For most bird dog owners, the year-long efforts of raising and training a hunting dog are garnered each fall, when hunter and canine companion take to the field together. At least that's the way it's supposed to go.
Unfortunately, hunting dogs are susceptible to a variety of ailments that can limit or terminate their ability to hunt. Oftentimes, injuries will occur during hunting season leaving a hunter dog-less while the pet recovers. Untimely accidents or illness resulting in the death of a pet is, of course, a tragedy and will also leave a hunter without four-legged help in the field.
But wait! All is not lost. It's Pine Shadows Kennels to the rescue. Pine Shadows has a nationwide reputation for producing topnotch English springer spaniels. They are a full-service kennel offering hunting dog training of all breeds, pet boarding and grooming, and, yes, even hunting dog rental.
Regular readers of the North Country section might remember that last spring Viking, my 11-year-old German wire-haired pointer tore the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his right rear knee, which required surgery during the summer. Then, on a mid-October pheasant hunting trip to South Dakota, he tore the ACL in his left knee, which sidelined him for the season.
So, my choices for a mid-December return to South Dakota for a late season pheasant hunt was to either go dog-less, or call Pine Shadows.
As a youngster, I killed my share of roosters while hunting without a dog. Usually though, I relied on tracking the gaudy birds after a fresh snowfall. It's an exciting way to hunt pheasants, but a hunter, of course, cannot count on Mother Nature to supply the snow, especially this season. So I called Pine Shadows.
"Sure, we can fix you up with a dog," said Mark Haglin, who with his wife Sophie owns Pine Shadows Kennels near Brainerd.
A few hours before Ron Morreim of Brainerd and I were to leave on our trip to South Dakota, I stopped at Pine Shadows to pick up "my" dog. Sophie introduced me to Maggie, a 6-year-old black and white English springer spaniel. Maggie is a retired field trial dog, and was also a part of Pine Shadows breeding program. In addition, she is one of the Haglin's personal gun dogs.
"Maggie is well-trained and gets along well with people," said Sophie. "I'm sure everything will go just fine."
I knelt down and petted Maggie. She wagged her tail, put her front feet on my thighs, and with her big brown eyes, told me she was ready to go hunting. She knew the routine.
At Pine Shadows, rental dogs come with duffel bag full of all the supplies a hunter will need for a trip, along with a portable kennel. Sophie briefly described each item in the duffel. The bag included enough dog food for the trip, portable water bottles for use in the field, a whistle, a very extensive first aid kit, a leash, bowls for food and water, proof of vaccinations, phone numbers in case of problems, and even a skunk-off kit.
Sophie went over a list of commands to which Maggie was trained to respond. The list contained the standard voice commands; come, heel, and hup, which means to sit. Whistle commands were one blast to stop and sit, two blasts to change direction, and a series of blasts to come.
I took Maggie home where we went for a short walk to get acquainted. I tested the dog with the various voice and whistle commands, and threw a retrieving dummy for her to fetch. Maggie preformed flawlessly. We were ready.
The trip to South Dakota went smoothly, too. Ron and I stopped once during the five-hour drive to allow the dogs to relieve themselves. I heard not a sound from Maggie during the entire trip, nor did I during the night in the motel. Maggie and Ron's English cocker spaniel Chip got alone well. It was obvious Maggie had done this many times.
Once in the field, Maggie continued to impress me. Ron and I were barely five minutes into our hunt when Maggie hit scent. I watched her bound back and forth as she followed a scent stream that was, of course, invisible to me. But to Maggie it was a source of excitement, and even though we had not hunted together, I knew by her actions that she was close to flushing a bird.
A moment later, a colorful rooster pheasant was in the air, cackling loudly. At my shot, the bird dropped into some tall weeds on the edge of a cornfield. An instant later, Maggie appeared with the pheasant in her mouth, and delivered to my hand as if we had done this many times. We were already a team.
And so the day went. By sunset Maggie and I worked together to get our limit of three roosters, as did Ron and Chip. Unfortunately, several hours into the hunt, Maggie cut a pad on a front foot. It was not a severe cut, but it would limit her productive hunting to a few hours per day for the next two days. By the fourth day, Maggie was limping severely, and I elected to rest her on the final day of the hunt.
Only once during three days of hunting was I concerned about Maggie's whereabouts. We were hunting in cattails that reached far above my head, and a gusty wind blew from the south. Maggie disappeared into the cattails, and because of the wind, I could not follow her progress by sound.
For a long moment I alternately blew the whistle and called her name to no avail. A rooster flushed wild out of shotgun range to my right, then a hen to my left. I assumed Maggie had flushed one of them, but she couldn't have flushed both. After a minute or two, Maggie burst through the cattails while following my scent, and ran to my side. I'm sure she was close the entire time, and may have been confused by the wind.
Pine Shadows Kennels is one of few kennels that provides hunting dog rental.
"My main customers are hunting lodges in North Dakota, South Dakota, Kansas and Nebraska," said Mark. "But I get a lot business from people like you who have a dog injured or killed during the season, but still want to hunt. Other customers just want to hunt behind a well-trained dog without the hassle of owning and training one."
Pine Shadows has about 15 rental dogs available, all springer spaniels. The cost of renting a trained dog runs from $50 per day, to $1200 for the entire season. Rental price for a 3-5 day hunt is about $150.
Most hunting dog owners would agree that few experiences in the life can match the pride felt when your hunting dog, a dog you raised and trained yourself, performs well in the field. On the other hand, not everyone has the patience, or is willing to take time to train a hunting dog. For those hunters, and for those like me who, for whatever reason, end up dog-less during the season, rent-a-dog is a viable option.
For more information call Pine Shadows Kennels at 218-829-4736.
