Cove Mountain Kennels

I wanted to let folks know about a scam someone tried on us the other day. We are only a few days away from Allie delivering her puppies. I posted a litter expected ad and immediately got an email response saying that this person was ready to buy a puppy. The email was a little odd, as it didn’t really fit a litter expected ad, plus the grammar was poor. I am not trying to make money selling puppies, but rather want to produce excellent dogs that will be cherished in hunting homes, where they go is critical to us. Therefore, I sent an email back saying to contact me and we can discuss the litter over the phone, and a list of questions for they to answer by way of application for the dog. The next morning I got a call from a supposed deaf person talking through an interpreter. They didn’t seem to care about the dog or even the cost; they were more concerned about getting me the payment. They later sent me an email stating that they would send me a certified cashier’s check for the dog, plus fees for their shipping company and I was to pay the shipper via Western Union from their check. There was an urgent undercurrent in the message, plus things like “God bless” and “your brother in Christ”. I blocked all further contact from this address. Here’s the kicker, a day later, I posted the same litter expected announcement on another site and again, within minutes, I got an identical email to the first one, from a different address. Beware that these people are lurking. The addresses were both gmail accounts. I read somewhere that this scam (or similar) is being run out of Nigeria. Watch out.

Max, my pointer and I got it tonight.
We were working on heeling on a checkcord in shin-high grass and WHAM!
Before I could blink, we got it right in the face. It was so strong it about made me vomit. So strong that it almost doesn’t smell like skunk; more like onions. Max didn’t know what hit him. Julie wouldn’t let me in the house. I took care of Max on the front lawn and then had to strip and dash for the shower.

This isn’t the first time, but I had forgotten just how bad it is. Man, I hate skunks!

The recipie we use to wash the dog is the following:
1 quart Hydrogen Peroxide
1/4 cup Baking Soda
1 tsp dish soap

Stir together and bathe dog with it like a shampoo and rinse thoroughly with a hose or buckets of water.
Don’t store the mixture. Mix fresh and use. I bathe the dog about three times in a row. If necessary you can follow up with another washing the next day. (Here’s another tip: don’t use your wife’s good bath towel to dry the dog. The next several times you wash the towel it spreads a mild eau-du-skunk through the laundry.)

I had an opportunity to go fishing with Dave Walker at Lake Powell this Spring and we had a great time. The first day fishing was hot, then a storm blew in and the fish just shut down. That left plenty of time for visiting. Dave is the author of “The Bird Dog Training Manual” and numerous pointing dog DVDs. He is a hall of famer and the pro’s pro of dog training. Most of what I know about pointing dogs comes from Dave and he is a pleasure to spend a few days fishing with.

I finally found the right male to breed with Allie, my female yellow lab to produce pups that have the conformation, energy, drive and stamina to hunt the upland days on end for quail, pheasants, chukars and grouse. My focus for this breeding was on size, conformation, drive, behavior and trainability. The breeding should produce medium sized (50 to 60 lbs) dogs with a smooth gait that can hunt for days in a row. Both the sire and dam have proven themselves in the field hunting wild game. They are both excellent companion dogs around the family and in the house. Both dam and sire are OFA certified for hips and elbows.

Duke, the sire (Royal Duke of Canyon View), is an AKC Master Hunter and has proven himself over the last several years with over a thousand waterfowl retrieves per year for a hunting guide. His pups carry his square head and muscular build, gentle temperament and strong bird drive.

Allie, the dam, has proven herself with her ability to find upland game and her stamina to hunt rough desert country days on end for Gamble’s Quail, Mearn’s Quail, chukars, grouse and ducks. She is a pleasure to have in the house and around the kids. Her strong drive comes from her father, “Nitro” Field Champion Yellowstone’s TNT Explosion.

I am excited about the breeding and am confident that it will produce dynamite puppies. The litter is expected May 2nd. Contact us to reserve your pup.

I was proud of Annie, a little Brittany I started a little over a year ago. Her owner asked me to run her in an AKC hunt test. I was only able to take her out one afternoon for a quick field tune-up before the hunt test.  I was pleased with how quickly she took to me again and followed commands. She did a stellar job in the test, showing excellent hunting and bird finding ability.  She is one of those dogs that just loves to please. When she does, she comes back to you looks you right in the eye and her tail wag starts at her front shoulders and works all the way back through her hips and tail. It was a fun day.

Photo: Working on retrieving with a Braque du Bourbonnais nicknamed Pinto Bean.

