I should get a tattoo on my forehead that says Sucker.
When it comes to old guns and hunting dog puppies, I am a sucker. And so, I introduce you to Inky, an English cocker spaniel puppy and my newest hunting dog. Well, I say hunting dog. She was only born Nov. 1 so I am hoping she becomes a hunter. Right now she is just seven pounds of wild energy.
Here is the backstory. Years ago, I got a German short-haired pointer from Tyler’s Mike Craig that I absolutely fell in love with. Dixie was one of those dogs that overcame my lack of training skills and became my gold standard of bird dogs. In my mind if she went on point, get your shotgun ready because there were birds around. She proved it on wild bobs and blue quail, pheasant, and with pen-reared birds as well. I also used her as a retriever for dove, pheasants at tower showers and when the water was warm enough, on ducks.
As Dixie was nearing the end of her career Sadie came along. Sadie is a black Labrador retriever. Again, she proved it is not all about the trainer. She has done it all, on both dry land and water.
She has not been quite the hunter Dixie was, at least in my mind, but despite some quirks she has still been a good dog.
But Sadie has gotten up in age. For the last two years I talked about retiring her, but she has not gotten the memo. She sleeps more, has gained a few extra pounds, grown grey hair and lost some hearing, but when the guns come out, she hunts from can ‘til can’t.
I know she will not hunt forever, and had honestly made the decision that she would be my last go-round with dogs. I certainly did not have plans for another Lab.
Then Hidden Lakes Hunting Resort owner Cord Burnett started some out-of-box thinking, asking if instead of a Lab I might be interested in a Boykin spaniel. I have been around a couple and enjoyed hunting with them. They are a cross of several breeds and are much smaller than a Lab. I liked that.
But while Boykins are versatile hunters, I don’t hunt waterfowl like I once did, and that had me waffling.
Then Burnett asked me about a cocker, and immediately the sucker in me came out.
I quail hunted with a cocker in South Texas years ago. The handler typically left it on the trailer until birds were shot. Then he would open the door and like a missile the pint-sized dog was off. With a nose so close to the ground it would shoot through the grass and come back with a down bird before the pointers had a clue where to start.
After that I have watched them used as a flushing dog, and as retrievers for pheasant on tower shoots. I was sold.
I have said it before, but there is a special bond between hunters and their dogs. I cannot explain it for everyone, but for me it is companionship as well as watching an athlete doing what it was born to do.
I say the latter because I remember watching J.W. Bratton, a quail hunter and dog breeder I knew years ago, dangle quail feathers attached to fishing line in front of pups so young their eyes were barely opened. On instinct the little ones did their absolute best to point, telling me that the instinct to hunt was born into them. We just hone it to work with what we need them to do to improve our hunt.
There seems to be a little trend away from Labs, whether it is because waterfowl hunting has gotten harder in Texas, yards are smaller or whatever. That has led hunters to Boykins, an American breed, cockers, differentiated by an American line and an English line, springer spaniels and others.
Generations ago, English cockers and springer spaniels were the same dog, but eventually separated by size. Most of the cockers that found their way to America became house pets and lost their hunting skills. There were European hunters who perpetuated and improved the breed as a hunter, and eventually they were discovered by American hunters.
Weighing just 20 pounds or so, the English cockers are not as leggy as springers, so they are not as able to work as much country as quickly. But they are still known for their ability to work through thick cover to flush birds or find down ones.
A couple of weeks ago Inky came home with me and we immediately went to work. I tied a pheasant wing onto a small canvas bumper just to see what would happen.The dog went wild for it.
Like any puppy’s antics, I cannot help but laugh at her. She does not seem to have a whoa gear. It is either full bore or sound asleep, and having her crash in my lap is perfect.
But I cannot wait for the coming months when she begins to blossom as a hunter, hopefully once again overcoming my shortcomings as a trainer.
Oh, and the name Inky? Well, she is black like the ink we used in printing the paper and in my father’s print shops. It is also the name of the first dog I remember my family having when I was a kid. It was a black cocker spaniel.
