Home Is Where The Hearth Is

July 4, 2016

[at home]

Independence Day

July 4, 2015

[anywhere, USA]

The Gas Station Attendant

May 19, 2015

New Home, GA

Birds Of A Feather Flock Together

March 22, 2014

Sandy Creek Park, GA

From left to right: Tessa, Dewi, Greta, Rhys. Tessa and the Setters run together every weekend and sometimes in-between, and hunt together over the winter. Greta was visiting from Michigan.

Happy Valentine's Day!

February 14, 2014

Athens, GA

It was back to work for me today, catching up on everything that got messed up by the storm that is now but a distant memory. At 10:20 p.m. though, nature had another surprise in store for us: a 4.1 earthquake struck Edgefield, SC, and we could feel it rumble here in Athens. A little bit unsettling, even though earthquakes in the southeast so far have been pretty benign.

Tessa Goes To Town

 February 13, 2014

Athens, GA

Finally, this morning, we woke up to a little bit of snow. Overnight, one inch of fine snow had fallen on the frozen sleet, and things were walkable. I tried on my own at first, then went back to get Tessa, and we went for a 3-hour walk all across campus and downtown Athens.

There was minimal traffic, we just spotted the occasional Jeep. Those Jeeps sure love to come out to play in the snow. On Washington Street, there was no traffic at all - usually such a busy street, it was a bit surreal to see this. 

By the end of our walk, the snow was melting fast, so anyone who slept in didn't get too enjoy it as much. I am so glad we got up early!

 High foot traffic.

Yes, we went wild! 

Warm Winter Hunt

February 8, 2014

Jersey, GA

Great day at the plantation today. Weather, grounds and birds were perfect. There was a twist though: this time, we let the Setters hunt, with Tessa coming in late. Very late. There was only one bird unaccounted for, and she found it in those 30 acres. How do these dogs do that? #thenoseknows

With temperatures around 60 F, we were able to make up for the lack of birds with a couple of swims. I think she was pleased with the outing.

 She marked these feathers, twice.

The Sharpshooter

January 19, 2014

Jersey, GA

Thanks to my generous friends, there has been yet another hunt, and today, all three dogs pulled their weight and did well from beginning to end. As always, it was a joy to watch them work the fields together and honor each other's points. No struggles whatsoever. Happy.

Tunnelvision

April 7, 2012

Columbia, SC

One of THOSE Mornings ...

January 11, 2012

[at home]

The Hunter

January 8, 2012

Athens, GA

Dock Diving!

May 21, 2011
Jersey, GA

That was some training day today. The bird work didn't go all that well. First off, I helped my friend train his puppy, and the plan was to then take Tessa and follow the advanced teams to work on backing/steadiness. That was cut short when a friend's dog suffered a snake bite and I rushed them off to a nearby vet. Back at the plantation, we caught the tail end of field work before everyone proceeded to the water, as it was getting hot.

There was too much serious duck work going on at the duck search pond, so I took Tessa to the puppy pond where she had a blast jumping off the dock on the far end. She's done it before, but not as much as that day - she absolutely loved it. Once she got to shore, she raced up to the dock, ready to jump again, just like a kid at a pool.

We are planning on entering in a dock diving competition in July but there are two things we need to work on: jumping into a pool (blue water instead of muddy lake water) and running into the jump, rather than stopping at the edge of the dock for push-off. Access to blue water is a problem for us - the Canine Ranch, a training facility near Canton, GA, is a 2-hour drive away.

Walking on water? No problem!

Soon, Tessa was joined by a bunch of Vizslas that got all excited about watching Tessa jump, and Tessa actually managed to talk some of them into following suit!

Bird Dog Cemetery

April 19, 2011

Waynesboro, GA

On our way back home, we stopped near Waynesboro to check out this bird dog cemetery. The cemetery is located on the 8,100 acre Di-Lane Plantation created by New York industrialist and Eagle Pencil Co. heir Henry Berol, who had as many as 60 bird dogs at one time, and bought land mainly to be used during hunting season. With Berol's backing the Georgia Field Trials - which have been held at Di-Lane for decades - rose to its national level of prominence and gave Burke County its reputation as the ''Bird Dog Capital of the World" which is proudly displayed on signs and water towers around town.

The cemetery was established soon after the Berols created the plantation, and some of the stones were relocated from the family's home in New York. It now contains approximately 70 graves, mostly of Berol's bird dogs but also of Tootsie the cat and two field trial horses.

1976

April 17, 2011

Plains, GA

Next stop was Plains, GA, home of former President Jimmy Carter. Here is Tessa in front of the old depot, which was used as a campaign headquarters in 1976. During the campaign, a stray dog showed up here and hung around. He became known as J-Who the depot dog. When J-Who died in 1986, he was buried across the depot on the town green.

