"The Starting Point
"
As 
Sees It
By Roy Greffin
- Chapter 4-
The Grizzled One peered over his coffee cup at his
beloved "she who must be obeyed" and asked his wife if there was anything that
she wanted him to pick up on the way back from King Conan’s hunt. "No" she
replied, "I have to run some errands this morning and I’ll pick up whatever we
need." "Well then, I guess King and I will be going. I am not going take any of
the other guys with. King was not able to get out yesterday when I was at the Chain so
this will be his day. I figure we will be out a little over an hour then we will head back
home." The Grizzled One took King out of his crate in the house and put him in his
crate in the van. He then stowed away his guncase, possible bag and thermos of warm water.
Giving "she who must be obeyed" a quick buss he and King were on their way.
Less than half an hour later the Grizzled One’s van pulled up
to the entrance station going into Bong State Recreational Area. The park attendant on
duty, cheerful and pretty as always, sold him his hunting permit for the day and informed
him that the number of hunters out that morning was low. That was good news for King who
would very probably have the area that they were headed for to himself. A few minutes
later the Grizzled One was snapping a lead on King and walking him out into the field.
The area that the Grizzled One wanted King to work was a few
moments walk from the parking lot where the van was. He did not want to turn King loose
until they reached that spot. It was an area that was not near roads or highways and
hopefully had few or no other hunters so King would have to wait to be turned loose until
they got there. It was a pretty fall morning. Not at all like the foul weather of the day
before at the Chain. A crisp,blue, cloudless sky. Air temperature about 30 degrees. Most
of the frostcover had melted in the morning sun. Just enough of a breeze to move scent
around. A great day for a guy(or gal) to be out in the field with their gundog.
After about l0 minutes of walking the twosome topped a rise that
overlooked a huge bowl like area that lay before them. Tree lines lie in the distance
North and East, corn strips with weed cover to the west and a huge cattail marsh to the
south. About 500 acres in all, and not another hunter in sight. The Grizzled One pulled
out a beeper collar from his coat and put it on King’s neck. He then put a blaze
orange flash collar on the dog. King was quivering in anticipation at this point. The
Grizzled One unsnapped the lead and King stood like a statue carved out of some kind of
rusty gold colored stone, awaiting the toot from the Grizzled One’s whistle that
would send him like a missle towards an objective that he had already fixed his gaze on.
The Grizzled One made sure that the beeper was turned on, stood back and gave one toot on
his whistle. King made a nice cast towards a hedgelike thicket about a hundred yards at
one o’clock. He ran up the thicket into the slight breeze that was blowing and
picking up no scent swung towards the distant tree line and very soon the sound of the
beeper was lost and King’s flash collar became a dot as he reached the trees and
moved up the line into the wind and then disappeared into the trees. "Looks like I
walk some this morning" thought the Grizzled One to himself.
The hunter headed towards the last place he had seen King, veering
to the right though because the dog would have kept moving against the breeze unless he
came across scent and was working that. If that was the case, hopefully the beeper would
let the Grizzled One know what his dog was up to. As he reached the tree line there was no
beeper sound. The Grizzled One crossed through the tree line to the other side to see if
he could spot King moving in the area beyond the line. A large grass field bordered that
side of the line but no familiar flash of blaze orange or call from the beeper was there.
"Well then, the big boy must have run the line to its end," thought the Grizzled
One. So he walked back to the other side of the line and began moving along towards where
the corn strips lie. As he neared the end of the tree line he suddenly heard, very
faintly, the beeper. The sound was in the long, drawn out sound mode of the dog standing
motionless. Knowing King, the Grizzled One was positive the dog was standing on game.
