Hunting dogs are near and dear to my heart. Upland bird hunting and waterfowling are a big part of my life, and dog work is big part of my interest in hunting. I wanted an all-around dog that could handle both upland and waterfowling chores. A dog that would be part of the Boa family also had to be a good companion in the house and on the road throughout the year. I was lucky enough to find those qualities in a couple of dogs.
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Duke couldn’t care less about pointing pheasants or grouse. He doesn’t herd sheep or collar criminals. You’d never find him pulling a sled or fetching a tennis ball. Duke is single-minded. He’s a Walker Hound, and all he wants to do is hunt raccoons. And he is very good at it, too!
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Oscar is a do-all bird dog, equally at home retrieving ducks or flushing pheasants, but his favorite trick is scattering turkeys. The dog’s job when it comes to fall turkey hunting is to scatter the flock in every direction and then return to his master — rather a neat trick. Finding a flock of turkeys in the fall is the easy part. Scattering them is another thing entirely.
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Keeping an older hunting dog healthy and active is a challenge, but the rewards are numerous. Unfortunately, a sporting dog usually starts to feel the effects of aging just when he or she is well trained, calmed downed, easy to handle and has the business of hunting and retrieving down to a science — in other words, in their prime.
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A land-use issue has dredged a huge divide between users of Pacific coast beaches. On one side are those who support protection of habitat for an endangered bird; on the other side are those who want to guard their right to use the beach for recreational pursuits. Here’s my view of it.
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Stanley Coren, a professor of psychology at the University of British Columbia and life-long dog owner, has written a guide to dog communications that will help every dog owner, from experienced handler to first-time puppy raiser. It could do for human/canine communications what the horse whisperer claimed to do for horses.
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