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.