Cove Mountain Kennels

Last week we finished working with a German Shorthair named Moses. He has come along way in his training and I was proud to pass him on to his owner. When I started with his training it was evident that he had lot of bird drive, but only wanted to try and catch birds that he smelled. There was no point in him. He had a great nose, but just wanted to dive in and catch birds. He was also a hard-headed dog and did not pick things up very quickly. His positive attributes were his great confirmation and excellent bird drive.

We worked with a launcher and eventually got him to respect birds and hold a point. Over time he progressed on his obedience training, handling and “whoa” training. After a lot of bird work he eventually learned it didn’t pay to chase birds and began holding through his points and watching the birds fly off (it is great to have homing pigeons for this). The north Utah owner wanted him trained primarily for pheasants and wanted him to break on the shot so he had the best chance of recovering a wounded, running ringneck.

Moses was a challenging dog, but turned out nicely. Toward the end of his training, I began hunting him on chukars, pheasants, and sharptail grouse. He now handles beautifully and checks back often. His first time out for sharptails he pinned a covey of about a dozen and held his point nicely so I was able to knock down a double. He is a striking dog and has a lot of intensity on point. Before he left me, he had had 8-10 wild birds shot over him. The day he was picked up he was headed for a week of pheasant hunting in North Dakota. I’m looking forward to hearing how he did.  – Nick Muckerman

Here’s the newest edition to the Cove Mountain pack. Born 11 November 2011. How cool it that?

We always love to hear back from puppy owners about how things are going and what experiences the puppies are having. We especially love to hear about successful hunting trips. We heard back from Steve and Pam in northern Idaho about their pup Lucy. We got some great photos and heard about their hunting adventures with the new puppy. Lucy seems to be a real game dog at 4 months old!

There is no way to keep your bird dog 100 percent safe in the field, but there are ways to help prevent disasters. Chris and I just finished doing a snake break for some dogs that we have been training. We had a good session and I am confident that none of those dogs will be interested in the sight, smell or sound of a rattlesnake. They won’t dive in or even want a closer look.

Snake break training is fairly simple in principal, but difficult in practice. Basically, you want the dog to use as many senses as possible to locate the snake, and then when the dogs jumps in you hit them on the highest setting on the e-collar multiple times. The problem is finding the snake and then making it so that it can’t hurt or kill the dogs. Some guys duct tape the snake’s mouth shut, we use a skin stapler. Needless to say, this isn’t the easiest task to accomplish. The snake wasn’t happy and our heart rates were more than slightly elevated during the process.

After the snake was made  harmless to the dogs, we let it slither around on the ground and start bringing dogs in one by one. Dogs react differently to snakes. Ideally, the snake will strike the dog, but it doesn’t have to for effective training. When the dog gets curious and sticks its face down near the snake or steps near the snake, we hit them on continuous on the highest setting on the e-collar. Hold for 4-5 second, pause for a second, hold for another 4-5 seconds, pause and then one more time. This creates a very bad memory of the sight, smell and sound of a rattlesnake. Afterwards, we move the snake to a new location and then bring the dog near it to see how the dog reacts. We did six dogs and none of them wanted anything to do with that rattlesnake the second time.  Needless to say our clients should not have to worry about their dogs getting bit by a rattlesnake in the field this season.   Nick Muckerman

The puppies are 3 weeks old today. They still sleep a fair amount, but they are getting more active playing with each other and with the kids when they climb in the whelping box with them. Notice “Yellow”  in the photo batting at her sibling.

Sam has been working with Allie all summer doing a dog 4-H project and getting ready for the State Fair. We didn’t know if Allie would be able to compete in the events just having had a litter of puppies. We decided to enter her and Sam ran her in both obedience and showmanship classes. Allie’s nipples were hanging low, especially after waiting for so long to compete during the evening. Sam did a great job with her and won two second place ribbons. Way to go Sam! When they were done, Allie was ready to get back to the pups.

The puppies are two weeks old and there eyes are just opening. The cuteness factor just ratcheted up a notch. They still spend a lot of time sleeping though.

Some close friends of ours offered to take care of the puppies so we could go on our previously planned family vacation for a long weekend in Yellowstone NP. When we got home Monday, we were surprised at how much the puppies had grown. We weigh each puppy every day and chart their growth, but numbers on paper are one thing, but visually see the change in size in just a few days it is amazing. Everyone is healthy and growing well. They are still spending a lot of time sleeping, piled all over each other. Eyes typically open around day 12, which is today, so we are expecting to see eyes cracking open little by little.