Gun Dog Forum

Rick Hall

It really just comes down to the TAIL!!! LOL... http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y284/RickHall/dogs/Duffy.jpg After having Brittanys and setters since the mid '70s, I'm inclined to think there's more to Fireside's tongue-in-cheek observation than just grooming and clearing tables. But speaking to g...

Rick Hall

Don't know if I'm whistling in the dark, but I've had walk-in pigeon lofts for a dozen years now without known problems. Do, however, use a very well ventilated loft design, wear a particle mask and wash up well after dusty chores, and use a hose for other cleaning.

Rick Hall

Scott, it's not something I've paid much attention to in years, but I'm virtually certain Chad Holman put a US FC on a French Britt some years back, and seem to recall someone on the SS board saying he had one or two that were close much more recently...

Rick Hall

ohiogsp wrote:Here is some pics of some of my birds. First one is a grizzle...

Talk about "grizzle"! Much of my stock is grizzle, but I've never had one with such contrast. Matches the dog in your avatar.

Rick Hall

Aside from the "black" issue, you'll likely find greater differences within "French" and "American" Brittanys than between them. I'd be looking harder at breeding than breed.

Rick Hall

I'm guessing that good racers/homers can't be trasnplanted to a new loft after some age as ferals can? My, albeit limited, experience with rehoming adult birds from raced stock (don't know if the idividual birds had been raced, per se) has been good. I was told, by one racer I got such birds from, ...

Rick Hall

Knew that was a poorly constructed sentence when I wrote it, and was just too lazy to change it. But I hope you find your acreage soon! (I've the great fortune of working for a lodge with leases in four parishes, which include an 1,100 acre piece a mile from mile from my house and three or four time...

Rick Hall

I don't know about "like a quail," but our preserve chukar tended to call and covey up if out for very long, and many hunt refuges turned up back at the pens to reenlist.

Rick Hall

Don, after twenty years, I'd think your "feral" stock's been pretty well culled for homing inclination. Though I didn't start with many of them, all of mine and their young culled themselves from the loft by not returning from more than twenty or so miles out. (Which was disappointing after having i...

Rick Hall

muddycreek wrote:Did you notice the Germans didn't use Britts to make the perfect dog

Probably did notice that the Germans haven't made the perfect dog.

(Wondered how the heck a "Chesadoodle" thread made three pages - "Dog fight!!!")

Rick Hall

The best producing pairs I've had have been "common" pigeons and the offspring of feral birds, and they homed just fine from ten miles or so. But they weren't dependable homers at double that, so, in your situation, I'd not waste time trying anything but "racing" type stock. (I'm a little like Justi...

Rick Hall

What about if the dog could literally jump up and see the birds? Nose on the glass so to speak. I don't really have a better spot to put the coop, but I guess I could fence it off, but I don't really want to if I don't need to. My dogs have, for decades now, been able to get eyeball to eyeball with...

Rick Hall

Sprig, I see you like it well enough to be an Arkat dealer. I've only fed it to two dogs, but neither did as well on it as some other feeds. Disappointing, because I liked the Arkat folks I dealt with and saved a little money over the feed I'm most confident in, but that's how it went. Glad Rudy's d...

Rick Hall

Your "dog food experts" are probably just netspurts armed with half-baked preconceptions and a copy of the dog food labeling regulations, from which they then present the worst-case-allowable-by-law as being the case with the feeds' labels they "review" - rather than looking at the makers' actual pr...

Rick Hall

Loose is good. Only pigeon "bands" I've seen too loose were temporary z-ties I use on young birds in training and shooters that were left open enough for the back toe to get caught in. My bad, your store-bought bands will be fine. I just open the trap late in the afternoon and let my birds come and ...

Rick Hall

Use dark colored socks.

Rick Hall

Question about the carded birds. Has anyone experienced a time where the dog was confused by the cardboard? I know I would look at it pretty funny if I say a bird with a sheet of cardboard strapped to its leg. Looking for a way to keep my new pigeons catchable until there roosted. Oh, and is it bot...

Rick Hall

"Hoot" Gibson was well known for using a standard poodle for his Arkansas goose guiding service, and I'd imagine someone of a mind to could make an adequate-for-most-weekenders retriever out of most any dog with the physical stature for it. But when folks start talking about crosses, I'm always rem...

Rick Hall

A longtime poster on another board uses a baby sock(to which a string is tied) over the pigeon's head. a quick spin and put the bird into a piece of cover. A pull on the string and the pigeon is gone. Never tried it myself, but he has said on several occasions that it works well to keep the pigeon ...

Rick Hall

"Hoot" Gibson was well known for using a standard poodle for his Arkansas goose guiding service, and I'd imagine someone of a mind to could make an adequate-for-most-weekenders retriever out of most any dog with the physical stature for it. But when folks start talking about crosses, I'm always remi...

Rick Hall

We like them best simply deep fried with the bones in but do the legs seperately from the breasts to keep from overcooking the tasty little morsels.

Rick Hall

I thought touching the eggs would be a no-no....... Is there any risk with the eggs being abandoned if I "candle" them?? Nope, that's just something that's been passed down to make kids leave nests alone. The attending parent will likely peck and/or wing flog you for disturbing its eggs but be happ...

Rick Hall

So how did you teach your quail not to crap in their feed and water?

Rick Hall

Benny wrote:...and I love hearing them call in the mornings.

Long kept a pen of quail under my office window just to evesdrop on their small talk. But I also love to kick back in the swing with my Sweet Chereaux and watch our homers do their late afternoon excercise aerobatics over the place...

Rick Hall

I long had ready, wholesale access to quail (and chukars and pheasants) through our lodge's preserve and still did 90+% of my pointing dog training with homers, but if you prefer quail for whatever reason, use 'em. May make some aspects a tad tougher, depending on your methodology, but not enough to...

