Sunday, September 20, 2009

Questioning

I'm beginning to really question what kind of hunting dog Omar the Wunderpuppy is really going to become.

Case in point, yesterday (Saturday).

I headed down to Gobbler's Knob Hunting Reserve between Canton and Banner, with 3 purposes.  Number 1: Clean the clubhouse for next weekend's test.  Number 2: Help anybody that showed up in their preparations for the test.  Number 3: Put out some birds to work Omar on and see if I could get him to connect all the elements, point, bird flushes, shot, and retrieve. 

2 chapter members showed up to prepare for their text nest week.  Both are running Natural Ability, both dogs are Wirehaired Pointing Griffons, both dogs are from the same litter, but the owners did not know each other until last month at another training day. 

Primarily, both of those owners wanted to work on the track portion.  So they got a couple of pheasants and one of the more experienced members of the chapter and I set the birds out.  One dog did a really great job, the other didn't do terrible, but it fell short of good.  All in all, I think they will do alright.  The only thing that matters is that the owner is happy with the performance and uses the test as an opportunity to evaluate where they need to focus training.

The other person there had his German Shorthaired Pointer which he is trying to get to become more steady.  The dog points very nicely, but as soon as you make a step, she wants to break in on the bird.  He worked the dog on three or four birds.

Finally, I wanted to get birds in front of Omar and get him ready for hunting season. He has a good strong point, and does a nice job of retrieving when we train at home, but at the last training day, we would point but I couldn't get him to follow up with a retrieve to hand.  He just didn't seem interested then. 


Not a problem yesterday.  I put out 6 chukar partridge, in 2 differnt set-ups.  The results were spectacular.  On the last bird, I had one of the other guys take some photos for me.



Omar, pointing the bird.













Another of Omar on point.
















On Point.  Can you tell where the bird is?















The circle in the center of the picture is around a blaze orange clothespin.  This marks the location of the bird launcher.  It is about 30' in front of Omar.













I'm moving in to flush the bird.















After the flush, taking down the bird. 

And a retrieve to hand.
The great thing about this is the way Omar reacts.  If you notice in the pictures after I move in and the bird has been flushed, Omar is still standing in the same location.  When the bird is shot, he STILL didn't move.  Finally, just as the bird hit the ground, Omar broke from his point and moved in on the dead bird, which he retrieved to hand.

Man, that was FUN!

So do you think he is going to be a decent bird dog?

5 comments:

Jim E. said...

Looking Good.............

drjim said...

Good boy, Omar!

Harvey said...

Glad to see him coming along so well.

*pat on the head for Omar*

Greybeard said...

Looking very good! I just picked up on the Omar series and read it through.
Don't be offended, but does a Spinoni look anything like a Wire Haired German Shorthair?
Our housepest is a sweet little (smooth) German Shorthair, that's colored very much like Omar, (but much smaller). My inlaw own's a male Wirehair that looks very much like Omar in your photo's.

Petey said...

Greybeard-
The Spinone is very similar to the German Wirehaired Pointer and the Wirehaired Pointing Griffon. The Griffons tend to be smaller than the Spinone's, but the GWP's are pretty much the same size. Spinone's usually have a little bit longer nose, and the skull shape is slightly different.

Omar is about 75 pounds and 27" at the withers. The hardcore Italian purists (the Spinone is one of two breeds of Italian hunting dogs) only want white dogs. There is also white and orange color that is acceptable, and colored similar to Omar is the third. I wanted the brown because the white dogs are too hard to keep clean around the muzzle and butt. The hair always appears dirty.

And yes, they are a wirehaired breed. Omar's coat over most of his body is fairly flat and soft. This legs, chest, and head are a little more wirey.