The Vizsla Newzsletter (Dec 98 / Jan 99)
The Starting Point

Supper was over at the Squaw Creek Viszla Works and the Grizzled One was just getting ready to turn on his favorite evening tv network news when the phone rang. He called to his Mrs. "I've got it honey", and picked up the phone. It was their vet Ron. "Roy you can pick up Penny tomorrow morning. All the tests are back from the lab and everything checks out ok. The anti-biotics really kicked in and she is back to her old self. She had a light supper a bit ago and she wolfed it down. I want to watch her for one more night to make sure that the pancreatic attack is over but I think she is doing fine". "Ron I can't begin to tell you what this means to us. We will be there when you open tomorrow. See you then". Letting out a whoop the Grizzled One clattered into the kitchen and informed his beloved that their Penny was coming home and they hugged each other. They both knew that the doughty matriarch was getting up in years and that someday her fierce will and strength would not be enough but that was yet to come and the now is what mattered and she was coming home.

The Mrs. Informed the Grizzled One that she was through with kitchen chores and that the ‘gang' could be given the run of the house. The Grizzled One always let King and his brother Rowdy out at the same time so that they could get the male ritual of hipping and shouldering each other out of the way. The dominance game always ended up the same way. "Who wants a cookie?" asked the Grizzled One as the two massive males engaged in their ritual. Immediately the two big Vizslas sat watching their bearded buddy intently, the actions of just seconds before forgotten as they waited for the treat which was coming. Both dogs went bouncing out the backdoor into the enclosed yard , bosom buddies Now it was Tanner's turn to be left out of her crate and join her father and uncle in the yard. She was only too happy to lay in her crate while the two males went through their male thing and of course not having a flouncy little female cavorting about made it infinitely easier for the Grizzled One, or his wife, to exert controls.

Image: Well and truly pregnant during duck season, Chance still managed to do some fine retrieving for Mike Murray judging by this photo! Chance went on to produce eight fine pups early in June!

"Aren't you supposed to be going over to Maynard's place tomorrow morning?" asked the Mrs.."Gosh I had completely forgotten all about that" exclaimed the Grizzled One. Maynard was an acquaintance who had purchased an old farm near the Wisconsin State line a few years back. He loved to hunt Quail but had grown weary of long drives downstate in Illinois to hunt wild birds. He didn't like hunt clubs so instead of looking wistfully towards the Sunbelt as retirement neared, he had purchased an old run down farm that the developers had let slip through their fingers. Here he planted, nurtured and brought along a number of really nice covies of quail that he sparingly harvested. His hunting buddies were a couple of Gordon Setters that he had had for years and had provided him with some great hunting. The two setters had gone on to their rewards and Maynard acquired a Vizsla puppy and that is where he and the Grizzled One had made a connection. Meeting at a Vizsla Club of Illinois fun trial and discovering that they lived in proximity to each other, the two had developed an acquaintanceship. Maynard had called the Grizzled One several times with questions about his young Vizsla and had, several days past, invited the Grizzled One to bring a dog over to his place and they would go quail hunting. Getting an invitation to hunt at Maynards was not an invite that one lightly dismissed so the Grizzled One had accepted it with some eagerness.

"I can go pick up Penny at Ron's in the morning and that will free you up to go over to Maynards first thing" said the Grizzled One's Mrs. " I thank you for the offer hon but Ron said we could pick Penny up when he opens his place and I will have plenty time to go to Maynards afterwards. I think Penny would like to see both of us in the morning". "Sure and then what are you going to do when you get her home? Why take out one of the other dogs hunting and leave her behind. That will make her feel great. Why don't you just go ahead and go hunting and I will pick Penny up. Trust me, it works better that way" retorted the Mrs. Knowing that his wife was , like always, right the Grizzled One acceded.

