30 June 2009 by admin.

Wow, I had a great time at bird boot camp, but I was sooooo happy to get to go home.  I really wanted to deploy to California with Mr. Ronnie, but I was also a little worried about getting homesick.  I was also missing my sisters, allot.

Mom got to camp early Saturday morning and Mr. Ronnie picked out a couple of quail and I hopped into the kennel on the back of the mule, and mom and Mr. Ronnie hopped in and we drove out to the fields for some bird work.  Mom hadn’t seen me work birds in a couple of weeks, so I really wanted to impress her.  Mr. Ronnie still keeps me on a check cord even though I know whoa because I sometimes still get carried away when birds are around.  Mom held me behind the mule while Mr. Ronnie put out the first bird.  Even though I couldn’t see, I knew that is what he was doing because I could smell those birds.  Once the bird was planted mom led me out.  I was already picking up some scent so all I needed to do was zero in on the birds location.  We walked a ways and I was working off the check cord, then I had it.  Wham, I locked on point and at the same time I saw that big smile on moms face.  She was surprised because the last time we did bird work I was busting in and chasing birds.  Not this time, I gave her the prettiest point I could muster. Mom was still holding the check cord, but not very tight.  She was also giving me the whoa command while Mr. Ronnie went in to flush the quail.  The bird flushed and I was all set to chase, then that dang bird wouldn’t fly.  I was gonna get if for mom, but Mr. Ronnie told mom, “Hold him.”  He went in and grabbed the bird, then mom walked in and released me and heeled me off in the opposite direction.  Mom and Mr. Ronnie were really happy with my work, so they decided to let me run and hit all the swimming holes before mom and I headed home.  Mom told me later that Mr. Ronnie said I had allot of natural ability.  She told me I stayed out in front really good and worked the cover like a much older dog.

After all that work I was really tired.  I was happy I got to swim allot because it was already getting hot.  I live in Texas you know and in the summer it gets into the 100’s.  This year has been really bad with the temps already climbing to 105. Mr. Ronnie and mom discussed my continuing education.  He told mom she didn’t need to worry about bird work as I was great with that, but he wanted her to continue working the basic obedience stuff. That means more whoa training and heeling.  I will be going back for more advanced work in a couple of months, but for now I am home with mom and my sisters.

Oh I almost forgot, mom told me and my sisters we are going to the beach for the 4th of July.  I have never been to the beach, but Belle and Halo tell me it is really fun.  Lot’s of swimming and birds to chase.  Can’t wait to get to the beach.

Until next time…..

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24 June 2009 by admin.

Dear Ringo,

The girls and I miss you so much.  You have only been away for about a month and it seems like forever.  I know you are studying hard and doing very well at bird boot camp.  I am so looking forward to seeing you this coming Saturday.

I wanted to write and let you know that Mr. Ronnie and I have been talking about the trip to California.  It seems that Mr. Ronnie is now agreeing with me that you may not be quite mature enough yet.  We are thinking about the possibility of you staying here with me and the girls this summer while Mr. Ronnie is away in California.  I know you will be disappointed not to deploy with your other shorthair friends, but look on the bright side, you will get to go to the beach over the 4th of July with me and the girls.  You haven’t ever got to go swimming in the ocean.  I know you will like it, probably even more than swimming at the lake.  So, this weekend when I come up to visit, Mr. Ronnie and I are going to discuss the next steps in your training.  If you do stay home this summer you will still have to study and work hard.  We will visit the bird lease in Cibolo and also continue your work on whoa, heeling and here.  I know it is not as exciting as going to California, but a part of me is really happy that you may actually be staying home.  As I said in the beginning of this letter, I really miss you and so do your sisters.

Love,

Mom and your sisters, Belle and Halo

PS - Can’t wait to see you this weekend.  I will be there bright and early.

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19 June 2009 by admin.

Dear Mom,

I really miss you most of the time except when I am working with Mr. Ronnie and the birds.  It was fun seeing you last weekend.  I liked showing off my whoa skills.  Still hard for me to whoa though when there are birds around.  It is just so much fun to catch them.  I am really having allot of fun with Mr. Ronnie.  We work hard early in the morning because it is cooler and I get to go swimming in the tanks when I get too hot.  I also sometimes get to work with Paris.  She is the cute GSP that you met on Saturday when you visited.  I think Mr. Ronnie told you she got her name because she was queen bee in his house when she was little.  She is named after Paris Hilton.  She is really good on birds for a girl.  Oh, and she is kinda cute too.  She is a little older than me, just three months, but she sometimes acts older when she is ignoring me.  I think she likes me though.

