Sunday, October 25, 2009

Week Two Recap

Here is what I found and flushed during our second week of hunting:

Hens: 15
Roosters: 12
Woodcock: 1

And not one of my hunting partners even got a single bird this week! That means that we will not be eating pheasant soup this week, either, cause we need two birds to make it and so far we still only have one.

Oh well, maybe we will have better luck next week.

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Bridge Construction

For the longest time, since way before I was even born, Daddy has wanted to build a bridge across the creek so that we can get to the other side without having to drive around on the road. Last weekend, when our friend Bill was here to bowhunt, he and Daddy decided to make a quick, temporary bridge which we can use until they have more time to build a permanent one.

This is the crossing before they started. Me and Tsavo are wondering why Bill is standing in the creek? But soon we found out as Daddy used the forklift to push a great big log out across the creek. Bill's job was to guide the log into place on the far bank.
Once it was in place all us dogs wanted to check it out. I am standing on the end of the log while Argos and Tsavo are checking it from the ground.The log was all slimy from sitting in the wet grass for the past few years, and when I tried to go across it was so slippery that I fell right off into the creek!
I actually fell off a few times, but then I finally got the hang of it and made it across without falling.
Argos tried to cross and he fell off, too. I bet he is glad he's nuetered!
After the first log was in place Daddy and Bill thought it was too slippery to cross safely, so they cut down an aspen tree and put it across next to the first log. That made it much easier to go across. Here I am showing Daddy how easy it is to walk across the new bridge.We have been using the bridge every day when we go hunting on the other side of the creek. It sure has made it easier and faster for us. Daddy and Bill did a great job!

First Week Recap

When our first week of hunting had ended, here is what I had flushed:

Hens: 17
Roosters: 12
Woodcock: 1

We don't hunt woodcock because they have become very scarce, so Mommy and Daddy think it is better to not hunt them. We have a place on our farm which Mommy calls "Woodcock Hollow" and sometimes we find woodcock, and sometimes grouse there. We also do not hunt grouse, as they, too, have become scarce, but Mommy and Daddy like to know that there are still a few around and hope that they will reproduce enough so that someday we might be able to hunt them again.

So, out of all those birds that I found and flushed, my hunting partners only brought one bird home! Hopefully we will all have better luck next week!

New Hunting Partner

On Saturday morning, me, Mommy, and Matthew went hunting together. When we got to the other side of the creek I flushed a hen and a rooster and Matthew shot one of them!!!!!!! Our very first bird of the season, but Mommy says I can't say which one he hit. Mommy was thoroughly disgusted because she has been hunting for three years and has never hit a bird, and Matthew got one on his very first day of hunting ever! Mommy says she doesn't know whether to disown him, or make him our Designated Shooter. I am very proud of Matthew for being such a good Hunting Partner!

Hunting

On Friday me and Mommy went hunting and Matthew went along to take pictures. Here is one of me and Mommy hunting together. We did not get any birds but Matthew had such a good time that he said he wanted to hunt, too.

Mommy told him that he needed a hunting license, so that evening he went to town and bought one.

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Hunting Season 2009!!!!!!!!

Yay!!!!!!! Pheasant Season has finally opened here in Minnesota, on October the 10th! Now we can go hunting anytime we want.

We missed the first two days of the season because we had an early snow and Mommy and Daddy had to get the farm and garden ready for winter earlier than normal. But we got out on Monday and even though it was snowing we found a whole bunch of birds.

Mommy and me went out at 10:15am, when it was 20 degrees F and snowing lightly. We drove to the Upper Field on the east border of our farm, on the other side of the the creek. We started out walking North along the tree row between the Upper and Lower Fields. When we did not find any birds there, we kept walking to the end of the tree row and then turned West. We walked all along the edge of the soybean field and still did not find any birds, so at the end of the field we turned again and headed South through the Small Meadow. There weren't any birds there, either, but as I passed through the gap into the Big Meadow, all of a sudden, I caught a whiff of some pheasants.

I followed the scent, but I was in such a hurry that I left Mommy behind in the Small Meadow and when I found the birds a rooster flushed and Mommy was only able to catch a glimpse of it through the trees, but she could not shoot at it.
Just as Mommy came through the gap I flushed two hens, right over her head. Since we only shoot roosters here, Mommy let the hens go. Then, I flushed another rooster, but this one flew right back towards the Small Meadow that Mommy had just left, and she could not shoot it, either! Right after that, another hen flushed, followed by a rooster which flew east through the woods away from where Mommy was standing, so no shot on that one, either. Man!! Six pheasants all at once- woo hoo!!! Now all we needed was to flush a rooster in Mommy's direction so that she could shoot it.