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.

With Love, Tessa

March 5, 2010
[at home]

The Whoa

March 4, 2010
Sandy Creek Park, GA

It's spring, and the birds are back...Tessa watches them settle on the field in dog park no. 3. I use the opportunity to practice the "whoa". We are slowly working our way up to 15 minutes using a variety of distractions. Instead of releasing her, I sometimes simply heel her away in the other direction. The off-leash heel is going well.

Not having access to birds much, we do what we can in the park. Our new sequence is a 5-minute whoa with distractions; I then toss her tennis ball into the woods, but keep her in the "whoa" for another minute or so. If I have a plastic bag with me, I blow it up and pop it after tossing the ball so as to simulate a gun shot (starter pistols are not allowed in the park) - works well enough. I then release her and ask her to fetch the ball. Hopefully this will teach her the sequence of whoa - bird flying - gunshot - her marking where the bird falls - waiting for the release - locating and fetching the bird. Of course we will need to see how this translates into the bird field.

Then There Was Light ...

February 13, 2010
Athens, GA (Clarke County)

The next morning we woke up to our 6 inches of snow and a brilliant blue sky. We walked back over to Lake Herrick and I could not believe that we were the only ones out - do people really not care? Well, their loss!

Winter Wonderland:

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.

Jubilee's Absolute Autumn Punch, JH!

December 6, 2009
Walhalla, SC

We're done - Tessa earned her Junior Hunter today!

Her scores were 8 in hunting ability, bird finding and pointing, and 7 in trainability.

After losing her in the field for about five minutes yesterday, I attached a bell to her collar for the Sunday run and that was a tremendous help - I couldn't hear her when she was at the far end, but at closer range I was able to tell which direction she was running and was able to keep pretty good tabs on her. Other than that, I thought we were somewhat of a mess today , with no excuse at that. The conditions were perfect but it seemed to me that Tessa didn't settle in just quite right - she hunted wide and very fast and I feared she would overrun all the birds. She finally stopped to point but when I got there I couldn't find a bird, nor feathers (Tessa later returned to the spot, pointed again and that time I was able to flush the bird).

As I mentioned in yesterday's account, the bird field was a long field with high grass and two "hazards" on each side - on the right there was a wire fence along a busy road, and on the left was the Enchanted Forest, full of (flyaway) birds (but sadly off limits). We were advised to be careful not to let the dogs enter the woods or they just may never reappear.

We were able to avoid the woods on Saturday but on Sunday, after quite an unproductive while, in the field, one judge hollered that Tessa had been sucked in! By the Enchanted Forest, that is! I ran over, and was advised by my judge to get her out of there very quickly. That's when she went on her first point, right by the edge, and although I wasn't sure if this counted or not (the woods were considered out of bounds), I fired my pistol when the bird flushed, and she chased it deeper into the woods - of course! I was like a deer in the headlight and obviously unable to think clearly. The judge came to the rescue by telling me to pick up my dog (meaning, to lead her out of there). I whistled, and by the grace of God she came back around, pointed again and that's when I - literally - picked her up and carried her out of the woods as I didn't want to pull her off a point, then sat her down and led her by the collar into the field where she was supposed to be.

At that point I thought there was a good chance that we failed today and that my NC friends that didn't make it to the event will be able to watch her perform some other time after all - she was all over the place! But at least she did find a few birds and pointed every time before time was called. "Pick up your dogs!"

Easier said than done. Ideally, you call the dog, she comes, you leash, and walk out of the field. The judges stopped to write out the score cards, and the ATV arrived to plant more birds for the next brace which was to start in a few minutes but my Tessa would not come back! In fact, she ran further out, all the way to the far, far end of the field! And every time I sort of caught up with her, she ran off again - always 100 feet ahead of me. I would have thrown myself on the dog had she been close enough. The bird planter stopped to help, and I was able to grab her when she went on another point, and off the field we rushed. That just had to be a low trainability score; thankfully; it had happened after the test (still, not a good last impression).

Needless to say, I was delighted to see she passed (obviously, the junior level is judged with much more leniency than the senior level, and personally, I can't really fault the dogs for wanting to hunt 100 birds in the woods rather than find the few in the field). Her scores were 8 out of 10 in bird finding, pointing and hunting ability, and 7 in trainability.

So she ran 5 JH tests and her average scores were 6.25, 8.25, 7.25, 8 and 7.75 out of 10. Nothing stellar, but I think it truly reflects as to where we stand given the training and exposure (or lack thereof) she had. At any rate, it's always fun to watch her hunt.