Rick Hall

I've maintained healthy birds feeding either whole corn or rice, plus grit, for months on end but feel they produce more young if high protien "pigeon" or "laying" pellets are also provided. The laying pellets being the cheaper of those, but my birds have much prefered the grains and don't eat much ...

Rick Hall

I had to learn to take a wide swath in front of this dog to kick up the birds,and many times go back and take an even wider one because he pointed birds so much farther away,He also would not always be pointed directly at the bird,when he entered the scent cloud,he pointed solid,the scent was stron...

Rick Hall

I had to learn to take a wide swath in front of this dog to kick up the birds,and many times go back and take an even wider one because he pointed birds so much farther away,He also would not always be pointed directly at the bird,when he entered the scent cloud,he pointed solid,the scent was stron...

Rick Hall

Dang, thought this thread was for me, but we hicks just run a log chain between two trees on either side of the drive when we don't want no visitors. That there gate would look nice on the wallm though. If we had a wall what would hold it.

Rick Hall

If I have two dogs with OFA Fair Hips and I breed them, is there a 50/50 risk of getting pups with HD? Based on OFA statistics, which are skewed by the fact that most obviously bad x-rays aren't submitted to the OFA, 16% of such a breeding's offspring would be dysplastic. Here's a link to the stati...

Rick Hall

So I wonder if woodcock are the same deal, because it seems like a lot of dog hunters enjoy woodcock hunting. There could be stark differences due to the fact that snipe are more of a marsh feeding bird, and perhaps take on a different scent? I've yet to have a pup that wouldn't instinctively point...

Rick Hall

I'm another whose woodcock opportunity hinges on north winds (SWLA), but I was too loaded up with waterfowling to get the old Brittany out during that brief front. Keeping fingers and toes crossed for others that last longer. Here's the old man opening one of his presents last Christmas morning: htt...

Rick Hall

Dang - I must be one of those clutzes - I've lost pins, cylinders, and whole guns... While a rubber keeper has precluded losing a pin or cylinder from the onset, it took the near loss of a gun to teach me to tether mine to its holster with a long chunk of decoy anchor line. Bit of a nuisance at tim...

Rick Hall

We tried switching to Diamond from PP, and after two bags, the dogs still had at best soft poo, at worst the squirts. so, we're back to PP. That 40 bucks a bag is killing me! This will always happen if the new feed is richer. Will bet if you cut back on the amount you are feeding it will solve your...

Rick Hall

The NEF guns are nice, especially if you like gadgets. You can buy the gun, then the rubber band gizmo to keep the pin from falling out, then spare rubber band gizmos when those fall off, then spare pins, then spare cylinders, then the magnet to pull through the grass to find the pins and cylinders...

Rick Hall

I'm not a vet, but here's some science: Relationship of Nutrition to Developmental Skeletal Disease in Young Dogs

Rick Hall

And he's left quite a legacy.

Rick Hall

The nicest thing about up-close titles in a pedigree is that those dogs were in the public eye enough that one who digs a bit can usually find a number of relatively unbiased references who knew them and watched them work. In and of themselves, titles tell only a small part of the story, even to tho...

Rick Hall

The farts aren't the issue, nutrients wasted on a lawn I'd rather see die than mow are. (And swamp water farts don't stink.)

Rick Hall

One last try: A dog's pedigree is its lineage, not the titles that may or may not have been earned by dogs in its lineage. There need not be a titled dog in a pedigree for it to be a great pedigree, just great dogs and especially those that have shown the ability to pass their greatness on.

Rick Hall

I will take a strong prey drive over any pedigree any time! ya can mold some dogs and others are difficult, as long as ya always have a strong prey drive ya always have hope! And how can one best increase his odd of getting strong prey drive, or any genetic trait? The odds of getting a good one are...

Rick Hall

ezzy333 wrote:Most people don't seem to realize just what a pedigree really is and how to use them.

Ezzy

If this thread's any indication, you've sure pegged that!

Rick Hall

Made the two dogs I tried it on crap like custard machines and fart like paper mills. Cutting back portions only served to emaciate them. Rick is there any feed your dogs don't fart like paper mills on, seems to be a recurring issue with ya :lol: Duane, Walmart's Maxximum Nutrition 30/20 was one my...

Rick Hall

Pedigree, and particularly "vertical pedigree" including siblings, can be our best tool for estimating if the dog before us is likely to replicate its traits or a genetic fluke unlikely to do so.

Pretty hard to put too much importance on that.

Rick Hall

shets114 wrote:Rick the Pro Athlete is 2988 k/cal per lb. The VF is slightly lower I don't have a bag at the house but guessing around 2250 k/cal per lb or so.

Thanks.

Rick Hall

Guaranteed? If I'd of know that, I'd of got a refund. Kidding, of course. The best thing about our Arkat experience was that the company was nice enough to ship a couple individual bags to my home at what I felt a fair price. Doubt there are many feed companies that will match that level of customer...

Rick Hall

I don't know how old your pup is or how my course might work with an older one. But I NEVER let my pups make any progress while pulling on a lead until they're grown, in harness and given the "road" command. And keeping them from pulling a lead tight, while still enjoying the freedoms of a loose lea...

Rick Hall

I'd taken no offense. Was just pointing out that homers are handy as can be for all sorts of retriever training. (From the time mine are small pups, for instance, they're taught to sit tight while birds are tossed past them or whole crates of birds are released within a few feet of them, which trans...

Rick Hall

Made the two dogs I tried it on crap like custard machines and fart like paper mills. Cutting back portions only served to emaciate them.

Rick Hall

"Ok" or a whistle release (actually the same whipped up whistle used for turns - same signals since the mid-'70s without apparent confusion).

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