Animal Cruelty: Dog Halloween Costumes

I'm all for festive dog collars and the occasional bandana for Boru to celebrate an occasion, like a big Syracuse Orange football game, but for his first Halloween, Boru is going as a hunting dog. As he will for every Halloween of his life.

But dog owners in the great metropolis of New York City and I don't share the same view on this topic (shocking, I know). The blog BuzzFeed calls these dog costumes from Tompkins Square Park's Halloween Dog Parade "cute." I think it's the scariest halloween parade I've ever seen.

How To Say Goodbye to Your Gun Dog

It's never easy, but at some point, we'll all have to say goodbye to a gun dog. The relationship between a hunting dog and a hunter is different than any other dog/owner relationship. While there are people who tuck their bichons in their purses and carry them everywhere, no one gets closer to a dog than a hunter.

There is a strong bond between hunting companions. I consider people I've hunted with as good friends, even if that hunt only lasted a weekend. A good hunting dog is the long-term hunting companion who doesn't make fun of you for missing an easy pheasant shot, falling into the stream on a duck hunt, or snoring relentlessly through the night.

Boru's First Hunt!!

Well, fall is here and the time is right for hunting in the creeks.

I have not been the best hunting dog trainer/owner/blogger in recent months. I have excuses, but I won't bore you with them. Luckily I'm blessed with having a very smart 5-month-old puppy who has all the energy of a puppy with at least some of the restraint of a 5-year-old dog.

After a few gun breaking sessions, which he did wonderfully with, and some field retrieves with a pheasant wing duct-taped to a bumper, it was time to take Boru out on the water for some wood duck action this morning.

A nice windy morning with early clouds made for a perfect day on the water. We kicked some woodies out first thing, but it was too dark to shoot. Boru quickly settled into his favorite past-time: chewing and eating sticks, while we hoped for some more ducks to buzz by.

After the nearby shooting died, the clouds cleared, and the turkeys flew back and forth over Sugar Run, one of my hired guns (my dad) decided to take a walk and see if he could kick up some ducks and stir up the action, while my other hired gun (my grandfather) stayed in our duck blind.

It's Almost Hunting Season!

Well, we've made it. Three pain-staking months of no hunting, early dove and goose seasons are just a week away here in Pennsylvania and in much of the nation, as well.

Boru and I have been doing okay on our training. He's responded well to gun shots, enjoys retrieving in the water, fetches on command. We haven't done a lot of live-bird training, which is largely my fault. From what I've heard and read, pigeons are ideal training birds. For the past five years, living in New York City and Washington, D.C., I've tripped over these rats with wings. Now out in the sticks, finding them is a bit of a task. So, we have relied on using store-bought wings.

Cool Creek Training

This story is dominating the news, heat has taken hold of the northeast, and taken hold of training. While Boru is settling into a fun little phase where he likes to ignore me and would rather eat bugs, acorns, and really anything else on the ground, I've been taking this heat as an opportunity to hit the water.

Boru's reaction to water has been so-so. The first couple times we've been down to the creek, he would stand on the bank and bark at me. Testing the water a little bit. I'd get him to swim, and we'd go home. He's been getting better, less barking, more wading, more excited retrieving, but it's been a slow ride.

A Better Way to Track a Dead Deer?

Now, I know this is legal in some states, but there is now a bill in the my home state of Pennsylvania's House of Representatives that would make it legal to use deer to find downed deer. I can think of multiple instances of where this might have helped recover a deer that I or someone I've been hunting with has shot.

I think there are some other, bigger issues to tackle in Pennsylvania when it comes to hunting, but if I can train Boru to find my down deer and spend some more time in the woods with me, I'm all for it!

From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:



Hunting dogs could be chasing deer in Pennsylvania, under specific circumstances, if the state legislature passes a bill that's gaining support in Harrisburg.

A New Quarry for a Gun Dog: Alligators?

It took a bird dog to find an alligator on the loose in Ohio.

From UPI:



COLUMBUS, Ohio, June 17 (UPI) -- Workers at an Ohio company said a hunting dog spotted a 4-foot alligator near the office and alerted them to its presence.

Jeff Tate, who owns Buckeye Caseworks in Columbus, said employee Jeff Colucy was letting his Weimaraner dog, which is trained to spot birds, relieve himself near the building when the canine spotted the reptile, the Columbus Dispatch reported Thursday.

"My sales manager was taking his dog out to go to the bathroom, and he went to bring him back in and he was on point -- but not at a bird -- at a gator," Tate said.

Tate said he blocked the gator from escaping into woods behind the property while police officers tried to reach removal agencies.

The Feather Dilemma

Well, it's Boru's 12-week birthday today, which seems to be an important milestone in dog training. According to most books I read, this is a turning point in a puppy's training.