Breakfast at the Squaw Creek Vizsla Works was early. "Who are you taking with you this morning?" asked the Mrs. "Rowdy" answered the Grizzled One. "Maynard's dog is young and bracing him with a steady veteran will be good for everyone involved. It will also give Maynard a idea of what training objectives he might want to consider for his dog." Breakfast over Griz packed his dogvan with the gear for the day, loaded Rowdy into his crate in the van, bussed his beloved and took off.

It was one of those November days when the sun was watery and the sky had a mildly leaden hue to it. Not sunny bright and not cloud cover gray. Somewhere in between. There was a light breeze out of the northwest and the temperature was down in the thirties. Not a bad day for bird dog men and dogs. In a short time the Grizzled One's van was pulling into a farmyard and was greeted by a high energy motivated male Vizsla who immediately let it be known that he was the friendliest Vizsla around as he wriggled around the legs of the old hunter. "Butch stop that right now" exclaimed a older gentleman emerging from the house. They shook hands, exchanged salutations and the Grizzled One was invited to the house for a cup of coffee. "We are just finishing breakfast" explained Maynard "and we still have half a pot of coffee to finish so come on in." Maynard's Mrs. served a first rate cup of coffee the Grizzled One observed. "Who did you bring with you today?" asked Maynard. "I brought Rowdy. He loves to work quail and he works well with other dogs" answered Griz. With the demise of the contents of the coffeepot Maynard excused himself to get his hunting gear together and the Grizzled One, after thanking Maynard's wife for the superb coffee, went out to his van to get his gear together.

Griz pulled his 20 gauge side by side (Griz prefers side by sides over under/overs) out of its case, slipped on his battered but serviceable favorite hunting coat and then let Rowdy out of his crate. With his flashcollar on (no beeper would be needed today in quail country for Rowdy) and his lead snapped on his fieldcollar the big Vizsla was ready to go. Suddenly Maynard's young male appeared out of nowhere, bounding and bouncing right up to Rowdy. The young male's intentions were obviously non-aggressive so the Grizzled One give Rowdy a "stay" command and the Vizsla froze. The young male came right up to Rowdy and sniffed his nose. Rowdy, who had been through this scenario on a number of occasions in both field trials and hunt tests swung his eyes so that he was looking at something else other than the other dog. He always avoided eye contact in these situations, depending on and expecting the Grizzled One to resolve the situation. "Maynard come get your dog" called Griz. Maynard called his dog several times and got no response from the dog who continued to inspect Rowdy. "Maynard why don't you just go to the dog and clip his lead on and walk him away" said the Grizzled One. "I never put Butch on lead here on the farm so I never carry one for him" said Maynard. "Well then collar him and walk him away." "I don't keep a collar on him, he is on my farm what does he need a collar for?" retorted Maynard. With a silent sigh Griz reached into one of his coat pockets and produced a tightly wound piece of polyester rope that had a brass snap at one end. He tossed it to Maynard and said "Use this lead. I always carry an extra when I go into the field". Maynard made a slip collar out of the lead and managed to get it over Butch's head and walk him away from Rowdy.

Normally the situation as it was would have invoked a dissertation from the Grizzled One about letting one's dog run up into the face of another dog who is a stranger. More young and friendly dogs get chewed up by this kind of behavior than one can imagine. Dog owners just should not allow this to happen. One of the best ways to prevent this is to keep the dog under physical control i.e. leads. Not the reel type that allows the dog to pull out lead and move freely (one of the more irritating sights for the Grizzled One is the dog owner walking his/her dog with the reel type lead and allowing the dog to roam at will up to strangers and strange dogs and who then becomes indignant when requested to pull their dog in) Dogs are territorial pack animals and when a strange dog approaches them, or worse approaches them when they are by their owner, their territory is being invaded and that added to the dominance factor that also kicks in creates a explosive situation. If a biting occurs the whole thing was caused by the irresponsible behavior of the owner of the investigating dog not the owner of the dog who attacked. In this situation though the Grizzled One was a guest and the subject would be broached more subtly at the proper time and the matter of no collar on Butch would have to be attended to also.

