Gun Dog Forum

Rick Hall

kstitz wrote:That must be one of those Asian Labs!

Lab??? Oh, the ignominy!

Rick Hall

Speaking of scatology: did you notice the yummy cockroaches in the coyote crap? And it's not from some barren land where living's tough, but South Louisiana which is absolutely alive with readily available "real meat" year around. Would be kinda fun if all the folks pointing to wild canids for their...

Rick Hall

My "coyote" doesn't live in corn country, but he likes rice: http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y284/RickHall/dogs/IMG_5019.jpg and blackberries: http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y284/RickHall/dogs/IMG_4439.jpg His namesakes gorge on spring blackberries and do eat some rice, though I can't say I've se...

Rick Hall

Since you've mentioned "several days in a row" (as opposed to a two or three day weekend outing), you might also find THIS LINK of interest. It outlines a regime that's tough to adapt to our waterfowling work, but I've seen quite appreciable benefit from it when doing upland work for many days on en...

Rick Hall

Marshboy, I'm with those suggesting that you are the only one here in a position to see how your dog is doing on its current feeding regime. But you may want to consider the information for "intermediate canine atheletes" in THIS LINK . And in an interview with Mike Lardy, doctor Reynolds has sugges...

Rick Hall

Maverick57 wrote:...the guy emailed me and said I had done a poor job of socializing him.

...What did I miss ?

The one constant in dog training: the only thing two out of three trainers are likely to agree on is that the third is wrong.

Good on you for the rescue work!

Rick Hall

Start them as pups "whoaing" them at the food dish, then permitting them to eat. Next the front door. Never let them bolt through a door until you tell them it's OK. That's always been it for us. "Whoa" is a foundational OB command for our pointing pups, begining along with "come" (just as "sit" is...

Rick Hall

Doesn't take physical punishment to teach any of the things y'all are using spray for.

Rick Hall

It's so easy to teach the things I'm reading here without spraying a dog that it seems nuts to instill the notion that spray is a bad thing and then perhaps not be able to readily hose a muddy dog off or cool a hot one down with a garden sprayer. But to each his own... (Observes a fellow who once [/...

Rick Hall

You can get a medium Furminator from an amazon.com vendor for half the price, including shipping, that you're talking about, and the medium is all the bigger I'd want for my Chessie. Great tool. Another, much cheaper one, that I keep in the truck and often hit the dogs a few licks with before we go ...

Rick Hall

I didn't use mine long enough to know what long term problems might arise, because it lasted long enough without refilling that I feared I'd forget about it altogether. So it's been on what's probably forever-loan to a fellow who was taking a crack at raising quail. I'm more comfortable with the tra...

Rick Hall

http://www.farmtekcatalog.com/0158.asp supplied the watering nipples I used for a large PVC waterer, but their online store is "down for maintenance," so I couldn't provide a direct link to the item.

Rick Hall

Answered you PM, Jim.

Rick Hall

Swimming is the obvious answer unless your deep water gets as hot as ours does here in South Louisiana. Once that happens we get the most mileage out of running them in belly deep grass early in the day when the dew's still on. Even with our humidity slowing evaporation, that dew is cool enough on t...

Rick Hall

i use safe gaurd it takes care of most of your internal paristes. and its one of a few that treat tape worm most of your over the counter d wormers dont and i found it to be easier on the dogs system than happy jack If you read what I've linked above, you'll see that Safegard's active ingredient on...

Rick Hall

ALWAYS call TT first, their CS is top shelf.

Rick Hall

I AM NOT A VETERINARIAN. But, as I understand it, the dose you're currently using should get everything but the tapes. Know it is the same as my dogs get, and they have had no show of anything but occasional tapes in the several years we've used it. (The heatworm prevention-only dosage in meds like...

Rick Hall

Use Ivomec monthly for heart and other round worms, and D-worm if tapes show up. Used to use Safeguard for tapes, but understand it just kills one type, while D-worm covers both possibilities and is cheap enough. If you're interested enough to wade through it, there's a ton-and-a-half of good parasi...

Rick Hall

I'm wit' Gone. Yours is an obediance problem. And if you can't get "come" down with the distraction of a bird in mouth, it'll haunt you at other, perhaps more dangerous, times, too.

Rick Hall

Came as a great surprise when I got on this Internet thing and learned the early puppy training we'd been doing for years was going to sap their desire and ruin them. Now on our tenth and still waiting to see it happen... (Have also noticed there's no shortage of "How do I fix this bad habit I let P...

Rick Hall

We've enjoyed good service from both Avery and Cabela's vests, but much prefer the Cabela's wide velcro fastener to zippers. In addition to the safety issue that's been mentioned, it affords a good measure of adjustability for proper fit, and I find it easier to deal with when my hands are cold. Hav...

Rick Hall

Dang short hair is even tougher to get out of the couch than long hair.

Rick Hall

I've had good luck tightening loose grips by using bumpers like Neuman & Bennett's that have valves you can use to put some water in them. The water sloshes around inside as the dog moves with it to give the bumper a live feel. Helped with pups anxious to get back with their bumpers, but might give ...

Rick Hall

I much prefer the simple utility of the Headwaters Gunner's Vest found by scrolling down that link to what I've seen of the others listed here. Easy on the back, even loaded to the max, and nothing's flapping around on one's legs or sticking out its sides. And if the water sleeve that holds two quar...

Rick Hall

Nothing I know of beats doves for teaching young dogs to eat birds.

Rick Hall

They may hover the egg if its cool but they wont start setting on it till the other egg is laid. If they did it would hatch two days before the other one. Ezzy Sometimes they do and it does. Have found it wise to give "duds" that don't candle as empty a couple days after the first egg hatches befor...

