Good Wil Hunting

The birds were out, the birds were out...

Birdy Boy

I wish I had taken a camera on my walk with Wilbur and Radar to get the paper early this morning. The gray, foggy morning brought many birds out along our rural, tree-lined lane, and the boys were pointing in high style. Wilbur was gorgeous in his stretched points; as horse people, we compare Radar to a Quarter Horse - stocky, square, and steady. Wilbur is more of a Saddlebred - stretched in his points, elegant, and big-strided.

I loved watching these boys in their element.

Willll-burrrr

This is the essence of Wil - goofy and happy but sweet and relaxed. These pictures were taken less than two minutes apart; he then curled up next to his Lab counterpart (because she's a chocolate!), Greta.

Wilbur on the Small Screen

Play Time

Geeze...

You don't have to tell me how pathetic this is. I already know. But when you have a Pointer named Wilbur that loves chairs and warm laps, a Lab that's definitely a momma's boy, and one piece of furniture (excepting the dog beds) in the entire basement upon which the dogs are allowed, this is the outcome. This chair is to the dogs - in real estate terms - what a Victorian in San Francisco would be to us. And if it takes sharing it with a roommate, so be it.

But could you say no to any of these faces?

They're not hyper!

The first question out of many of our friends' and family members' mouths when we tell them about fostering the three birddogs is, "Aren't they hyper?" Our answer is universally, "No."

Our answer was reaffirmed last night as we watched the three Pointers sleep while our Labs and Coonhounds played, roughhoused, barked, and generally created a melee. Wilbur slept on the recliner with Ben while Penny and Radar slept on doggy beds despite the ruckus being created around them. The Pointers are much like greyhounds in that they really just want a soft place to sleep in the house, and if that place is your lap, all the better, as they like to be close to you.

The secret to the Pointers is a good daily run or piece of exercise, even if it's just running and playing in the backyard with their owners or other dogs. It seems as though the Pointers have a reserve of energy that, once burned off - and it doesn't take a great deal, just a good run in the yard or some exercise with their owners - leaves them wanting little more than to sleep and relax in the house. The Labs, however, seem to have a higher sustained level of energy. While they don't really stretch their legs outside in the same way as the Pointers, they're more "on the go" more of the time.

We're finding the Pointers to offer the best of all worlds. They inspire us to get out and exercise ourselves - whether it's a good, long walk, a jog through our fields and woods, or running and playing in the backyard with the other dogs while we work in the yard with them - and then allow us to come inside and relax while they sleep. Our vet was right - if you're looking for trainable, bright, affectionate, sweet-tempered dog who will jog by your side and then sleep on your lap, it's hard to beat a Pointer.

Sleepy Time

A Weekend Out

Wilbur and Radar spent the weekend on the go. On Saturday, we took both to a field trial in central Illinois - not to hunt, just to watch - and were able to put both boys on some birds in holding pens just to see what they would do. Both demonstrated very nice form, and it was enlightening for us to see the two boys we've known only as house pets "do their thing." It was a beautiful thing to watch, but it was also amazing to watch them turn it on and then turn it off and hop in our laps when invited. They traveled well and were very good boys.

While Radar and Wilbur were country boys yesterday, we asked them to be suburb boys today and took them to the Renick Riverfront Park on the Missouri River in Washington, Missouri, near our home. Renick is one of our favorite places but is also a great test for dogs. From the parking lot to the paved riverfront walkway, the boys were exposed to everything under the sun - trains, cars, boats, children, bikes, rollerblades, strollers, and other dogs ranging from little Yorkies to a giant Airedale. We couldn't have been more pleased with the boys; they took everything in stride, lapped up attention from children, and were extremely well-behaved. They're even starting to walk fairly well on the leash, although Wilbur likes to pull a bit. With patience and consistency, though, he's getting the hang of things. He's so remarkably sweet; when we stopped for any length of time, he pressed up against my leg, as if he wants to feel his person next to him to be reminded they're there.

After our jaunt, we stopped for lunch at our favorite Mexican restaurant and ordered some ground beef for the boys. They loved their snack but seemed disappointed we didn't bring a couple of margaritas back to the truck for them. They were both so good - good traveling in their crates, good with strangers, and good with all the new sites and sounds.

It was interesting how many people were drawn to the boys during our jaunt today wanting to know what breed they are, from where they came, and what kind of personalities they have. As Lab owners, we're used to being out with the "everyman" breed - one people know already, so the attention the Pointers elicited was something new for us.

It reminded me of a conversation I had with our vet the other day about Pointers and the more popular sporting breeds. A Pointer enthusiast and owner, our vet said when clients and friends ask what kind of family dog they should get, he almost always recommends Pointers for active families with fenced yards ahead of the more popular Labs, Golden Retrievers, and Weimaraners. He went on to explain that Pointers have been carefully bred for centuries to be bird dogs par excellence, and throughout those generations, the dogs with temperament or health issues were culled out and not allowed to breed. While the methods used in that practice could be very cruel, they did have the result in the Pointer lines of producing nearly uniformly healthy, intelligent, capable dogs with excellent temperaments, high degrees of trainability, and a willingness to work for their owners. The relative rarity of Pointers has kept that purity of breeding intact, whereas the more popular breeds have been diluted with the result of more dogs in those breeds falling short of the breed standard and more health and temperament issues. It was an interesting and compelling thesis.