As the two men and their dogs walked to where the dogs would be cast off the Grizzled One noticed that Maynard had kept the lead on Butch. "He's learning" thought the old hunter. "Good thing for Butch that your dog is so well tempered. Could have been a bad situation back there," commented Maynard. "Rowdy has been in similar situations a few times and has learned to handle it but, they are after all dogs, they are not machines, and sometimes even with the best training possible, instincts, hormones, and intrusive factors create combinations that overwhelm dogs," answered the Grizzled One.

"How old is Butch?" asked Griz. "He's about two and a half", Maynard answered. "How is he on his birds?" "He locks up good and tight, holds a high tail and does some creeping when I go in to work the birds but I put that down to age and inexperience" Maynard said. "Has he hunted much with other dogs?" "Not too much. I was kind of hoping you would give me some ideas from what you see today." The Grizzled One thought to himself ‘sounds like Butch has a problem working with other dogs. Not unusual.' "We can let the dogs loose here" said Maynard. The hunters were standing on the edge of a field that was interspaced with weed cover and strips of standing sorghum and had a interesting line of thicket and chokecherry on one edge. "There's almost always at least one covey in here" remarked Maynard.

The two hunters unleashed their dogs and Rowdy immediately made a cast towards one of the sorghum strips followed closely behind by Butch. As if anticipating Maynard the Grizzled One said "Let them go a bit and let see how Butch handles it. They are in the field now and the young dogs desire to find birds may be strong enough to get him to pull away from Rowdy and concentrate on hunting." The words were no sooner out of the Grizzled One's mouth when Butch, who had been intent on tagging Rowdy who had just entered a sorghum strip, suddenly veered and began working the edge of that strip. Rowdy began working the edge of the strip opposite to the side Butch was on and suddenly broke off and re-entered the sorghum to emerge on the same side Butch was working and began working that same strip edge. At that point Butch was a good 50 or 60 feet ahead of Rowdy and getting very ‘birdy'. Suddenly Butch slammed on point and Rowdy slid into a ‘back' about 40 feet from Butch. "Now that's a pretty picture and I didn't bring a camera this morning" exclaimed Maynard. "Butch has probably got a covey, why don't you go in with me and you might get a shot too." "Sounds good to me" said the Grizzled One. "Oh oh! See how Rowdy stance has changed. He is on point now too. Probably a bird or two from the covey ran back towards him and he is locked on them. Tell you what. You go in Maynard and work the birds that Butch has pinned down. After Butch has gone through the retrieve then I will work the bird that Rowdy is pointing. This will be a great situation for the dogs. We should see some find birdwork here" As Maynard walked towards Butch the Grizzled One walked towards Rowdy and came in from Rowdy's left front. As he drew near to the dog the Grizzled One gave Rowdy a low "stay" command and then turned to watch Maynard and his dog. Maynard came directly from behind his dog and walked in front of him towards the area that the dog was pointing. Maynard did not get two feet in front of his dog when Butch began to slowly creep forward. Maynard took a quick glance back at him whereupon Butch immediately froze on point. The instant Maynard turned his gaze to the front and began moving, Butch began to creep again. By the time Maynard was to the area that Butch had been pointing at, the dog was right behind him having moved a good 8 to l0 feet from where he had originally locked on point. Suddenly the weedcover on the edge of the sorghum exploded as the covey took wing in a dozen different directions. Maynard's O/U snapped twice and a quail tumbled to the ground. Butch, who had charged the birds the instant the covey had taken flight had to be called back from his chase and taken to the area the bird had come down in. The dog quickly picked up the scent of the downed bird , located it, picked it up and brought it to Maynard.

Image: Gareth Williams relaxes with pups.

