To say that this year is going to be a tough one is putting in mildly. I, like probably most of you here, put a lot of work and care into my dogs. In my case, it was my decision to bring them into this world.
As I sit and watch the weather worsen I think about my dogs and the coming season. I (Lord willing), have plenty of seasons left. Our dogs, on the other hand, don't. I really don't know what the average number of seasons a dog gets to hunt is.....but lets call it 10 seasons.
Like many of you, I'm fortunate enough to hunt in several states so my upland season is closer to four months than three. Even so, when I think about the number of days or even hours my dogs "get" to spend on the ground, I realize that a season with few birds is a tragedy for our dogs.
If I average 50 days afield annually that means that my average dog will spend roughly 50 "parts" of a day also.....or 500 "parts" of a day in his lifetime. The more dogs I have, the fewer hours in the day they get put down.
I look at my dogs everyday in their kennels and it's as if they are saying "is today the day"? While they'll do nearly anything to be with us, doing what they were made to do is their first love. To watch them glide over the fields with such grace only to screech to a stop in a cloud of dust when that special scent is found is simply amazing. To watch them in what can be described as a "trance" until the bird comes up is something I never get tired of. In fact, every time I see a dog on point, it's just as stirring as the first time I ever saw it.
When I watch my dogs doing what God made them to do, it lifts my spirits like nothing else. To watch a pup in it's first year, or to watch an old dog in his 10th or 11th year knowing that it may be his last, gives special memory to each and every outing. It really doesn't matter to me whether or not I get to pull the trigger, but those dogs....oh how they love the birds.
So what bothers me most? It's when I feel like the dogs aren't going get what "they" deserve due to low bird numbers. I see them in the kennel patiently counting the days as I write this. For us, we have family, work, church, and other obligations to pass the time. But those poor dogs, they wake up every day wondering, is today the day? It looks like some long drives this year to get them into what they've earned.
Point!
As I sit and watch the weather worsen I think about my dogs and the coming season. I (Lord willing), have plenty of seasons left. Our dogs, on the other hand, don't. I really don't know what the average number of seasons a dog gets to hunt is.....but lets call it 10 seasons.
Like many of you, I'm fortunate enough to hunt in several states so my upland season is closer to four months than three. Even so, when I think about the number of days or even hours my dogs "get" to spend on the ground, I realize that a season with few birds is a tragedy for our dogs.
If I average 50 days afield annually that means that my average dog will spend roughly 50 "parts" of a day also.....or 500 "parts" of a day in his lifetime. The more dogs I have, the fewer hours in the day they get put down.
I look at my dogs everyday in their kennels and it's as if they are saying "is today the day"? While they'll do nearly anything to be with us, doing what they were made to do is their first love. To watch them glide over the fields with such grace only to screech to a stop in a cloud of dust when that special scent is found is simply amazing. To watch them in what can be described as a "trance" until the bird comes up is something I never get tired of. In fact, every time I see a dog on point, it's just as stirring as the first time I ever saw it.
When I watch my dogs doing what God made them to do, it lifts my spirits like nothing else. To watch a pup in it's first year, or to watch an old dog in his 10th or 11th year knowing that it may be his last, gives special memory to each and every outing. It really doesn't matter to me whether or not I get to pull the trigger, but those dogs....oh how they love the birds.
So what bothers me most? It's when I feel like the dogs aren't going get what "they" deserve due to low bird numbers. I see them in the kennel patiently counting the days as I write this. For us, we have family, work, church, and other obligations to pass the time. But those poor dogs, they wake up every day wondering, is today the day? It looks like some long drives this year to get them into what they've earned.
Point!