We looked all over the Big Meadow after that, but there were no more birds hiding in it so we left and went back through the Small Meadow again. I went all the way across to the tree line on the West side of the meadow this time and I flushed a rooster out of the woods. Mommy got a shot off just as it flew above some small trees, but, as usual, she missed it. While she was shooting, I smelled another bird so I kept hunting and flushed another hen.

Next we headed towards the swamp, and before I knew it, I found a hen and a rooster under a little clump of bushes just North of the Hog Trap Woods. When they flushed Mommy tried to shoot the rooster but her gun jammed and did not fire, so they flew away. That was disappointing, but Mommy said we might get another chance on another day.

Mommy wanted to try the woods again so we went back through the meadows and walked along the edge of the woods next to the swamp. All of a sudden, I caught some scent and took off so fast that Mommy could not keep up with me!
I ran way over by the creek and before I knew it I flushed two more hens! Good thing they weren't roosters because Mommy was way too far away to try to shoot them. Then, since I knew I was being a little bad, I went back to find Mommy.

We decided to head back towards the van, and walked all along the edge of the swamp, but we did not find any more birds. We wound up walking along the tree Line between the Lower Field and the swamp, and that was where I found another hen. She flushed right past Mommy, but of course, Mommy could not shoot her.

That ended our first day of bird hunting. Not bad- thirteen pheasants in lousy weather when we did not expect to find any. We went home, wet and tired, but happy after our first hunt of the season!

Chicken Wrangler

Ever since I was a little puppy I have never been allowed to play with chickens. That is because I am a hunting dog, and Mommy is afraid that I will make a mistake and start to hunt the chickens instead of game birds. But this time, Mommy wanted me to help her catch a chicken, and so I did. The reason was that we had snow extra early this year- way early in October! We still had an entire batch of meat chickens out on pasture and Mommy and Daddy decided that it was too cold for them to stay out there, so they moved them into the barn. Matthew helped and they got all but one caught and moved. It was really cold outside and Mommy was in her pajamas and did not want to keep chasing that one stupid chicken all around the garden, so she came and got me and told me to "Go find that chicken".

I went right into the garden and only had to chase the chicken for about a minute before I caught it. I was very careful not to hurt it, and then when Mommy came I let her take it away from me and carry it up to the barn.

Mommy was very proud of me and happy that she had me around to help. Now she says that I just have to remember next year, when we get more meat chickens, that I am not supposed to mess around with them unless a grown-up says it is okay. Mommy says NO FREELANCING!!

Rain, Rain, Rain


It's been raining like crazy and water is starting to fill up our dam. So far it's only up to my ankles, but that's plenty for wading in!









Tsavo likes to splash around in the water, too!!

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Room For Puppies

Mommy and Argos were sitting on this bench when I decided to join them. Mommy said "No, there's no room for puppies!!", but I managed to squeeze myself up there right between them and Daddy thought that was so funny that he took a picture of us.

Friday, October 16, 2009

Fall On The Big Dam

After months and months and months of waiting for good weather, the Men finally came back and finished our dams. Now we have a Big Dam and a Little Dam, and next year, Mommy and Daddy are going to have the Men come back and dig a big pond for us dogs to swim in so we don't have to go all the way down to the creek.

In this picture Daddy is standing on the middle of the Big Dam. Tsavo is in the background and I am in the foreground. You can see from all the leaves on top of the dam that Fall is already coming, so it is lucky that the dams got finished before it is Winter. Hopefully when the snow melts next Spring the dam will fill up with water.

Waiting For Matthew





Me and Matthew like to hang out together in his room.






But sometimes, Matthew goes to school, and then all I can do is lie on his bed and wait for him to come home so that we can play.


Mommy says it looks like Matthew never makes his bed!

Tug O' War


Me and Argos playing tug o' war.
.
I'm pretty sure I'm winning!

Cuddling


Here are me and Argos and Andy the cat, cuddling up in bed with Mommy.

Sleeping With Digit

Me and Digit and Argos taking a nap.

Best Of Breed

In September, me and Mommy went dog showing again. Here is my letter that I wrote to my breeder and my friends to tell them about it:

Dear Friends-

I had a very confusing day today. Mommy and me went dog showing yesterday and I was a VERY BAD DOG! I put my head down and would not let Mommy show me off to the judge. After we were done, Mommy said she was throwing in the towel with me.

