Bird Day

K

January 5.  A sad day.  My human returns to work today.  Now we get to lounge around all day, chewing on bones, having naps, relaxing.  Don’t you humans sometimes wish you were a dog?!

Anyway – today, according to the Crazy Calendar, is Bird Day. My human just got a fancy new squirrel-proof bird feeder from some good friends for Christmas.  She is VERY excited to put it up so we can watch the birds.  That will be GREAT fun as Frodo and I LOVE to watch birds.  And I LOVE to chase birds.  I have never caught one YET.

There are lots of dog breeds who are referred to as “bird dogs.”  As far as I know, they all come under the Sporting Group of breeds.  They include Pointers, Setters, Spaniels, and Retrievers. All the different breeds have unique “styles” when it comes to their work with birds.  The Pointers and Setters cover a WIDE area when hunting with humans and will stop and indicate where a bird is. THAT I cannot IMAGINE.  Standing STILL with a bird in front of you?!  Not my thing.  Anyway, they also retrieve the birds as well.  I like to retrieve – but picking up dead birds…well…I’m not so sure.  Mind you, I DO like smelling and rolling in dead things…Pointers and Setters work well when hunting quail and grouse.

The spaniels are “flushing” dogs.  And I’m not talking about toilets.  Flushing dogs work well with birds who tend to run along the ground – and who need to be “pushed” to fly away.  Like pheasants.  That sounds like a better job for me.  Retrievers also do this job and both breeds also bring back the birds.

Retrievers are best known, though, for their work with waterfowl.  Like ducks.  They will swim and retrieve a bird from the water.  CLEARLY NOT my type of job.  My human had a Labrador who did a Working Certificate Test once.  He had his own “friendly” method of retrieving – visiting the guys who shot the rifles,and  taking a LONG route to come back with the duck.  My human remembers the last part of the test – when he had to swim out and bring back the duck.  She thought he would NEVER do it.  Anyway, when he went out and came DIRECTLY back with the duck – she was SO overjoyed that he passed the test, she started crying.  She COULDN’T believe he actually DID it.  And I thought I was the first dog to cause her stress!

Nova Scotia has our very own bird dog breed.  The Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever.  Tollers will run along the shore, retrieving a stick thrown out by a hunter in a blind.  The dogs go back and forth.  Their behaviour will lure in curious waterfowl and then the hunter stands up, the birds fly and bam.  That’s it for Mr. Duck.  The dog will then retrieve the bird.

So there you have it on bird dogs.  As I said, I like birds.  The other morning, my human and Paxton were out on a walk and they BOTH looked around when they heard and unusual sound.  It was a pileated woodpecker.  You can Google it to see what they look like.  They can make quite the racket!

So go out today and pay attention to the birds around you!  And be sure to tell them to have a great day – as it IS their day!

© Linda Wozniak