Radar Love

Today was Radar Day in our household. First it was the walk down to get the morning paper. Then Radar hopped in the back of the Volvo wagon for his adventure; as usual, he was a perfect gentleman in the car. We first went to one of our favorite St. Louis pet stores, One Lucky Mutt in Wildwood, Missouri, for a bag of dog food and a special treat for Radar (it was so good, I wanted to try it). Then it was over to Starbucks for our treat.

Then some serious bird hunting and pointing in...the Manchester Meadows Petsmart. I fully expect the next time we go in there to find little signs on the bird cages with "RADAR" in the middle of a circle with a slash through it.

Then it was off to lunch for us (not Radar, though he would have loved to join us in some pizza at Dewey's in Kirkwood, MO), and a final stop at the Kirkwood Petco to see our friend Kati with IBR and St. Louis Senior Dog Project (and former foster mom to our beloved Black and Tan Coonhound, Stella).

Radar slept the entire ride home and has been curled up in his sphere chair ever since. He was, as usual, such a good boy and popular with little kids, adults, and other dogs.

Birds and Girls

I should carry a camera for an entire day sometime just to chronicle the life of a Pointer, especially when that Pointer is the handsome, lovable, loving Radar.

I didn't have a camera on the morning walk with Wilbur down our long, rural lane to get the morning paper. We live forty-five minutes southwest of downtown St. Louis, on the beginnings of the edges of the Ozarks. Our acreage is Pointer heaven, with pastures lined with trees on one side of the property and woods on the other, surrounded by more woods and brushy grassland. On this gray, foggy morning, the birds were active, and the boys were in their element. The beauty and restrained strength of their trembling, sharp, but elegant points is something I wish I had captured on film.

But I did grab the camera later, when Radar curled up with Penny, another of our foster pointers. They really do enjoy each other, and he is so gentle and sweet with her.

Pointer Yin and Yang

Radar: Look at me, pretty girl, new sphere chair from the Tar-zhay boutique (that's Target for you Pointers who don't speak French)...

Penny: Radar, did you cut the cheese?

Radar's Movie Debut!

Play Time

Woolly-Bully

Sometimes a dog comes along that causes you to catch yourself thinking, "This dog is cool." Radar is one of those dogs. When it's time to play, he knows how to play. He knows when it's okay to run and does it with a combination of athleticism and glee that sometimes manifests itself in glorious running punctuated by four-footed kangaroo hops. When it's time to stop and come inside, he stops and jogs toward the door. He is figuring out what it means to have toys for the first time in his life and can chase a ball in a way that might make a retriever jealous. He knows when it's time to listen and can strike a perfect sit when asked. And he knows the comforts of curling up in a ball in the evenings and sleeping the deep, restful sleep of a dog that finally feels safe and loved.

Radar loves his people and greets them with the wiggly joy of a bulldog. He plays gently and meekly with the older dogs and more energetically with the younger ones. He's beautiful to look at yet quiet and sweet. Radar is definitely a cool dog.

They're not hyper!

The first question out of many of our friends' and family members' mouths when we tell them about fostering the three birddogs is, "Aren't they hyper?" Our answer is universally, "No."

Our answer was reaffirmed last night as we watched the three Pointers sleep while our Labs and Coonhounds played, roughhoused, barked, and generally created a melee. Wilbur slept on the recliner with Ben while Penny and Radar slept on doggy beds despite the ruckus being created around them. The Pointers are much like greyhounds in that they really just want a soft place to sleep in the house, and if that place is your lap, all the better, as they like to be close to you.

The secret to the Pointers is a good daily run or piece of exercise, even if it's just running and playing in the backyard with their owners or other dogs. It seems as though the Pointers have a reserve of energy that, once burned off - and it doesn't take a great deal, just a good run in the yard or some exercise with their owners - leaves them wanting little more than to sleep and relax in the house. The Labs, however, seem to have a higher sustained level of energy. While they don't really stretch their legs outside in the same way as the Pointers, they're more "on the go" more of the time.

We're finding the Pointers to offer the best of all worlds. They inspire us to get out and exercise ourselves - whether it's a good, long walk, a jog through our fields and woods, or running and playing in the backyard with the other dogs while we work in the yard with them - and then allow us to come inside and relax while they sleep. Our vet was right - if you're looking for trainable, bright, affectionate, sweet-tempered dog who will jog by your side and then sleep on your lap, it's hard to beat a Pointer.

A Weekend Out

Wilbur and Radar spent the weekend on the go. On Saturday, we took both to a field trial in central Illinois - not to hunt, just to watch - and were able to put both boys on some birds in holding pens just to see what they would do. Both demonstrated very nice form, and it was enlightening for us to see the two boys we've known only as house pets "do their thing." It was a beautiful thing to watch, but it was also amazing to watch them turn it on and then turn it off and hop in our laps when invited. They traveled well and were very good boys. It was interesting to see the hunters react to Radar; their heads turned as he walked by, and a friend of IBR commented what an attractive and seemingly well-bred classic Elhew-type Pointer he is.

While Radar and Wilbur were country boys yesterday, we asked them to be suburb boys today and took them to the Renick Riverfront Park on the Missouri River in Washington, Missouri, near our home. Renick is one of our favorite places but is also a great test for dogs. From the parking lot to the paved riverfront walkway, the boys were exposed to everything under the sun - trains, cars, boats, children, bikes, rollerblades, strollers, and other dogs ranging from little Yorkies to a giant Airedale. We couldn't have been more pleased with the boys; they took everything in stride, lapped up attention from children, and were extremely well-behaved. They're even starting to walk fairly well on the leash.

After our jaunt, we stopped for lunch at our favorite Mexican restaurant and ordered some ground beef for the boys. They loved their snack but seemed disappointed we didn't bring a couple of margaritas back to the truck for them. They were both so good - good traveling in their crates, good with strangers, and good with all the new sites and sounds.

It was interesting how many people were drawn to the boys during our jaunt today wanting to know what breed they are, from where they came, and what kind of personalities they have. As Lab owners, we're used to being out with the "everyman" breed - one people know already, so the attention the Pointers elicited was something new for us.

It reminded me of a conversation I had with our vet the other day about Pointers and the more popular sporting breeds. A Pointer enthusiast and owner, our vet said when clients and friends ask what kind of family dog they should get, he almost always recommends Pointers for active families with fenced yards ahead of the more popular Labs, Golden Retrievers, and Weimaraners. He went on to explain that Pointers have been carefully bred for centuries to be bird dogs par excellence, and throughout those generations, the dogs with temperament or health issues were culled out and not allowed to breed. While the methods used in that practice could be very cruel, they did have the result in the Pointer lines of producing nearly uniformly healthy, intelligent, capable dogs with excellent temperaments, high degrees of trainability, and a willingness to work for their owners. The relative rarity of Pointers has kept that purity of breeding intact, whereas the more popular breeds have been diluted with the result of more dogs in those breeds falling short of the breed standard and more health and temperament issues. It was an interesting and compelling thesis.