Taking a quick glance at his watch the hunter figured that the dog must have been standing
on game for 3 to 4 minutes at that point. The pheasant, if that was what King was standing
on, must be getting a bit antsy what with the dog standing near him and the beeper giving
out its signal. The Grizzled One thought that a quiet approach was in order to lessen the
chances of a premature flush. However, he did want King to know that he was in the area
and on his way. Knowing his handler was coming would lessen some of the stress that was
building up in the dog. The Grizzled One began his low sing-song of
"easy-easy-easy" that he used when King was working game in competition. Zeroing
in on the beeper calls the Grizzled One finally spotted a bit of blaze orange in weedcover
adjacent to a cornstrip. Moving in a circular pattern so that he would emerge in the
dog’s peripheral vision and then move in to work the bird, rather than come up from
behind the dog and move to its front, the Grizzled One came in carefully, now giving King
a low "stay’ command. Carefully noting the direction of the dog’s intense
gaze the Grizzled One moved that way and all of a sudden the weeds exploded as a
gray-brown missle hit the air. A hen pheasant. Even though hens were legal game the
Grizzled One really did not want to drop it. He fired a round from his little side by side
straight up into the air, watching his dog carefully. King did not move an iota. Now the
acid test. Gunners miss birds in competition all the time and the dog must be able to
properly handle such a situation. The Grizzled One gave the "heel" command to
King. Proper performance required that the dog turn and move in an opposite direction the
bird had flown. To move forward in the direction the bird went would be regarded as a
"delayed chase" and in competition would disqualify the dog from the event. In
that the dog had been standing on point on the pheasant for a period of time and a shot
had been fired and the adrenalin was racing through the dog’s body it would be
understandable that he would want to find and retreive that bird. This was always a racing
moment for the handler. What would the dog do? King truly lived up to his name at that
moment. He regally turned and walked by the left side of the Grizzled One who reached down
and gently stroked an ear and gave the big pointer an affectionate "good boy".
After walking about l00 feet from where the bird had flushed, the Grizzled One put King on
stay and then tooted him on. The big dog made a gorgeous cast towards weedcover that lie
at the end of a cornstrip about l50 yards away. What a morning. The Grizzled One felt
privileged on days like this. His buddy had executed an almost perfect piece of birdwork
and it was all his own training. He felt real good.
As he approached the weedcover, King made a half-circle swing that
would bring him downwind of the weedcover, Before he could finalize his move a cock
pheasant flushed out of the weedcover and flew first towards the Grizzled One and then the
bird, spotting him, made an abrupt right turn and headed towards the tree line that King
had earlier scanned. What would King do? Proper bird manners dictated that he stand,
frozen in time and space until commanded. The Grizzled One thought to himself," Well
King gets another acid test this morning." The dog was too far to hear any verbal
commands. In competition when a situation like this arises, if the dog is close enough to
hear a gunshot then the handler would fire his gun in the air, the dog would swing his
head around and see his handler who could, by hand signal command the dog to come to him.
If the dog was too far to hear a gunshot then the handler would have to "move his/her
buns" and get to the dog as soon as possible. Then fire a shot into the air and order
the dog to "heel’ and cast it off in a different direction from that which the
flying bird took. The problem with King’s situation was that the flushed pheasant had
flown towards the Grizzled One and he could not do anything that might cause the pointer
to break off his stand and move towards him. While it would not be technically a delayed
chase, it certainly would not be a class performance. The thing here is that in
competition, a handler tries to "sell" his/her dog , to the judges., whenever
the chance arises. If King would have "broke"(left his point and chased the
bird} the Grizzled One would have called him back in and resumed the hunt. This was, after
all, R&R for the dog. However, King had performed beautifully and the Grizzled One had
to do what was best for helping the dog stay "clean"; that is not committing an
error in bird handling that would have disqualified him in competition. The only course of
action here was for the Grizzled One to walk towards the standing dog and when close
enough so the dog would hear order him to "stay. Then come up to him, give him
another "stay" and fire a round into the air. Give him the ‘heel"
command and walk him a ways in the opposite direction from the bird flight and cast him
off. Everything went like clockwork. As King ran towards a distant thicket, the Grizzled
One looked at his watch. It was time to start swinging King and move towards the parking
lot. The Grizzled One hoped that in the time remaining the opportunity to shoot a bird
over King would arise but, even without that, it had been a great morning. King’s
bird manners had been, so far impeccable. The big red dog had left the thicket area and
was making a cast that put him moving directly across the Grizzled One’s front at
about l00 yards. The old hunter figured that King would keep moving in that direction as
there was a small tree line and thicket clumps in front of him. That would be in the
general direction of the parking lot and would place both of them on the top of the rise
overlooking the bowl that they had hunted. When they reached the parking lot, a couple of
hunters, taking a midmorning break from their hunting, asked what kind of dog King was.
