Piper and I are still out there…..

I know it has been awhile since our last post but Piper and I have been training.  There hasn’t been much “blog” worthy activity so we went silent.  Anyway, like most we are in the midst of baseball and softball season so we have been really busy racing from one field to the next.  Piper and I have been sneaking out in the mornings and evening doing simple tune up work but we haven’t been pushing hard or increasing our level of proficiency in the field.  I have plans to get this started soon but we will need to get through baseball and softball first so Piper and I can get on a more regular schedule.  I don’t want to ask her to learn new skills on an irregular training schedule, especially with my limited training ability!  It is hard enough to take that next steps and nearly impossible when your schedule is erratic.

Good Piper

Heavy lifting

“STRIKE”

TD Bound…..

Loaded and ready to Explode

Pretty Girls

Anyway, I hope you all are out there pushing your dogs to greater heights.  It won’t be long before we find ourselves tucked into a blind somewhere waiting on that September dove to pitch in or that early season duck to buzz the decoys.    It will be at that moment when all the hard work pays off with a textbook retrieve!

“88″

Piper and I had the good fortune to be invited back to Deep Canyon Outfitters (http://www.deepcanyonoutfitters.com/) for their end of season Tower Shoot.  This year was an epic shoot with 500 pheasant being released.  Piper and I were responsible for pegs 5 – 8  and based on last year’s flight I was feeling pretty good about our potential for lots of action.  Once the birds started flying my theory proved to be true as the sound of nonstop gun fire filled the Eastern Oregon air.  After about 7-10 minutes of shooting the horn would sound signaling it was time to break open the guns and watch the dogs do their thing.  This pattern was repeated 12 time throughout the morning until all 500 birds took flight.  Piper was joined on this hunt by a Black Lab and an American Cocker.  It was fun to watch how each breed approached their job.  The lab worked like you would expect, retrieving his memory birds first and then picked up the remaining birds with a combination of handling and hunting dead.  The Cocker on the other hand was a bundle of energy that quartered tightly through its designated area in search of its downed birds.  She was a real pleasure to watch because of her never ending enthusiasm and amazing ability to locate her targets.  Finally, Piper’s work could be best described as a combination of both the Lab and the Cocker.  This shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone who owns a Boykin because it is this combination of ability, skill and enthusiasm that makes them such a special breed!

Deep Canyon Outfitters

View from the back deck!

Peg #4, Piper’s view of the shoot.

Conner is all smiles!

Throughout the morning shoot the bird count continued to grow as the gunners did a better than average job of taking these fast flying pheasant out of the air.  I purposely brought along my flush counter to keep track of the number of retrieves and I’m glad I did because it would have been easy to loose track with all the excitement.  When it was all said an done, Piper had retrieved 88 birds and we were still 30 minutes from lunch.   The afternoon called for a scratch hunt but I informed the outfitter that Piper would be sitting that out.  I know if I had asked her to go she would have gladly gone but it was time for me to be a responsible handler and put a limit on her work for the day.  The temperature was now approaching 75 degrees and she had already had a full days work under her belt.  This was not time to get greedy just to put a few more pheasant in the bag.  The scratch hunt went well as Conner and I guided 4 hunters into an additional 15 birds with 12 going into the vest.  In the end, it was a pretty incredible outing that allowed Conner and I to spend some quality time in the great outdoors while also enjoying some great dog work.  For a dad and an amateur dog handler this will be a pretty hard act to follow!

Get your T-Shirts while they last……

Southern Fried Cotton (http://southernfriedcotton.com/) has selected Piper to be the “face” of one of their many great T-Shirts.  About a month ago I submitted Piper’s photo for the SFC T-Shirt Contest and after a week of voting Piper and a Black Lab were chosen to be the next dogs featured in their great line of products.  Many thanks go out to all the Boykin owners and fans who voted for Piper, without your support the world would have had to accept yet another T-Shirt with a lab on it.  Not that there is anything wrong with that, I’m just saying that us Boykin owners are mighty glad to have some LBD clothing available for purchase. I for one think Souther Fried Cotton is in for a surprise when the orders start rolling in.  T-Shirts should be ready in about 2 weeks!

Original Photo!  

Canine Athlete supplements

UNLEASH A FORCE OF NATURE

Day in and day out, your dog gives you 100%. To help him get the most out of all that effort, SportDOG Brand® has developed the Canine Athlete™ series. Choose from or mix these six proprietary formulas blended with the best-quality ingredients. Use one or all of these Canine Athlete supplements along with a high-quality dog food to support your dog’s health, and spend more time in the field where you– and your dog– really want to be. (Taken from the SportDOG website)

Piper alert, energized and ready for more!