When we went back today Mommy asked my friend Debbie to show me. After all the Ridgebacks dog-showed Mommy forgot to take me home. Then Debbie wanted to take me for a walk but she made a mistake and took me into a HUGE ring that was THREE TIMES the size of a normal ring, and it was full of all kinds of funny looking dogs. There were big dogs and small dogs, long haired dogs and short haired dogs, and dogs with funny ears. I was the only dog with a ridge! All of a sudden we were dog-showing again. I think the grown-ups were all crazy, cause nobody seemed to notice that we were in the wrong ring. But since everybody was being so nice to me, I didn't really mind. Even the judge seemed to like me and she asked Debbie some questions about me and then told her to take me around the ring faster so that she could see my 'extension", whatever that is. So we went around again really fast and people started clapping and it was really fun!

When it was all over I think the judge realized that we were in the wrong place after all because she did not let me win a ribbon. But Mommy says that was okay because four ribbons is enough for any puppy in one day, especially when one of them was for Best of Breed! I also got to win two points, so now I have a total of four points.

Then Mommy finally remembered to take me home.

Your Friend,

Tchaka

With my friend Debbie in the Hound Group Class
The Group judge looks in my mouth.

The Pup In The Plastic Bubble

When Daddy started tearing out the plaster and lath walls it was time for me to take refuge in a safe place. Daddy made this plastic bubble to protect me from all of the dust. Well, it isn't exactly a bubble, it's really more of a plastic wall, but it did work to keep me safe from breathing in all of the plaster dust. This way, I was able to stay in the upstairs of the house and watch Daddy and Mommy (and sometimes Matthew) work instead of having to stay downstairs and be all lonely.


Helping Daddy

Now I am helping Daddy while he tears up the yucky old carpet.

Crazy Wallpaper

We have the craziest wallpaper in the upstairs of our house! Mommy and Daddy said it has to go, so me and Matthew are working on taking it all down. Well, Matthew is mostly doing the work, while I stand guard at the window.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Me


Here I am watching Daddy remodel our house. I am very interested in what he is doing, because someday, I might grow up and move away and have a house of my own to remodel. After watching Daddy, I will know exactly what to do!

Dogs/Guns Allowed


We parked our truck and took a bus from the parking lot to the entrance gate at the Game Fair. This sign was posted at the bus stop.


Me and Daddy really liked this sign because it meant that we could both ride on the bus.

Game Fair 2009

In August me and Mommy and Daddy all went to the Game Fair together and spent the whole entire day there. We got up really early because it was almost a 3 hour drive to get there. It started raining while we were driving and then it rained all the way there and kept raining the whole day. Mommy and Daddy were smart and packed their rain gear, but I don't have any rain gear so I just got wet, which is why I look kind of soggy in all of these pictures.

We got to walk all over and see all kinds of exhibits that had to do with hunting, especially hunting dogs. We went to some seminars, too. One was on how to use decoys to hunt geese; one was on British Labrador Retrievers cause Daddy might get one of those for his next puppy; one was on using electronic collars, and I hope we never do that! Once when it was raining really hard we stepped into the Art Barn to look at wildlife paintings. I really liked this picture of the elephants and birds in Africa because that is where my ancestors are from, and I wanted Mommy to buy it for me but she and Daddy decided that we have to wait until we finish remodeling our house because we might not have enough wall space for it.

Next, we met some people who were putting on an Agility demonstration which was sponsored by my dog food company, Eukanuba. When the lady found out that me and Mommy were going to Agility classes she asked if I would be a part of her afternoon presentation. Since I really like my kibble, and I also like to do Agility, I was happy to help out.
Here I am going up and over the "A-frame" obstacle.

Here I am with Mommy doing the weave poles. Mommy had to help me a little bit, but mostly I did it by myself. All of the people watching me were very nice and they clapped whenever we did something that they liked, which was almost everything!
I must have been the only Rhodesian Ridgeback at the Game Fair because sooooo many people stopped to admire me and ask us questions about Ridgebacks. One lady had a booth and she told us that she was a Photographer and she was selling copies of her book which was called "A Photographer's Journey with Sporting Dogs". She showed Mommy a copy of the book but Mommy did not buy it because it was raining really hard right then and she did not want it to get wet while we were walking around the Game Fair. The Photographer said that I was very handsome and asked Mommy if she and her husband could come and take pictures of me for her next book since Mommy told her that I am a Hunting Dog. Mommy said she could but she hasn't come yet.
Then Mommy went for a shooting lesson because she wants to be able to hit
some of the pheasants I am going to flush once it is hunting season again. She did not get to practice very much because of all the rain, but I hope she at least got some good tips to help her.

