Blue Weimaraner, “Whiskey” places in Field Trials

Blues Rock!

Candra shares with us getting her Blue Weimaraner, Whiskey, and her first experiences in Field Trials—with some nice placements!

Shot of Touchstone Whiskey “Whiskey”

It was a cool December morning in 2008 and we were hunting Mearns Quail in Southern Arizona. The “we” of this quail expedition was my good friend Anne Taguchi and my father, Don. Zigzagging ahead in the tall grasses were Anne’s Blue Weimaraner, Indy and my Blue girl, Danni.

This was our second trip to this area. We were here several weeks prior with Anne and her good friend Juan had stumbled across a bird hunter’s paradise. Within yards of leaving the vehicles the blue girls were into the Mearns. Coveys ranged from small (dozen birds), to huge, well over 50. Instead of following a covey we would continue hunting; within several hundred yards the girls would lock on point again. Incredible trip and excellent hunting. (Notice I purposely did not say shooting?)

So now, we were back for revenge. Unbeknownst to my Father (he he) there was another agenda to the trip. The plan was to show him Mearns hunting behind a pair of Blue Weims. Gray Weims are nice, but once you hunt behind a team of Blues in tall, fawn colored grasses, with green and blue oaks as a backdrop, the image that remains is—well—unforgettable. I had been working on my Father to consider taking on a blue puppy out of Indy.

Indy has a strong hunting drive and a great temperament. Anne (Touchstone Weimaraners) bred Indy to Atlas of Norway who is also a strong hunter with good temperament and a love of water. It was a good match. Anne wanted to find good hunting and training environments for the pups. Hopefully Indy would deliver a blue girl for us.

March 17, 2009, was St. Patrick’s Day. It was also Indy’s big day along with Anne’s, and ours. Indy delivered two pups, a gray boy and a blue girl. Anne and I were ecstatic. Following that December Mearns trip, my father was favorable to taking on a puppy. My father is an extremely busy guy who enjoys fly fishing, archery and gun bird hunting. He did show some reservations though due to potential time commitments. He wanted to make sure he could find the time to train a bird dog; a dog which could have great potential.

The pups grew rapidly under Indy and Anne’s care. They were exposed to the world around them: ponds, cool grasses, warm sunshine, and cuddly children. The little girl quickly became the boss of her brother, constantly throwing her puppy weight around. As she grew she developed a strong “I can do that” personality. Anne had selected another couple for the boy pup, and she regularly updated us both with pictures and stories. As the pups grew, so did our fondness of the little blue girl. Anne forewarned us this little girl was probably going to be a handful. Boy, has that has turned out to be true!

“Whiskey” is the name my Father chose for his tough little girl. We fondly call her our “Little Whiskey Girl”.

Her first trip immediately following the road trip home from California was to Puerto Penasco, Mexico. While in Mexico she showed her independence by running after waves, then turning tail and running back until the waves retreated, then back after them again.  At times she’d take off on her own, trotting a hundred indifferent yards away. She was a big girl now!

She sure thinks she’s a big girl. When she was 4 months old, we would put both her and Danni (who was Whiskey’s Surrogate Mother), into our laundry room with a 28 inch child’s gate blocking the door.

Can you say “Jail Break?!”

The gate was merely a challenge; she’d leap over it like a gazelle. Danni would stand behind the gate with an “I didn’t teach her that!” expression on her face. She purposely pushes Danni’s buttons—and has the scars to prove it! The first time she saw a display mountain lion (the lion stands 3′ tall at the shoulder and is about 6′ long—not including the tail), she growled and took a swipe at it with her paw!

When her “Daddy” (note: she owns him) comes home, all bedlam breaks loose as she jumps for joy, and she’ll lightly mouth his wrist in greeting. Then she’ll run off and bring out a pull toy and play tug of war until she tires out.

My Father enjoys the book The Best Way to Train Your Gun Dog by Bill Tarrant / Delmar Smith. Dad has spent countless hours with her in the field, just letting her explore and be a puppy.  Whiskey was bred more with the intent to be a good hunting dog than a big-running field trial dog, however after Anne and others saw her run on a video their thoughts changed. “That girl has some wheels” is the typical comment, or look at her go!  Delmar’s training methods certainly has improved her range. Obedience training such as heeling, leash, and down has been very limited. Most training has been to build her confidence and desire. She was introduced to pigeons, quail and chukar. However, it was very controlled. The pigeon’s wings were bound to avoid flapping, which can scare a young dog. She ranges out 200–300 yards, sometimes out of sight. We’ve followed Delmar’s instructions that “Ya need to sing out” so pup knows where you’re at. Likewise she’s been exposed to gunfire, and has been shot over. To her, “shooting” equals birds. Hot Dawg!