Hard to disagree with that last sentence because if you are anything like Piper and I there is no question the field is where you want to be!  Just this last weekend my son Conner and I and his buddy Carson and his dad had the pleasure of hunting the river bottom ground at the Big K Guest Ranch in Elkton Oregon ( http://www.big-k.com ) During our outing, Piper probably ran ten times further than the rest of us as she quartered back and forth in search of the many roosters that were released for our hunt.  Unlike previous outings I had two supplements in my vest that I had been wanting to try since ordering them a few weeks earlier.  C9 Hydration (http://store.sportdog.com/c9-hydration) and the C9 Performance Bars (http://store.sportdog.com/c9-performance-bar) from SportDOG were on Piper’s menu for the day.  The C9 Hydration comes in a powder form that you mix in your dogs water bottle and administer as needed in the field.  The ingredients are designed to support endurance as well as recovery.  During our first break from the action I treated Piper to a C9 Performance Bar that she gladly gobbled up.  The high-carb, low protein C9 Performance Bars are designed to be used before, during and after strenuous activity.  All in all my experience was very positive with both products.  Piper loved the taste and returned to the game after each break with a renewed sense of urgency and a heightened spring in her step.  She always gives it her best but this past Saturday her best was supported with two great supplements that made that job easier!  From here forward I will always have one or both supplements in the field to make sure my canine athlete is in top form.  Next up is a huge Tower Shoot at the end of the month where Piper will need all the support and recovery help she can get.  Stay tuned for the highlights from that outing for sure!

   

Check out more great products from SportDOG Brand® at http://www.sportdog.com/ . 

Can a smile tell a story…..I say YES!

Piper, Conner and Carson

This past weekend was great for a variety of reasons but the main reason had to do with the fact that my buddy Tim and I were able to get out in the field with our two sons.  Conner and Carson joined us at the Big K Guest Ranch (http://www.big-k.com) for what proved to be one heck of a pheasant hunt.  Piper treated us by putting up 13 birds in just over 3 hours.  11 birds were brought to hand with the other two living to fly another day because of some less than stellar shooting.

Our trip started right after school on Friday when Tim stopped by and we loaded our gear in his truck and headed south.  We arrived in Sutherland and were treated to an amazing Italian dinner in a little town that is better known for its fast food!  After dinner we checked in and the boys played some games while Tim and I enjoyed a glass of some of Oregon’s finest whiskey.  After a nice breakfast we were headed to the ranch and by 9AM we were in the field hunting.  It didn’t take long before Piper had the first rooster airborne.  Tim’s O/U connected and shortly there after I was able to let my 16ga DeHaan do its thing, two birds in the bag!  The third bird however marked the most memorable moment of the trip, Conner’s first bird with his toy SxS.  As the pheasant fell Conner announced that he had connected.  Tim and I looked in amazement because we had no idea that a shotgun shaped cap could actually bring a bird down but who were we to argue.  After unloading our guns and making sure the actions were open we let the photo shoot and celebration begin.  It wasn’t long after Conner connected on his first bird that Carson announced he had done the same.  Time for a second photo shoot and another great memory!

Conner with his pheasant and a huge smile!

Carson and his big pheasant smile!

All in all it was an amazing experience with two incredible boys.  I know I can speak for Tim when I say I can’t wait to get them out again.  With any luck both Tim and I will get to experience the joy of having our little heros in the field or on the water many more times over the coming years.  We were lucky enough to have our dads pass along this great tradition and plan to return that favor by passing it along to Conner and Carson.

Piper guarding her pheasant and getting some well deserved rest.

Spread the word…..

Piper made it to the finals of the Southern Fried Cotton Photo contest! Please go to the following Facebook page and cast your vote.

http://www.facebook.com/SouthernFriedCotton

Piper thanks you in advance for the support. Be sure to click on the photo before you “like” it to make sure it goes to the right spot. Feel free to forward this message, she needs all the votes she can get!  As much as I love Labs the world doesn’t need another Lab T-Shirt.  Lets get something for us LBD people!

Vote for me!

Southern Fried Cotton

A Homegrown Apparel Company Inspired By Southern Style

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Finally…..

For years I have wanted to get a portrait done of Reina but never ran into the right person or situation to get it done.  Well, thanks to Piper and a great network of friends I’ve met through the Boykin Spaniel Society I was lucky enough to be introduced to a great artist named Newton Smith.  There is no question that Newton has mastered the art of capturing the Boykin Spaniel with pencil and paper but could he do a Chesapeake Bay Retriever?  I’m happy to say the answer is YES!  I plan to display the portrait in my trophy room alongside the original photo as a way to honor the dog that was so tolerant of my training mistakes.  Reina was also the dog that showed me how powerful the bond could be between a handler and his gun dog and I’ll be forever thankful for that.

 

Thanks Newton, couldn’t be happier!