The Votes Are In!

The voters have spoken! Well when you subtract my wife and someone else (Kathy). CHUY it is! First and foremost it reflects my South Texas heritage and our favorite restaurant in Austin. It also happens to be for:


The kids are all of the sudden big fans of Star Wars. Especially Charlie who only wants to wear the $25 Star Wars retro Gap t-shirt that will probably only fit for a couple more months.

We went into puppy naming crisis mode when Mary Alice assigned her default name, "pupcake".

Chuy is doing well even though he has no control over his bladder and bowels. That will come. He is a firecracker. There is no quit in this pup. I'll get some pics up soon.

Very good suggestions by the way from everyone on the names. I liked: Buzz, Dieter, and Cato from the Harris clan. Out of the patriotic names Libby and Bell would have been good girl names.

It's about time.

Here is our boy. I have heard people say that it is difficult to have the pick of the litter. I had no idea it would be this difficult. I really think that it came down to our (still) nameless puppy below and the ugly puppy. There is something about that white faced dog. Someone will get an ultra athletic pup in the ugly dog. He is going to be a big one, too.


Here's Ugly...

I would love to tell you that I had picked up on all kinds of clues that he was going to be a great companion for the family and for quail hunting next year, but I had no idea. I really did not have very many clues about anything. He has a pretty strong will, but he did submit to Don after a few minutes of Don gently holding him down. All the pups come to a whistle pretty well.
I asked Don to hold on to him for another week since Kay-Lynn and the kids were going to the beach in South Carolina this week, but it looks like the latest tropical depression/hurricane is going to throw a ton of rain throughout the Southeast this week. So I say all of that to say this: we will probably pick him up Wednesday of this week. We are really looking forward to it.



So I have been "working on building my own fence for the back yard all summer. Here is the update. Posts are up. That is all. I was supposed to have two nights and a Saturday of working on the fence the other week until a huge storm came through and...

...took out a 50 foot white pine landing on and splitting one of my dogwoods. So, with the help of two friends, for two nights and a Saturday, I was able to cut up these trees and haul them down to the street. I am picking up a compressor and framing nailer Tuesday evening. So, hopefully that will force me to find time to get some fencing done.
Here is the trunk that I had to cut down. It came down fairly easy, but I really wish I had old' Babe to haul it off for me. Each piece of the trunk was north of 100 lbs. I only attempted to lift one into the wheel barrow. That was enough. Notice the fence posts? Nice, huh?

Puppy Love

Well, it's pretty easy to see where the term "puppy love" comes from. It is sweet, innocent and wholesome. The kids really enjoyed seeing the pups at 3 weeks. Charlie is starting to get used to dogs a little more and it shows in his confidence. Before we left, I looked over to see him sticking his arm in one of Don's kennels to pet Lottie, one of his sweet black labs. Three weeks ago he would not stand near the kennels.

Mary Alice on the other hand...was born with our black lab, KAVU, in the house. So, she is very affectionate, yet respectful to all dogs. She has been making her bed and sometimes her brothers bed for weeks now...all in hopes that we will notice and get another dog. Bless her heart. She has not idea that I have planned on getting a dog for months now. I think I am going to keep it from the kids and just bring home our pup.

Charlie is trying very hard to remain motionless for the sleeping puppy.

Here is my old lady favoring the females.

What a sweetheart.

Almost 3 Weeks Old

We went by to visit the puppies today. I took the whole family this afternoon. The kids did not want to leave and after about an hour Kay-Lynn was asking if we could possibly get two puppies.

They are very cute. I feel like we have narrowed it down to four pups but I still do not want to commit because there was a huge difference in their appearance between week one and week three. I will wait a couple more weeks before making my decision. They should be ready to go around August 15th.

Here is liver and white female #1. I still think she is the prettiest of the litter.


Here is liver and white female #2. Both of the female's faces have become more liver in the last couple of weeks and you can now see heavy ticking.


Here is male #1. This is the boy that had three small patches on his crown. It has grown into a Y. He has become a fine looking pup.


Male #2's head band has almost connected. He also has the biggest head of the litter. He probably will not be the first pup chosen but he is unique looking.

Here is male #3 . His white stripe is slightly to the right, but the far right of the stripe is becoming more liver. It will be interesting to see his coloring in another couple of weeks. I really like his two patches. They are on his tail and hind end.


The liver females are all VERY similar except liver female #3 who is a lighter shade of liver and has a higher sock on the front right foot.






I think it would be interesting to see if there is any change in my poll. I may put up a new favorite puppy poll.

July 4th Puppies!

The pups arrived on independence day, but it took me a while to get some pics of them. The boys look pretty good, but the girls are so pretty they have me rethinking my decision to get a male. There were ten whelped, but one male was lost on the third day. Here is the break down. There are three males - all are white and liver with ticking. There are two females with white and liver with ticking and four liver females with a blaze on the chest and some socks.

Here are some pics:
These are the liver girls. Believe it or not each of the four pics below are four different dogs.
#1

#2

#3

#4

Here are the boys:
#5

#6 has three small patches on top of his crown.

#7 with the white face:

And here are the three boys just broin' out.

Here is one of the two girls that has me reconsidering:
#8

Here is the girl that I think is really pretty. Her face is most similar to the sire.
#9


I am going to attempt to add a poll. Let me know your thoughts. I won't be making a decision until I can see there personality develop and begin to see their level of dominance.

