Myrtle the Deutsch Drahthaar: Opossum Friday

[ghadarits]

Myrts coming along nicely. She’s really become a water dog to the point Extra effort is needed to keep her out of it sometimes. These dogs never quite hunting. Myrt is smelling and looking all the time for something to chase. I also have to mention that the Drahthaar has a serious nose. I’ve watched Myrt pickup a 12 -14 hour old rabbit track that I saw the evening before and follow it. My YouTube account is acting up and once I figure that out I’ll post some videos.

 

[ghadarits]

Took Myrtle adventuring today and she checked turtle retrieving off the list.

 

[cowhornedspike]

Get used to it. They love box turtles and will bring the to you with a big smile.

 

[ghadarits]

Myrtles 8 months old this week and weighed 56.5lbs at the vet’s office today. What a difference.

 

[ghadarits]

This morning as Myrtle was pointing squirrels on the back deck while the hummingbirds were trying to get to the feeder. Apparently they didn’t like her being there so they dive bombed her. Since then she’s been walking around the backyard side eyeing the air above her watching for them to bomb her again. It’s funny to see what has up to this point been a fearless dog cower to a 3oz bird. I’ve seen hummingbirds defend a feeder from other hummingbirds but have never seen them attack a dog. That’s a great example of it’s not the size of the dog in the fight it’s the amount of fight in it that counts in this case and the hummers won this round hands down.

 

[ghadarits]

Get used to it. They love box turtles and will bring the to you with a big smile.

You aren’t kidding she’s brought me 4 now.

 

[ghadarits]

I haven’t posted anything new in a while so here’s the up date on the Crazy Dog.
We did a little dove hunting and as long as Myrt sees the birds fall she’s all over it. Not so much when she’s distracted by another hunter shooting and isn’t paying attention to my shooting. We’re working on that.

This morning Myrtle added opossum to her list of game and turtles retrieved. I’d have been a little more into the experience but it was 4:50am and I hadn’t been up but about 15 minutes and no coffee yet. The little rascal was able to leave on it’s own once Myrt was contained.

 

[ghadarits]

11 months old and Myrtle is really coming along. We worked on casting yesterday and I was happily surprised at how quickly she grasped what we were doing. It really helps to have a 12yo retired rockstar to help show her the way.
Myrtle brought me another turtle yesterday. If there’s ever a turtle finding competition I’m entering Myrtle.

 

[ghadarits]

This is going to be a busy weekend for Myrtle we’re going to be doing a lot of training with live birds. I have (3) live ducks for water tracking. I will release a duck into a pond without Myrt knowing where and then I’ll walk her close to where it went into the water. I expect her to scent track it until she locates it. Catching it isn’t the point of this drill, I want her to just find it since it won’t be crippled the odds of her catching it aren’t good. Next up we’ll be tossing pigeons to fly over a pond, hopefully shooting several for Myrtle to retrieve. We’ll be working on steadiness and holding until sent to retrieve. Lastly I’m picking up (20) quail to put out in small coveys for her to find and point.
I’m already tired just thinking about it. Hopefully I’ll be able to slip in a sit in a deer stand and also catch a few fish.
Fired up for waterfowl and upland hunting this season with the new pup. I’ll hopefully find an easy spot that I can take Oolie the 12yo yellow dog (she’ll be 13 when the main season opens) to make a retrieve as it will most likely be the last of her long career. She still wants to go do everything we’ve always done so I really want to help her get one more.

I might be off my rocker a little bit but I love my dogs like crazy they’re both so awesome.

 

[ghadarits]

Well the weekend was a success in my opinion. On everything we did Myrtle was up to the task. She retrieved the pigeons that were shot over water, pointed quail like a veteran and really impressed me with her steadiness on point and not creeping towards the birds. Finally the work I was not sure how it would go was the really most impressive thing which was the blind water track of a duck and she rocked that like a veteran hunter also. Videos to follow later hopefully.

I'm super proud of this pup she's everything the breeder said she would be and more.

videos links added.

 

[ghadarits]

I had lined up to be one of the teams retrieving pheasant at a tower shoot but Myrtle has started her first minstrel cycle. I don't think having a female in heat around that many male dogs would end up well. I hate to miss the opportunity to do some serious training but it is what it is.
Maybe next time Myrt.

 

[ghadarits]

Rabbit tracking in the backyard. Up until this all of Myrtles rabbit exposure had been for me to put her out where I’ve seen a rabbit up to an hour earlier. She did really well after the initial crazy run around the back yard she settles in and uses her nose. The rabbit I used for this had been gutted and weighted for this type of training.

 

[ghadarits]

I also attended a charity pheasant shoot and brought one home to show Myrtle. She wasn’t too sure about it in this video but she ended up figuring it out and doing her job. Here’s the video of her first backyard pheasant exposure.

 

[ghadarits]

Myrtle and I got to do a little fishing this weekend and she added spotted bass to her list of species pointed. I’ve also included a picture of a log cabin on Hartwell that’s pretty cool.

 

[ghadarits]

Myrtles sister Emma duck hunting in Kansas this morning, brother Elk chilling in the man cave and brother Epik is ready for a ride on the four wheeler.

 

[ghadarits]

Today’s the vom Kurbis Haken kennels “E” litter birthday. Myrtle (registered name Elfe) was 62.8lbs yesterday at the vet. What a difference.

 

[NCMTNHunter]

Today’s the vom Kurbis Haken kennels “E” litter birthday. Myrtle (registered name Elfe) was 62.8lbs yesterday at the vet. What a difference.

She’s sharp!

 

[ghadarits]

No ducks for us this past Saturday but it was really great to have both my pups with me for a hunt.

Oolie the 12yo yellow Lab and Myrtle the 1yo Drahthaar. The jury's still out on Myrtles retrieving abilities (due to our lack of ducks) but she's a really solid quail pointer already.

 

[ghadarits]

Myrtle is an official retriever as of yesterday. She also had a full afternoon of pointing quail. Hopefully one of the guys will score on a deer so she can get her first track checked off too.

 

[ghadarits]

A few more pictures from the weekend. I had to include one of Oolie since she found one that I didn’t know where it was. Experience counts.