Mr. Ronnie says we will be deploying to Northern California soon.  I probably won’t be able to write much when I am deployed as I will be working allot more on bird training. I think it is Special Ops training for bird dogs.  It is supposed to be much cooler in CA.  The place we are going to is a 600 acre totally fenced area which is setup for training dogs for bird hunting.  I should get some real quality time on wild birds while I am there.   I am looking forward to the trip, but I think I will miss you and the girls.

How are Belle and Halo doing?  Have they gotten to go swimming again?  I am jealous if they did because I really like swimming at the lake.  The lake is nicer than the swimming tanks here because it is so much bigger.  Tell the girls I said hi and that I miss them.  Tell Halo I really miss the fun and games with her, and tell Belle I miss laying around and sunbathing during the day with her.

Well I gotta go as it is getting close to dinner time.  I know you aren’t coming up this weekend, but I am looking forward to seeing you next weekend.

Miss you and the girls.

Love,

Ringo boy (that is what Mr. Ronnie calls me all the time)

PS - Tell the girls if they want to write a few blogs this summer while I am gone that it is ok by me.

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7 June 2009 by admin.

I got my birthday present a little late this year, but it was worth the wait.

I am now a year old.  My birthday was May 30th, but I got my present today.  Mom wouldn’t tell us where we were going.  All she would say is we are going somewhere for a belated birthday for Ringo.  I think Halo knew where we were going though as she just kept doing that whimpering thing she does when she is excited.  I should have known too that it was something Halo liked to do, but I never guessed what my present was going to be. 

We got up early this morning and got ready to go.  Mom put our hiking collars on and we loaded up in the car and were off.  We drove for what I thought was a long time.  Not as long as going to the Nationals, but still we were excited so to us it seemed like forever.  Finally, we turned off of the highway and Belle and Halo knew where we were going.  They started getting really excited.  For me, it sort of seemed familiar, but not really. Finally, we got to the gate and paid the entrance fee to a really nice lady.  That was when I got my first clue.  She told mom the dogs had to be on leash except when they were in the water.  Swimming, we were going swimming.

After paying we headed into the park and turned off the main road and I saw Lake Travis.  We were heading to Pace Bend Park where I had learned to swim almost a year ago.  I was excited and a little nervous because I hadn’t been in a big lake since I was 4 months old.  Mom said I would be fine and not to worry. We went to the exact same spot out on a sandy peninsula.  There were some birds around, but I was so excited about the water that I didn’t even pay the birds any mind.  Well they weren’t quail.  Anyway, we jumped out of the car and never slowed down until we hit the water. Mom was right behind us with the bright red bumpers. We spent over an hour swimming and retrieving those bumpers.  It was a fantastic birthday present.

Here are some pictures.  This one is Belle, Halo and me in the back waiting for the throw.

And this is Halo with the bumper (she is still the fastest swimmer) and then me and Belle.  Belle and I were doing our best to keep up with Halo. Of course, Halo has an advantage because she is smaller than me and Belle.

And this one is me telling mom to hurry up and throw the bumper, please.

And this is Halo and me goofing around with the bumper.

And this last one, well I was expressing my enthusiasm for my birthday swimming trip.

I had a great day swimming and have been resting since I got home.  Mom was smiling all the way home and mumbling something about tired GSPs.  You guys probably know what she meant.

Well I am probably not going to be blogging much at least for the next few weeks as I am going off to bird school tomorrow.  Mom is taking be back to spend some time with my trainer.  She says she will be coming up on the weekends to work with me.  I will miss mom, but Mr. Ronnie has all kinds of birds at his place.  I think I will have fun at bird school, and when I get back home sometime in late July or early August I should be all ready to start the fall round of hunt tests and maybe even some field trials. 

So, I will try to get a blog with some pictures while I am at bird school, but until then just remember….Got Birds!!!!

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6 June 2009 by admin.

Wow, it has been 3 months since I last wrote something for you guys.  Allot has happened to me in that 3 months. I have been to several hunt tests, a field trial, I made my first appearance in the conformation ring at the Nationals, and I am now one year old.

