The resonating clink-clink of the Swiss made bell was audible from the distant covert. Familiar October sights and smells flooded my senses while the heavily white tri-colored setter explored for grouse perfume to surrender her forward progress. My mind wanders to the memory of picking out my first setter pup with grand grouse dog ancestry. I’d love to propagate this setter’s lineage, but I’m a grouse hunter stuck in the Wild West! The airline-cargo nightmares of shipping Canis familiaris to her prospective mate makes my blood pressure soar! Family and career commitments make traveling by car to a far-off northern state impossible. What if I could have the stud dog’s genetic blueprints shipped to me without all the travel hassles?

A basic knowledge of the canine estrous or reproductive cycle and understanding what specific diagnostic tests and exams are looking for will aid in your quest for the perfect litter. Domestic dogs are monestrus which means they complete one full cycle to the completion of ovulation per estrus (heat) cycle. Their cycle is not dependent on what time of year or season it is and they can cycle one to four times per year depending on the breed or individual bitch. The estrus cycle is divided into the four stages of proestrus, estrus, diestrus, and finally anestrus. Having a general knowledge of the canine estrus cycle can assist in timing the day of ovulation.

Proestrus which is the beginning of the heat cycle (duration of about 7 to 9 days on average) where the bitch attracts the male, but she is not receptive to mating just yet. During proestrus, her vulva will start to swell and a serosanguineous (reddish-blood and serum) discharge will develop. Estrogen is the main hormone that is regulating the behavioral and clinic signs of the bitch. Progesterone levels are low (< 1 ng/ml) and the cells seen under the microscope will consist of red blood cell, white blood cells, and normal vaginal epithelial cells.

Estrus is the next stage of the heat cycle and can range from 1 to 3 weeks in duration on average. This is the time when the bitch is receptive to the male. Hormonally, estrogen levels will begin to drop and subsequently progesterone levels will begin to rise. Later it will become apparent why we monitor progesterone levels when we artificially inseminate dogs. The vulva is still swollen and has a lighter pink discharge instead of the red discharge seen in proestrus. Estrus is complete when the eggs from the ovaries are ovulated and become mature for fertilization to occur. Vaginal epithelial cells seen under the microscope are mostly cornified and there is not a lot of “background” cells such as red blood and white blood cells.

Diestrus is the next stage to follow in the estrus cycle and can range up to 4 months in length. During this stage the bitch is no longer receptive to the male, and her vulva returns to normal with no visible discharge. Progesterone levels are at their highest concentration during this phase. Mammary development occurs at the end of this period prior to parturition or whelping of the puppies.

Finally, anestrus is the last phase of the heat cycle and this is the longest period lasting up to 4 months or more. During anestrus, the bitch is not receptive to mating and the estrogen and progesterone levels are at their lowest levels. This is considered a dormant or inactive stage of the canine estrus cycle.

Why is it important to understand the diagnostic test available and what their respective results mean to determine the day of ovulation? This is a great question to consider when managing the breeding in a bitch that is to be artificially inseminated or in one that has been difficult to get pregnant. When considering whether or not to artificially inseminate your bitch, several terms will be used by your veterinarian. Vaginal cytology, LH surge, progesterone levels, transcervical insemination versus surgical insemination, fresh chilled semen versus frozen semen, the list goes on. 

Timing of ovulation is of critical importance when considering artificial insemination in the bitch because optimal fertility can be expected between 2 and 4 days after she has ovulated. The best way to determine the time of ovulation is to monitor her blood progesterone concentrations. During proestrus, the progesterone levels are very low (usually less than 1 ng/ml) until the very late stages. LH is a hormone from the pituitary gland that aids in control of the estrus cycle. There is an increase of LH at the very end of proestrus which is referred to as the LH surge.  This surge causes the follicles on the ovaries to rapidly mature and get ready to be ovulated. The progesterone levels at the time of the LH surge climb from less than 1 to about 1.3 ng/ml. Dogs will typically ovulate 2 to 4 days after this LH surge. Progesterone levels will reach 5 ng/ml once ovulation has occurred (Remember—optimum conception is 2 days post ovulation or 2 days post progesterone levels of 5 ng/ml).

