What pets/animals do you keep?

[Oskaar]

What a fine animal. Do you allow the dog to work as a pointer? or is it just a family pet? I though I would try to add a picture of my critter too?

Regards,

TB

P.S. Sorry my picture uploading doesn't seem to work to well

He's definitely a hunter. I'm a pass-shooter and upland game hunter, sometimes waterfowl as well. We're working together using the Gibbons-West (low-pressure, silent) training method which works very well for pointing dogs. He's getting better and better and is working on steady to wing, flush and kill at this point. Great dog, lots of personality and a lot of fun.

PM me with your picture upload issue. I expect that you are trying to upload a picture that exceeds our limit of 800x600 pixels in size.

Cheers,

Oskaar

 

[Tannin Boy]

He's definitely a hunter. I'm a pass-shooter and upland game hunter, sometimes waterfowl as well. We're working together using the Gibbons-West (low-pressure, silent) training method which works very well for pointing dogs. He's getting better and better and is working on steady to wing, flush and kill at this point. Great dog, lots of personality and a lot of fun.

PM me with your picture upload issue. I expect that you are trying to upload a picture that exceeds our limit of 800x600 pixels in size.

Cheers,

Oskaar

I will try it this way with a link to the picture...
http://s1183.photobucket.com/albums/x462/carll9843/?action=view&current=Marcs2.jpg

I am glad to hear that you use your dog to it's potential. I'm sure you have noticed the smile on his face in the field while doing his thing? I do not remember the training system we used for my Brit, yet with a good trainer behind you all will be achieved to the level you wish to take him to. I stopped at the force fetch point and just about the time for field trials as I was more attuned to upland hunting. Close working was the order of the day for me here in the Finger Lakes Region of New York State. We have a state program of stocking Pheasants. The other delights are the long awaited Woodcock flights and of course the Wiley Grouse.
You note pass shooting ( Dove? ) I notice you mention the silent method!
Hand signals? High pitch whistle? Toned collar? I had a Tri-Tronic's collar that had a low tone for signaling the dog, but found the collar system was to unbalanced and finally went to Dogtra 2500 T&B which for my Brit is smaller in size for her and an all in one system on the neck! I found it much more convenient for her and the control unit a nicer size for me as well. The one lacking item was the low tone that the Dogtra does not offer. I do like using a horse bell in the field, the sound is quite nice yet tough on the dog and have since stopped using it. Silence is golden when working the field for sure.

There is nothing like spending a day in the field with your dog, is there?

Regards,

TB

 

[Oskaar]

...snip...
You note pass shooting ( Dove? ) I notice you mention the silent method!
Hand signals? High pitch whistle? Toned collar? I had a Tri-Tronic's collar that had a low tone for signaling the dog, but found the collar system was to unbalanced and finally went to Dogtra 2500 T&B which for my Brit is smaller in size for her and an all in one system on the neck! I found it much more convenient for her and the control unit a nicer size for me as well. The one lacking item was the low tone that the Dogtra does not offer. I do like using a horse bell in the field, the sound is quite nice yet tough on the dog and have since stopped using it. Silence is golden when working the field for sure.

There is nothing like spending a day in the field with your dog, is there?

Regards,

TB

Yup, dove is the opener for the season for me here in So Cal. I go to Yuma, AZ as the shooting there is fast and furious.

Silent method is just that. You let the bird teach the dog how to react. Basically you get the dog used to running in the field playing bump and chase with the birds until he learns that he can't catch them. You keep the dog on a 30' check cord with an e-collar in place, until he gets the idea that standing still when he scents the bird is a good thing. You use a light tug on the check cord to reinforce the stand (no whoa) which becomes a point after a couple of sessions. Once the dog is steady to scent you work on keeping them steady to wing with more gentle check cording. From there you begin flushing the birds (I work with carded quail) until the dog is rock-solid steady to wing.

