Cove Mountain Kennels

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If you have read many of my blogs you know how critical I think exercise is for their physical and mental health.  Let’s put it this way, I believe it is more critical that all other training, without exercise everything else falls apart.

We run our dogs 3 – 4 miles every day and see worlds of difference from a well exercised, well rounded companion vs. a coiled spring without controls. When it comes to puppies, exercise is still critical, but you have to think differently. Give them lots of exercise, but let the puppy set the intensity and the duration. They seem to know best. When they get tired they’ll lay down. Think low impact, low duration. We’ll take a puppy for a good stiff walk rather than running or roading with the big dogs. Too much intensity can be hard on their fast growing joints and bones.  I like to keep puppies exercise sessions frequent, but short in duration (about like their attention span).

Don’t be afraid to take them for long walks, for instance when our puppies were just four months old, we took them on a five mile hike. They did great; when they got tired and flopped down on their bellies, we stopped and took a break. We judged it was time to go again when they were up wrestling and playing tug-o-war with sticks. Some people have suggested a limit of five minutes of exercise per month of age for structured leash exercise; which may not be a bad rule of thumb. Think about when you are out on a long walk and they get tired, will you have the time or be in a location where you can stop and let the pup rest (or pick up the pup and carry her)? If not, make sure your walk is short enough to make it back to the house before the pup needs a rest.

The key for a puppy is frequent, low-intensity, short-duration exercise. This will not over-tax their growing joints, and will benefit both their social, mental and physical development.
 

It has gotten really warm here for mid-winter. Man is it muddy.

The warm weather does have me thinking Spring, and spring makes me think puppies.

Entropion is a condition where the eyelid curls under and the eyelashes come in contact with the eye. It is an uncomfortable condition and over time the constant scratching and irritation to the cornea can have serious consequences.  A knowledgeable vet should readily recognize this condition and recommend a treatment plan. Things that may alert you to the condition are constant tearing or excessive wetness around the eye, mucous discharge around the eye, constant rubbing of the eyes with the foreleg, sensitivity to light or wind, squinting or observable sign of eye discomfort.  Upon close visual inspection you may see that the lid is slightly curled under or see that lashes are contacting the eye lens.

Entropion often shows up at an early age. It is typically a congenital defect that is carried genetically; therefore it is not recommended that dogs with this condition be used for breeding as it will perpetuate the condition in future dogs. Entropion sometimes develops later in life, usually associated with more serious eye diseases or conditions.

Treatment is a fairly simple surgery where a tiny football shaped piece of the eyelid is removed and the lid is stitched back together thereby rolling the edge of the lid and lashes back outward away from the cornea. The nictitating membrane or third eyelid is occasionally involved and may be surgically removed during the procedure. The post-surgery healing is a critical time to keep close watch on the dog so that they are not able to get to their eyes to scratch, rub, tear out the stitches or in any way impact the surgery site. If there is any concern get the dog back to the vet for a follow up visit after surgery (sooner is better than later here).  Healing time is usually about two weeks.

The few dogs I have seen with this condition seem to be in a constant state of general discomfort. The surgery has been easy and relatively inexpensive. Most importantly, the dogs are visibly more comfortable and have a better look to the eye post-surgery.

We had a great trip to Arizona hunting Montezuma quail. Montezuma quail are also known as Mearn’s quail and they are spectacular. The best part about the trip was seeing the huge variety of habitats in Arizona; from the arid Sonoran desert cactus-lands to the higher elevation southern grasslands. Some of the desert plants were really awesome, like this agave pictured below.

The hunting was difficult. We were told by several sources that Arizona had two back to back banner Mearn’s quail years and this year was the best on record. We were told to bring a good book, because you’d have your limit before noon, seven to ten coveys a day, and so on. So were really pumped. The hunting wasn’t as promised. We had to cover a lot of country to find one to three coveys a day. I think the hard hunting made every bird that much sweeter. We all found quail and got some really nice specimens for mounting. We had some really awesome dog work and really nice points.

The scaled quail were a different story all together. Because we struggled finding the Montezuma quail, we didn’t shift over to scalies until the last afternoon. We saw four coveys as we were pulling into our hunting spot. The dogs went crazy with scent, but the little feathered devils just ran circles around us.

One of the really fun parts of the trip was that their late dove season (through January 4th). We were able to shoot several limits of mourning doves, with a few Eurasian collared doves mixed in. Man were they tasty. All told, we had a nice trip, got some trophy birds and saw an awesome diversity of desert country.

