A furious flush of wild quail…

A Hifive Kennels success story: Thornapple Cody, Runner-up CH 2017 ABHA North Country Walking Shooting Dog Championship
Hifive’s RU-CH Thornapple Cody

I love videos of pointing dogs and wild quail.

This is another from Hifive Kennels, and it features a setter named Ginny.

If you hang around the coverdog field trial circuit at all, you probably know Hifive. Located in Beulah, MI, they’ve been breeding, training, and trialing dogs for 20+ years, and they’ve produced a long list of great dogs.

Old Hemlock Setters: The Legacy of George Bird Evans

 

Speck, by George Bird Evans
Speck, by George Bird Evans

George Bird Evans is one the patron saints of upland hunter. A prolific artist and writer, George wrote a number of classic books about grouse hunting and, along with his wife Kay, created the famous Old Hemlock line of English Setters.

Today, George & Kay’s home and legacy is preserved by the Old Hemlock Foundation, creators of this video: Old Hemlock Setters: The Legacy of George Bird Evans

And check out this blog post to learn more about Evans and his famous Fox & Purdey shotguns.

Time for some long tails. Check out these setters…

Every time I see one of these videos from Sky Dance Kennels, I think “that’s the life.” Horses, great dogs, wide-open country and lots of birds. If there’s a heaven, I hope it’s like this.

In this video you can see some of Sky Dance’s young setters stretch their legs, crack their tails and show off all the style they have. Not bad for long hairs…

Run setters, run! Sky Dance Kennels video, 11/8/16
Run setters, run! Sky Dance Kennels video, 11/8/16

Great dog work: Caladen’s DaVinci owns a covey of quail …

Running birds can really frazzle some bird dogs. But not this one. Caladen’s DaVinci handles this can’t-stay-still covey of quail like a real pro — not bad for a long hair.

It’s nice to see a handler that lets the dog work, too. There’s no screaming of commands, just confidence and total faith in his four-legged partner.

One dog’s development: Watch Little Jeb get steady…

Check out this short video to see Little Jeb go from wild to steady — right before your very eyes! Here’s a bit about the video from the folks at GunDogDevelopment.com: A chronology of Little Jeb’s steadiness training. Over the last six months, we anxiously waited for him to show us that he was ready to be steadied on game. This video journal, begining May 25, 2013 captures all of his training sessions up to July 13, 2013. All of the clips are in sequence to show his progression.

Although edited, all of the benchmarks to move him through the program have been included. Little Jeb received one E-collar correction in the at the finally. If you watch closely, you can see a slight twitch in his tail when the correction occurred.

A look at the old days of bird dog training…

I just came across these videos over at Craig Koshyk’s Pointing Dogs blog and I wanted to share them here.

This first one shows some late summer training sessions, probably in Saskatchewan. The dogs look like pointers and setters, plus a nice cocker spaniel and springer spaniel. Check out the how reluctant that first setter is to point, and the low tail & body position when the dogs are on point. Also, check out the cover and the nice setter/pointer team at the end.

This video is from Scotland. Check out the size of the kennel operation, the quality of the facility, and how the trainer exercises all his dogs. You don’t see that kind of stuff today.

HELPMATES OF THE GUNS!