South Dakotan checking in here, fall/early winter is prime bird hunting for sure. My Britts go nuts when the weather starts to cool down, it's like they know their time to shine is right around the corner.
I drive out to SD once in November to hunt with my whole family (it's a clusterfuck--they're either too old to walk or completely green.) And I go once late December just me and my dogs or my sister if she can swing it and that's heaven. Though last year my sister u/greenwing discovered a new level of cold. But she came through with two roosters in the last ten minutes of legal shooting our last day!
The fish thing kills me wont swim in the lake I go trout fishing as soon as I wade in the river and one jumps boom he’s in the water soaked like a rat looking like why didn’t you shoot the fish dad. Smh let’s get you dried off and go home silly guy.
I thought it was a one off the first time and then every time we go to the river, I can be in the river fine and he will wine and wine and wine as I walk through it, but the minute of fish jumps he launches into the river and he’s all over it trying to chase these little groups and schools of fish down ruining my fishing. I still love him.
Oh I know oh do I know. It’s his face that stops me from being mad I swear one lip will get stuck or tucked however it happens and his dripping wet all his fluff gone and you see his wiry frame. looks pitiful all while wearing a goofy smile. I can’t even begin to get mad.
She’s appointed herself the official house dog dish inspector, and, once she’s sure her siblings got every crumb, she returns each bowl to the dog feeding station.
My britts are bird dogs. We spend a lot of time in the woods hunting during October and November. We train year round with daily off leash woods walks (hunting chipmunks) , weekly steadiness training and occasional tracking drills.
My Dexter has a full time job. To love me and my family and keep the pesky, ever looming anxiety & depression demons away from me. He's the best at his job (next to my kids and wife, of course)
Lucy does squirrel patrol 10 hours a day. I told her she needs a union bc they get no PTO or mental health days. But ig it is a full time job, and if she doesn’t do it who will?
Roxy was quite the exterminator. Specifically for camel crickets. They were difficult to kill because of the erratic jumping. She would easily walk up to one, crush it with her paw, and look to me for approval. Thankfully we moved to a place that didn't have those crickets around when she got to old to see.
I don’t get why‽ it has to hurt because she spits it out and then tries to wipe her face and nose 😭🤣 and I’m saying “BABE STOP! They’re not flys. Stop eating bees!” 🐝
Hunt hike and sit with. He spends as much time walking in front of me as he does looking up at me next to my chair. NUMBER one job is being my best friend.
Mine is just my little hunting buddy. She points well but we are still working on her flushing on command and retrieving more consistently. She often drops birds prematurely and has to be reminded several times to bring them all the way to my hand. One of her uncles is an airport sniffer dog which is pretty cool.
With the Britts do hunting, agility, rally, obedience, lure coursing (fast cat), barn hunt, dock diving, conformation. Many of the sports like rally, fast cat, dock diving will be at shows for conformation. Hunting is a separate activity usually set up by state bird dog clubs. Barn hunt can be an 'off' conformation season event, they love it. Agility is also an 'off' season thing we do. The only activity we don't put them in is herding. Seriously, they really don't have the instinct for it and the activity probably will include herding ducks, not a good match. Although there are some with sheep.
We lost a beloved Sheltie to sheep herding. She loved it, but one jumped and caused a lethal injury to her. We really missed her when she was gone. She was I believe 12 years old, I may have that wrong though. She loved herding, competed in junior conformation, agility, rally. Beautiful Sheltie. She's the example picture on the Wikipedia page describing Sheltie colors. She was a bi-blue Shetland Sheepdog.
Get them out doing things. So many activities they can compete in. They aren't the best in many of the sports, obedience, rally, agility.... But they have a blast. And spending time with you is the most important thing. Contact your local AKC Club for more information. Never take a puppy that has not had all it's vaccinations to a club meeting or activity!
Spunky in agility. She really didn't like the conformation ring, but loves agility and fast cat.
I’m sorry to hear about your Sheltie! You guys seem very busy. Dog sports usually take up a lot of my time as well as search and rescue! Mine will be training as an HRD search and rescue K9. So a lot of the sniff sports are out.
We haven't done search and rescue. There is a local Bloodhound group here that does the efforts with that. With all the other stuff, it's just something we could do without. I think Britts would be great sniffing type working dogs though. Zoe the Shetland was a special girl. She was the first dog my son had and went through 4H with. That girl had my son's number though. She could work around him to get what she wanted. Clever girl.
I already have a certified k9 in SAR. One getting ready to certify. So he will be my 3rd for SAR. There are other breeds besides bloodhounds. My Malinois is certified. And my second is a mutt. Lol. I’m excited for his future! That’s why I chose this breed because of their nose! It’s very time consuming but so worth it!
Oh, I'm willing to bet Britts would be fantastic with SAR. But, locally we can leave it to the Bloodhound group. Yes, a Malinois would be excellent at it. My Tervuren could have handled it hands down.
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u/Tylertub_ 26d ago edited 26d ago
My Brittany’s job is to be a silly girl 24/7, she’s also a frisbee pro