More Training/Going Well

Have you ever been at a deer camp or bird hunting trip - and you are standing around a campfire - drinking the beverage of your choice and swapping stories and lies. And the quiet guy in the corner says "Ya'll ain't gonna believe this." You brace yourself and roll your eyes because you know you are about to hear a whopper. I may have to re-think my attitude.

Because - Ya'll ain't gonna believe this! I got out to road the dogs this morning and the temp was cooler than normal - probably in the 40s - but, I never thought I would that I would have to wipe heavy frost off the seat of my quad! We started roading 8 miles today, and we have started working on getting all the dogs broke. We worked 15 pups and dogs this morning. The big dogs we worked were Buster, Tech, Max, Lucy, Dot, Tucker, Star and Jackson.

They all did a great job for the first day with Tucker, Max and Buster standing the steadiest at the flush and shot.

We then started working the younger dogs in the puppy program. They were Maggie, Doc, Molly, Jakey, Collin, Hailey, and Trevor. They all did a wonderful job for the first day. But, Hailey was distracted easily and I am hoping that as the summer and her experience progresses she will do better.

Keith - Posting from Under the Rusty Windmill

Training intensifying

We have entered the most intense phase of training. We are starting to do our yard work. We took the following dogs out and all are adjusting well to the new twist in training:

They are Jackson, Tucker, Kiwi, Lucy, Dot, Tech, Buster, Trevor, Max, and Sallie.

Our first day was yesterday and other than a few little glitches that we were able to work through all are progressing well. Last night we once again, got quite a bit of rain, just when we were thinking that it would be easier to road and train with the ground drying up. Mother Nature decided we needed another 3/4" of rain last night. All the dogs came through the intense thunderstorms and wind with no problems. None of the dogs are showing any signs of seperation anxiety and and I am not sure we can say the same thing about some of the owners.

It is too early to tell who is taking to the training best but I am pleased with the progress of all the dogs. I was a bit concerned about Kiwi and Trevor as both of these dogs seem to have the least attention span. I am pleased with Lucy she is doing very well, leave it to the irish to set the example. The roading set - Tech, Sallie, Cullen and Jackson once again did well today, however, they were more tenative in the mud and water than they had been the time before.

I took a tour of the area around the farm and I am happy to report with more of the hay being cut and bailed we are seeing more birds around the area. I was especially glad to see that once again we have a home covey of huns in the back pasture amongst the trees - they have been spotted by both Daniel and I.

We have great bunch of young pups too - Doc is a firecracker, and Jakey is the most handsome male puppy I have seen. These dogs are both well bred and it really shows. We have been working all the pups on check cords on pigeons and they are pointing well. Soon, we will be releasing liberated chukar and bobwhites to work them on. Hailey is also starting to show some attention to what she is doing - she got off the check cord and was gone down the treeline in short order we saddled up and ran her down with our horses. Returning her in a roading harness - pulling well against the resistance of Cody.

The young pups from Knikki and Mali's litter are sorting themselves out and 2 or 3 of them appear to be something special. Mac and Mandy litter - Chester is leading all the young pups in enthusiasm and ability. We are starting to see some encouraging things from Thor also. Loki, Stubby, Dolly and Tymora are so nice and uniform in ability it is almost scary, this is turning up to be a repeat performance of the previous litter of: Knikki, Diva, and Rhemy

So, far we are making progress in spite of the wet weather.

Keith - Posting from Under the Rusty Windmill

Another beautiful day

Well, we got up and roaded early this morning. The moon was still up and the sun was only beginning to lighten the sky. There was a light mist hanging over the grass and fields as we started out. We were able to set the roading teams early in the process which should make for a great workout regimen for the dogs.. We always pair the dogs up to get the best fit for each dog this year it looks like we have achieved that early for the field trial dogs. They are Kane/Knikki (front left bar) Star/Mali (front right bar) Cam/Cord (rear left bar) Tucker/Rhemy (rear right bar). We are trying a new roading course which is over BIA land and it seems to be working. The course is "T" shaped and has water stations at every mile. The pups Doc and Colin, Dolly, Tymora, Stubby, Diana, Chester, Isis, Mia, Loki, Xena, and Heracles.

With this post I felt I would write about the real "family" affair camp here in SD is turning out to be - with just about all the dogs here - related to each other in some way.

Buster and Tech (viszlas) are related through Ray Cooper's kennel in Longview, TX. They are both biddable and powerful dogs.

Lucy, Cam, Cullen, Dot (irish setters) are actually our least related of the bunch. Lucy is related to cam on moms side, Cullen on dad's side but not related to Dot.

Squirt and Dot (Pointers) are both related through Shadows Attitude.

The rest of the dogs here are llewellins.

