Follow-up Friday hosted by Heart Like A Dog and Brown Dog CBR.
You know sometimes you post about something and you need an update but it doesn’t warrant a whole blog. Or sometimes someone made a comment that really resonated with you. Yup, Follow-Up Friday baby!
First thank you to everyone who asked to sign Thunder’s cast. I have my Sharpies and I plan to do it first thing tomorrow morning. I will post a picture next week. He is excited. 🙂
Monday Mischief–The Joke
Jodi asked if we have this picture framed somewhere.
Not this one. But we do have several others including this one.
Freighter Gets His Duck
I mentioned that the river was kind of cold for a puppy. Doggy’s Style commented that a neoprene suit would keep him warm. Actually Thunder and Storm both have neoprene hunting vests for the cold water.
We are hoping that Storm’s vest fits Freighter for this season because we would like to wait until he is full-grown before buying one for him. Of course we forgot to bring it along last weekend.
Many dog owner hunters poo-poo the vests, but if you are hunting in cold water the idea is to preserve the dog’s core body temperature. Many times a dog will be in and out of the water and then just sitting for hours in a boat or on a stand. It is important to guard against hypothermia. Keeping the dog’s core temperature up is also supposed to help prevent cold water or limp tail.
I came across this podcast on the AKC Canine Health Foundation’s website: Hunting Dog Health Concerns and Staying Safe in the Great Outdoors. (If you do not know about this resource, you should take a look. There are a lot of podcasts and video discussions about a wide variety of general canine health and research.) The guest for this podcast was Dr. Joe Spoo, a recognized expert in canine athlete conditioning, a practicing veterinarian of small animal medicine, and a hunter. Among other things, he recommended the use of a vest when hunting in cold water conditions.
The draw back of a vest is that if you are hunting in water with a lot of sticks, you have to be careful that the dog doesn’t get hung up on them.
Nearly Wordless Wednesday–Freighter’s First Try At Grouse
I guess Freighter’s collar looks red in the pictures? A few of you commented on it.
The little camera takes good pictures, but I guess the color is not true. That collar is actually blaze orange which is the color you want to wear when out in the woods hunting. Both hunter and dog wear blaze orange. The collar is actually Storm’s collar and Storm’s tags. We don’t have a set for Freighter yet because no doubt whatever we buy this year will not fit him next year. We feel it is important that the dogs have some ID on them while hunting so Freighter borrowed Storm’s stuff. No wonder she was giving us dirty looks.
Jen commented that she doesn’t think she knows what a grouse looks like. Storm is actually the most awesome grouse hunting dog. She can dig them out of the thickest cover and she is fearless. This picture is from a couple of years ago. The bird on the far right is a woodcock, but the rest are grouse.
Grouse are excellent table fare. They are probably my favorite of all the upland birds. In case anyone is wondering, we eat all the birds that taken during the season. If we only get one or two, they are cleaned and put in the freezer until we have enough for a meal.
The grouse population is cyclical and unfortunately it is coming off a ten-year high so they may not be a plentiful this year, but hopefully Freighter will find a few.
Have a great weekend!
I love that you eat what the dogs bring home. It’s not often that dogs get to do what they were actually bred to do – get food for the dinner table! I used to do lure coursing with Salukis. It’s great for letting them use their instincts, but no one wants to eat a plastic trash bag.
LOL I imagine a plastic bag is not great table fare. 🙂
Hey guys, love the photos! Especially the one of Storm with her Grouse 🙂 Enjoy the weekend!
Oh yeah! I remember that picture from last year of the grouses! Thanks for refreshing my brain! I knew I heard it before but couldn’t remember where-duh!
Thanks for joining us in FUF, you did a nice job. I love that picture of Thunder all camo-ed out.
I was fairly certain you ate the game your husband shot, but you confirmed it in this post, do you find the birds have a gamey taste? I’ve had gator before and to me, it is too gamey. I guess I’ve gotten too used to the processed food that most Americans eat. 🙂
Have a great weekend, and if you’re hunting, happy hunting. 🙂
Duck can be gamey. It depends on what they eat. Mallards taste better than some diving ducks. But mostly they taste like liver. We have marinated it or made it into jerkey and it isn’t bad. Grouse are not at all gamey to me. Woodcock is. They eat bugs. I can skip those. If hubby shoots them he eats them. Wild turkey is very tasty. So is pheasant, although a lot of times those are pen raised and released.
great photos…I love seeing dogs enjoying what they are bred to do.
Ohhh Lord!
First of all, when I saw the thumbnail of storm with her catch, I though they were puppies clearly they are not.
And the dogs look so cool with their vests, really nice.
The look on Storm’s face is the same look I would give my mom when she would ask me to let my brother use something that belonged to me, dame dirty look.
I can’t wait to see your signed cast buddy!! Yay 🙂
Have a fun weekend,
Your pal Snoopy 🙂
What awesome pics! Love those vests too!
I didn’t know this about the grouse. But I recall once I asked about you cooking one maybe last winter and I remember you told me all about it! Hope you guys have a great weekend, I love that you do this on FridayS!
Don’t forget to include a paw print on your cast from me! 😀 Have a good weekend!
I love follow up Friday and the photos are GREAT!
Blessings,
Goose
What a great follow-up. Poor Storm, no wonder she is giving dirty looks. first her collar, now her neoprene vest? What’s a girl to do! LOL! have a terrific weekend!
Wow great follow-up Friday post! I can’t wait to see the picture of Thunder’s signed cast 🙂
What a great follow up friday edition! Lovely pictures!
Great follow-up post. I hope Thunder is doing okay.
I think it’s awesome that you peoples eat the birds that the dogs bring in for you.Birds are yummy! I hope you share some with you hard working team of dogs.