The Grizzled One, always anxious to promote the Vizsla breed, gladly answered all their
questions and added additional information. During the course of conversation the hunters
told the older hunter that they had not even seen a pheasant that morning. The Grizzled
One wished that he had a bird or two to give them but he didn’t. He thought about
asking them if they would like to hunt over King but decided against that. King had run
hard that morning and had performed well. No, it was time for him to pack it in and go
home.
As they neared the van, King , who was walking on the Grizzled
One’s left suddenly swung to the left and went on point. Looking, with great
intensity, at a red dogwood thicket that was near the edge of the parking lot, jutting up
out some tall grass. Giving King the "stay" command, the Grizzled One dropped
his lead and walked to where the two hunters he had just conversed with were still
standing. "My dog is standing on point over there and if you fellows want to take the
shot you are welcome" he said to the men. As they walked towards where King was
standing the Grizzled One give them his rules. He would position them in a way that was
best for the dog and them. He would handle the dog and flush the bird. If the bird flew
towards and across the parking lot they would have to let it go. Under no circumstances
would there be any ground shooting. They agreed and so upon reading the standing dog the
Grizzled One put each hunter in position and then came in from King’s right front to
work the bird. As he neared the dog the Grizzled One looked at the area of the thicket
that King was staring at and spotted the tail feathers of a cock pheasant." OK.
gentleman we have a nice rooster sitting in the dogwood. He is facing away from the
parking lot so I think I will be able to flush in the direction of the open field. If that
happens, he is all yours" Giving King a quiet "stay" command, the Grizzled
One quickly moved towards the bird making stamping sounds as he walked. A simultaneous
explosion of color and the cackling cry of a ringneck cock pheasant occurred and two
shotguns detonated. The bird dropped and the Grizzled One informed the two hunters that he
was going to send King for the retrieve. The Grizzled One gently tapped King on the head
while giving him the "fetch" command. King, who had stood motionless through the
whole proceeding, bounded towards where the bird had dropped, snapped it up and bounded
back to the Grizzled One to whom he presented the bird. Handing the bird over to the
closest hunter the Grizzled One said "You fellows will have to decide who the bird
goes to. It was nice shooting". Having seen King in action the two hunters began to
ask more specific questions about Viszlas and where they could be obtained. The Grizzled
One gave each of them a card with his name and phone number on it and told them to call
him if they were serious and he would put them in touch with Viszla breeders. After the
ritual of eyewashing and some warm water with fructose, King was crated in the van and the
duo was on the way home. It had been a fantastic morning.
"What time was that fellow supposed to be here with the
puppy?"asked "she who must be obeyed" as she poured a bowl of soup out for
the Grizzled One’s lunch. "Around 4 o’clock" replied the Grizzled One.
"We should have just enough daylight to introduce the pup to live birds. You think
you might want to help?" "I might come out and watch after a while but I am
going to leave you men solo it this time. I’ll have a pot of coffee ready when you
fellows are through with the puppy " his wife retorted. "Suit yourself. That
coffeepot sounds good. We will be ready for some when we are finished. In the meantime I
have to go out and check the.electric shocking system on the pigeon coop. When I went out
to the pens this morning to feed and water the birds the testing light for the shocker was
a bit dim. I am going to have to check all the connections in the system otherwise a
marauding raccoon might be able to get into one of the pens."
