Hi from Monksmom

monksmom · Post by **monksmom** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 1:38 pm

I suppose I should have done this sooner because I've already gotten some nice feedback on the training page. I own a male 19 mo old Spinone Italiano (he's about a year old in the avatar on a VERY HOT day)and as I am a middle aged woman, I never hunted until I got him. But even before he was born, I went out and got a shot gun and learned how to use it (sporting clays) and now love to shoot birds and clays and train my dog. He got a bit of a late start in training because he had panosteitis (growing pains) as a pup so was laid up just at the most important time to begin training for a couple of months. I'm a firm believer in training early, especially on obedience. He shows in AKC conformation and has a Prize 2 in NAVHDA Natural Ability (last fall) and one leg of JH (last weekend). I look forward to learning lots here.

BigShooter · Post by **BigShooter** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 1:58 pm

Welcome to the GDF .......... Mark

RoundRiver Setters · Post by **RoundRiver Setters** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 3:35 pm

Welcome to GDF!.......Scott

jcbuch · Post by **jcbuch** » Wed Apr 09, 2008 6:31 am

did you run the springer club test in hamburg? If so I we met and I have pics of your pretty dog.

Joe

Post by **Greg Jennings** » Wed Apr 09, 2008 6:53 am

Welcome to GDF!

Greg J.

monksmom · Post by **monksmom** » Wed Apr 09, 2008 8:44 am

jcbuch wrote:did you run the springer club test in hamburg? If so I we met and I have pics of your pretty dog.

Joe

I was at the NJ Pointer test last weekend at Wingpoint, yes. If you have pics that are digital, could you send them my way? Thanks for your kind words...

Lab Man · Post by **Lab Man** » Wed Apr 09, 2008 10:40 am

Welcome to the Gun Dog Forum!!!!!!!

mtlee · Post by **mtlee** » Fri Apr 11, 2008 2:20 pm

Welcome....how much does that sucker weigh?? Looks huge in the avatar pic!

monksmom · Post by **monksmom** » Fri Apr 11, 2008 6:25 pm

mtlee wrote:Welcome....how much does that sucker weigh?? Looks huge in the avatar pic!

He's roughly 75 pounds. I showed him this weekend (2 more days to go...won open both days and reserve on day 1). The other dogs are even taller than him. His father is Italian and he is more of the Italian style...not as tall as the American ones. His name is Monk, thus I'm Monksmom.

monksmom · Post by **monksmom** » Fri Apr 11, 2008 6:44 pm

I know you must be out there. By the way, if you non-Spinone owners could see this guy point and run, you might have a different opinion of Spinoni...he's intense!

Dennmor · Post by **Dennmor** » Fri Apr 11, 2008 7:12 pm

Personally, I love dogs! I'm partial to the ones that hunt but I love 'em all.
I get excited when I can learn, first hand, about a breed that I know little about.
So... have at it and welcome to the forum!

D.

monksmom · Post by **monksmom** » Mon Apr 14, 2008 12:27 pm

Dennmor wrote:Personally, I love dogs! I'm partial to the ones that hunt but I love 'em all.
I get excited when I can learn, first hand, about a breed that I know little about.
So... have at it and welcome to the forum!
D.

Spins are very ancient dating to around or before the 15th century as far as we know, and have been pictured in Rennaissance art in Italy. They are a versatile hunting breed...upland and water, woodcock to geese. They are armored with a prickly coat (around 2 inches in length, no undercoat, is maintaned via stripping) and thick skin. Their best hunting attribute is their excellent nose and methodical hunting approach...they may be slower (not all are slow) but they are thorough! As an added bonus, they are easy to own and keep in the house, in fact they prefer to be with their owners/people. They are around 25-27 inches at the withers for males and around 75-85 pounds, females are smaller. They come in an array of colors as follows: white, orange and white, orange roan, brown and white, brown roan.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

gar-dog · Post by **gar-dog** » Wed Apr 16, 2008 7:01 am

I went with a Brittany, but when I was researching dogs last year I really really considered the Spinone.

Yes, they are a little controversial because of their somewhat slow or lopey, methodical style. As a middle-aged foot hunter I thought that would fit my bill just right. A match made in heaven!

But because of all that hair, and beard, and size, my "chief counsel" quashed it. I even put puppy pics of them to her, but to no avail.

