CH Izzie does everything!

When I think of CH JTH Izzie, a two-year-old pointer female owned by Jeff Hintz, I’m reminded of the Enjoli perfume ad from 1980. Hopefully many readers are old enough to remember this evocative television ad with the catchy song. The woman who wears Enjoli can do everything. She can “bring home the bacon…fry it up in the pan.”

Izzie, too, can do everything but it’s due to a combination of inherited potential and Jeff’’s development, exposure and training.

In Minnesota and Wisconsin, Izzie has hunted woodcock and ruffed grouse in the woods and sharp-tailed grouse on the sand barrens. She has hunted three quail species of the desert southwest:  Mearns, Gambels and scaled.

Izzie has placed in field trials on all those birds and in all those locations and she doesn’t seem to care whether Jeff is on foot or horseback.

Izzie is “dead broke… a strong marker…and retrieves to hand,” says Jeff.

Izzie swims. She rides shotgun in Jeff’s golf cart. And she loves to watch tv.

Oh, and did I mention that Izzie won a championship at the Region 12 Amateur Walking Shooting Dog trial when she was 20 months old?

Izzie was the last pick of an all-female litter out of CH Westfall’s Black Ice x Northwoods Prancer in 2011. Just like Izzie, Ice was evenly marked, black-and-white, compact, strong and talented. He was a 6X CH/7X RU-CH owned by Bill Westfall out of Missouri and campaigned off horseback. Prancer is a big, powerful female and beautiful with classic Elhew looks. We don’t compete her in field trials but save her for our guiding string where she is first-rate.

Here is Izzie’s impressive list of accomplishments…at just two years of age!
•    Champion, Region 12 Amateur Walking Shooting Dog, January 2013
•    Minnesota/Wisconsin Derby of the Year, 2013
•    Minnesota/Wisconsin Amateur Derby of the Year, 2013
•    Region 12 Walking Shooting Dog of the Year, 2013
•    1st Place, Moose River Grouse Dog Club Open Derby, Wisconsin, 2012
•    1st Place, Danforth Social Society & Fine Bird Dogs Open Derby, Minnesota, 2012
•    2nd Place, Region 19 All Age Derby, Wisconsin, 2012
•    2nd Place, Reuel Henry Pietz Derby Classic, Minnesota, 2012
•    2nd Place, High Country Bird Dog Club Amateur Derby, Arizona, 2013
•    3rd Place, Arizona Pointing Dog Club Open Derby, Arizona, 2013

Northwoods Grits places first in derby stake

The only field trial that Jerry competed in this spring was held over the weekend of May 3 at Crow-Hassan Park Reserve outside the Twin Cities. This is a horseback trial hosted by the Northwest Field Trial Association on liberated quail.

The Open Shooting Dog Derby was a big stake with 18 entries including 12 setters and 6 pointers. Our thanks to Frank LaNasa for the use of his horses and to Greg Gress for scouting.

Grits ran in the third brace under overcast and blustery conditions. From the breakaway, Grits had birds on his mind. His race was strong, forward and focused. His first find was forward and 300 yards to the right of the course on a tree line. Jerry flushed a quail and Grits was perfectly steady to wing and shot.

As they caught up to the forward party, his bracemate was on point. Grits backed and stood composed while his bracemate relocated several times. There was no bird.

Grit’s second find was at about 20 minutes, again along a fence row but dead ahead on the course. Again he stood high and tight throughout a lengthy flushing effort by Jerry. A single was seen twittering and running on the ground and eventually disappeared into the dense cover. Jerry shot his gun and took him on.

Grits wasn’t done yet, though. His last eight minutes were forward and reaching and at time he was still hunting far to the front.

Grits is owned by Bob Senkler and is out of our 2011 breeding of Northwoods Blue Ox x Northwoods Chablis.

We handled four other derbies and are proud of their performances:  Trudy (Steve Snyder), Trixie (Greg Gress), Slash (Dan Stadin) and Chet (Nathan Friend).

Snyder’s Liz (Steve Snyder) competed in the Open Shooting Dog stake and did a fine job but had no birds.

This the second son of Ox to place in this derby stake. In 2012, Northwoods Parmigiano (Northwoods Blue Ox x Houston’s Belle’s Choice) won second.

Scenting ability

Northwoods Parmigiano shows lofty style and precise bird location on point along a fence row.

The ability to find game is directly related to the scenting powers of the dog. It’s the most important natural quality. You can train a dog to come when called, point, back and retrieve but you can’t teach a dog to have a better nose.

