Dog park fun with a tennis ball! These action shots were frozen with a Nikon 850 with an f/4 70-200MM at 1/1600 shutter speed.
I hope you enjoy these pics of Henry showing this tennis ball who is boss!
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Beautiful Bird Dogs
The joy of bird hunting is found in our dogs. We learn to work together, training the finer points, and enjoying their miraculous bird hunting instinct. Here is Henry on his last hunting morning of the season. It was a great first season for him and he dramatically exceeded our expectations. I hope you enjoy these pictures of the handsome pointers we had the privilege to hunt with this season.
Henry looking good in the early morning light.
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Pre-Season Bird Dog Training
Henry is 7 months old now, with about a month until the hunting seasons begin. Chris and his sweet black lab, Ryder, joined us for a training session on a perfect Colorado Sunday morning. I hope you enjoy the pictures of these beautiful bird dogs!
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Henry Points a Bird! Woo-Hoo!
Our first day in the training field with Chukar was bird-dog nirvana. The two objectives were to see a first point and to introduce Henry to gunfire. Both were achieved on this perfect Saturday morning. This morning was truly a slice of heaven . . . maybe not so much for the birds! I hope you enjoy these pictures of the day.
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Henry’s First Fourth
I hope you had a terrific 4th! Fantastic weather in Denver over this 3-day weekend prompted us to visit the off-leash dog park in Chatfield State Park a couple of times. This park is awesome, with 75 acres of varied terrain along with some sizable ponds. It is for sure Henry’s favorite place to be, at least until he discovers the upland bird hunting country.
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DK at the Dog Park
Deutsch Kurzhaar (GSP) Henry is a week away from 6 months old. He is still very much a puppy, but in many ways we see the awesome bird dog that he is going to be. I hope you enjoy these pictures of his progress.
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Henry at 4 Months
Our Deutsch Kurzhaar (German Shorthair), Henry, reached 4 months a few days ago. He is growing fast and has a wonderful demeaner. He takes life in stride. His training is going well. He knows wait, whoa, here, sit, off, leave it, no, and NO! DAMN IT! If a treat is involved he will actually execute these commands, unless he is in the coup shaking one of the hens like a rag doll. He is a good boy and I can’t wait to get him on game birds. Soon, I hope.
King Henry the First!
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Puppy Pics for Easter!
Henry is just over three months old and is doing great. He is completely assimilated into the family and is such a wonderfully biddable dog. We think he is super intelligent, mainly because he likes to watch TV and has learned a few commands. Our only issue is that when we think he is finally house-broken, he will piss on the carpet. I am sure in a week or so, he will cross that finish line! Here are some new pics of him. We will be glad we captured some of his puppy days because he is growing fast! 31 pounds today. I hope you enjoy these pictures.
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My Brother from Mexico.
Hey everyone, today is my 3 month birthday! It has been a crazy 90 days. About a month ago, I was transferred to a new family. My suspicion is that there was a cash transaction involved, but surely not. I refuse to believe that my mother would allow such a thing as trafficking in puppy flesh. But I don’t know; I can’t seem to shake that feeling. I do believe my new overlords are decent people. They are moderately intelligent but inconsistent and naïve in how they try to manage me. Their attempt at potty training has been hilarious! Once they think they finally have me trained and celebrate my “getting it,” I like to drop a pint of puppy urine on the carpet. They absolutely lose their minds! Just a week or two more, and then I will make them proud. Of course, I know what they want; I always have.
And I hesitate to mention this, but they smell. Not overly offensive, just different. As long as they keep feeding me, I am sure I will get used to it. Also, the male, who is clearly junior to the Alpha Mrs. Birdhunter, is a bit over the top with the picture taking. It is a minor annoyance because he swears we are going to do all kinds of bird hunting – many states, many species, all wild birds, top-notch accommodations, etc., etc. If that happens then we are good. If this is one of those “two preserve hunts a year” homes, then I am outta here.
Then there is my 70+-year-old curmudgeon Chihuahua stepbrother Jack. That’s him in the picture below on the left. Mexican Jack, as I like to call him, is generally pretty fractious. It doesn’t help that I am only about three and a half, but clearly, I irritate him to no end.
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Destructive Innocence
This is Henry, our 10-week old Deutsch Kurzhaar (DK is German for German Shorthair Pointer). If you haven’t read the earlier post on these dogs, you can read it here. Henry came from the fine folks at Vom Gansehimmel in North Dakota. After 2 weeks with him, it is clear that he has the potential to be an outstanding bird dog. It is also clear that I forgot the exercise in patience and constant, diligent oversight that a puppy demands. Right now, in our house, one character is being shaped while the other is being tested! He is the sweetest little guy, but he will playfully rip your face off without a thought. Cute puppy stuff! Not to sound proud, but he is a strikingly handsome dog. I hope you enjoy these pictures!
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Training Milo
No, not the crop but a Small Munsterlander pointer named Milo. This beautiful boy presented himself in fine form on a perfect Saturday morning. Milo is a bit over a year old and has all the ingredients of an outstanding bird dog!
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Heading Into Summer
It was a great hunting season! Not as many birds as we would have liked but Tex’s knees performed well and we are ready to take on the next 5 years or so. The bird hunting is over for a while and we look forward to the wonderful Colorado summer and Sunday afternoons at the dog park!
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Reflected Dog
Tex takes a swim in a Texas stock pond during our annual dove hunt. The still morning gave us a pool of glass, reflecting a very happy puppy.
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Tex’s Forgettable Bird Hunting Season
If you follow this blog, then you know that Tex tore the dog equivalent of his ACL back at the beginning of the bird season. The poor dog had to miss October through the middle of December. He recovered well and here are some pictures of his return to hunting fields.
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Tex’s Last Hunt . . . . for a while.
About 6 weeks ago, Oak the setter puppy and Tex got out for some time on birds. We had a great time and here are the pictures.
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First Point
Meet Oak. The sweet guy is a Llewellin English Setter from Paint River Llewellins out of Saugarties, New York. We took him out on a beautiful summer morning to learn what birds smell like.
“Oak”
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Tex’s Water Adventure with Merrick Backcountry Dog Food
Tex loves to swim. If we let him, he would swim to Cuba, but thankfully he lives in Colorado and won’t get the chance to try! Merrick asked us to have an adventure and give an update on how he is doing on the Backcountry dog food so we picked a swim day.
Wet Tex
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Merrick Backcountry Dog Food
The folks at Merrick asked if Tex would try their premium dog food. I occasionally get these types of requests and usually dismiss them but, since this is a really high quality product with great reviews, I thought we would give it a shot. Also, I noticed that the company is based in Hereford, Texas which is where my grandfather was born (1905), so I know good things can come out of Hereford! When Tex learned that this is the “game bird recipe”, he was very excited to try it.
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Bird Dog Barbed Wire Blues
Barbed wire fences are ubiquitous in most of the places we hunt. We try to keep the dogs away but occasionally one will bust through a fence, particularly if they think birds are on the other side. About all you can do is watch and hope everything turns out ok. Amazingly many times no harm is done, but sometimes it does not turn out so well . . .
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Tex turns 3 today . . . Happy Birthday Sweet Boy!
It is hard to believe that Tex turns 3 years old today. Time has certainly flown by . . . all the more reason to hunt often and hunt hard! Hopefully we have a decade of hunting together in front of us.
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Birdhunter 