Canine ova (eggs) are ovulated and must go through a maturation phase that can take 48 to 72 hours. So again the optimal time to artificially inseminate the bitch is 2 to 3 days after their progesterone levels have reached 5 ng/ml (which is the progesterone concentration at ovulation). In the average bitch this is about 12 to 14 days from the onset of proestrus or when she first went into heat.

Once determination of ovulation is complete, now it’s time to deposit the semen into the uterus.mThis can be done surgically or transcervically (across the cervix) via the usage of a rigid endoscope and fiber optics. Surgical AI is when the bitch is placed under general anesthesia and the uterus is gently exteriorized from the abdominal cavity and the semen is injected directly into the uterus. This is a fairly reliable method, but has the risks of anesthesia associated with it, and canine conception rates that vary. 

A recently popular method of transcervical AI is now being used in many veterinary clinics around the US. This is a procedure that does not require general anesthesia and dogs seem to tolerate it fairly well with mild physical restraint. Transcervical insemination involves the usage a ridged fiber optic scope to aid in visualizing the cervix and gentling inserting a polypropylene catheter through the cervix to insert the semen. This is a very effect and safe way to inseminate your bitch without the risk of general anesthesia with relatively decent canine conception rates.

The other half of the equation is, of course, the collection, quality, handling and delivery of the selected sire’s semen. ”Canine Reproduction, Part II” will cover that topic.

"Hangberg" with a brace working it’s base.

The South African Natal Field Trials should be on any serious pointing dog enthusiast’s list of trials to attend before they die.

The venue the trials are conducted on are amongst the highest in the world — part of it is at an altitude of 2,400 meters (1.49 miles). They are also run on the greatest range of wild game bird species and on the widest range of terrain. During this most recent trial, game birds dogs produced included redwing on the mountain plateaus, greywing on the slopes, guineafowl and quail in the prairie and snipe and swainson in the brush choked river valleys — six different species in very different habitats.

They are certainly unique in being the only trial in the world where dogs have to work between herds of zebra, black wildebeest, rhebok and blesbok (and occasionally be chased by them), and where the gallery includes baboons and lions!

The 2010 trials were concluded last week. Turnout was exceptionally low this year. This is likely due to the holding of the inaugural Central and Zimbabwean Field Trials in the previous two weeks, (with many handlers choosing to support the new clubs), as well as the South African Falconry Association meet the following week. Many field trialers also fly falcons. Both the above-mentioned trials had a good number of entrants.

Despite the low turnout the Natal Trial was very successful, with plenty of birds, good weather and scenting conditions and great dog work. The Highveld is dry and cold in winter with wildly fluctuating temperatures. This year was no exceptions, with temperatures ranging from 18 degrees to 76 degrees fahrenheit over the week of the trial. However, there was little wind and no precipitation which kept things enjoyable for everyone. The reduced field gave the dogs more time to show their stuff, and meant the gallery had lengthy breaks — much appreciated in the hot weather of the last day.

The dogs called back on the last day for the judges to take look at again.

In all there were 56 entrants in this year’s trial, two GSPs, two setters and 52 pointers. The trial was won by von Bush Bush Druid, a male black and white pointer owned by Janet Snow, with his littermate, von Bush Bush Orca, also a male black and white and last year’s Dog of the Year, taking second place.

Chief Judge, Taffy Walsh at the end of the trial, toasting the dogs.

Map of South Africa showing the location of their trials.

Additional photos of the 2010 Natal Field Trial have been added to the South African Field Trial slideshow (album eight).

Tomoka Wins the 1971 National Shooting Dog Futurity. Standing furthest to the right behind Harold Ray and Tomoka is Sherry. The little guy next to George Tracy in the front row, left is Doug Ray.

Sherry Ray Ebert has dedicated much of her life to field trials, the development of field trial bird dogs and sharing her vast knowledge and experience with others. Her extraordinary contribution to the sport is unquestionable. 

