UNDER THE RUSTY WINDMILL

By Keith Hickam Sr.

Summer Camp Begins 

My journey to Lou Gleber’s summer camp in South Dakota began in January 2005 at Charlie Rose’s Wildrose Kennels in Seymour, TX.  Charlie had invited me to train dogs and guide quail hunts over the winter, and he invited Lou Gleber to work his string of field trial dogs including CH/RU CH Cypress Creek Rock, National Championship qualifier in 2004.  Lou and I spent over 2 weeks working dogs together, sharing Charlie’s bunkhouse.  Little did I know that Lou was carefully observing my touch with the dogs, and my training methods.  Evidently, Lou saw something in the way I handled dogs and related to him that he liked.  He invited me to come to South Dakota this summer to assist him training dogs.

 

 

“I arrived at Lou’s training camp under the rusty windmill, near Timber Lake, South Dakota”

 

 

I arrived at Lou’s training camp under the rusty windmill, near Timber Lake, South Dakota, late in the evening of the 1^st of July 2005.  Lou would not arrive here until early the morning of the 3^rd of July 2005.  The night of the 2^nd of July 2005 the prairies welcomed the farm boy from Washington with the worst thunderstorm I have ever experienced.  I felt relatively safe because I was under the watchful eye of my llewellin setter, Tanner (CH Shoeleather’s Tanner) and the warmth of his head against my leg was reassuring to him and me throughout the night.  The thunderstorm kept me awake with a dazzling light show and thunder that shook the house until 2 am.  At 4:30 am I was rudely awakened by the arrival of Lou and his string of dogs. Welcome to summer camp.

 

 

  “Daybreak comes early to the prairie, usually around 4:30 am.    On the 11^th of July, we started roading dogs in earnest.”           

 

 

 

The first week in South Dakota was busy.  Snake killing as Lou called it.  We mowed grass, set up Johnny houses, laid out whoa posts and chain gangs for the dogs and cleaned the ranch house.  On the 5^th of July 2005, we put up 3 ½ tons of hay, for our 9 head of walking horses. Lou also acquainted us with the sights around Timber Lake and Mobridge, South Dakota.  And we picked up another 4 wheeler for roading the 32 dogs we had in training at summer camp.

Daybreak comes early to the prairie, usually around 4:30 am.   On the 11^th of July, we started roading dogs in earnest.  I had little experience roading dogs with an ATV, usually I did this from the back of my horse Cody, and we had little mishaps along the way.  The first day went relatively uneventfully, with only one of my dogs figuring out how to get loose from the roading harness.  However, the next day, I had a flat tire on my ATV, and managed to tear up a few extension cords, and other things.  But, by the third day I was roading dogs like a pro.  Roading early in the morning is my favorite thing to do here at summer camp.  The mornings are cool with a hint of dew on the grass, more often than not we are treated to numerous sights of wild game, including badgers, antelope, deer, and game birds. 

Lou believes in developing young dogs naturally, and we accomplish that by gang running the pups along with the roading dogs, the puppies are a joy to watch as the wonder of the world unfolds before their eyes.  The pups with us this year, are Pickle, a precocious GSP puppy, Spooky a handsome lemon and white setter puppy that seems to believe there is no end to the prairie and is doing his best to explore every inch of it, he is usually accompanied by his brother – half mask, a tri-color male.  Along, with Ginger, Zippy, and Hustle butt.  The conditions of the prairie are magnificent this year, the best that Lou has seen since 1997.  The numerous broods of pheasants, sharptails and huns keep the puppies entertained.  We are treated to watching the puppies point and knocking birds and watch the development of the young dogs with keen interest, getting an idea of what puppies have the most potential as field trial prospects. 

   

 

“We use chain gangs and whoa posts to instill the basics in every dog we have here at summer camp.”       

 

 

 

Our philosophy at summer camp is different than some.  We break them the same here as we do at our home kennels.  This entails at least one month of basic yard work.  We use chain gangs and whoa posts to instill the basics in every dog we have here at summer camp. Including some refresher training for some of the old pro’s that may have forgotten some of the lessons over the long layoff between the end of trial season and the start of summer camp. 

Although, as I write this we are able to work dogs on wild birds, it is necessary to have the proper training and conditioning in place before we do so.  This means that the dogs must be broke to the point that if they disappear over the next bluff in the quest of wild birds, they have the training to remain “over the hill,” broke until we arrive.     