You can strengthen both your dog’s desire for birds and willingness to retrieve by playing with them for just a few minutes a night. With the dog on a check cord, show a fresh or frozen bird to the dog, let them smell it, get excited with them over the bird, tease them with it a bit then toss it out for them to get . Keep a hold of the check cord so they don’t run off with it, but keep it loose. If they do try to run off with the bird, praise them while stopping them with the check cord, then provide slack. Call them back to you. When they come back, don’t reach for the bird; let them have it for a moment while you praise them by stroking them down the back. After a moment, take the bird confidently and do it again. If they drop the bird before you reach to take it, immediately stop stroking them (i.e. they are rewarded when they hold the bird and come back to you, the reward stops when they drop the bird). If they don’t want to release the bird, gently lift the under the tender flap of skin between the back leg and hip and take the bird as they look to see what the pressure is; praise them all the while.

All of this should be fun, enthusiastic and positive. You are trying to build a positive, even electric connection between birds, retrieving and you. After about three times, just as the dog is getting really keyed up about the game, act like you are tossing the bird again and hide it behind your back and the bird disappears. Put the dog up and let them grind on just how awesome birds are.

A few brief minutes can really build a pup’s desire for birds and willingness to retrieve.

This weekend I was able to take advantage of the extended Utah chukar season.  This year the season started two weeks later and ran two weeks longer. I was very supportive of this regulation change for two reasons: first, it’s cooler for the dogs on the opener, and second, the birds are not as reliant on water sources, so they are not as tied to the guzzlers when people start hunting them.

We had a great hunt this weekend, the weather was overcast and chilly, which made good conditions for the dogs and the hunters. Even better, there was a fresh dusting of snow on the hillsides. I love to hunt chukars after a snow because you can figure out where they are and what they are doing by tracking them.

We knew the general area we wanted to hunt, so we were driving along surveying the area. We stopped at one spot that looked good and right away we heard chukars calling to us. One would think that I’d have learned by now that when I hear chukars calling I should just walk away. Needless to say, I haven’t. We shelled up and took off after them.  About two-thirds of the way to the top they started calling to us from a steep box canyon back below us. After muttering, we made a plan to go back down and come at them from two sides. As we closed in, I called out that we had them surrounded and they should come out single file. Being the ghost sirens they are, they simply vanished.

The snow did help out. While working my way up the mountain, I came across a single fresh, fresh chukar track in the snow headed up and across the slope. Allie (my lab) and I got on the track and determined to follow it out. Sure enough he led us all the way to the top. I figured he would probably run to the top and fly off the other side, but I thought I’d track him down and find out. In this case it paid off, sort of. We tracked this bird all the way to the top and around an edge. Just as we came around the edge two birds flushed, one right at me flushing from the dog, and the other down and away. I was able to down the first bird with the right barrel and hit the second bird, a far shot with the left barrel. The second bird cocked his wings up like a courting pigeon and sailed way, way down the mountain. Allie quickly came back with the first bird, and I sent her after the second. She made a great retrieve on the second working her way down mountain following the scent.  Where the second bird came from is one of those chukar mysteries.

Later Allie and I were able to get a third bird low on the hillside when she picked up scent and worked over a knoll and up a small drainage and flushed a lone bird. She was still in the drainage and didn’t see the chukar fall. Together we went back over the knoll to look for the downed bird. Once over the rise we could see a tiercel kestrel stooping back and forth after something down in the draw. For a three and a half ounce falcon, he was pretty optimistic about catching a 20 ounce chukar. We apologized to the kestrel and gathered up our third bird.

With the kind of chukar year we have had this year, and for so late in the season, I felt really lucky to have bagged three birds. My hunting partner had about the same luck that I did, so we headed back to town having had a great day. What we learned from this trip: late in the season the birds were single males or in pairs and were widely distributed, rather than in flocks. Birds were at all elevations on the mountain, but based on tracks, more of them were on the lower 1/3 of the slope.

A client and friend of ours sent us this photo of Zoey (the wooly wirehair).

Who says that gun dogs don’t make good house dogs?

Zoey has a great fun-loving personality and is a real addition to the family.
Don’t let anyone kid you; having a dog in the house does not ruin their nose. I believe that it strengthen the companion bond between you and helps you read each other better in the field. In essence, you become a better hunting team.

The only drawback is that they do track in a more dirt and hair. Our answer: vacuum a little more often.