Then you use a starter pistol with blanks to factor in the gun report when the bird breaks and focus on keeping the pup steady to wing. Once you're there you work in steady-to-kill in the same fashion with check cord tugs that reinforce to hold until released. Once the bird is down you go to your dog and give him a pat on the haunches which releases him to get the bird. The reward for all of his patience is the bird in the mouth. During all of the previous training your only real commands to the dog are to pet him when he stays still and check him if he gets jittery. You move them off the check cord and onto the e-collar once they are solid on the check cord so the e-collar becomes an electronic check cord for all intent and purpose. The dog learns so much quicker this way and with less correction and pressure. No "find the bird" or "whoa" or "out, over" or other commands. The dog knows what to do and he lets his nose guide him. His goal is a bird in the mouth and he learns that if he wants that bird he needs me to get it for him so he can go and pick it up.

I don't teach quartering any longer as I've found that drilling a dog on quartering will actually train them to run a pattern rather than finding a bird in many instances. I haven't had to force fetch train my dogs as they are happy to get the bird and bring it back.

I use an Innotek Command Series 200 which is an older 2 dog system that has tone, tone and stimulus, stimulus, and tone delayed stimulus. I really never have to go past the light stimulus level as all I want to do is simulate a slight tug on the check cord.

He's progressing well and I'll be taking him for some professional supplemental training in a few weeks to ensure he's on the right track.

Cheers,

Oskaar

 

[AToE]

It's nice to hear about working dogs being given work. To many people don't realize that unless you have small children to keep a working dog busy, or are planning on working it, it's going to be miserable. I know in advance that my dogs are only going to get a 1/2 hour to 1 hour walk per day, so I don't go picking something like a German Shepherd.

That's one thing I learned when I was looking (a while ago) for a Wolf cross. The problem isn't that the things are dangerous, the problem is that in the wild they'll walk/run something like 40 miles in a single day, and they need to be pretty much constantly exercised and stimulated. For most people, there's just simply no way they're ever even going to fill a quarter of the dog's needs, so it's really unfair to even bring one of them into existance by breeding it.

If I had small children though I'd still consider a big scary dog (note too I'd move to the country if I had kids), and I'd just make sure the kids played with it for at least 5 hours every day, plus a good walk from each parent. I'm thinking a German Shepherd crossed with a Rotweiler (have you ever seen one of those mutts? They look like tanks with legs, like something out of Lord of the Rings practically, what a HUGE and seriously imposing dog! - Perfect for keeping around the kids! ;D).

But yeah, anyways, I'm always glad to hear about dogs having jobs, it really makes their lives better.

 

[Chevette Girl]

If I had small children though I'd still consider a big scary dog (note too I'd move to the country if I had kids), and I'd just make sure the kids played with it for at least 5 hours every day, plus a good walk from each parent. I'm thinking a German Shepherd crossed with a Rotweiler (have you ever seen one of those mutts? They look like tanks with legs, like something out of Lord of the Rings practically, what a HUGE and seriously imposing dog! - Perfect for keeping around the kids! ;D).

Oh, a friend of mine had a wonderful black lab/rottie cross, he was like a walking coffee table... weirdest cross I ever saw was spaniel x Newfoundlander giant black spaniel head on giant black Newf body... But yeah, if you want an apartment dog, get a Great Dane, not a Jack Russells...

 

[K5MOW]

Well I work as an animal control officer and at work we have just about any animal you can think of over the last 10 years. Well at home I just have a large fish tank full of fish.

Roger

 

[Echostatic]

I had an awfully bad ant escape take place! My colony of acrobat ants eventually managed to escape from their container, and over the course of a few days managed to take over my dresser, computer and the floor all around. (I say a few days because I wasn't really in a position to fix it until today.) Talk about a mess. Hundreds of these guys just went everywhere. I stopped any more ants from escaping, but there's just so many out and about. Between putting them back one by one, and having to use a vacuum cleaner sometimes (they're my pets and I don't like it, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do...) The situation is starting to get under control. There's still a lot of them out though, to the point where I have to watch where I sit, where I move the mouse and what keys I press on the keyboard. I'd still take this over my fire ants escaping again, these fellas aren't nearly as bad if they decide to gift you with some venom.

 

[kudapucat]

Wow. Acrobat ants and fire ants. I'd hate for them both to escape at the same time.
You must really like your ants. Do you have a pic handy? I'd love to see the farm...