As a young horse trainer, Sherry entered the world of pointing dogs when she married Harold Ray at the age of 17 and they began training bird dogs with the great trainer, Fred Bevan. Within two years they were hired by Elwin Smith thus beginning a relationship that was to endure for thirty-two years and resulted in 25 champions winning over 60 championships. These include dogs that are familiar to most of us including (Hall of Fame Dogs): Champion Tomoka, Champion The Performer, Champion Destinare, Champion Bonafide and National Shooting Dog Champions: Champion Tomoka and Champion Righteous Dan. As well as expertly scouting these dogs to their wins, Sherry was indispensable to their development.

In the early prairie trials she attended, she rode every brace to watch and learn from the best, including John S. Gates, Fred Arant, Herman Smith and Bud Daugherty. This dedicated approach to her new profession soon earned her a reputation once noted by field trial reporter and writer, Everett Skehan, “Sherry Ray is a fierce competitor, rated by many professionals as one of the most talented and productive scouts in the country and an excellent trainer in her own right.” Her tenacity and dedication would not only earn her this reputation but also as one who would help if you needed her and give her all when she did.

Sherry also raised the puppies born at the Smith’s Waynesboro, Georgia farm, often sleeping in the kennel house awaiting the arrival of a litter. She recognized early-on the importance of handling young pups for them to rise to a championship level.

Elwin and Inez Smith held Sherry in such high esteem that when Harold was called to military service or incapacitated due to injury they were confident that Sherry could carry on alone. She never let them down.

In 1995, Sherry began training dogs for the public. She has had her hand in the development of many champions — most of whom are known to American Field pointer/setter/Brittany trialers including shooting dog and all-age Champions: Amirage, Anastasia, Brownhaven Burning Bright, Brownhaven Steel Magnolia, Cindy Crawford, Fenner’s Jumpin Jack Flash, Game Maker, Gandolf, High Definition, Hytest Abby, and Jetsetter...and countless more AKC Irish setter and Brittany field trial champions. 

Sherry is highly valued as in judge both here and abroad. Her assignments have included: Continental All-Age Championship, Georgia All-Age Championship, Michigan Shooting Dog Championship, Midwest Shooting Dog Championship, National Amateur Derby Championship, Northeast Shooting Dog Championship, the prestigious Ga-Lina Amateur Classic and all but two of the AKC breed National Championships...and many more.

Sherry Ray Ebert more than fulfills the criteria a candidate in consideration for the Hall of Fame is expected to meet.

1. An Individual’s contribution to the sport of field trials is of the highest priority.

Over the past 5 decades, Sherry:
• was a founder of the famed Ga-Lina Amateur Field Trial Club.
• worked on fund raising efforts for the AFTCA 20th Century Fund.
• conducted seminars for the AFTCA to attract new participants into the sport.
• has generously contributed her time and expertise helping amateur handlers improve their skills and achieve success with their own dogs.
• has served as an ambassador to the Japanese field trial community.
• worked tirelessly to help defeat North Dakota House Bill #1499 in 2009, which would have prevented out-of-state professional trainers from training in that state in the summer.

2. The sport is better because of this person’s involvement with the game.

During her long involvement in the sport, Sherry:
• was instrumental in the success of the Smith Setters breeding program for 32 years.
• scouted 25 champions to 60 championship titles, four of those champions are in the Field Trial Hall of Fame and two are National Shooting Dog Champions.
• was the first woman to handle the winner in an open shooting dog championship defeating 75 of the countries top contenders.
• handled the winner of the English Setter Derby Award.
• continues to train and campaign English and Irish setters and won the Irish Setter Club of America National Championship and Runner-up in 2009.
• has judged and continues to judge some of the most prestigious open and amateur all-age and shooting dog championships in the United States and Japan.

