Money's First Handling Class

Last night Ms. Money had her first show handling class. 

Show handling class is about teaching a dog how to work in the conformation show ring.  They must be stacked (have their feet and legs and body manipulated into the correct position), examined (have the judge go over them thoroughly, including teeth and testicles (if they have them), gait around the ring at a trot (this gait is chosen as it best shows the dogs' structure on the move) and bait (this means looking extremely appealing for the judge so he or she will be completely charmed and forget anything he or she saw that might not be perfect).  OK, OK, baiting is REALLY so that the judge can evaluate the dogs expression, the shape of his or her ears and eyes and get a feel for his temperament and willingness to interact with strangers.  Money however will likely be using her baiting skills for the former, as she is so disgustingly cute...

The MOST important part of taking a baby puppy to handling class is letting them become comfortable around as many people and dogs as you can. Socialization in new situations goes a long way to a well-adjusted, confident puppy that you can take anywhere without worry that he or she will be uncomfortable. Don't wait! The sooner you start, the better!

Anyhow, naturally I did not expect Money, at 3 months of age, to learn all of these skills in one night.  What I wanted was for her to go and see the class, hopefully interact positively with some of the people there, and learn a little bit about being stacked on the floor (thus far we've only stacked her on tables) and be gaited a few times. 

All of that went fairly well,  She was not intimidated by any of the other dogs (not even the two Komondorak, the Dane, the Chow or the Australian Shepherd).  She permitted me to stack her several times and even stood still for the instructor to pet her and play with her face a bit as a preface to checking her bite when she's gone to a few more classes.   She did gait for me on the lead, altho she had some objections to the show lead, which is not quite as loose or comfortable as her buckle collar. 

What she learned best, however, was the handling class involves SNACKS.  Lots of YUMMY, SMELLY, EXCELLENT SNACKS.  She had cheese, chicken, liver, dried lamb, dried fish, biscuits and some kind of liverwurst that I thought was quite gross.  She informed me later that all of it was lovely and we should go back inside and get some more.  

Teaching a puppy to learn to stand still and to bait is a bit of a challenge.  Especially when said puppy is apparently a CHOW HOUND and still has her pirhana-like puppy teeth.  However, we perservered.  I worked on having her WAIT for her snacks by hiding them in my hand.  Nudging her back whenever she grabbed at my fingers soon had her looking expectantly at my hand, which is the end goal of baiting.  When she is fully trained, the idea is for her to walk towards me (and the judge) and stack HERSELF in perfect position with her MOST charming and appealing expression waiting for her treat.  So, learning to stand and wait is a good start towards this.

By the way, there is absolutely NO REASON not to have your show puppy also in other classes for obedience, agility or other training.  Any dog who can learn both sit and down can also learn to STAND in show handling class.  Any dog who has shown that he or she knows it is DINNERTIME just be your behavior can understand the difference between showing in conformation and showing in obedience or rally or agility.  Don't give up that valuable time to get obedience training done just because you want to show your dog.  EVERY single one of my dogs has had training in show handling AND obedience AND field from infancy and they are NOT confused.  

That said, Money heads tomorrow for her first obedience class.  Will keep you posted....

Money Goes Camping

Last week we headed to upstate NY for camping and a 4-day dogshow in Samson State Park, located on the northweast side of Seneca Lake. It's a beautiful park, very well kept with clean showers and lovely camping along the lake. 

It took about 5 hours to drive up and I'm not entirely sure how we fit our tent, 2 canopies, 4 dogs, several suitcases, myriads of tarps, our kerosene heater, camping equipment and crates into the minivan, but it DID fit.

Money was angelicly good the entire drive.  Upon arrival and after checking in, we let the dogs out of the car so they could stretch their legs and we could unearth the 2 portable expens to contain them while we set up camp.  5 seconds and 10 steps out of the car, Money was already attempting suicide by mushroom.   We quickly stuffed her into the expen and removed any more obvious mushrooms.  She didn't die, so apparently they weren't poisonous...

While we were setting up our tent and canopies, searching for our tent stakes and tying down all the tarps in case of wind and rain (always expected while camping lakeside) and trying to get everything organized, we put Money & her dad with the other two dogs (Z and Scarlett) into the expens. 


As we had arrived on Tuesday and the show didn't start until Thursday AND the park is closed to "non-show" campers for the entire week, we had the park to ourselves.  After dark we took the dogs for a long run under the stars in a huge empty field adjacent to our campsite.   It was very funny watching Money running thru the grass, which, while mowed, was still up to her neck.  Frequently she would trip and roll, head over heels, landing on her back. 