While Maynard was putting the bird in his gamebag, Butch spotted the Grizzled One and Rowdy and beelined for Rowdy. Maynard bellowed at Butch who paid no attention at all but instead ran up to Rowdy and suddenly caught scent of the quail that Rowdy was pointing. Butch placed himself in front of Rowdy and established point when three quail suddenly flushed with Butch in hot pursuit of one. Rowdy stayed frozen to the spot. "sorry about that" puffed Maynard as he came jogging up to the Grizzled One and Rowdy. "Maynard get Butch in and put the lead on him and place him l5 to 20 feet behind Rowdy but where Butch can obviously see him First give me that dead bird that you have in your coat" Maynard handed the dead quail to the Grizzled One and then began corraling his dog. When he got Butch leashed Maynard positioned him per the instructions the Grizzled One had given him. "Keep Butch leashed Maynard, Do you use stay or whoa at all with Butch.?" "I use whoa and he obeys about half the time." "Do you use the command no with Butch?" "Yeah and get results about half the time just like with whoa." The Grizzled One placed the dead quail in weed about 6 feet in front of Rowdy whose eyes were riveted on the spot. He had taken care to block what he had done from Butch's gaze so that all Butch knew was that Rowdy was standing on what looked to be a point. "Now Maynard what I am going to do is walk in on the bird and act just like I would if I were trying to flush a live one. What I want you to do right now is get Butch's attention by stepping in front of him & command ‘whoa' in a firm but level tone, keeping the lead taut then go to his side in such a way that you are facing him. Tell him whoa again then I will start working the bird. The instant that Butch moves forward command him ‘no' and, using the side of your foot, rap him on the chest with it at the same time you give the no command. Repeat the no command instantly. Notice I said rap him with the side of your foot not kick him. You don't want to hurt your dog you simply want to do something that catches his attention and causes him to listen to you. If he obeys tell him ‘good boy' once but hold on to the lead. If he does not obey then reach under him with both hands and abruptly lift him a bit off the ground and set him down where he was originally standing giving him the whoa command at the same time. Keep the lead taut. That is your ultimate control. After I kick the cover a bit I am going to pick up the dead bird, toss it in the air, fire a round in the air and send Rowdy for the retrieve. Butch is going to want to run for the bird also so hold on to the lead and give him the ‘no' command/rap in the chest combination".

With that the Grizzled One began moving towards the bird and watched Maynard and Butch out of the corner of his eye. Maynard followed the instructions given him to the letter. The instant Maynard moved to the side of the Vizsla the dog lunged forward which brought a very commanding "no" and chest rap instantly followed by another "no" command from Maynard. Butch stopped his forward movement and looked completely bewildered. The Grizzled One reached down into the cover, picked up the dead quail, tossed it and immediately fired a round from his side by side into the air. Butch had once again lunged forward when the bird went airborne and Maynard repeated the corrections. The Grizzled One walked back to Rowdy, tapped him on the head and told him to "fetch". The big Vizsla made a crisp pickup and quickly brought the bird to hand. The Grizzled One give Rowdy the "get" command and he made a cast towards some shrubs. "Cast Butch off Maynard, lets get him on some birds."

Butch started to move towards Rowdy who had already checked out the shrubs and was making a swing that would bring him to the downwind end of a feedstrip that he would then work into the wind. About halfway to Rowdy the younger dog decided to work and began settling in to a nice quartering pattern that saw him hitting a number of good objectives. "Your dog has the hunting smarts Maynard and its obvious that your corrections back there did not hurt his psyche one bit. Look at him. He has a 11 o'clock tail, his ears are set well forward and look at the intensity in his face as he is working. He is going to be a great hunting companion." "He sure did not look too good back there in that honoring situation" commented Maynard. "Look at it this way Maynard. Honoring is a lot like retrieving. There are those dogs who do both naturally because they have the right combination of genes and there are those dogs who have to be taught those skills. Butch is probably a dog that will have to be taught the skill of honoring."

The Grizzled One glanced about to spot Rowdy but his blazeorange flash collar was nowhere in sight. "I think Rowdy is standing on birds Maynard. You go ahead and follow Butch while I find Rowdy. If I find him standing on a bird I will call you and if you want you can bring Butch up on the lead and go through the same sequence you did before."