It has been a while since I have written anything, but I have been really busy.  First, we had the marathon run of dog shows for Halo as mom was trying to finish her.  Belle and I were along for the ride.  We went to Glen Rose which I wrote about, San Marcos, San Antonio, Fort Worth, and Midland (actually I was in bird school for Midland).  Halo won her second major in Fort Worth and then picked up two more points in Midland.  She only needs two more points to finish. In between the dog shows with Halo, mom took me to four hunt tests and one field trial.  I got three legs of my Junior Hunter and then figured out it was more fun to catch the birds than it was to point them.  Anyway, I think mom is getting ready for the summer round of dog shows as she wants to finish Halo before the end of the year.  Boy am I glad I will be in bird school for a big portion of the summer. Mom says I need to learn to point again.

Speaking of bird school and pointing, I spent April in bird school learning to heel, whoa and perfecting my recall.  The trainer was real impressed because I already was good at heeling, unless there was a bird around, and I had what he called the best recall he had seen on a dog my age.  April was a fun month for me even though I missed mom a little bit.  I lived in the kennel and had my own private run which was next door to an English Pointer.  I even got to sleep in a barrel filled with hay.  It was great.  Mom picked me up from bird school in late April because she wanted to take me and my sisters to the Nationals.

The Nationals are the big German Shorthair Pointer dog show that happens every year somewhere in the US.  This year it was in Denver.  Mom had plans for all of us.  Belle was entered in Open Obedience, Halo was entered in Novice Obedience and Conformation and me, I was entered in Sweepstakes and Conformation.  It was my debut in the ring.  Mom was handling Halo, so I got to meet Kristina Chandler.  She handled me.  I really liked Kristina because she had the best treats.  She could even get me to free stack.  I guess that is important because mom was really proud of my free stack. I had fun in the ring, but I have to say birds are a whole lot more fun.  I didn’t win anything, but mom said I did really good for first time in the ring.  One of mom’s friends said my mom was brave debuting me at the Nationals.  I think I did pretty good though. 

Halo didn’t win anything in conformation either, but she made a haul in obedience (more about that in a minute).  Belle…mom said Belle put on the performance of a life time.  I didn’t get to see it, but allot of people were talking about it.  Something about her retrieve on the flat where she was supposed to retrieve the dumbbell.  Apparently, she decided the exercise needed improving.  When Belle improvises look out.  Mom said she went out for the dumbbell nicely and picked it up, but when she turned around to return the devil was in her eyes.  At that point, she tossed (not a little toss, but about 10 feet up) the dumbbell in the air and the folks watching started laughing and clapping. She of course retrieved the dumbbell again and raced toward mom (I think she was supposed to return the dumbbell to mom), as she got about 5 feet from mom, she tossed the dumbell right at her feet.  I think that is pretty good, but I guess that was not what she was supposed to do.  The judge told mom later that if she could have qualified Belle she would have as she had never seen a shorthair with that much enthusiasm in the obedience ring.  Belle told us she had fun too.

Halo on the other hand stuck to the script.  After a complete bust at the early obedience show on Wednesday (Halo got up from her sit), she came back on Friday and nailed her performance.  Mom was walking in the clouds for at least two weeks.  Halo scored a whopping 196 in her obedience run and won her class, and she also won High in Trial.  She was the best Obedience dog at the GSP Nationals this year.  Her picture is even going to be on the cover of the Shorthair Journal.  As I said earlier she made a haul.  She got a blue ribbon and pewter dish for winnning her class, and she got a beautiful trophy, a nice bag from the Purina lady, and an enormous ribbon for winning HIT, that’s High in Trial.  Here is a picture of her and mom after the win.  It is hard to see the shorthair trophy, but it is really a nice statue (about 8 X of a shorthair pointing on a wooden base.  We were all really proud of Halo.

This one is me showing in Sweepstakes.  This was my very first time in the ring, ever.  That is Kristina with me.  She stacked me just like mom did all those times we practiced stacking at home.  It sure makes me look good when I get stacked.

Not bad, huh?

And here are some pictures of us in the fifth wheel in Denver at the Shorthair Nationals.  We are all watching TV after a long day of showing. I think Belle was actually napping.

And of course, Princess National Halo after her big win.  She was really tired.

We had allot of fun at the Nationals and are all looking forward to going again next year when it is in Gainesville, Florida.  Mom says it will be hard to top this years Nationals, but we intend to try.  Yippee, another road trip.

I am going to close off this post now because I want to do one more post about my birthday. Here is a hint; mom took us swimming for my birthday.

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