On shotgunworld.com there is a guy with user name drsfmd who lives up near Albany who has a Spinone. He is pretty knowledgeable and I have met him in person clay shooting - if you ever need to reach out to anyone I am sure he would be helpful.

Please put up lots of pics of this neat breed!

drsfmd · Post by **drsfmd** » Wed Apr 16, 2008 7:44 am

Hello all, and hello to Monk and Mom!

I'm the proud owner of an almost 3 year old Spinone bitch named Appolonia (or "Apple"). She's a conformation champion, and we're working on our field trialling (between my work and competition shooting schedule it's hard to find time... but I do what I can).

I agree... they are slower and more methodical than other breeds, but they do have fantastic noses and lots of drive. I've seen spins find birds that other breeds go blasting right past.

They tend to hunt much closer than most breeds, and in fact tend to stay within gun range. I realize this wouldn't be appealing for some, but much like Gar-Dog, as someone approaching middle age with bad knees, it's perfect for me

If I did this right, you should see some pictures

monksmom · Post by **monksmom** » Wed Apr 16, 2008 12:20 pm

drsfmd wrote:Hello all, and hello to Monk and Mom!

I'm the proud owner of an almost 3 year old Spinone bitch named Appolonia (or "Apple"). She's a conformation champion, and we're working on our field trialling (between my work and competition shooting schedule it's hard to find time... but I do what I can).

I agree... they are slower and more methodical than other breeds, but they do have fantastic noses and lots of drive. I've seen spins find birds that other breeds go blasting right past.

They tend to hunt much closer than most breeds, and in fact tend to stay within gun range. I realize this wouldn't be appealing for some, but much like Gar-Dog, as someone approaching middle age with bad knees, it's perfect for me

If I did this right, you should see some pictures

<img src="http://www.gundogforum.com/album/d/10807-1/apple.jpg">
<img src="http://www.gundogforum.com/album/d/1081 ... le_001.JPG">

I actually found Monk because we had lost our dog the year before (a Rotty show champ) and we met a Spin in England that we just fell in love with. I found a breeder and took up hunting for the first time! I got a shot gun and got into sporting clays (I'm not all that good at that but do tend to hit the real birds). Monk makes me look good...he's smarter than the average bear! I train with his breeder, who owns 4 Spins, and a woman from upstate who owns two, and there is a guy pretty local to me that also trains with us, so Spins are well represented on training days. I too am stretched right now...he's showing in conformation also and although he has his Navha NA Pr 2, I decided to get his JH so even this weekend, I may be driving from MD to NJ to get from an 8 oclock ring time to a JH run...I know I must be crazy!

monksmom · Post by **monksmom** » Wed Apr 16, 2008 12:26 pm

gar-dog wrote:I went with a Brittany, but when I was researching dogs last year I really really considered the Spinone.

Yes, they are a little controversial because of their somewhat slow or lopey, methodical style. As a middle-aged foot hunter I thought that would fit my bill just right. A match made in heaven!

But because of all that hair, and beard, and size, my "chief counsel" quashed it. I even put puppy pics of them to her, but to no avail.

On shotgunworld.com there is a guy with user name drsfmd who lives up near Albany who has a Spinone. He is pretty knowledgeable and I have met him in person clay shooting - if you ever need to reach out to anyone I am sure he would be helpful.

Please put up lots of pics of this neat breed!

The beard (when wet, which is most of the time with our boy) can be an issue, but you learn to have a towel handy. The hair is really not a big deal, as they don't shed much...they have coarser hair than a Brit, hence less (but still some) issues with cockleburrs.

drsfmd · Post by **drsfmd** » Thu Apr 17, 2008 12:42 pm

Is Monk from Stonehouse? He's got the "look" that their dogs have, and they are down your way.

monksmom · Post by **monksmom** » Thu Apr 17, 2008 1:03 pm

drsfmd wrote:Is Monk from Stonehouse? He's got the "look" that their dogs have, and they are down your way.

