RSSCategory: Dogs in general

Dog Training: Too Much of a Good Thing…

Dog Training: Too Much of a Good Thing…

by Jeremy Criscoe Everyone has probably heard the statement, “My 6-month-old dog picked up six birds this year!” Or, “My 8-month-old dog started out great this year, but now he/she isn’t getting into the water and seems shaky around guns.” This is quite common. Hunting young pups always turns into too much of a good […]

February 29, 2012 | By | Reply More
How I Picked a Dog Breeder

How I Picked a Dog Breeder

by Jay If you get on our Facebook page, you may have seen that I recently (finally) picked a breeder for a Lab – which is also the first dog I’ll have with kids in the house, and my first real hunting dog. As you know if you’ve ever been through this process, finding a […]

February 1, 2012 | By | 13 Replies More
Hunting Dogs Being Killed in Traps

Hunting Dogs Being Killed in Traps

First, this doesn’t seem to be an epidemic, not even a local one. Second, regardless of your feelings about trapping, trappers are good people – if sometimes odd. (This means you Dan! Lol.) But let’s face it: Any beloved hunting dog or non-hunting pet – and they are all beloved – killed by accident is […]

January 16, 2012 | By | 2 Replies More
What Do You Know About Tollers?

What Do You Know About Tollers?

I (Jay) had never seen nor head of a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever until the 2011 Pheasant Fest last winter. In fact, when the guy I was talking to about the dog told me, I thought he was yanking my chain. Who in their right mind would give anything that long a name? And […]

December 16, 2011 | By | 4 Replies More
Stem Cells Give Dogs More Hunt Time

Stem Cells Give Dogs More Hunt Time

Not too long ago, seemed like anytime anyone said “stem cells” they’d either get a microphone shoved in their face or something thrown at ’em. But outside of that realm of political football, things have advanced – apparently to the point of a 1-day procedure that sounds like it’ll give old hunting dogs a few […]

November 22, 2011 | By | 2 Replies More
Would You Lease a Gun Dog?

Would You Lease a Gun Dog?

The always reliable (meaning good) Chad Love of Field & Stream blog and Quail Unlimited blog fame semi-recently raised a similar question in a brief post. Riffing on it here because we think it’s an interesting, appropriate but possibly unrealistic topic. Meaning: 1. We’ve actually talked about this in the field, wishing we had a […]

November 14, 2011 | By | 4 Replies More
Cool Hot Weather Dog Training Tips

Cool Hot Weather Dog Training Tips

Good article at gundogmag.com, worth a full read. Here are a few highlights that stood out for us, either paraphrased or quoted. > In training, your dog works harder than you do. So watch out when the temp gets 65 degrees for pointers, and 70 for retrievers. Be especially careful if a dog is out […]

August 18, 2011 | By | 2 Replies More
You Gotta Hear About This: Holy Smoke

You Gotta Hear About This: Holy Smoke

In his will, a friend of ours has specified that he wants to be cremated, his ashes “loaded into shotshells and given to my duck hunting buddies, so I can keep on killing them winged bastards.” Do you love this guy or what! Well, now that’s possible with a new Alabama company named Holy Smoke. […]

August 5, 2011 | By | 1 Reply More
Tips for Keeping an Older Dog Going

Tips for Keeping an Older Dog Going

Recently, Purina (Nestle) scientist Brian Zanghi, Ph.D. posted an interesting but loooooooooong article with some tips about keeping an older dog going longer in the field. Give you a hint: no pizza or beer…. Seriously, it’s worth a full read if you have an older dog, and even if yours don’t qualify as old yet. […]

July 27, 2011 | By | Reply More
LL Bean Says Grouse Are the Best

LL Bean Says Grouse Are the Best

Well…sorta! Check out the cover of its latest fall 2011 hunting catalog. Not sure if everyone got this cover or just the bird-heads or what, but it’s cool. No secret that we’re huge fans of Bean upland gear, and gotta say that we found a few must-haves/wanna-tries in this catalog. We’ll be testing out the […]

July 18, 2011 | By | Reply More
Control Your Dog With Your Face

Control Your Dog With Your Face

In the current era of “remote control” of hunting dogs – not that there’s anything wrong with that – could it be that an even better way is…your face? That was the subject of an intriguing post by Wingshooting USA host Scott Linden. Excerpts: > Think about what dogs see, especially from any distance. Not […]

July 13, 2011 | By | Reply More
Dogs Hunt, Humans Shoot?

Dogs Hunt, Humans Shoot?

We like to hunt. To us that means getting out there and walking (hard), seeing some birds fly, putting some of them on the ground. That’s equally true whether we’re hunting without a dog or over a dog. As we say in Serious Grouse Hunting, Book 1, a dog is only as good as where […]

June 16, 2011 | By | 1 Reply More
What To Look For First In a Dog?

What To Look For First In a Dog?

by Jay Brendan has a Lab pup, so he’s cast his dog vote. Me, I’m still undecided. My head’s spinning with all the breeds, all the recommendations, all the just plain love this or that hunter has for this or that dog. Today I had a long, very educational conversation with grouse dog master Dick […]

June 8, 2011 | By | 17 Replies More
Would You Hunt With a Pink Gun?

Would You Hunt With a Pink Gun?

Would you? Probably not, unless maybe it was the only one you had and the birds were daring you to get out of the truck and hunt. How about pink brush pants? No? Well then, how about hunting with a poodle?

May 11, 2011 | By | 6 Replies More
How to Take Advantage of the Flush

How to Take Advantage of the Flush

And which dog is better… by Larry Rich, a fellow Serious bird hunter Over the years I’ve seen, heard and at times been lucky enough to intercept a grouse in a variety of situations, and over quite a few different dogs.  Employing a little empathy and reasoning, I’ve come to have an opinion on how […]

March 30, 2011 | By | 4 Replies More
Which One Dog for Pheasants…and Grouse

Which One Dog for Pheasants…and Grouse

A recent post on the Pheasants Forever website quotes Steve Smith, head editor of Pointing Dog Journal and Retriever Journal, as saying the following to the question of “if you could have only one” dog: “If your idea of a good time is a German shorthair pointing, relocating, pointing, relocating all the way down a […]

March 28, 2011 | By | 13 Replies More
Dogs: Head High or Low or Doesn’t Matter?

Dogs: Head High or Low or Doesn’t Matter?

Grouse man of letters Burton Spiller said in one of his books that a good grouse dog must run with its head held high. We remembered that passage recently when looking at a recent article in a Wisconsin newspaper, which read in part: > Some bird dogs can detect the very subtle scent of [birds] […]

March 23, 2011 | By | 1 Reply More
Eulogy: Remembering Coley

Eulogy: Remembering Coley

How many things do you remember from college? Maybe not much, especially if it was at night with some suds in hand…. Yet it was on just such a night something happened that I (Jay) do remember – and, in fact, several of us remember it well enough to quote from. It was an off-the-cuff […]

March 17, 2011 | By | 3 Replies More
Would You Pick the Crazy Pup?

Would You Pick the Crazy Pup?

I (Jay) am as expert about dogs as I am about astrophysics – which is to say, I don’t know much. But I’m learning as fast as I can. And since I’m in the market for a dog – or dogs plural if my kids have their way – I’ve read a bunch about the […]

February 22, 2011 | By | 4 Replies More
PFest: Walkin’ the Dogs

PFest: Walkin’ the Dogs

What Dog(s) Am I Getting? One thing I didn’t expect to learn so much about Pheasant Fest was dogs.

February 4, 2011 | By | 10 Replies More