There are a lot of dogs with a good nose and occasionally one with what may be called a “superb” nose. Of course, such a dog is a rarity.
~Er M. Shelley, 1921

Shelley was a bird dog trainer in the early 20th century. He also spent five years in Africa hunting lions and leopards with hounds and game dogs and knew about scenting ability. The hounds were hunted in packs of 20 to 30 and comparisons were simple. It was easy to determine which dogs had the best noses.

Often though, it’s difficult to differentiate between a good nose and a great one unless dogs are hunted in pairs. Too, one outing doesn’t prove anything. But if, over a period of time, certain dogs just find more birds than their bracemates, it’s logical to conclude that they have better noses.

The dog that points his birds with exact location, always going to them at a fast pace with his head up into the wind and getting as close as possible to the birds without flushing them, indicates that he has the better nose.
~ Earl C. Crangle, 2000

Some think a dog that points from the farthest distance has the best nose. I agree with Crangle. It’s just the opposite. The dog with the best nose points its birds as close as possible without flushing them. This dog smells the birds from afar but discerns the distance and then pinpoints their locations.

To be most useful, the scenting ability should work with the rate of speed at which the dog hunts. The faster the dog hunts, the better its scenting should be. In other words, I’d always prefer a 5 mph dog with a 10 mph nose. This also explains why, as some young dogs mature, they begin to find more birds. They finally hunt at a pace that allows their noses to work out ahead of them.

Another common belief is that certain weather conditions affect a dog’s scenting ability. Actually, bird movement, or lack thereof, is the culprit. Studies of radio-marked bobwhite quail show that high winds, high temperatures, low humidity, rain and the proverbial east wind cause quail to be less active.

Hard-core dog people and serious bird hunters know which end of the dog points the birds. They will always choose to live with other, perhaps minor faults in their dog if it has exceptional scenting ability.

Choice & Chardonnay puppies at play (includes short videos)

The litter out of Blue Shaquille x Houston’s Belle’s Choice is now about 3½ weeks old and growing like weeds. After Choice feeds them each morning, we clean the nest and add fresh wood shavings—all of which seems to invigorate the puppies. Even though they’re a little wobbly on unsteady legs, the play facilitates coordination and muscle development.

Meanwhile, puppies in the adjacent run out of Ridge Creek Cody x Northwoods Chardonnay are one week older and more mature in their play. They’ve begun a bit of dominance play, including biting and standing over. But they’re all pals and, in the end, fall asleep together in one big pile.

Note:  The background noises in the videos are dog doors banging as dogs go in and out.

Puppy development article on Strideaway

Northwoods Roquefort, left, and Northwoods Parmigiano. (Photo by Chris Mathan.)

Chris Mathan recently asked if I wanted to contribute a piece to Strideaway, an online publication dedicated to promoting pointing dog field trials; particularly, trials for English setters and pointers that are sanctioned by The American Field.

Since the subject was raising puppies, I jumped at the chance. Her assignment was to discuss how we raise, socialize and develop puppies—all with a slant toward how that helps their future training.

The piece is titled Early Development of Bird Dogs and was published on Strideaway last week. Even if the subject isn’t interesting, the exquisite photos of setter and pointer puppies by Chris are worth a look-see.

Chris owns two businesses on her own—The Sportsman’s Cabinet and Chris Mathan Photography—and   Strideaway, co-conceived and co-managed with Mazie Davis.

Many thanks to Chris for offering me the opportunity.

Northwoods Vixen whelps nine (includes short video)

Between about 4 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. on Sunday morning, April 21, Northwoods Vixen whelped nine puppies by CH Elhew G Force. There are two males (one liver and one orange) and seven females (four black and three orange). The birth process was about as smooth as we could hope for.

Within an hour after all were born, Jerry shot some audio and video. We’ve always liked the tiny peeping, squealing noises newborns make. The whelping process is a messing thing—with plenty of fluids and liquids—and the dam spends a lot of time licking and cleaning her puppies.

By late morning, every puppy was shiny white. And Vixen and her litter were sleeping.

What We’re Reading: Minnesota Conservation Volunteer

No one would rather hunt woodcock in October than I, but since learning of the sky dance I find myself calling one or two birds enough. I must be sure that, come April, there be no dearth of dancers in the sunset sky.
~ Aldo Leopold

Too often woodcock are overlooked for its larger and louder woodland neighbor, the ruffed grouse, but they are amazing little birds. The spring sky dance is famous, of course, but I also like its twittering flush and those big, brown eyes.