Several evenings we had a campfire and a few evenings were chilly enough for our Kerosene heater.   Money is a comforts kinda girl so she did get to wear her new coat several mornings when it was cold:   BUT what Money absolutely loved best was the SLEEPING BAGS.  Our tent is large and has room for our queen-sized air mattress along with several crates.  Normally Z sleeps with us camping but there just isn't room for anyone else so they sleep in their crates.  The first night, Money woke us about 4am to potty and John brought her into the sleeping bag with us. That was it.  She was IN LOVE.  She never moved until nearly 7:30AM and then REFUSED to get out until she heard kibble noises.

The rest of the trip she could be seen attempting to re-enter the tent repeatedly, even tho it was zipped, in order to regain the warmth and comfort of the magical SLEEPING BAGS.   She would RUN towards the tent and LEAP at the seam for the zipper, having seen us go thru it many times.  Knowing it MIGHT be zipped but COULD be opened, she would be bicycling her front legs like mad, hoping that might show the opening.  Often the tent was zipped tight to deter the spiders and she would SLIDE DOWN, landing in a heap in front of the tent, only to jump up and try again.  Each time she was allowed into the tent alone, she could be found, curled up, sound asleep and very warm, in the middle of the bed.

ONe afternoone we took MOney down to the lakefront to watch the seagulls and see what she thought of the water.   Here are some photos of her,

 watching seagulls,

chasing seagulls,

and eating seagull feathers...

Other things Money found tasty on this trip, besides the fortunately NOT poisonous mushrooms:  sticks, pinecones, a nasty rawhide someone had left from a previous year at the show (EW), walnuts, moss, grass heads (she loved to grab them while running thru the fields, mouth WIDE open), deer poop, rabbit poop, seagull poop.  Are we seeing a trend here?   Yeah, if it was portable, she ate it.  She also likes coffee, cider, and beer, but not wine.  She was not impressed with the wine we bought up there, so we drank it ourselves.

One afternoon Rowan's 1/2 sister Lucy came for the show and brought 3 of her pups along with her.  As you might remember, they are a day older than Rowan's pups.  Money was at first taken aback by her rowdy 1/2 brothers, who are considerably larger than her miniature little self.  Next thing she was chivvying them all over the pen, and they were lined up on one of the dog beds, looking innocent while she collected all the dog bones.  Soon everyone was playing politely and later they all trooped up to the show grounds for a look around.

All the pups enjoyed the show.  They were wide-eyed at strange things like blacktop pavement, generators, flapping flags and tents, the big hairy dogs, the little hair dogs, the chairs and people and cars and trucks and campers, all in a hurry to go SOMEWHERE.  The pups did well.  Money was a bit reserved with many of the people, but a few took her fancy and she made a few friends.  All in all, she had a wonderful time and got a good taste of the great big world she's been waiting to see. 

Sunset over Lake Seneca.

Introducing Puppies to Birds

For those of you interesting in hunting, and for those of you interested in pursuing a Junior Hunter or field trial title with your pointer, one of the most important things you do is introducing your puppy to birds.




The first questions is, at what age is it appropriate to begin putting birds in front of your puppy? We feel that no dog is really too old, having done some beginning training with rescue pointers as old as six years, but if you have a puppy, you'll want to put birds in front of him as soon as possible. We try to at least do a few brief introductions while the pups are still with their dam - starting between 6 and 7 weeks. You may wish to wait until the pup has had most of his puppy shots before venturing anywhere that might have ticks, rodents or other germ-carrying critters. Basic introductions, however, can happen in your own backyard.


The next question is, what kind of birds? Tweety birds (robins, bluejays, chickadees and other common yard birds) do not have the same type of scent as gamebirds. Gamebirds include: quail, grouse, chukar (these look like largish pigeons) pigeons and pheasant. All of these (altho pigeons are not normally hunted, they work well for training a pointing dog) are the types of birds for which we'd like our dogs to be looking.



The best birds to introduce to puppies are quail. They are small, don't fly as far as other gamebirds, and not particularly scary or dangerous for a puppy. They also have a very good scent which is easy for a puppy to find. Pigeons and chukar would be a second choice for a puppy, being slightly larger than quail. Grouse are hard to find and very flighty, not an easy choice for puppies. Pheasant is not a good choice for a puppy as often they are bigger than the puppies and might scare them as they take off to fly away - they can be quite loud.


We always try to introduce puppies to birds along with a trained adult. Puppies spend a lot of time learning from their adult family members and housemates. The interest, enthusiasm, behavior and security of a trained adult can all contribute in a positive way to your puppies first experience. Generally, if we have an adult available, we will plant a bird (more on this) put the puppy on a leash nearby, and then bring out the adult. The adult will quickly find and point his or her bird, which we then flush (make fly). All this in view of the puppy who sees: dog using its nose, dog getting excited, dog pointing, and WAHOO! birdy fireworks as the bird flies away. If enough birds are available, it's useful to have the adult put up two or three birds to really spark his interest. At this point, we bring the puppy, still on lead, over to where the bird was, and let him investigate, encouraging him as he smells the area. If he saw the bird fly, if he smelled it before or afterward, he's already got a pretty good idea of what his little nose is telling him. Let him rummage around until he begins to lose interest.