Lure Coursing Fun

In July me and Mommy went to Duluth, Minnesota for a 4-day dog show. We did terrible! And, instead of getting better each day, we just got worse and worse and worse. Mommy was not happy about that. She was so unhappy that she decided to take us home a day early to save $$$ on our hotel room, and we did not even dog show on Sunday even though Mommy had already paid our entry fee- that's how bad it was.

The weekend was not a total loss, though, because thanks to my friends Jeff and Danielle, we got to go and try lure coursing. Lots of people have invited me to go before, but Mommy always says NO because she is afraid that if I get used to chasing little white things on the course I will come home and chase our white rabbits, and the chickens, and the geese, and the ducks, all of whom free-range around our property. I used to want to chase the rabbits, but Mommy and Daddy told me "NO BUNNIES", so I knew I wasn't supposed to. Since we had gone to Duluth without Daddy we had nothing to do after our conformation classes, so when Jeff invited us to go lure coursing, first Mommy said No, then she said No again, and then finally, she said we could just go and watch the other dogs run. I was very excited to see what lure coursing was since I had never done it before.

Once we got there, Mommy was careful to keep me away from where the dogs were running. I stayed in the van while she watched, but once she saw how much fun the other dogs were having she decided to walk me up by the line just to see if I acted interested. Was I ever! That line went whipping by me so fast I could hear it zinging! Then I saw the white bags on it and I just wanted to run after them and see if I could catch them- and I didn't even know what they were, but they sure looked like they were moving fast!

Finally, Mommy decided that I could try chasing the lures, but because we had not entered for that day we had to wait until the next day. We went back on Saturday after our dog showing and Mommy entered me in a Singles race. That meant that I would be running by myself instead of against any other dogs just so that Mommy could see if I would really course. Sometimes the clubs hold practice runs, but there weren't any that weekend.

Some of our friends loaned us a blue jacket for me to wear and a special lure coursing collar and a slip lead so Mommy could release me really quick at the starting line. Then we went up to the starting line with the Starter and my friend Jeff, who was telling Mommy what we were supposed to do. When the Starter was ready, she yelled "Tally Ho!" really loud, and that was Mommy's signal to let me loose. Just as the lures went past me, she let go and I raced after those lures like I was chasing the wind!
I was having so much fun! I ran and ran and ran and I watched those lures and I never stopped trying to catch them. Even when they went around corners I never let them out of my sight.

Look how strong my muscles are- I am RIPPED!

I got a very good score on my first run, and then I had to wait until all the dogs had finished running and then I got to run again, only this time, I had to turn around and run the course in the opposite direction! I was so excited when I found out that I was going to get to run again that I practically dragged Mommy all the way to the starting line. She could hardly hold me while we waited for the lures. Finally, we heard those magic words, "Tally Ho!", and I was off! I ran like the wind and I just kept running all the way around that old course, right up to the finish line where Mommy was waiting for me.


This time I had to wear a pink jacket even though I tried to tell the grown-ups that pink is for girl dogs. No one was even listening to me, but pretty soon I got busy running and forgot all about the color of my jacket. I had just as much fun running opposite, and I chased those old lures right back to the Finish line.
After every dog had finished running the judges added up all of the scores, and guess what? I got Second Place! And I only missed First Place by 1 point! Mommy said that I was awesome and we can definitely do more lure coursing next time. I can hardly wait!
Mommy says the best part of all was that after we got home I never even tried to chase the rabbits, or the chickens, or the ducks, or the geese and she wasn't at all sorry that she took me lure coursing after all. She was very proud of me for being such a good, smart puppy dog.

Tracking!!!

Me and Mommy are practicing for my Tracking Certification Test which I am going to take in August. I have to pass this test before I can enter a real Tracking Test, to show that I am ready to be tested. I like practicing my tracking, especially when Mommy puts lots of hot dogs in the gloves for me to find! um, um, Good!

Daddy's Wheel Hoe

Daddy is so smart that he made this wheel hoe all by himself, almost completely from scratch. He bought the blade part because our shop does not have the tools he needed to make that part from scratch. This is going to help Mommy and Daddy and Matthew keep the bad weeds out of our garden this summer.