Shot story about two hunting poodles from Moscow
This story begun as a love story.
Many years ago I met one girl. She had dog. It was pup of the black Standard Poodle. Her name was Polly.
At that time in USSR (1985) all owners of big dogs (and Standard Poodles too) must to sit for an examination of the program The general course of training. I helped training dog and got good contact with Polly.
When I and Irina (my girl) married I worked at the Scientist Game Laboratory. I often visited big storage pools at that time and conducted the registrations of the water-fowl. I begun to take Polly with me for company at first. Then I tough her to hold the constant registration belt. Polly flushed ducks from reeds and sedge when I moved along the border of vegetation by pulling boat. It was the difficult work for Poodle: often cold water, high hard vegetation, long belts of registration The question of using Polly as gun dog was the question of the time. I afraid she never take the dead duck in her mouth. It was actually only for cold pray the first time. Polly became good gun dog, especially for ducks when she was 4 years old. There was one problem: hard bite. Leonid P. Sabaneev (1844-1898, the famous Russian hunting and dog-breeding theorist and expert) noted this peculiarity of poodles more then one hundred years ago.
I took for myself one puppy from Polly when she was ten years old (may 1996). She is black too. Her name is Macapa (it is the little town in Brasilia I found out the name in alphabetical index of Geographic Atlas), but we call her Capa. But when I abuse, I call her Macaque. When she was 7 month old she got the Certificate of the 1-st degree for course Obedience.
I start to use her as gun dog from 4 month in autumn game. The first duck she bring from water without my helping. The next duck fall down on the little island. Capa do not realized what she must doing? It was wounded duck. I caught it, tied by pad to the fishing line of my spinning and set free to the belt of the dense reed. Capa caught duck in a moment. I took the prey away from drop and set free again. And cut off the line! But our duck was caught very soon again. I couldnt save of it. Hard bite!
Then I use Capa in my hunting expeditions in different regions of Russia, primary in Tverskaya, Kostromskaya and Vladimirskaya regions (~ 100-500 km from Moscow) in spring and in autumn. In spring only as the retriever, in autumn primary as the flushing dog. She always looking for and retrieveing the pray from water independently of the weather, season and vegetation, but not always retrieving from the dry land. She find/catch the prey. I ought to take if from her bite. Bit I think better find the big dog with the little prey in high grass ore dense bushes then the little prey without dog! (Especially if it live yet!) It is imperfection of teaching, I think. Oh, Macaque! Eh, Roman!
Objects of our spring game are the drakes of Mallard (the game with the attracting duck from the blind) and flight of woodcock in mating-season (only 10 days). The favorite objects of our autumn game is the field wild fowl, especially the grouse, corn crake and vaders (woodcock especially).
And ducks too!
The separate theme is the hares game. My SP knows this animal very good, but drive without barking. The success of the game depends if I saw the place where hare was frighten away. Probably, hare get the ring and return in that place. Where I already waiting for him with the gun.
Capa working slowly, but she can to work > 5 hours in the hard places of the timberlands, arable lands, bushes and bogs.
She is the diligent dog!
Roman M. Anosin
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