Now, if you haven't an adult nearby who can "demonstrate" the fun and excitement of birds, you want to work a bit more carefully. It's important not to startle the pup. What we generally do is take a quail in our hands, pinning the wings, and, with the puppy on a lead, show it to him and allow him to check it out thoroughly. Often there will be some grabbing, which you may wish to gently prevent so your bird is still intact. Sometimes the puppy will show minimal interest in this fuzzy thing in your hand, after all, it's not particularly palatable and he's never seen it before. Don't worry about it. Next, at some distance from the puppy, we will tie the bird to a string, or tie the bird to an empty 2-liter soda bottle (this is just to weigh down the bird so it cannot fly far - saves on quail) and bring the puppy into an open area where the bird is. Generally the bird will run or fly at sight of your and the pup approaching. Hopefully, the puppy will give chase and show great interest. Again, if the pup shows little interest, keep trying.


Now, many pups will begin pointing at first sight or smell of any gamebird. This is not uncommon, and of course is desirable, altho we've had many dogs who chased their first few birds before ever pointing and grew to become nice hunting dogs. If the puppy is pointing from the very beginning, this is great. You can VERY QUIETLY encourage the puppy. Do not walk between the puppy and the bird. Normally the puppy will eventually break his point and head in to pounce on his quarry. (Again, you may want to prevent the puppy from doing too much damage to the bird, but there is nothing better than a proud pointer puppy, strutting about with his first bird in his mouth.) We will allow this for the first few times to build his enthusiasm.

If the pup is steadily pointing, you can slowly move towards the bird until it flushes. You may have to kick the bird, or even pick it up and toss it into the air. At this point, nearly all pups break and chase. Again, let him go for now. Let him have his fun.


Now, once you've shown the pup what a bird looks and smells like, and established his interest, it's time to begin allowing him the chance to find the birds on his own. Again, controlling the situation as we've done already will go a long way to building his enthusiasm. Making sure that he sees plenty of birds as a baby will ensure that he knows what his job is as an older pup and adult when he's turned out to hunt. Dogs who see few or no birds as pups can take much longer to build interest and will spend more time running then actively HUNTING. If you learned as a child that gold nuggets were to be found under mailboxes, you'd spend a good amount of time as an adult checking under mailboxes. If you had never heard of finding gold under mailboxes, you'd just walk right past them without a look. You might once in a great while find a nugget by chance, but you wouldn't be actively hunting for them.


So, what comes next is planting a bird or two for the puppy to find. Planting means placing the bird in some kind of cover: grass, bushes, a depression in the ground with leaves covering, whatever you can do to conceal the bird. Giving the bird a good shaking, tucking his head under his wing, all these help to settle the bird so he stays put. It's helpful to place the bird several minutes before you bring the puppy into the area. This gives the scent of the bird time to waft out from the bird itself to some of the surrounding area and help give the puppy something to follow. Dogs hunting regular gamelands with wild birds will have a trail to follow, and there is often a good deal more scent, so leaving the bird a few minutes can help the puppy have more to find.


Bring the puppy (again, on a lead - the purpose of the lead is to control where the puppy goes, not so much to prevent his freedom) into the area where the bird is planted and allow him to investigate. He may not even notice the bird or its scent. Give him some time to figure it out for himself. If he's gotten very interested in field mice, digging or playing with something he finds in the brush, you can walk him in a circle around where the bird is planted (careful of flushing the bird yourself) until he notices it is there. Usually he will pass it, pause, and go back to investigate. As a last resort, you can crouch down, bringing the pup with you, and rustle the grass near the bird, even expose the bird for the pup if necessary.


Following these steps a few times for your pup as soon as you can possibly do so will usually give him a good start for hunting. He will know what a bird is, what it smells like (most game birds have a similiar scent and most dogs will easily translate what they learn on quail or chukar to any game bird including pheasant) and will be beginning to learn how to follow his nose and locate game.


You will notice that AT NO TIME was there any mention of gunfire. This is not the time for gun training. Gun training comes after the dog's interest is solidly established. This topic will be covered at a later date.



Good luck and happy hunting!


(Photos: Scarlett, Ch Corwyn's Flame JH CDX VA at 3 months pointing probably her 2nd or 3rd bird and, later, Scarlett's first litter: Corwyn's Wizard, Corwyn's Illusion and Corwyn's Mystic at 7 weeks - two pointing, one pouncing - on their first bird. This scenario in our own yard. Notice the bird is on a string)