Stud

I got a copy of Bret's pedigree and OFA. His OFA is good. I hope he can throw some good pups. His genes suggest that he should. I am hoping to get a copy of Daisy's pedigree and OFA this weekend at church. So if our Stud has any admirers out there, here you go:








I found a few sites that have some info on and pics of most of the Dual Champions in Bret's pedigree. And, yes...I do realize that I have officially gone off the deep end in my pup obsession.
http://www.nmk1gsp.net/Duals/spencer.html
http://www.rugerheim.com/dualchampions.htm
http://www.waycoolkennels.com/rexxpic.asp -> This one is one of the few that was not from NMK or Rugerheim.

Redemption

"Just when I thought you couldn't get any dumber, you go and do something like this... and totally redeem yourself!" ~ Harry Dunne to Lloyd Christmas

Brett was a little inexperienced and it showed on his first opportunity to stud, BUT he has redeemed himself. Daisy started showing last week. Since the actual date of conception is unclear, the expected whelping is also uncertain. It will most likely be July 6th or 7th.

Puppy Check List

So I have been thinking about everything I need to buy for the pup. Here is what I have so far. I will not need all of these things right away, but I am just pulling a list together. Let me know if I am missing something important.

Travel Kennel - I am hoping that I still have one from my Lab, Kavu. If not, I will probably buy whatever plastic kennel I can find that is on sale.

Whistle - I really have no idea what kind to get. I have never used a whistle, but it sounds like it would be a good idea for me to get a general, all-purpose whistle to use with the pup. My hope is that he will learn early that a whistle means "pay attention". Looks like Roy Gonia makes a good whistle.

Collar - I'll probably just get something cheap until he grows up. At that point, I have spotted some very nice leather collars at www.snowcanyonoutfitters.com.

Leads - I read on someone's blog that they had made their own using some static climbing rope that were scraps from an outdoor store. That sounds like a good idea.
Puppy Gate - I really do not have a good idea for keeping the pup in the kitchen. Wolters suggests in his book (for housebreaking purposes) to keep the pup in a room with a hard floor that is in a high traffic area. That is our kitchen, but it is a wide open room. So, it will be very difficult to keep him in the kitchen without barricading our kitchen to where it is a hassle for everyone in my family under 6'4".
Training Bumpers - Let me know if there are preferences out there. Once again, I will probably get whatever is on sale.
Stainless Steel Bowls -
Bed - I have seen some fairly inexpensive beds that appear to be durable.
Comb - More on this later. My friend, Don, showed me a great comb that works really well. I can't remember the name of the thing, but I'll ask him about it and post it on here.

That's all I have at this point.

Family Dog

It's been a while since I've written a book report. Bare with me.

I have nearly completed reading Family Dog, by Richard A. Wolters [Dutton Adult; Revised edition (February 1, 1999)]. Most people that have trained a gun dog are probably familiar with Wolters. His other books, Gun Dog, Water Dog, and Game Dog are well known and highly regarded.

Family Dog focuses on basic obedience training. Wolters also shares his philosophy of when to start training a dog, and he supports his philosophy by citing research done by the Seeing Eye. The Seeing Eye has discovered that you can greatly improve your chances of having a well-trained dog if you start training at 7 weeks. Contrary to many assumptions, a dog's brain is completely developed after only 6 months. Your pup only lacks experiences and repetition. It is really fascinating and helpful how Wolters breaks down training by the dog's cognitive development. It is basically broken down into four stages. I plan on using his method on my next pup, but it will require a commitment. One of the stages where Wolters recommends introducing a new experience to the pup, only lasts a couple of weeks. I agreed with the "meat" of the book, but as he got into later chapters on breaking negative behavior, he started to lose me a little. Some of his techniques seemed to require tricking the dog into doing a particular behavior so that you could associate this behavior with a negative consequence. I am unsure if I would choose to look for negative behaviors proactively. For example, he discusses the problem of "dog napping". He stages a scenario where you get an assistant to sit in a car and entice the dog to get in their car. After the dog gets in the car, you are to have the assistant be rough with the dog and give the dog a spanking outside of the car.

I highly recommend this book as a supplement to any other gun dog training books you may have. Wolters makes some salient points that any dog owner can use.

A Little More on Bret...

I thought I would write a little bit more about the Sire, Bret.

It is a little unusual that my connection to these dogs is through Don, the owner of the Dam, and I know more about Brett than I do Daisy. I suppose it is because I happened to be in Don's car when he had recently received Bret's pedigree. His pedigree goes back 5 generations and only 3 of the 63 dogs on the pedigree were not champions of one kind or another. Apparently, Bret was sent to a trainer out New Mexico way. While he was there, he was trained to be a horse dog. Both Daisy and Bret are very athletic and should whelp a great litter.


I am going to feel like an idiot with this blog if Daisy is not "with pups" this year. Here are a couple more pics that I took this past Monday. Sorry if Bret happens to be exposing himself a little.

The Beginning

Unfortunately, I am a 31 year old male. Which means that everyone my age will think I am pathetic for having a blog. Well, maybe I am and maybe I am.

I am going to put up some pictures and a little text of my experience getting a gun dog, a German Shorthair Pointer. I went with my friend Don to pick up his Dam, Daisy, from her weekend of breeding with the Sire, Brett, this past Monday. I took my camera and got a few pics of Daisy and Brett while I was there.













Neither of them had ever been bred so they were a little inexperienced. Don certainly knows how to handle a dog. Wow, that was an educational trip to Statesville, NC. I'll just leave it at that since Don asked me not to give away any of his "trade secrets". Well okay...I will say that I did not shake hands with Don at the end of the day.

Don is the owner of Hunting Creek Retrievers. His labs are outstanding hunters, and I am hoping his first litter of GSP's is too.