yesterday we had a whole new venue for her latest, and most grandiloquent concert. Tooey’s been gone for three weeks, living up at Colleen’s kennel while she’s [...]

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First Raccoons, then Coyotes, now Beavers?

We live in the city, but it’s still home to a reasonable amount of urban wildlife. Hundreds of squirrels, a few Coopers hawks (no relation), raccoons, and as Patrice reported last week, coyotes. Over the last few weeks, I’ve been noticing bark lying on the ground underneath our lilac and one of our Douglas fir [...]

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Tooey’s off to the Spa for Hot Girls

Tooey went into season last Sunday. With Cooper here too, we knew it would be inconvenient, but we wanted to keep her home. And for a week, we tried. After a couple of days of wearing a pair of men’s shorts (the back legs go through the legs, and the tail goes through the fly), [...]

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When the rules give you an advantage, take it

One of the advantages of an HRC Started Hunting Retriever test and an AKC Junior Hunter test is that the dog can wear a flat buckle collar, and the handler can hold onto that collar at the line. This prevents the dog from bolting when he sees the bird, instead of waiting until he’s been [...]

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Two shows, one point

Alas, there are no pictures of the Puyallup dog show this past weekend. Which is a darn shame because Rebecca did a gorgeous job grooming Tooey in preparation. On Saturday, all Rebecca’s work paid off. On Sunday, events conspired to keep us humble. On Saturday, we had a really light-handed, gentle judge in a nice [...]

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post-rain fun and training

It’s been raining. A lot. People have been whining about it, even us relatively native Northwesterners. People forget that Portland nearly always gets rain in June. Since 1955, 31 of Portland’s Rose Festival Grand Floral parades, which are held in early June, have been rained on. (Source). You can get an idea of how much [...]

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Training on Sauvie

Russ, Cooper, Tooey, and a friend, Paul, went out to Sauvie Island for some hunt training. There is a dog training area out there where you can get in some good water and field work. You need a dog training permit and parking pass, but it’s well worth it. With Paul’s help as bumper launcher, [...]

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“She only wants to play”

Please God, never let that phrase pass my lips. If my dog is ever frightening, intimidating, annoying, or even just being too pushy with another dog, just let me just say, “Sorry” and take my dog out of the area. Yesterday, Tooey and I were leaving after a day at the Delta, and my eye [...]

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Nova: finally we meet

After all these years, we finally got to meet Nova, Cooper’s mom. We knew and loved Balloo, Cooper’s dad, so we were thrilled with the opportunity to meet the other half. Cooper is a lot like his mom. Even though she has earned a Master Hunter title, she still is a touch over-eager for retrieving. [...]

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What’s wrong with this picture?

To the untrained eye, the picture below looks like a dog sitting in a field with his tongue hanging out. But to those in the know, this is a photo of Cooper sitting calmly waiting his turn to move up to the holding blind, . . .  with no lead. How strange is that? After [...]

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