Like so many, what seems be a simple task becomes complicated and
time consuming, troubleshooting the electrical shock system for the bird pens became more
involved and time consuming than the Grizzled One had anticipated and late afternoon was
suddenly there. Everything seemed to be ok with the shocking system. Bre’r Coon would
have his fur coat stand up straight if he tried to turn the Grizzled One’s bird pens
into a free lunch counter. After snagging and bagging( Griz uses specially constructed
vinyl mesh bags that allow for a free flow of air to the birds inside the bag) 8 pigeons,
the Grizzled One snagged a 9th pigeon that he put into an old sock of his. The sock had
holes in it that allowed the bird’s head, feet, and tail to be exposed. The wings
were encased inside the sock. The bird would not be able to flap its wings and possibly
startle Benji the pup. This was, after all, the puppy’s first contact with a live
bird and the Grizzled One wanted it to be the kind that would leave the puppy panting for
more bird.
A few minutes before 4:00, a car swung into the Grizzled One’s
driveway. The Grizzled One immediately spotted a brand new dog crate on the back seat.
"The young fellow does learn. This is good" thought the old hunter. He showed Ed
around his place, pointing out the bird pens and the peculiarities of each. Upon his
instruction, Benji was allowed out of his crate and the freedom to follow his nose
wherever he wanted to go on the Grizzled One’s place, which was all fenced in.
"Let the pup bum around the place for a little while and while he is satisfying his
curiosity we’ll have a cup of my wife’s great coffee and talk a little bit about
what we are gong to do with Benji today."
Sitting on the Grizzled One’s deck, sipping hot coffee, Ed was
told how Benji’s introduction to live birds would be played out. Finishing their
coffee, the two men headed out towards the bird pens. Opening the pigeon coop door, the
Grizzled One handed Ed a l2 foot checkcord that was attached to a very wide dog collar
covered with a bright yellow color . "Put this on your dog. No matter how hard he
pulls he can’t hurt himself with this kind of collar." While Ed was placing the
collar on Benji the Grizzled One opened the door to the pigeon coop and took out a bamboo
fishing pole with the wing and string attached to it. He reached inside the coop again and
brought out another fishing pole that had a line that was attached to the sock that
encased the pigeon described earlier. The Grizzled One gently placed the pigeon into the
gamebag of the hunting vest he was wearing. Picking up both poles he walked out into the
center of the yard that the pens were located in and called to Ed to bring Benji over.
When Ed and the pup reached him, he gave Ed the pole with the wing and string and told him
to work Benji with it for a while. After the puppy had made his third point on the
pheasant wing, the Grizzled One instructed Ed to quickly conceal the pheasant wing and the
encased pigeon was brought out and slowly swung in the air to catch the eye of the puppy
and when that was accomplished, the pigeon was gently lowered to the ground. Downwind from
the puppy, Benji immediately went on point at the sight of the encased pigeon. Unlike the
piece of pheasant wing though, the encased pigeon exuded odors no dead pheasant wing could
ever do plus it walked around at bit. Too much for the pup. Benji charged and the fishing
pole flicked the bird up and beyond the puppy’s reach and lowered it to the ground at
a different location, still downwind from the puppy. Again a point, again the bird walks
and the pup charges. Two more successful contacts (pup pointed) are made, at which time
the Grizzled One tells Ed to pick up the checkcord and walk Benji out of the area. The
encased pigeon is released and put back into the coop, the poles put away and the first of
the two mesh bags of pigeons is placed over one of the Grizzled One’s shoulders.