 

[YogiBearMead726]

Wow. Acrobat ants and fire ants. I'd hate for them both to escape at the same time.
You must really like your ants. Do you have a pic handy? I'd love to see the farm...

Ditto that. Any pictures?

As for me, I'm boring in the pet department. Two rescued cats, although at times, it feels like they are the ones keeping me.

 

[TheAlchemist]

Ditto that. Any pictures?

As for me, I'm boring in the pet department. Two rescued cats, although at times, it feels like they are the ones keeping me.

You've been rescued by two cats! How cool is that?

 

[Echostatic]

I will have to see what photos I can put up when I get home. The acrobat ants are still living in test tubes inside a larger container, but the fire ants have a full blown multi-nest setup spanning most of the length of my dresser.

 

[YogiBearMead726]

You've been rescued by two cats! How cool is that?

I know! They do brighten my day every time they decide to come sit in my lap.

I will have to see what photos I can put up when I get home. The acrobat ants are still living in test tubes inside a larger container, but the fire ants have a full blown multi-nest setup spanning most of the length of my dresser.

Sounds amazing. I've always loved hive-insects, but never have had the time or space to keep any.

 

[Echostatic]

I found some pictures of my fire ant colony here.

This one shows their setup on my dresser. It's a bit dated, the smaller container has since been replaced with another hydrostone material nest similar to the other two. The container on the right is a foraging area. The containers are connected by clear aquarium tubing.

I have noticed they tend to group their young together by what stage of development they are in. Here is a nice looking group of larvae.

And here is a group of pupae.

This colony is over a year old now. They got large enough to dedicate resources to producing alates, the winged queens and the winged males that mate with them. Here's a shot of one such unmated queen to the lower right of center.

And there ya have it!

 

[kudapucat]

Cool!
I wish I had the patience to build an ant farm, and then get the ants to fill it ;-)

 

[Echostatic]

Hmm, I figure if one has the patience for mead, they have the patience for ants. First you have to find and capture a newly mated queen searching for a place to make a new nest. Then you have to leave her alone for a couple months usually as she settles in, lays a small group of eggs, and tends to them as they slooooowly develop into larvae, then pupae, then eventually become her first workers. It can be a slow process. Then if you have something like the invasive fire ants that form huge colonies, one must figure out the logistics of not only feeding and caring for them, but containing them. As should be clear by this point, ants are master escape artists I have a pretty good system now, those containers have custom cut plexiglass lids on them with large holes in the middle (making it more like a plexiglass "lip" requiring them to climb upside down to escape) and the underside is coated in liquid teflon, which they can't get a footing on. Further, the tubing can be seperated and the holes plugged with clay, should I need to move the nest. Having a modular design makes it a lot easier to move.

 

[kudapucat]

Again: Cool!
unfortunately meadmaking barely gets a look in with my baby boy, renovations and work... So definitely "NO NEW PETS" at least that what the missus says. "Not until I get my new kitchen anyhow" is her new favourite line.

 

[AToE]

COOL! I love ants to death. Any animals that function with what seems to us mere humans to be a practically telepathic hive-mind are high on my list of stuff I love. I know there's scientific explanations for it all, but it's no less amazing and awe inducing for that! ;D

 

[dover157]

Lets see, current count is 7 chickens one of which is an evil rooster. Two Praire Skinks, four Green Anole's (started with 7 but someone told us they could go in the same cage as the skinks...wrong). Three cats, wife took two of them when she moved out so I got the kitten from the local shelter, then she brought the other two back... the kitten chases them around the house lol. Hopefully she will come get the reptiles, and insects for feeding them soon, I have nothing agains them its just that the skinks bite me every time I feed em. And my pride and joy, four verry large salt water hermit crabs, and a few other snails and what not to keep the tank clean.

Two of the monsters just hanging out.

Quit thinking of the yeasties as pets the night I had a few to many glasses and started naming them.

 

[Echostatic]

Very interesting pets! Sorry about your anoles, yeah different species generally can't be mixed together in the same tank. Salt water tanks are awesome, I've wanted one but the maintenance always scares me off. I'm busy enough Kudos on keeping one going.

 

[Loadnabox]

I currently keep and am working on training a solar powered monkey.

Pic is on my profile