Welcome to the This ‘N That Thursday blog hop!

It’s a little of this and a little of that and everything in between…

Storm’s Master Test

The first series of the Master test last Saturday was a walk-up triple.  It was fairly straight forward except the last bird down was the shot flyer.  That bird was pretty close, maybe 20 yards depending on where it fell.  The flyer station was set about even with the last holding blind.

Storm Looking Semi-relaxed
Storm Looking Semi-Relaxed

As luck would have it, the gunners were not that skilled and needed to shoot many times to hit the duck.  Usually at hunt tests they have two gunners who each have three shots.  These gunners often used all six and even then missed a few or winged a few.  So much gunfire makes Storm an antsy girl.  But she was OK as you can see in the first picture.

Unfortunately the dog ahead of her had a “no bird” which meant they missed (or mostly missed the bird) and that dog had to go back three dogs and come up to the line again.  For whatever reason, the gunners shot the bird again while Storm was waiting.  It was at that moment, with a shot so close, that she lost her marbles and all she could think of was getting that duck!

Hey Hey There Is A Duck There
Hey Hey They Shot A Duck Over There

Her handler got her settled down again and started the walk-up, but as you can see, she was still out ahead of him.  It was a tight squeeze between the blind and a tress so it made it hard to keep her fully at heel.

Heading Toward The Line
Heading Toward The Line

The first bird went off and Storm sat when her handler blew the whistle.  She watched the second bird.  But when that flyer went off, she could not contain herself and was gone.  Flyers in so close have been the undoing of Storm on more than one occasion.  As soon as she is back in training she will be working on her obedience and not breaking, no matter what.

Storm’s Surgery

Storm’s spay surgery went very well.  We were up and out of the house at 6 am so we could drop her off at 8 am.  The vet we picked to do her spay is a reproductive specialist so it was a bit of a drive to get to his office.  After we dropped Storm off, we drove back, went to work for a bit and then left about 1:30 pm to pick her up and were back home about 4:30 pm.  It was a lot of driving, but worth it.  This vet uses modern anesthesia methods so the dogs are ready to be released much sooner than in years past.  Storm’s incision is very small (about 1 inch or so) and there are no stitches that need to be removed.  She is on pain meds for four days and must be on a leash for 7 days with free running and normal activity in 10 days.  We need to check her incision each day to make sure it isn’t infected.  The timing of her surgery is working out so that she will be ready for hunting season!

Storm Last Night Just A Little Dopy But She Did Manage To Eat A Small Meal
Storm Last Night–Just A Little Dopey But She Did Manage To Eat A Small Meal
Storm Taking A Little Nap This Morning
Storm Taking A Little Nap This Morning
Out In The Yard On Leash
Out In The Yard On Leash

By this evening she was pretty much back to normal and spent an hour howling when my hubby took Thunder and Freighter out to do a little training.

Some Thank You’s

I wanted to thank JoAnn at Sand Spring Chesapeakes  for sending some shampoo from Rainforest Coastal Labs for the dogs to try.

This Shampoo Smells Really Good
This Shampoo Smells Really Good

We haven’t had a chance to try it yet, but definitely plan to.  Unfortunately, Storm will have to wait 14 days before she gets a bath.  🙂

A very special thank you to Cindy and Gary Franklin of Shiloh Ridge Retrievers.  Cindy and Gary are Thunder and Freighter’s breeders and Cindy co-owns Thunder and Freighter with us.  They gifted us this beautiful framed print titled “Allegiance” by Roger “Pidney” Davidson.  Isn’t it wonderful?  They said it was in appreciation for co-owning Thunder and Freighter and putting the various titles them.  We are very thankful to them because we got two wonderful dogs from them and now this fabulous print which we will always treasure because it resembles Thunder.

Allegiance
“Allegiance”

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26 thoughts on “This ‘N That Thursday

  1. Glad to hear that Storm is doing well. Hopefully she will recover quickly and be back to training and hunting in no time! We would drive a bit farther too for the right vet. The clinic we use now is a half hour drive, but they are worth it.

  2. Hope Storm recovers quickly and feels like her ol’ self again soon. Of course, that’s when the challenge starts – when she feels good enough to run and isn’t allowed to!

  3. Glad storms surgery went well. no more heat cycles to worry about. your welcome and hope u or the dogs enjoy the shampoo. what a great gift. that picture is beautiful. i love pitneys work.

  4. Hi Y’all!

    Thanks for another “this n that”! So much fun!

    Oh my, sounds like the gunners made a lot of mischief for everyone, not just you Storm.

    Paws crossed you’re feelin’ your old self in a day or two…although it may mean your humans will have more mischief to report about you for mischief Monday.

    What a beautiful drawing.

    Y’all come by now,
    Hawk aka BrownDog

  5. Glad to hear Storm’s surgery went so well. That is a quick recovery period – worth the long drive I think. She’ll be back in the training field in no time!

  6. Hope Storm feels better soon and regain her appetite! Did she really howl for a whole hour? I don’t think I could stand it, hearing Donna howl for an hour…

  7. I’m glad to hear Storm is doing well.

    You have some really nice gifts there and the print is beautiful.

    Does it get held against the dogs when there are issues with the birds? Somehow it just doesn’t seem fair.

  8. Poor Storm. The restriction of recovery can be drudgery. She looks great, though. The procedure sounds good. Modern medicine is always surprising. When Humperdink was neutered, I was shocked to see they’d left the sacks intact, but deflated. Remarkable.

    That print is lovely. You have such good friends. 🙂

  9. Glad Storm’s Surgery went so well and she is already feeling better. It’s a shame they couldn’t have better shooters on a Master Test! I’m sure storm would have done very well.

  10. Sorry that other hunter got Storm all worked up with the extra shot. That stinks when she started out looking so relaxed. But as you know, things happen, and there’s always next time.

    Really glad the surgery went well. Nice that the vets are all giving pain meds now. I noticed that with Medi’s recent surgeries too.

  11. Glad the surgery went well. Sounds similar to the way we used to do it. With Sevoflurane and all this other fancy stuff, super small incision, and no stitches. Get well soon Storm!

  12. I am glad that Storm’s surgery went well, and that her recovery period won’t be too long. It sounds like she really enjoys the hunting, and I’m sure she wouldn’t want to miss out on that!

  13. Sorry to hear about Storm’s Master test, but I guess a dog can only handle just so much temptation – it doesn’t sound like you got a lot of help from the gunners.

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