No, he's from Furnace Hills...a hunter line breeder primarily...some of the Stonehouse dogs have been bred from Furnace Hills dogs in the past...I know the Stonehouse folks...nice people! Monk is from a Furnace Hills bitch who came from a "Daybreak" line, and Monk's father is an Italian import. Because there are so few Spinone in the US, breeders try to broaden the gene pool but even then, there are sometimes gremlins that can show up...

drsfmd · Post by **drsfmd** » Thu Apr 17, 2008 8:13 pm

That would have been my second guess

Nice folks.

Mine is out of Couchfield's.

monksmom · Post by **monksmom** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 8:43 am

Just an update:

Monk won a 3 pt major in Timonium MD on Saturday under an Italian Judge Guiseppe Alessandra who liked his movement!

On Sunday, we showed again In MD where Monk got Reserve winners, and then we drove to Hackettstown NJ and ran in JH where he got his second leg. Hope to finish JH this coming weekend!

The Zephyr · Post by **The Zephyr** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 12:02 pm

MM,

Sorry we didn't have a chance to meet up. I was judging Senior/Master earlier in the day, Sunday.
You definitely chose the better of the two days to run your dog. It was 85 degrees with only a breath of wind Saturday at mid-day.

Good Luck this weekend.

John L.

monksmom · Post by **monksmom** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 5:04 pm

The Zephyr wrote:MM,

Sorry we didn't have a chance to meet up. I was judging Senior/Master earlier in the day, Sunday.
You definitely chose the better of the two days to run your dog. It was 85 degrees with only a breath of wind Saturday at mid-day.

Good Luck this weekend.

John L.

Thanks!

Wow, that's the truth...Spins don't handle the heat all that well.

Then you got to judge my friends Kyle Hough with Jack, Ken Nepokoy and madison and Berdell Koch with her Spin, Lily who got her 5th consecutive MH leg...she is my inspiration!

By the way, I see you are from East Hampton...my sister in law and nephew are from there...the Donnellys...beautiful area...where do you hunt?

The Zephyr · Post by **The Zephyr** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 9:42 am

MM,

On the South Fork, Poxapogue Pond, Mecox Bay, up around Scallop Pond & the few remaining corn lots in Sagaponack.
On the North Fork some small irrigation ponds on the home farm in Aquebogue, the creeks in Mattituck and some agricultural lots in Cutchogue.
For a time I was also a gamekeeper and guide for Robins Island. I'm still involved there with the driven shoots on winter weekends.

John L.

monksmom · Post by **monksmom** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 6:58 pm

The Zephyr wrote:MM,

On the South Fork, Poxapogue Pond, Mecox Bay, up around Scallop Pond & the few remaining corn lots in Sagaponack.
On the North Fork some small irrigation ponds on the home farm in Aquebogue, the creeks in Mattituck and some agricultural lots in Cutchogue.
For a time I was also a gamekeeper and guide for Robins Island. I'm still involved there with the driven shoots on winter weekends.

John L.

So you hunted mostly waterfowl, I take it?

Post by **grant** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 8:00 pm

Nice to have you!

The Zephyr · Post by **The Zephyr** » Wed Apr 23, 2008 10:07 am

MM,

So you hunted mostly waterfowl, I take it?

That's correct.

With the advanced development on the South Fork, what few pheasant spots we had are now subdivisions. I was able to chase cock birds in Bridgehampton and along some of the ocean beaches in the dunes up until the mid-1990's.

The quail population on the North Fork has dwindled, again from real estate pressure. Years ago, quite often I would be sitting in my deer stand and have a nice covey of quail come in through the woodlot. In recent years the loss of fallow fields has really put a damper on the wild birds.

But, as I had posted before, I got my first shorthair to hunt the old irrigation ponds on the home farm. These ponds are a holdout from before the drilling of our diesel driven wells. Just a large hole dug in a low spot with a clamshell bucket into the first aquifer. I was told you could see the water flowing from the sides through the sand and gravel when they dug it.

We have a good population of wood duck, teal (both blue & greenwing), mallards and the occassional black duck. We will also see gadwall, ringbill and other small puddle ducks.

For upland birds, other than training put and take on the preserves, I travel the northeast for grouse and woodcock.

John L.

monksmom · Post by **monksmom** » Sun Apr 27, 2008 4:48 pm

Yeah! Monk is now a JH and finished with all 9s the last day and did an honor on his third attempt...pretty cool!

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Hi from Monksmom

Hi from Monksmom

I'd like to hear from other Spinone owners!

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