The March/April issue of Minnesota Conservation Volunteer magazine has a nice piece on woodcock with information on the sky dance, banding chicks and habitat needs.

Minnesota Conservation Volunteer, a bimonthly magazine published by the Minnesota DNR, has long been overseen and edited by Kathleen Weflen, who deserves, I think, most of the credit.  This outstanding publication is always filled with beautiful photographs and all sorts of interesting, outdoors-y stories.

What We’re Reading: Terrierman’s Daily Dose

Information on working terriers, dogs, natural history, hunting, and the environment, with occasional political commentary as I see fit.
~ Patrick Burns

Terrierman’s Daily Dose is one of a handful of blogs that Jerry follows with regularity. Patrick Burns, the writer, is erudite, literate and seems to have unlimited time to research and to write his blog. He can’t help himself either, apparently. A couple years ago, he suspended writing but took it up again as, I think, he just has too much to say.

On April 5, he posted How to Go to the Vet. We don’t agree with every point but it’s good reading.

What do bobwhite quail do all day?

A male bobwhite quail (Colinus virginianus) walks swiftly from its roosting site.

Jerry and I became even more fascinated by bobwhite quail while spending the winter training on a quail plantation in southwest Georgia.

First of all, they are tiny…..and weigh just 6 oz. Like ruffed grouse, they are perfectly plumaged as to be practically invisible, even when looking straight at them. We discovered that they are as wily and evasive as grouse, too. To avoid dogs and hunters, they run fast and far or they burrow in/under a clump of wiregrass or other cover where even the most tenacious Labrador or cocker spaniel will have difficulty with location.

We adore the distinctive “bob white, bob white” whistle. Perhaps most of all, though, we never tire of the exhilaration, fast action and flurry of wings when a covey rises.

Bobwhite quail fly into heavy cover after the flush.

But we wanted to know more so Jerry spent hours studying the Tall Timbers Research Station and Land Conservancy website. Tall Timbers is located outside Tallahassee, Florida, on a former quail plantation. It is widely regarded for its research and as a resource in the areas of fire ecology and wildlife and game bird management of the Southeastern Coastal Plain.

One of the cool things they researched during a hunting season was “Patterns of Bobwhite Covey Activity.” Workers radio-tracked four coveys of quail continuously, recording their location and activity level every 15 minutes from daylight until dark. They overlaid that data onto weather data collected on the same 15-minute intervals at the Albany, Georgia, airport.

Generally, coveys ranged no more than 200 to 300 yards during a single day and 10 to 15 acres throughout the season.

A female bobwhite quail is hard to distinguish from among fallen pine needles.

And the daily habit?

Second hour of daylight: Covey moves off their roost and enters into period of peak activity. This high level of activity lasts for 1 to 1½ hours and then tapers off.

Midday:  Very little activity for 3 – 4 hours. Coveys often move to heavier cover to loaf.

Around 3:00 pm:  Activity levels start to pick up. Coveys usually have periods of feeding and then going to roost.

The research project also proved that quail covey movements were influenced by weather.

•    Active in cold temperatures and conditions with high humidity and light winds.
•    Inactive in hot temperatures and conditions with low humidity and high winds.
•    Inactive when raining.
•    Very little activity when the wind was from the east.
•    Activity levels tended to increase the day before a change in the weather suggesting that quail can sense an approaching weather event.

Another champion: Houston’s Blue Diamond

CH Houston’s Blue Diamond (Houston x Forest Ridge Jewel) is posed by his owner Ross Leonard, on left.

Congratulations to Ross Leonard for handling his setter male, Houston’s Blue Diamond (call name Sam), to first place in Region 4 Amateur Shooting Dog Championship held recently near Berea, Kentucky. Most of these horseback trials are dominated by pointers and this was no different—18 pointers and eight setters competed.

Sam was whelped in 2006 out of Houston (via frozen semen) and Forest Ridge Jewel at the kennel of Paul Hauge. This was a repeat breeding for Paul…and for a very good reason. The first litter in 2004 produced multiple champion and extraordinary dam, CH Houston’s Belle. Sam is a handsome dog with a blocky head and the distinctive “Houston” mark around his left eye.

Sam was one of five puppies. Two of his siblings, Fireside Fleetwood and Fireside Blue Zephyr, are also field trial winners.

I developed and trained Sam for Paul that first year—on the North Dakota prairie, in the grouse woods and in Texas on bobwhite quail. Ross bought Sam from Paul in 2007 and, after furthering his training, has successfully competed in various field trials.