Training With Mo

April 9, 2011

Piedmont, SC

Today we drove 90 miles to Piedmont, SC to train with Maurice "Mo" Lindley and watch him train other dogs. It was a long 89 F day but it was wonderful. Mo worked quite a few dogs and while we visitors/handlers chatted between runs, he was busy catching pigeons and planting them for the next team. Mo is incredibly generous with his time, land, birds and advice, sharing it with anyone who makes the drive (or flight in one case) to his place on Saturdays.

Here is Mo working with Tessa, practicing the Stand Still command - non-verbally - while another client of his works a Brittany out in the field. This way we can teach Tessa to stand still when another dog goes on point (called backing or honoring) and to stand still through flush and shot (we were using blank pistols and homing pigeons).

I also followed Mo when he was working with other dogs, and there is much to be learned from watching him, like timing of corrections and praise.

To read more about Maurice Lindley and the West/Gibbons method, click here.

A Visit To The Iron Horse

February 7, 2010
Greene County, GA

I took Tessa to see the Iron Horse today, for a little lesson in art and UGA trivia.

The infamous 12-foot-tall Iron Horse is an abstract sculpture that was created by Abbott Pattison at UGA's Lamar Dodd School of Art and placed in front of Reed Hall in 1954. Back then, art, and metal sculpture in particular, was new to southern universities and the horse was not well received. Just hours after its placement, students gathered around the iron creature, placed straw in its mouth and in front of it, manure at its back, and painted the word "front" on its neck. Balloons were tied underneath the rear legs, and attempts were made to set the horse on fire. When the fire department arrived, the students refused to back away until eventually the fire hoses were turned on the students.

The day after the incident, the university moved the sculpture to a secret hiding place; R.I. Brittain, a university official. said it was unfortunate that students ''on the college level'' had minds on the level of ''grammar school or nursery children'' and ''react violently to anything new, with which they have not had previous experience.'' In 1959, the Iron Horse was moved to its current location on a farm in Greene County, where it now sits in the middle of a corn field, facing south and away from UGA, visible from GA 15 only in the winter. Jack Curtis, owner of the farm, says they are now judging the corn crops on whether or not they can see the horse.

There have been several attempts to bring the Iron Horse back to campus but they all failed.