This past summer we were fortunate to spend a short day training with pro trainer, Bill Gibbons in the White Mountains of Arizona. Bill is a very gentle man, and to watch him work with dogs is an experience to behold.  He demonstrated a very gentle way to use a pinch collar. He put the collar on Whiskey and it was incredible. She was very calm and he showed how to apply gentle pressure to the collar and the pup stops and stands still.

Editor’s note: the Bill West / Bill Gibbons method is a great way to train pointing dogs. It is a kinder, gentler method that uses dog psychology rather than harsh obedience to train. In a nutshell, the object is to get your dog to understand what a “stand” is with a check collar and then that get’s gradually transferred to a light tap with an e-collar. The dog learns that “a bird in the air means stand still.” See the blog Steady with Style for more information.

See videos of Whiskey training with Bill Gibbons. Overview of the Bill Gibbons Method and First time on a Check Cord.

Anne invited us to a West Coast Weimaraner field trial that would be held at the end of January. She had seen videos of Whiskey running and thought she had a good chance of placing. Plus it would give us a chance to experience a trial. Unfortunately, Whiskey had not been exposed to horses (though she’s seen plenty of elk) and with the 5 feet of snow on the ground she was not going to meet horses before the trial! Even though we had snow, we took Danni and Whiskey to lower elevations for quail hunting, increasing her drive to find birds, all in prep for trialing.

We arrived at the Trial Grounds just outside of Mohave California to see what we had gotten ourselves into.  As we drove in we passed several 45+ foot horse trailers, semi-trucks, several chain gangs with 18 to 20+ dogs, tethered horses, travel trailers, fifth wheels, trucks, quads,  and multiple pens with birds — and more dogs. This is no small affair!

The folks who attend trials are First Class. Everyone we met was helpful, and we felt like family. That Friday, Whiskey met her first horse and the owner and horse both ignored her “I’m a Big Dog Now” barking. After a few seconds, Whiskey was confident that she had established her “Supervisor Role” and she ignored the horse since the horse now knew who the boss was.

One of the Pro Handlers offered to take Whiskey out for a run with some of his dogs with a quad. We went along to learn. First thing we learned is that we need to run Whiskey more than we do. This Pro runs his dogs off a quad regularly for exercise and excitement. Second, one should learn to ride a horse, since most trials are run off horseback. Third, we learned that by staking Danni and Whiskey with a string of dogs they could see the actions of the trial. Undoubtedly this really helped get them excited. They were clamoring “let me go, let me go!”

Whiskey was entered in the puppy class and prior to her run my father rode in the gallery so he could witness a trial event. We highly recommend it. (The gallery is the group of observers who follow the trial on horseback.) Whiskey ran in the second brace and it was quite exciting. Handler’s whistles blew and she took off with her brace mate; within seconds they were out of sight. We caught a glimpse of her circling around (several hundred yards out) and whoosh she came streaking by heading off in another direction. She was gone again, out of sight over a hill. Dang! We rode around the hill and she was 250 yards out working some brush and then disappeared. Several seconds went by; a chukar comes rocketing out of the brush flying towards us. Whiskey’s hot in pursuit. The pair goes streaking by us and down a hill. Gone again. Nope, here comes Whiskey, chukar in her mouth! Her brace mate helps to remove the chukar and we’re off again. So it goes, one never knows what to expect with puppies, but it was a blast. She ran against 9 puppies and placed 4th. We were stoked!

Two weeks later found us in Nevada at an all breed trial. Once again, great folks all around felt like family and had a ball. Whiskey placed 4th again, this time with me handling her off horseback.  We were told of another all breed trial in Arizona in two weeks. Several of the handlers offered us to use their horses at this trial as well. Great guys and gals!

Trial. Learn. Have fun.

We are looking forward to another trial in April.

Editor’s note: When you learn that Whiskey was up against some of the top field lines in the country in these field trials, you understand that 4th place is a pretty darn nice accomplishment. Candra, Don, and Whiskey, You Rock!

More images from the field trial. All photos © Candra Dufek. Click to enlarge

Whiskey checks out a horse and quad

View from Horse Back

Whiskey is little dot center right!