3. A person’s contributions to the sport should have been made over a goodly span of years.

• Sherry has been involved in the sport of field trialing for 48 years. 
• over that span of time, she has proven her dedication to the dogs in her care and to the entire sport through her generosity and honorable conduct.
• Her understanding of dogs and her ability to get the best performance out of each individual is legendary. 
• She has mentored countless amateur handlers and watched them achieve success.

Sherry with Inez Smith.

Strideaway is proud to have Sherry as one of our contributors. We believe her nearly 5 decades of dedication and generosity to this sport in almost every facet qualifies her for the distinction of being honored through election to the Hall of Fame. Please join us in your support of Sherry Ray Ebert. 

Top photo courtesy of The American Field.

Action generates reaction….and sometimes inaction gets you the same result. Bobwhite quail, unfortunately, suffer from both maladies.

Our collective actions over a half-century—intensified farming, forestry, and urbanization—have gobbled up prime quail habitat. And while conversion to ag lands and covering habitat with houses are what we usually associate with wildlife loss—the same result has come through inaction. Lack of land disturbance can be as negative for quail as direct habitat loss. Without the benefits of prescribed fire or mechanical management to set back plant succession, quail cover quickly becomes overgrown and choked with plant litter, brushy habitat becomes forest, and productive grasslands lose their vigor.

This decades-long assault on habitat has had serious effects. From 1980 to 2000, bobwhites declined range-wide by an average of nearly 70%, and much more than that in some states. The Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies—whose members manage wildlife in 16 states—has even suggested the bird could disappear from some areas of the South by the end of this year. Quail, and quail hunting, are in dire straights indeed.

There are parallels here to the problems of pheasants just 28 years ago, when Pheasants Forever (PF) formed. Then, hunter/conservationists charted a new course to take action on behalf of upland wildlife, and Pheasants Forever was at the forefront of that grassroots movement. The idea was simple: Improve pheasant numbers at the chapter level by giving local folks the incentive to do habitat work in their own backyards (meaning that habitat funds were controlled locally, rather than being spirited away to headquarters). Then, with membership funds and donations, PF upped the ante by adding a strong legislative voice for wildlife in the federal Farm Bill that weighs so heavily on resident species.

The folks that started Pheasants Forever dreamed of doing good things for wildlife at home and influencing farm legislation affecting their local habitat at a landscape level—and the dream came true. Today, 28 years later, a network of 630 Pheasants Forever chapters and 120,000 members work in concert with agencies to benefit all wildlife—completing over 23,000 projects each year and adding to cumulative accomplishments that surpass 5 million acres. In the legislative arena, just one of the several Farm Bill programs that Pheasants Forever supports—the Conservation Reserve Program—produces 13.5 million pheasants annually. Those are the rewards of being proactive.

Can there be a similar outcome for quail? It won’t happen fast. Decades passed as bobwhite populations were whittled down, and it will take time and commitment to rebuild them. We think there are some good signs. The public has noticed, and they want quail back. There is even a national plan to restore quail—the Northern Bobwhite Conservation Initiative. It depends on state agencies becoming actively engaged in quail recovery on public and private lands, and that’s beginning to happen. But the agencies can’t do it alone. 

Five years have passed since Pheasants Forever launched Quail Forever (QF) to assist quail, and the initial signs are positive. Over 115 Quail Forever chapters have sprouted in more than two dozen different states, and more than 7,000 quail enthusiasts have become Quail Forever members. Young chapters are already initiating habitat projects and youth programs. Among other things, they are promoting CRP’s CP-33 Practice (Bobwhite Buffers) to provide transitional habitat along row crops for quail nesting and brood rearing. We are also engaged with policymakers in the needs of quail. And, since the QF model is the same as PF’s, all of those locally generated funds remain under the control of each chapter to benefit quail. We know that model works. 

Quail need troops. For this most local of game birds, the rubber will meet the road in local communities. Folks will need to be engaged there to raise funds, call Congressmen and women, prod agencies, and plant hedgerows. If you were interested enough to read this—that means you are needed. 