Rick Hall

Local feed store might know who's feeding 'em.

Rick Hall

Looks counterproductive to me.

Rick Hall

Sounds like those nail biters are watching too many stressful soap operas. Might want to get 'em out of the house more or at least try the Outdoor Channel.

Rick Hall

It appears to me that some dogs have stronger inherent pointing instincts and/or more finely tuned inherent scenting software than others. Some pups, and older dogs, will point most anything new that catches their eye and/or smells like it might be a bird, to include birds' distant kin: reptiles. Ot...

Rick Hall

Put me in the "maltodextrin shortly after exertion on multiple day (more than two) hunts" camp. I tend to be skeptical about suppliments, but have seen pretty dramatic results from giving maltodextrin within 30 minutes of hunt's end to dogs hunted hard daily. Think it would be wasted on a weekend do...

Rick Hall

I'm in South Louisiana where the only stone is poured or imported, and nail trimming's a must. Have recently started Dremeling nails, instead of clipping them, and it does seem to be pushing the quicks back. Took the trouble of introducing the running Dremel tool as a good thing, and the dogs are mu...

Rick Hall

Rick - from what I gather you are mostly a retriever guy, right? Have you had any issues with keeping weight on when feeding a large puppy mix (24/18 or similar)? Like I said, my dude is pretty thin. I free feed him now, and I am worried that he may become too thin with his increased exercise. I do...

Rick Hall

Since reading this link, Relationship of Nutrition to Developmental Skeletal Disease in Young Dogs , I've chosen to "error on the side of caution," and keep my large breed pups on large breed puppy formulas at least most of their first year (until serious field/energy demands are placed on them) bef...

Rick Hall

Unless we're talking about enough birds to require an honest-to-gosh bird crate, I use a small dog kennel for routine transportation of a lot of birds and a bird bag with a self closing spring-loaded opening for a few birds. Have also used the inside cage of a plastic minnow bucket in a pinch. Anoth...

Rick Hall

Sprig, when you were working your pup on birds in launchers, you were also conditioning him to associate the launcher's scent with those birds, so there's that as well as residual bird scent to help trigger his points on empty launchers. "Nose" is a combination of both hardware (physical ability to ...

Rick Hall

Rather than thinking in "timetable" terms, it's probably best consider lists like gonehuntin's "flowcharts," as they suggest not deadlines but a progression of building block steps, each laying foundation for those to come. And skimping on foundation to meet a deadline is bound to come back to bite ...

Rick Hall

Philsowner - In your boots, I'd order this: http://www.amazon.com/Training-Retrieve ... 1577790073

Bowhunter - In yours, I'd take what gonehuntin's posted to heart.

Rick Hall

I'd be surprised if letting them go without feed for a few days wasn't the culprit, but here's a link to the source of meds I use http://www.globalpigeon.com/ . Their worm, coccidia and canker "multi-mix" is actually the only medication I've found need for over the dozen or so years I've kept pigeon...

Rick Hall

In your case, I'd want my birds placed, rather than planted. Just a few shakes for pheasants or chukar, like shaking hands, with their heads loose in front of your hand and stuffed into good cover - but not covered or tangled up. (Quail can simply be chunked, unshook, backwards into cover.) Chukar s...

Rick Hall

My newest (third) walk-in loft has Polymax grating from Farmtek: http://www.farmtek.com/farm/supplies/Pr ... ctId=20251.

After four years, it's still in great shape and I've no regrets.

Rick Hall

Fwiw, I'm virtually certain the new Exceed contractor, Doanne, was who made the performance formula 30/20 Maxximum Nutrition for Walmart, which I fed and was well satisfied with until my local stores quit carrying it. It was the most comparable to Pro Plan's 30/20, in terms of how the dogs did on it...

Rick Hall

Dead birds don't breath, live birds do, and I'd be very surprised if breath isn't part of the mix that tells an experienced dog what's up.

(Pardon me if someone else has pointed out the obvious, but my quick scan of the replies didn't catch it.)

Rick Hall

Yet every competitive retriever is force fetched. (OK, 999 out of 1,000--Rick, I know you're out there.) Now for your take on FF as detrimental to a dog's natural retrieving ability. MG You're safe, none of my retrievers has been "competitive": just gun dogs that also do some hunt testing, never tr...

Rick Hall

Does a pigeon coop need to be placed in an open area? or can you place one between a building and a fence? I'm not sure what your concerns are, but if it's whether your birds will find their way back in, they'll probably be fine. My first loft was a closed-in stall of a livestock shed, and my birds...

Rick Hall

My worry is that I might have introduced him to the real hunting situation too soon. So my question is: what is a good age to introduce a dog to live hunting? How soon is too soon? If I started him too early, how bad of a mistake would that have been? Oops! Got all focused on the first and last par...

Rick Hall

Here's my current young ace hard at it for geese: http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y284/RickHall/IMG_3514.jpg As I'm reading your post, the only real problem you've encountered was the whining, which is something you'll want to nip in the bud, so it doesn't become chronic and drive you to dogacide. ...

Rick Hall

Might want to consider plain old mineral oil. Will help dissolve wax buildup and drown mites, which breath through their skin. Haven't used anything else since giving it a go (on veterinarian's advice) after one of my dogs suffered serious inflamation following treatment with a veterinary ear care p...

Rick Hall

Interesting turn of thread. I started with a Britt, then became a confirmed "setters for life" guy but eventually went back to a Brittany because the setters I was encountering in my new area were so much less impressive than the Britts. Reckon maybe dog politics are local, too.

Rick Hall

Thanks for getting my Holman's straight, Neil. Been a long time since I've even halfway followed such things...

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