Pointing Dogs
A lot of people own pointing dogs when they shouldn’t. If a hunter or a dog handler can’t stand the dog being out of shooting range then he should have a flushing dog such as a Springer Spaniel. Pointing dogs are bred to go off and find birds that the gunner will not be able to walk up and flush on his own. This does not mean the dog should run too big or be a border line run-off. Rather, the dog should use his brains and senses to search out likely cover and go to it in his search for birds. Most of the people for whom Tom has worked dogs that couldn’t tolerate a dog of this nature have never had a broke dog. I think we are all in agreement that a dog who is 75 yards away from his handler and finds and flushes a bird is worthless. But, a dog that goes off and finds a bird and holds it for the gunner will dramatically increase the chances for a successful hunt. That dog will find more birds.
Grouse and Woodcock Dogs
These are not always the same dog. In fact, Tom usually has a woodcock specialist around the kennel since he likes to hunt woodcock. It’s not that a grouse dog can’t find a woodcock and point or vice-versa but a good grouse dog usually points too quickly to really pin down a woodcock. The dog is on point but where is the woodcock? To carry this notion to the extreme think about an area where a flight of woodcock have been or are feeding – a lot of birds and chalk in a part of an acre. Grouse dogs are bred for a superior nose and a lot pointing instinct. They smell all those woodcock in a small area and just point. You know that somewhere out there is a bird but where is it? These same qualities are what give the same dog the ability to point and successfully handle a grouse. If a dog crowds one of them they usually are off and gone. Tom does like working puppies on spring woodcock regardless of what their role in life is to be. For them a wild bird of any type is better than a pen raised bird. However, when those pups grow up a bit and if they’re to be truly great on grouse Tom doesn’t overdo the woodcock work. A woodcock dog is a great animal in his own right. Sure, those young birds in early autumn are easy to handle but try a mediocre dog on spring woodcock, the survivors. They’ve been eluding predators for a year now and the wrong dog can’t get them pointed. Even more, the woodcock dog knows where to look for the birds. Part of this is experience but Tom truly believes that an experienced dog can smell the type of earth where the woodcock are likely to hang out. Perhaps it’s the dampness but Tom has seen great woodcock dogs go 75 yards out of their way in a strange cover to investigate a seep. Tom has checked them out himself and there’s been no chalk or bird there and wouldn’t know how else to explain this otherwise. Both grouse and woodcock dogs learn by experience on wild birds. Either you need to give them this experience or you need to take a look at Knob Mountain Kennel’s wild bird program.
Shooting Preserve Dogs
These dogs are specialists, too. They need to listen and handle a little better than their wild bird counterparts. Nothing is more frustrating than to have your dog off a half mile away chasing someone else’s pheasants. It just doesn’t make for good relations with anyone. The dogs need to be broke but with more emphasis on obedience. Clients of Tom’s that hunt on preserves are lucky in that Tom can get the training job done much more quickly. Simply put, since Tom can control the situation with released birds the training goes much faster. If the owner of the dog decides he is going to hunt wild birds the basic training is done and all the dog needs is to extend the training, under an experienced hand, to wild birds.
Field Trial Dogs
There is no big string of field trial dogs here at Knob Mountain. Tom has been there and done that.
Gun dog guys need to pay attention to this
When Tom was running trial dogs they HAD to get the most attention. These dogs were going under scrutiny every weekend and there are no excuses in competition. They had to look good. Everybody in the bird dog business has the same problem. The gun dogs get put off sometimes. Here at Knob Mountain, Tom is specializing in gun dogs. They are the stars and they get the attention. Tom does like a couple of amateur handled trial dogs in the kennel to help keep him sharp. He can get the dog right and have him in shape while you handle the dogs in the trials. That gets Tom out of all the travelling that he no longer cares for. Tom still does handle an occasional dog in open competition if the situation warrants it. He does tend to attend a few trials in both spring and fall to keep him on my toes but the emphasis here at Knob Mountain will be on making successful-and-pleasant-to-hunt-with gun dogs.