In this business, we generally lead with our hands out, palms up, asking…for a donation, advocacy, some consideration for wildlife. Many of us hunt and otherwise enjoy wildlife, but it’s a razor thin slice of us that grab hold and give back. The volunteer gene is not the rarest in the human genome—it just needs to be activated. Over a couple decades in the business of helping upland wildlife, my greatest reward has been rubbing shoulders with scores of regular folks who decided—hesitant at first, and grateful later—that they could give back.

So, as you tune up the gun for the coming autumn (or ready your field trial dogs), please reflect for a moment about what you can do to help quail. It doesn’t matter who you are, just that you care and have the will to take action. Pick up a book on quail and learn, become a member of Quail Forever, volunteer with an agency, start a chapter, initiate the next grassroots habitat project to bring quail back. Don’t just watch as quail fade away. Do something. 

Join Quail Forever today at www.QuailForever.org

The Scent-Cone is the secret to understanding what dynamic makes hunting dogs classier and more accomplished in hunting and handling game.

Most of the great bird dog trainers/handlers I knew grew up with a pack of hounds. I’ll name four: Clyde Morton, Paul Walker, Er Shelley, Bob Armstrong. They learned most about scent from running foxhounds. One of these, Er Shelley even took a pack of hounds to track game when he traveled to Africa.

Imagine that the concentration of scent effluvium is weaker at the outside of the cone (which is in actuality three dimensional like a funnel). Of course, the cone or funnel is extremely unstable, subject to breezes, dust-infusions, temperatures  and barometric pressure. Thus, while essentially narrow where it is laid down, and broadening out, it floats, billows and shrinks and wafts around without any pattern but its very own.

A hound with a less precisely sensitive nose, will need to get closer and closer to the middle of the scent aura. He cannot pick up the outlying faint impression. Thus, when the quarry moves, backtracks or makes any other sudden adjustment, a poor hound will go babbling off and lose the scent trail immediately; while the hound with sound scent acuity is able to track on the very edge or verge of the scent cone, and thus, will not miss any abrupt redirection by the quarry. 

Similarly, bird dog Alpha, with an exponentially better nose than bird Dog Omega, will be able to learn how to strengthen the scent excitement appropriately without putting the birds in the air untowardly. This, of course, entails intelligence/teachability. Bird dog Omega, because of his inferior “nose” may NEVER be able to learn this lesson which transforms him into a class performer, rather than a foot-scent-tracker, teachable or not.

Following this corollary, bird dog Alpha, with superior scenting ability will be able to scent and properly locate game from a ridge or hillside in light breeze, while Omega must be IN the valley, or arroyo to have a chance to locate the game there by tracking.

Experience and correction time, and a lot of patience with the young pup and derby showing exceptional scenting ability will pay off. The best youngsters will learn to handle critical scent problems in direct proportion to the number of times they learn to stand and see birds fly, and learn how to get their mouths on a bird. They will also learn to slow their pace at the right place at the edge or “mouth” of the cone and find the best scenting area to do their job. Of course, this accounts for the specialty dogs that seem to better handle running upland game: (ruffed grouse, pheasant, Huns, Valley and scaled quail and chukar) in various environments. It also accounts for the brilliance some dogs show in rounding up a covey and/or relocating while some dogs just have an unproductive or fail to relocate.

Some  judges who have never hunted and shot wild upland game in dense cover will fault swiftly-adjusting dogs by accusing them of blinking. This is viewed as sad and ignorant by anyone who has foot-hunted or check-corded dogs and knows about the scent cone and the way the sharp dog exploits it.

Scent cones are not always the same shape and a veteran hunter will know this and recognize his dog’s empirical mastery. My Great Uncle Roy Wilson was a market hunter. He could almost predict a dog’s every step in heavy cover.

My grouse hunting taught me — where it had only been a glimmer of an impression when I was a young quail-killer — that upland game birds learn from day one to always keep cover or protection between them and a predator or hunter if they are going to survive. I spent considerable time trying to shoot grouse through tree trunks.