Jackie and Tucker are littermates - but are 1/2 siblings through their sire to: Knikki, Rhemy, Diva, Trevor, and Jackson. As well as Stubby, Loki, Dolly, and Tymora. Through their dam they are 1/2 siblings to: Kiwi. As well as being related to Hailey

Doc - Is related through his sire to: Chester - Through his dam to: Cord,

Kane - Is related through his sire and dam to: Hailey, Mali, Knikki, Jackie, Tucker, Jake. There are more connections but suffice it to say - most of the llewellins here are closely related (sisters, brothers, cousins, aunts or uncles) to at least one of the other llewellins here at camp and this has been so, since our first summer on the prairie 5 yrs ago.

The major sires dams of the llewellin world and some not so major present in the pedigrees of many of these dogs are: Highway Dan, Arties Royal Mac, Shoeleathers Tanner, Southwind Blaze, Whiterock Brevet, Whiterock Sisi, Bodhi Windem, Whiterock Abbysina, Sassy Wind Em, Teasel Windem and others I am sure I missed.

Roading the Hunting Dogs in the rain

We started roading the hunting dogs this morning. We started with four dogs - we ended up with three dogs in the roading harnesses. The dogs that ran today were - Tech, Sallie, Star, and Jackson. Generally, there is a learning curve to roading new dogs - today really wasn't the exception - Star spun out of her harness and proceeded to run next to the quad. Jackson and Tech took to it great and were pulling hard - except when making a turn and Tech wasn't quite sure what to make of that. Sallie acted like an old pro. We also had some pups with us. Doc Neeley decided he liked messing with the pups at the kennel more and decided to stay behind. We still had a great little entourage however. Loki (Polly/Tanner) Diana (Knikki/Mali) led the pack over the 6 mile course, with Diana at times leading the whole entourage and staying right with me. Tymora (Knikki/Mali) pointed some kildeer's and Mystra (Knikki/Mali) brought up the rear barking.

Tech and Jackson are powerful males and along with Sallie - had me going down the road in neutral at 4-6 miles per hour over the course of a couple miles. I put the quad in 2nd gear to increase resistance with very little throttle and Jackson and Tech were still pulling hard for the next couple of miles. About mile 4 we started to get a bit of rain and it continued as we finished our run at camp - all told we roaded the dogs for 6 miles over about 1 hr time.

Conditioning/Training Begins

We started roading the dogs for conditioning this morning. The day started at 4:30 am. We road 8 dogs at a time - we travelled 6 miles in about 1 hr. The dogs that were in this mornings roading team were: Kane, Mali, Camulus, Tucker, Rhemy, Squirt, Rocky and Knikki - Additionally, we were followed by Dolly and Mia.

The initial inexperience of the dogs was quickly overcome and they were pulling as a time after the first mile of road.

Keith - Posting from Under the Rusty Windmill

Well- We got rain!

Here is a flooded cornfield near several tree lines that we use to teach edge running and is very useful for getting young dogs on birds.


We had rain off and on for 2 days. The wallows and roadside ditches are full of water and low spots in the fields have 6 inches of standing water. I walked a couple miles today instead of running through sloppy muck and we saw deer, antelope and of course birds! Pheasants, sharp tail and huns.

Work is progressing well, and the dogs and horses are content. I will drive up to Ft Yates, ND possibly on Tuesday and get my dog training permits from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. While there we may stop by get get our training birds if they are ready - if not we will get them as scheduled on the 11th of July.

Due to the rain our roads are impassable so we will not be going to Mobridge to watch the fireworks show.

Keith - Posting from Under the Rusty Windmill

Sunrise over the Prairie

Well, we loaded up the dogs and left at 7 am on Tuesday, June 30, 2009. We loaded 3 horses and 25 dogs in the pouring rain at the kennel. Along the way we picked up Doc Neeley and Tech. The drive up across the plains of Texas and Oklahoma and Kansas was warm and uneventful. We stopped at Thedford, NE for a few hours to sleep, as I was getting very tired and we were seeing lots of deer along the road.

I was awakened by the gradual lightening of the morning sky, and we started north once again through the Sandhills of Nebraska. The Sandhills are breathtaking, especially at sunrise, the reds, pinks and light gray of the dawn illuminated the ponds and lakes along the road, and the rise of ducks and other birds was refreshing. There were pelicans, and ducks and geese with young on the water. The bluffs with cottonwoods had deer around them, grazing on the lush prairie grass.

These sights are something I look forward to all year, especially when the heat and humidity of central Texas make training dogs drudgery. But, as I stopped near Rosebud, SD/NE to fuel up I was greeted by temperatures in the low 50s, and the smell of newly cut hay was on the gentle morning breeze. As we continued north we saw numbers of pheasant and sharp tail sitting on the newly bailed hay. By, the time we crossed the Cheyenne River, we had seen countless pheasants and sharp tails along with a few broods along the way. We arrived in camp in late morning and the grass is lush and we had our momma deer and her fawns (2 of them every year) standing along the our mile long tree line heading to camp.

Upon arrival at camp we found everything in order and it did not take long to bed down the horses and dogs and they are in fine shape We have spending the last two days getting everything in order, and waiting out the rain storms of yesterday and today.

Keith - Posting from Under the Rusty Windmill