Boru and I are doing pretty well. We haven't mastered the range of commands recommended in Dokken's Retriever Training, but that's more my fault than Boru's. He's mastered "come" and "sit" with ease, so I'm sure he'd have "down" and "place," and "crate" if I was more diligent with my training.

According to the the Dokken bible that I'm following, by now, Boru should have been introduced to feathers. This is something that I'm very eager to do after hearing a story from my grandfather about his brother's dog who would retrieve anything, as long as it didn't have feathers.

The Most Important Shots My Dog Will Get (and I won't)

I took Boru to the vet today for some shots and a 3-month checkup. In addition to gaining 7 pounds, bringing him to 18 pounds already, he got his first Lyme disease vaccination.

I didn't have to think too long or hard about whether to vaccinate Boru against Lyme disease. I wish they could have stuck me with the needle too. As a dog who already has an affinity for jumping into the weeds and playing in the woods, the risk of Boru getting bitten by a tick is pretty high, and it's not even hunting season yet. Here in central Pennsylvania, Lyme disease is all too common among people, and dogs.

In 2002, GlaxoSmithKlyne came out with a human vaccine, but after some bad press and some class-action law suits, the booster went off the market. There are currently three different versions of a vaccine for dogs though, and it might be the most important shot that my hunting dog will ever get.

A Big Introduction

So, Boru and I spent Memorial Day at my sister and brother-in-law's river lot on the West Branch of the Susquehanna.

Boru was a champ. With three other dogs, kids of various ages, and a lot of other distractions, he listened very well. He is starting to come when I call him, and came a few times when he disappeared, which was awesome.

The two biggest things I was worried about for the weekend were how he was going to deal with being on a boat and how he'd take to the water. I'm glad to say that he passed both tasks with flying colors. Boru became a natural boat dog, sleeping mostly and enjoying the smells as we cruised the river.

10-Day Check-up

My new dog has kept me away from the blog and in the yard trying to housebreak the pup! So far, things are going well. After two tough nights, Boru has pretty much become a crate-trained dog. Sleeping through the night, going in without a problem, not whining to get out when he's in there. Housebreaking is going a little bit slower, but is progressing.

I've been using as my aide, Tom Dokken's Retriever Training. I met Tom on a hunt with the folks from SportDog and Lacrosse/Danner a few years ago. His keen insight and proven track record made me interested in checking out his book. I'm glad I have. His training techniques and writing style are both very easy to follow.

Meet Boru--the GoHUNTn Dog

Saturday, I brought home my little bundle of black lab.

Sleeping has been a little rough, and Boru (pronounced Boh-roo) had a rough morning yesterday , but he has been a champ so far!

He's already showing some early signs of enjoying fetch, at least he likes to go after the tennis ball in the back yard. The brightest moments have been him perking up when he hears geese go squawking by. I think I just might have a hunter on my hands.

In the meantime, it's all about crate training, housebreaking, and having fun with him!

New Dog Nerves

Well, in 48 short hours, I will be a first-time dog owner. And while I have seen friends successfully train puppies, and I have helped train a dog before, I'm starting to stress out a bit about the responsibility of having a dog.

Will he chew the couch? Will I find puddles of pee everywhere? Is he going to whine all through the night? Can I really train a dog to not only be a great pet but a great hunting partner?

I'm sure the answer to all these questions is going to be yes, at least I hope that's the answer to that last one. Somehow this dog is turning me into Woody Allen, and I don't even him yet!

How Early is Too Early to Train?

There has been a lot of debate about how early is too early to train your hunting dog. I'm getting my puppy soon, and I'm thinking that I want to start with some basic commands immediately. But are there certain things that are worth waiting for?

I'm basically thinking that commands that work well for both a family dog and a hunting dog should be the first ones taught: sit, stay, heal, come, etc.

Famed gun dog training author, Richard Wolters, believes that you should start as early as 7 weeks (Boru will be 7 weeks old next week!), while many other authorities think you should wait until the dog is a year old.

Welcome, Failte

We weren't allowed to have a dog until I turned 12 years old. While my dad, brother, sister, and I desperately wanted on, my mom wanted to wait until we were all responsible enough to take care of him. Fourth of July weekend 1995, the McClintocks brought home a yellow lab from Close Corters Labs in Linden, Pa.

Since he was our first dog, and we were a sports family, we named him Rookie. Rookie was a remarkable family dog and hunting dog. He had no interest in playing fetch, and would only retrieve downed ducks, which he did with great skill.

We had to put Rookie to sleep in 2008, and when I was looking for my first dog, I knew I had to go back to the Corter's. Fittingly, though, I stuck with my generation when choosing my pup, getting him through the son of the owners of Close Corters, Daugherty's Run. And I decided to go with a black lab.