Flight-conditioned, incubator-pen-raised birds do not have this stratagem, and do not live long enough to develop it. The liberated pen birds of my experience, usually fly straight up and much farther (ironically) than wild birds, before they light. Native quail, as familiar with  surroundings as Br’er Rabbit and his briar patch, “know” a nearby copse.

Their ground pattern is also quite different from wild birds. They are less likely to know the uses of cover, the importance of cover or its relative  safety and non-safety. This accounts for the comparable facility with which a young dog will handle liberated birds. They have no tricks that require relocation in a chancy covert.

Then, of course, some dogs are born with more native intelligence than others.

Dogs? Intelligence?

Well, being stuck in the school of thought that everything that happens to a sentient being is a lesson of one kind or another, I am forced by empirical archives to believe in one definition of intelligence:

Intelligence is the INHERENT ability to use new information to its best advantage. This means, for a wild natural creature, to utilize every threat for survival, personal and species survival. This kind of intelligence is atavistic and instinctual but still is intelligence, because it is archived and used again and again.

The next level of intelligence is to build on this natural information to evolve a habit of choices: “X”  behavior results in pleasure, freedom, satiation and “Z” activity results in discomfort, hunger, loneliness or separation and less “joy” or “reward”.

Extension of these choices and the extent to which the dog exploits them thereby pleasing the “pack” leader (read owner, trainer, handler, scout) enabling the dog to get more opportunities to find, retrieve, mouth, and sometimes even DEVOUR  the quarry (under selective supervision). But, praise and demonstrated approval are the Baked Alaska dessert, the goal culmination. Acknowledgment and response to praise is the hook on which intelligence growth hangs.

Following this intelligence development to the use of what I have called the scent cone is not a plumb-line trek. Sometimes we believe the dog’s scenting ability improves like a light bulb being clicked on. This usually means the trainer as well as the dog has exploited a new lesson. All lessons are not planned. The richest  ones are revelations...awakenings...epiphanies. Dogs trained on pigeons and pen raised birds will seem rather lost for a while when they are required to work wild, running upland game. Most of the wild game away from a very few southern quail plantation milieus are runners to begin with. Many run in the extreme, so to speak.

That means a dog that can add two and two together and get four in a comparatively brief exposure to them is mastering the vagaries of the scent cone....OR one that grinds away until he/she learns how to relocate and “nail” them to the  ground expertly without flushing them. Somehow, the game just stops and huddles as a result of an educated movement that no human can predict or develop in a dog. It is just a craft, learned.

The first of the above is, I think, more intelligent. 

All the other wild upland game birds run to some extent. The pinnated grouse, or Sharptail that we call prairie chicken nowadays, probably run the least around Summer midday, but that is because cover is scarce in its habitat, and it uses as much of the cover as it can to put between itself and the dog/man/predator.

Then, Huns are notorious track stars. Chukar, pheasant and ruffed grouse ambulate considerably...especially after your dog has established point. Before this, and certainly after this, is where the dogs use of the scope of the scent cone is important.

If the dog’s nose is not up to snuff (no pun intended) he will probably have outrun his nose, needing the strong pull of the foot/body scent to make the original location. There are also too many times when a dog’s nose and brain are not engaged at the same time and they just pass by the scent. Close observation and “knowing the dog” can tip off a handler.

If, after getting a startling whiff of game, the dog with super acuity has sensibly and sensitively depended on the faint outer edges of the scent cone he will begin to exhibit indicative signs, change of gait, static alertness, “making game” and then pointing. If some time elapses before help arrives, the dog must relocate running quarry. In doing so, again, if the dog must have foot-body scent to make the relocation, there is only about a one out of three chance he will be successful without collision and disaster.

A dog with superior olfactory acuity will identify his “mastery” by relocating precisely and swiftly most of the  time. Experience will vastly improve the celerity of this performance. IF, that is, he has developed special intelligence through experience, failure, success and reward.

So, in my view, a really brilliant class bird-handling dog needs good breeding for excellent nose, native intelligence that archives lessons, and a lot of heart.