The Grizzled One took a pigeon out of the bag and quickly put it to
sleep (gently place the pigeon’s head under a wing , exert mild pressure on the
wings, gently pull the feet straight out to the back of the bird. If done properly the
bird can then be planted and the trainer can expect the bird to be there when the training
dog is brought up) and placed it in one of the grass strips that made up the yard in that
area.(The Grizzled One lets l to 2 footwide strips of grass grow uncut in that particular
area. This makes for great training for young dogs) He called to Ed to bring the puppy up
on the check cord and pointed to the area that he wanted Ed to stand holding the
checkcord. It was, of course, downwind from the planted pigeon. Ed did as he was bid and
almost instantly the puppy was drinking in the enticing smell of live pigeon. But, he
couldn’t see it. Where was it? He was going to look for it! "Hold his checkcord
tight Ed. I am going to put this bird into the air" The Grizzled One carefully put a
booted toe under the sleeping pigeon and lofted it up into the air. In an instant the
pigeon was awake and with flapping wings airborne. Benji was having cat fits at the end of
the checkcord. "Why didn’t he point that bird instead of lunging the way he
did" asked Ed. "Because he thinks he has to see it. He has to learn to trust his
nose. He has to learn that when bird scent is of a certain intensity there is a bird
there. He doesn’t have to see it. What we are doing now is helping him learn that.
The pointing will naturally fall into place".The Grizzled One had Ed walk the pup
away from the area. The puppy , of course, thought there was a bird in every grass clump.
"Good boy," thought the Grizzled One as he watched the pup; "you’re
looking and that is great." He planted another pigeon and called Ed to bring the pup
up again on the sleeping bird. Same reaction. The pup got scent of the bird, wanted to
follow the scent to its source; a taut checkcord preventing him from jumping the bird and
the bird flushed. The scenario repeated itself three more times. "What is the matter
with my dog," asked Ed. He’s acting like he doesn’t know what pointing
is!" The Grizzled One replied, "Ed your dog is really doing fine. He is birdy,
he is picking up scent, he wants to find the birds. The pointing is going to come, trust
me. However, I think he has had enough for this session. You have to watch it with
training. Keep the sessions short and as much fun as possible for the dog. There are days
when the dog just will not address the task that the trainer wants him to. Stop the
training session and do something entirely different. Take the dog for a run, throw a
retrieving dummy. Anything that is a complete change of pace and is something the dog
loves to do. Don’t ever let the situation become a ego power struggle where the
handler-trainer is determined he is going to make the dog perform. As a judge I have seen
too many young dogs sit down, lay down, or "blink"(deliberately avoid)
situations that have high stress levels( birdwork, backing etc.) because they have been
over trained on these situations and the training has created such high levels of anxiety
that the dog copes by sitting down, laying down, or blinking. These are only dogs Ed. They
are not machines. Treat them right and they will generally do what you want them to do.
Always remember, the best of them makes mistakes. Never, never allow this to become a ego
thing with you. Enjoy your dog for what it is and it will come through for you. None of us
ever has a perfect day every day of our life and the same is true of your hunting buddy.
If ever the idea of the Golden Rule applied it does here. You treat your dog as you would
like to be treated and you and your pup will be fine."
Ed declined the offer of hot coffee, had to get home to supper, but
he and the Grizzled One agreed that they would work on Benji same time tommorrow. As
Ed’s car left the driveway for the road to the highway, the Grizzled One went into
his pigeon coop and shagged the birds into the now vacant squabbie enclosure and put the
birds that were not used in the training session in there also. He did not want the flock
leaving the coop so late in the day, The birds used in the training session were on the
roof of the coop waiting for the coop flight door to be opened so that they could get
inside to their food and water. In a matter of minutes the flock was secured in their coop
and the Grizzled One was headed towards the house where "She Who Must Be Obeyed"
was preparing their supper. Before he entered the house the Grizzled One took a last look
at the glowing western sky. A late foursome of Mallards came rocketing out of the twilight
purple of the East and dropped into a pocket of open water in the marsh behind the house.
The November air had a bite to it it had not yet displayed that fall; "Hard freeze
tonight" thought the Grizzled One as he stepped into the warm glow of the house..It
had been a good day.
To get to know more about Roy
Greffiin. Or, You can write to grizzone@windy-city.com
with any questions you may have about selecting or training your hunting dog buddy.
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