With that the old hunter moved towards the sorghum strip that he had last seen Rowdy working. Glancing up and down the side of the strip that he was on Rowdy was not there. He cut through the feedstrip and glanced up and down it on that side but there was still no Rowdy. Griz decided to backtrack along the strip to where he saw Rowdy last and then moved into the center of the strip and began slowly walking into the wind. The sorghum was waist to chest high and would easily conceal a dog standing on point. ‘Should have put the beeper collar on him' thought the Grizzled One. As he neared the end of the strip the Grizzled One spotted a fragement of blaze orange amongst the sorghum stalks He cautiously moved towards the color and then spotted Rowdy standing rigid, looking intensely ahead. It was not a good location for a backing lesson. Butch would never have been able to see Rowdy. The Grizzled One looked around and spotted Maynard off to his right. If the quail flushed with the wind their flight would be away from Maynard and a shot could be safely taken. But since the Grizzled One was a guest the host should be allowed to make the choice. Stay where he was and continue working his dog or bring his dog in to the area where the Grizzled One and Rowdy were and maybe get a shot off.

The Grizzled One signalled Maynard but Maynard waved him to go ahead. He could see that the cover would make a backing situation difficult if not impossible The Grizzled One began moving to the left front of Rowdy positioning himself so that the dog could see him at all times as he began working the birds. A small covey of about a half dozen quail shot into the air. Griz's 20 gauge side-by-side cracked and a bird dropped from the air. He walked to where Rowdy was staunchly standing, tapped him on the head and gave him the "fetch" command. The dog quickly ran to where he had marked the falling bird, he found the dead bird, picked it up and ran to the waiting Grizzled One into whose hand he deposited the bird. ‘Nice bit of bird work', thought the Grizzled One. He waved his hand at Maynard to release Butch and then sent Rowdy on. The two Vizslas worked parallel weedstrips separated by 25 yards of short grass/weed cover. At this moment they were a joy to watch; each dog working its strip area, seemingly oblivious of the other dog as they searched for new game. "There is a strip of corn over the rise in front of us" said Maynard. "I knocked the corn down but it isn't picked so there is a lot of feed in there. Lets have the guys check it out" Having run the weedstrips the two Vizslas disappeared over the rise. When the two hunters topped the rise they saw the two dogs working the downed corn strip parallel to each other about 30 feet apart. Rowdy suddenly slammed on his brakes and began doing his ‘catwalk' stalk. His body low to the ground, his head up and a intense look on his face as he slowly moved forward. "What's he doing?" asked Maynard. "He's roading a bird, probably a pheasant. The bird is running in front of him and he is moving cautiously so as not to flush.(in competition this is called a bump and disqualifies the dog from the event. Why? Because they are pointers not flushers) When the bird stops Rowdy will lock on point but will tell me if the bird starts to move again by wagging (its also called flagging) his tail. When he does that after he has established point I know the bird is no longer sitting and is moving. To allow a pointing dog to continue standing even though it is flagging is doing a disservice to the dog. Allow it to move and re-establish contact with the bird. It looks so much classier. In that situation I tell Rowdy ok and he begins to road the moving bird once again. He will continue that mode until the bird is produced or goes into impossible cover at which point I would heel him off the bird and send him on to look for new game". In the meantime, Butch was moving in his forward direction down the corn strip, not having spotted Rowdy's stalk. "What should I do if Butch spots Rowdy and comes over to investigate?" asked Maynard. "Have your lead ready and if he starts to move in on Rowdy get on him quick and put the lead on him. Repeat what you did before. Dogs learn by repetition. Hopefully Rowdy will pin the bird and will be able to establish a staunch point. You can use that as a honor training aid for Butch."

