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Jere wrote:
>>>found is spikes. 2 - 3" fresh, dry
snow on top of ice needs spikes that go down to
the ice (crampons) I don't
have any. We use rubber slip on devices with short
carbide spike
inserts. Some folks here drill the soles of their boots and
put
automobile ice studs in the holes. I haven't had slipping trouble on any
snow
surface where the foot penetrates the snow surface at least a
little. Many winters
we have way too much wet
ice!>>>
Yes, the spike solution is a good one but since I am of a lazy
nature I do not like the idea of taking on and of the rubber slips all the time
and then forget where I have laid them. It is like with my clothes, I do many
different things every day and have to change clothes several times. I hate it!
Maybe I should concentrate on one task at a time  )
The Merrel booths have a good grip on ice and snow but they
are notorious in falling apart and they are as expensive as other good boots.
Hence I hope that I some day will stumble into boots that are both durable
and have a good grip on ice.
Now to something else. We have discussed scent pointing and
sight pointing here on this list. Yesterday we finally had a sunny day here and
thought that we could introduce Sunnie to birds. She sight pointed neighbours
big hens when she was some 9 - 10 weeks old. Now she is 15 - 16 weeks old and we
wanted to see what she does with put out partridge hidden in tall grass. We put
out 4 partridge and let her find their scent by walking towards the wind.
She had no idea of how to handle the scent but we did not interrupt her in any
way. She slowly worked her way to the birds until it suddenly flushed in front
of her. She was mighty surprised but after a few seconds of consideration she
decided that she can chase the bird and did so.
After a couple of birds she started to hesitate when she had
located the source of the scent and an embryo to a point was born. When she had
flushed and chased the last of the put out birds we put her in the car for half
an hour to rest. Then we relocated to where 2 of the birds had landed and let
her search. Now she showed that she expected to find something and did so after
a while. She learned something about using the wind and the difference between
ground scent and body scent, since the birds had moved on foot after having
landed. And finally - she developed a steady point! All this within 30
minutes of learning by herself with no interference from us.
My conclusion from these two events, when she sight pointed a
hen a month ago, and now learned to scent point partridge, is that scent
pointing might also be the same as sight pointing! Since Sunnie sight pointed
the hen without any learning at all, then sight pointing must be inherited. Then
she learned to connect the scent of a bird to the picture of a flushing bird and
then, but only then, she did start to scent point.
So.....so what? Well: A "sight pointer" must hence
be a dog that has not learned to connect the scent of a bird to the sight of a
bird....or? I come to think of myself when I as an engineer do not trust the
instruments in the control room but have to go out into the engine room to
physically check the condition of the engine. I could do it because I have a
real, valid reason to do it or I could do it because I have a poor nerve
stability - in other words I am nervous and do not trust the instruments.
The few sight pointers that I have seen have been nervous
dogs. Anyway, Sunnies fast development from a sight pointer to a scent pointer
was pretty interesting to follow. And whatever she is - she is not
nervous!
I caught all that on video tape and when I looked
through it several times I understood that it will loose most of its educational
value for a novice birddog owner if shortened at all. I then took a copy into
the computer and tried to compress it to usable internet format but still 30
minutes compressed video is a huge amount of Mb (100) and the quality
deteriorated to worse than poor.
Maud an me are good with digital photos but we do not know
anything about working with digital video.
Anyway, if someone is interested in this 30 minute video in
full format (full quality) on a DVD, send us your name and address and I can
burn a DVD for you and send it by snail mail. The cost is so small so lets
not talk about it.
Borta Med Vindens Kennel
www.rospigan.net
"If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous,
he will
not bite you; that is the principal difference
between a dog and a man."
/Mark Twain
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