Thread: Beautiful dog infinity

I took my 10-year old Vizsla out in the new snow today. He's blind in full daylight (but not in the dark!?) so I took his pheasant-scented throwing dummy to throw. He hears it land, usually, and that gives him a good start.

One fell out of hearing, though, and he headed out on his mission, running small then larger then really wide circles and arcs, then quartering in tighter and tighter as the breeze picked up and gave him some help. He found the dummy, of course, and pranced back with it. I had to call to him on each return, not a command but just a beacon of sound so he could know where I was. "Here I am," I'd say, then I'd have to scold him a little for chewing the dummy.

It's realistic, and he really has developed a habit of chewing up birds. I hunt with a 20-gauge, 2 3/4 shells, so the birds are sometimes still pretty lively when he gets them and I know he's been clawed. So I only scold him a little. He's a pointer, anyway, and if he just finds my downed bird I'm plenty happy to walk over and pick it up myself.

The beautiful thing today, that I've never gotten to see in all these years with him, was the tracks he left while searching for that long throw. I wandered over, just for curiosity, to see what kind of trail he left. His quartering runs left the most graceful, swooping, elongated figure-8s I've ever seen. Like infinity symbols, resting comfortably after jobs well done.

He's a wonderful companion in this human world, and a living perfection in his own hunting world. The Olympics are great because every four years you get to see the very best people do their very best thing as well as it can be done. The bird season is great because I can watch Vip do that every weekend. To discover, after all these years, another beautiful element of his life and work was a thrilling surprise.

theres a special bond between men and dog, and we are privelaged to witness their intelligence and sincerity.

and that is a beautiful dog!

Rough, 'Very fine post.

I know nothing of bird-dogging, but have loved a fine dog or two. Next month, I'll have had a 34" parrot for 27yrs.

That had to be a really fine day. Thx for posting.

Thanks. My dog is not a trained hunter or pointer or anything for that matter but every morning in the 2 acres next to our property I can see our dog rusty running tighter and tighter circles obviously chasing down and rounding up the local critters around here. he also has an interesting way of catching squirrels and gophers. Its a beautiful thing to watch.

Thanks for sharing. When you get lucky and get one of those "once in a lifetime" dogs, the bond is one that many can't understand unless one has had the pleasure of such a "bond".

Rough,

Thank you for the post. Zip is very handsome. The bond between a man and a dog he has loved, for many years, is impossible to explain to anyone who hasn't experienced it. The post brought to mind an old country song..."Old dogs, children and watermelon wine". I think I'll listen to it now.

Best regards

Old dogs make the best friends, "Buddy" is 13 now, soon to be 14. He is not good for much other than entertainment and yard fertilization, but I wouldnt trade him for nuthin'.

Beautiful story and a beautiful dog! Mildy reminds me of the 2 Chesepeake Bay Retrievers we had when I was growing up. Greatest companions a boy or man could have.

Thanks for reading, guys. I've moved away from my old hunting friends, and it was nice to have someone to tell the story to.

Originally Posted by KalgoorlieBoi

theres a special bond between men and dog, and we are privelaged to witness their intelligence and sincerity.

and that is a beautiful dog!

I watched a documentary recently on humans and dogs and how we have influenced each other's evolutionary paths. It was quite interesting, I wish I could find it to link it.