Gambel’s Quail Habitat

Mearn’s Quail Habitat

I’ve been struggling finding good chukar numbers around home, so I traveled down to Southern Utah to look for Gambel’s quail and chukars. It was a spectacular day with fresh snow on the ground. The quail were a bust, but we did find a fair number of chukars. Problem was, that like Homer’s Sirens, they called us from just a ways up the hill, then a little farther. Before I knew it, I was at the top of the mountain, it was getting dark and they were calling me from just the next mountain over.

 

 

With these last three storms we have gotten a fair bit of snow. It’s been fun to romp in, but the cold does present challenges in caring for dogs. First, with no electricity to the kennels, it’s hard to keep free-water for them to drink, and second, it’s cold, especially for short coated dogs.

If it is cold enough to freeze the water fairly quickly, we only fill the water bucket up about 3 – 4”. That’s enough water for them to drink immediately before the rest freezes and it leaves room in their water bucket for more. A couple more times during the day we can carry out water in a bucket and add another 3 – 4” of fresh water. This way they have several opportunities to drink. At night we bring the frozen water buckets in to thaw. Usually a couple hours in the house and you can dump the ice out. (We have metal water bucket and don’t like to bang them, as they get dented up.) If you do have electricity near your kennel, you can use the heated dog bowls. Be careful to ensure that the dog cannot get at the cord. I have heard numerous stories of dogs pulling the water dish around the kennel and exposing the unprotected part of the cord and chewing it and getting shocked. Also watch anywhere they can get at extension cords.

As for the cold, we use the K-9 Kondo Dog Den and have really liked it. We have found that grass hay (like timothy or brome) works the best for insulation. Unlike wood chips and straw, it doesn’t compress and doesn’t soak up water and stay wet and get moldy. Blankets don’t work because they will jam the two-way swinging door, plus the dogs tear them up for fun. In some parts of the country, like ours, grass hay can be really hard to come by. Around here everything is alfalfa, which is not a good choice, as it gets wet and matted. So we keep a close eye out for grass and stockpile a couple of bales. Some folks like cedar shavings. We have never used them. Since they are much bigger shavings, they may be better than pine and aspen shavings as far as not soaking up and holding water, but since dogs smell on the order of 150,000 times better than we do, We don’t like cedar for its aromatic properties. Whatever you use, make it deep so the dog can make a nest and be well insulated underneath.

In the evenings once we are home from work, the dogs are inside the house with us and really enjoy laying by the heater. Any non-house dogs we have staying with us are kenneled in the garage at night in dog boxes. The garage is insulated and we have a small heater in there, so even on the coldest nights it stays at a moderate temperature. The dogs seem to enjoy this, plus it gives us another couple of times to interact with the dogs.

                                                          (Photo: Me looking for our lost dog during a blizzard.)

We went out to cut a Christmas tree and took the dogs. Lilly, a cute, caffienated French Brittany was with us as we looked for a tree, circling out and back like when we hunt for blue grouse. After cutting the tree we noticed she had been gone for a few minutes longer than usual. We immediately started looking for her. That’s when the blizzard blew in and started dumping snow. We looked for four hours in the blizzard before it got dark. We went home and I got better geared up for snow and went back up looking. I spent the next two days covering every inch of the area to no avail.

I feared the worst. I didn’t know if she had gotten caught in a trap, eaten by a lion, or what. It just wasn’t like her not to come around after just a few minutes. She had just vanished. God smiled upon us and this little dog. Two days later I got a call from a land surveyor working in the area. He found Lilly trotting down the road toward town.  We were so glad to see her and she us. Needless to say, she hasn’t left my side for a week.

 

 

I was able to take advantage of the light snow so far this year and Utah’s new extended blue grouse season the other day and get out and shoot a limit of duskies. Most years by this time the high country is locked up with snow and the season blue grouse season closed at the end of November.  It was still a long hike in and once we got to the highest elevations where the grouse were there was six to twelve inches of snow. Some of it was hard enough to walk on; otherwise it was post-holing all the way.

Sometimes late in the season once there is snow on the ground the blues have all taken to the trees and you don’t flush any from the ground. When this is the case I’m sure you walk under a lot of grouse and they just hold still and let you walk right by; those that do dive out of the tree tops, usually from the backside going 80 mph downhill. They make for a very sporty target.

This time I caught about half of the birds on the ground and half in trees.  The highlight of the day was when Lilly, a young French Brittany I am working tracked and retrieved her first bird, a bird I barely hit through a narrow window in the pine boughs. I watched Lilly work down the air-born scent cone along the flight path of the bird, and then disappear over the edge. She showed up about two minutes later with a big cock blue grouse in her mouth looking very proud of herself.