No sooner were the words out of the Grizzled One's mouth when Rowdy locked up on point. With his tail at 11:30 Griz felt that the running bird had dug in and called to Maynard to get Butch in and do a honor on Rowdy. Maynard called to Butch who swung around from his forward movement down the corn strip back towards Maynard. When Butch was about halfways to them the Ringneck hit the air with a loud cackle and a explosion of feathered color. The Grizzled One fired a round from his side-by-side straight up into the air. Rowdy stood frozen in time and space awaiting instructions and Butch raced madly after the airborne rooster. Maynard came over to the Grizzled One and said "How come you didn't drop that bird. I saw you fire straight up into the air?" "Well Maynard, the honor situation was blown when the bird flushed the way he did. If I would have dropped the bird, Butch would have rushed in and grabbed the bird right under Rowdy's nose. Your dog would have been denied the training of honoring and Rowdy would have had to stand and watch another dog pick up his bird. It would have been a no winner. Besides, that old rooster has got this corn strip staked out for his buffet and will provide you with some good training for sometime to come. I had some outstanding birdwork from Rowdy and to me that is more important than a body count. My meat hunting days seem to have ended when I got into this dog training stuff."

Griz heeled Rowdy off of his stand and walked him a short distance and then reached down and gave the big Vizsla an affectionate pat on a shoulder. He reached into a pocket of his hunting coat and took out several energy capsules (see Chapter 1 for explanation of these) which Rowdy eagerly gulped down. "What are those?" asked Maynard. The Grizzled One explained them to him and gave him several to give to Butch. Maynard called his Vizsla in and Butch came to him holding his right front paw up and hobbling on the other three. Maynard examined the dog's foot and announced that there was no apparent wound on the foot. The Grizzled One asked Maynard if he wanted him to take a look and Maynard quickly consented. Gently checking the toes and and rotating the foot the Grizzled One ascertained that the foot did not seem to be injured and proceeded to examine the dog's upper leg and shoulder. When gently moving the shoulder brought a whine and several quick licks on the face from Butch, Griz informed Maynard that the dog seemed to have done something to his shoulder. A pulled muscle, a stretched tendon etc.. "I would take him back to the house and put a icepack on that shoulder for at least 20 minutes and ice it two or three times before bed tonight. You might also give him a buffered aspirin as aspirin is a great anti-inflamation medication. If it is sore tomorrow then I would put hotpacks on the shoulder and more aspirin. If the soreness continues take him in to your vet. Don't work him though. You have to give the tissues a chance to heal. If you don't the injury will intensify and you could be setting your dog up for a chronic problem."

The hunt being over the Grizzled One called Rowdy to him and snapped his lead on his collar. Maynard did the same with the Butch and the two hunters walked back to the house. "You and Rowdy can continue hunting while I take Butch in and doctor him" said Maynard. "We have had a great morning Maynard. We had a chance to do some training with your dog and my dog had bird contact and handled his birds well; it would be really hard to top that. I really appreciate your hospitality and would not at all mind doing it again soon. I would like to give you a call later today to discuss your dog. With some training your dog could be a first rate hunting companion that would be a joy to be in the field with." "Like your Rowdy. My gosh that dog is good. If Butch could be developed to perform half as well I would be ecstatic" exclaimed Maynard. "I was very lucky with Rowdy in that his trainability was extremely high and he learned very quickly but, he still had to be trained. A dog can have the greatest potential but without proper training it means little", replied the Grizzled One. "I think that we can put together a training program for Butch that will make him the hunting buddy you want. I would be very happy to assist you. Oh! Why don't you take this quail I bagged and add it to yours. I have some in my freezer at home so I am not depriving myself. Thank you again for the hunting and we will talk later". First checking Rowdy's eyes for any weed and seed and then settling him down in his crate with the warm water and fruitcose (See Chapter 1) the Grizzled One aimed his van towards his diggings on Squaw Creek.

The Grizzled One pulled into his driveway and got out of his van to go to the sidedoor and let Rowdy out of his crate. As he walked around the front of the van the front door of the house opened and a rusty gold hoarfrost tipped bombshell ploughed into him joyfully barking for him to bend low so that she could nibble his earlobes and chin. His Penny was home and was feeling great.