Angus injury

Angus had a bad injury about 4 weeks ago. While swimming and playing at Second Lake with friends, he tore his side open, right down to the muscle. As best as we can figure, he was chasing and wrestling and must have run right into a jagged storm-felled tree. Thank heavens for Lester & Sandra, (whom I was walking that day with) who's cool heads & quick action got Angus the help he needed. Lester even took off his own tshirt to hold Angus' side together on the 1/2 mile hike out of the woods. He was sent home now 42 staples and a drainage tube..

The scream he made was bone chilling to me. A horrible scream of pain. It is a sound that is now burned into my heart & memory forever. I haven't ever seen anything like that up close in my life, and I hope never to again. It looked a million times worse than it is, and he only lost a bit of of fat when the vet removed the debris. He is healed up well now, you can barely see the scar, as his fur is almost grown back over it. It's a good thing he is such a good boy, and rested well, and left his t-shirt on while he was healing. It was so itchy, and the tshirt seemed to help him not want to scratch. he had to be under 24 hour a day scratch-watch for awhile. Steve took him to work with him one week, as I was working at the homecrafts room at the Fall fair for a few days helping a friend. He's back to running around now (in fields only, no wooded trails!) and playing, swimming, and retrieving. It scared me to death, but apparently hasn't fazed Angus one bit.



Theresa

Brook (pics)

Tech the Centerpiece

He has never done anything like this before, I guess he thinks he's a centerpiece.

Bigby update

Hi Don,

I thought I'd write and let you know that Bigby received his level one obedience certificate yesterday. He did very well and I'm looking forward to doing the next level class with him.

-Greg

Jack and Flint (pics)

Hi Don,

Thought you might like to see some pictures of Jack and Flint. It's the first time they've been together since we picked them up at Westwood
Hills. They had a great time chasing each other and swimming for almost 2 and half hours. I've never seen Jack so tired as on the ride home. He
could hardly keep his eyes open. At 7 months they're both turning into acouple of really big boys. Gill and Andy said that Flint is up to 66 Lbs
and Jack is up to 72. We're hoping to get them out together more often - the boys loved it.

Eric

Jake Too Hunting (pics)

When the going gets tough, the tough get muddy...

Hi Don,

Things have been quiet at my freshwater blinds this year, so I took Ruby out to Fundy for a mud hunt. This is where she had trouble with retrieves last December. There were very few birds flying, but when the tide turned a small raft of blacks and teals drifted towards me on the incoming tide. We had no blind so it was all that Ruby could do to stay steady and quiet while they got within range. I jumped them and got 3 blacks out of it – my first triple! One dead on the mud on the far side, one dead in the water, and one diving cripple. Ruby went after the cripple and got him after a few dives, then went back on a loooong swim for the dead bird, which had been carried away in the current, then finally across the channel to get the third bird off the mud on the far bank. I had my hands full casting her until the last retrieve, so unfortunately my little video clip only shows the last bird. As I was packing up a teal drifted around the corner dead – turns out that I got FOUR ducks with three shots!

Have you been getting many more birds?

Cheers,

-Dave

Tick Twister

I thought this was a gimmick when the vet suggested it, but bought it anyways to add to Ruby’s first aid kit. Found a big fat tick on Ruby yesterday and used this to get it off. It slips under the tick and if you twist counter-clockwise the tick’s mouthparts release, rather than breaking off, and unlike tweezers, you don’t crush the body and risk leaving the head behind. I recommend this product!

Cheers,

-Dave

ticktwister.com

website

Hi Don,

Just wanted to let you know what a valuable resource your web site is!
Without it, I doubt that I would have 'played' with my dogs in the Obedience
ring. Keep up the good work - and the good site.



We train for ckc & hrc hunt tests as well as OB. My 3yo YLM will be
attempting his Open this December but most importantly (to me) is, my kids
(age 9 & 12) have gotten involved with the junior OB handling.



I even have a blog of my own - inspired by your website. www.rongill.ca/dogblog



Thanks for doing what you do.



Cheers,



Ron Gill

Chelsea Marie

Bigby update (pics)

Hi Don,

I thought I'd send an update and some photos of Bigby. He's doing very well. We have him enrolled in obedience classes and it has made a huge difference in him. He continues to impress me with his intelligence and his willingness to please! He's quite the joy to have around!

-Greg Grondin

A dog for all season...

Hi Don,

Had Ruby out yesterday for some waterfowl in the morning and then upland in the afternoon. We got a mallard, a teal, two black ducks, a pheasant and two woodcock! She also flushed a grouse perfectly for me to complete the grand slam, but unfortunately I missed! What a great day! Obviously, I can begin to tell you how happy I am with Ruby – she’ll really coming into her own now in her third season, and I live for the next day afield!

Cheers,

-Dave

New Tech (pics)

First hunt of '08

Ruby was working very nicely, although it was very thick cover so she’s usually unlikely to get much out or range in that kind of habitat. Still remains to be seen how she does the first time a rooster flushes out across and open field!

-Dave

A great dog for a great guy

Hi Guys,

Tucker had his first day out hunting. He retrieved his first duck.

He almost had a goose but let it go. It was not entirely his fault. We had downed 2, he swam 50 yards to get one. We had to go after the other one in the boat. Tucker saw us go by and started to follow and released the goose. I am pretty sure the poor guy thought that we were leaving him, he stayed right on my foot for a while after that. I think he would have brought it back if we had taken off.

He did good considering it was his first day, first time in a motor boat with 2 other people and 2 other dogs. He needs to work on sitting still for long periods of time though!

Here are a couple new pictures

take care

Evan