This is achieved utilizing pigeons and Johnny house quail, we work the dogs until they are steady to wing and shot in the yard.  Some pro’s prefer to break their dogs at summer camp on wild birds, and although this is a good approach.  What if the wild birds are not abundant enough to do so?  Utilizing Johnny house quail and pigeons alleviates this problem.  By doing so, Lou and I are very confident when we cut our trial dogs loose to run off horseback that the dogs have the training and conditioning to make the most of the abundant landscape and birds of the prairie in South Dakota. 

Yard Work 

By our 2^nd week at summer camp after all the set up was done.  Yard training began in earnest.  Our school chain is capable of holding ten dogs, and Lou and I each work five dogs in the morning and afternoon, on a daily rotation.  Our first week to ten days is strictly “whoa” work.  Once a dog has the concept down well. We move to working those dogs on birds in the afternoon using a pigeon pole (20 ft vertical piece of PVC with a pigeon tethered to it).  To ignore this basic foundation is a mistake.   

Once the dogs have this basic foundation, they are ready to accept any challenge or situation that they may encounter free running on the prairie in pursuit wild birds.  I cannot emphasize this enough.  We train dogs here on the prairie, just like we do at our home kennels.  This is the most important idea I hope to leave with you.

 

 

“Our school chain is capable of holding ten dogs, and Lou and I each work five dogs in the morning and afternoon, on a daily rotation.”    

 

 

Good Food, Good times 

Three weeks into summer camp, pro trainer Stanley Downs asked Lou to put on a Cajun fish fry.  Lou whipped up some great jambalaya, hush puppies and catfish, reds, and speckled trout.  Additionally, we had other various dishes.  Stanley invited most of the landowners from around his camp in Isabel, South Dakota.  Many of the pro handlers do this as a small means of thanking the numerous landowners for their hospitality and generosity in allowing us to run on their vast land holdings, and the birds their property holds.  Without this relationship, developing hunting and big going field trial dogs would not be possible. 

These are hard working, generous people that are the salt of the Earth.  They are engaging in conversation and easy to get along with.  I was grateful that they took the time to come and enjoyed the fellowship of everyone I met.  

Bird Dog Country 

Professional dog handlers have been coming to the prairies for nearly 100 years.  I had never understood the magnitude of why.  That became evident on my first week on the prairie with Lou Gleber.  There is so much terrain to use, you can work on increasing the range of a dog, or you can work on getting a dog to handle better.    The prairie here in South Dakota has numerous tree lines that hold birds.     

By developing a course utilizing the unique topography of the prairie, you can help a dog understand working edges and tree lines.  Many of these tree lines intersect small coulees with patches of prairie rose.  These patches draw sharp tail grouse, called chickens in the local vernacular in great numbers.    There are also thousands of acres of CRP and open prairie that attract pheasants and gray partridge in good numbers. The bluffs and hills are abundant and riding up to the top of one of these, you are treated to magnificent views of prairies and coulees. These vantage points also help keep handlers from losing dogs.  By smart use of this terrain, handlers develop national and world class all age, shooting dogs, and hunting dogs.

 

 

"Professional dog handlers have been coming to the prairies for nearly 100 years."     

 

 

 

The prairie also brings hazards, just as the Garden of Eden had its serpent, so does South Dakota. Shortly after arriving we encountered one of the deadly vipers in the front yard at camp.  Other hazards here include cat claw, jumping cactus and spear grass.  There are also prairie dog and badger holes that potentially could cause serious injuries to our horses, dogs, or anyone in the camp.  Another annoyance in this wonderful country, are the numerous biting insects.  Liberal use of Deep Woods Off, and vinegar, water and citrus Dawn concoction that Lou cooked up became our armour against the insects and was used on a daily basis.  Although, a minor inconvenience these things did very little to detract from my enjoyment of the prairie and the opportunity to watch numerous dogs from all breeds start to gain confidence running hell bent across the prairie, short prairie grass gently swaying in the wind.

I have learned so much this summer under the tutelage of one of the best setter men in the country. Much is left to do this summer, but if the next half of the summer is as much fun as the first half has been.   I hope that Lou Gleber invites this farm boy from Washington back, to spend another summer, under the rusty windmill, near Timber Lake, South Dakota.