Oh...and luck in the judges is final twist in the Rubik’s cube, here.

And, Luck is the residue of preparation (by the judge) as Branch Rickey famously said.

Ben (“Long”) Reach had a soft spot for dog trainers. After fifty years as a lawyer in Albany (“All-Benny” in local speak), Ben knew them all—the ones who worked on the Yankee plantations and the ones from elsewhere who came to the quail belt in to compete in piney woods field trials (the Lee County at Leesburg; the Florida Championship at Branford; the Continental (Derby and All-Age) at Monticello; the Southeastern and Masters at Albany). 

He knew the pros and the semi-pros, those farmers from Kentucky who bred and developed young dogs to sell to the pros to replenish their strings. More and more the pros relied on the semi-pros for talent, because the demands of campaigning left the pros little time to develop pups. Most pros figured they and their owners were better off buying, even at a long price, a highly promising derby than going through a raft of pups in search for “lightning in a bottle,” that one-in-a-thousand that could cut it in open competitions.

Ben had learned from his friends among the pros that each counted on two adult dogs in his string to keep him in the game. He might have ten or even fifteen to enter each week on the circuit, but he pinned his hopes on two at a time. And when one or both of those two were out of action from injury or illness, physical or mental, the pro suffered mightily.

While Ben loved both trial dogs (and trial people) and hunting dogs (and plantation dog men), most of his clients cared only about the meat dogs, or wagon dogs. (That name came from the fact that on Yankee plantations the gun dogs rode in cages on the mule-drawn shooting wagons traditional in the culture.) Ben observed that those lucky enough to own a quail plantation wanted world-class wagon dogs, but cared little for trial dogs.  In fact, many didn’t like trial dogs at all—to them a dog not in sight (and therefore not under control) was anathema. This puzzled Ben, and then he realized the obvious.  Rich folk mostly liked control of everything. For his part Ben loved to see a good trial dog blow out the front, to be found pointing ten minutes later. To each his own, Ben figured.

In truth, both a good wagon dog and a good trial dog were special and rare.  As with people, mediocrity dominated the bird dog world.

Twice each year Ben indulged his love of bird dogs and bird-dog people. The first time was in early March when the Southeastern and Masters Championships ran simultaneously at Albany in an ingenious matrix of all-age and shooting-dog competitions. Over two weeks, four championships ran on two sets of nearby grounds?the all age first at the Southeastern Club’s grounds on Chicasaw and Abigail Plantations, while simultaneously the shooting dogs ran on Nonami, Blue Springs, and Wildfair, the Southern Club’s grounds. The second week the shooting dog handlers brought their strings to the Southeastern’s grounds, and the all-age boys moved to the Southern Club’s grounds. On the Saturday between, a big party for all was held at the Plantation Community Center, field trialing’s party-of-the-year where all-age and shooting dog fans and pros mingled (all-age and shooting dogs share more than they differ, the all ages just being expected to hunt bigger, or wider, in search of birds; style and decorum demands are the same).

For these idyllic two weeks, Ben rode horseback a half-day each day, using the draw sheets to pick which trial to attend and whether to ride morning or afternoon. Thus, he soaked up the scenery on some of South Georgia’s most beautiful and bird-laden lands. Though he would deny it, Ben was a social creature, needing the company of fellow bird-dog nuts. In those two weeks, he got his fill of camaraderie with dog folk from all over the country.

There was never a shortage of gossip. One sad but inevitable subject was the spring shuffle—the firings or quittings of dog men from their Yankee plantation jobs, and rehirings at different plantations for the lucky few. The gossip always centered on fault, on one or both sides. Over the years Ben had heard all the causes, based in sex, alcohol, drugs, laziness, or just plain stupidity. A poor bird crop always increased the cases.

The sex-based cases were easy to understand—a dog man seducing or being seduced by an owner’s wife or daughter; or an owner seducing or being seduced a by a dog man’s wife or daughter. Stories as old as humanity, at once funny and tragic.

Continue reading "Spring Shuffle ~ Matchmaker"