German Wirehaired Pointer Club of America

[Dave1967]

Mike I am going to throw out a word of caution to you concerning taking the pup for "a ride in the jeep every now and then". You see a lot of people that run up and down the road with a dog in the back of their pickup unleashed. Don't do it. No matter how well you think you have trained your dog to not jump out of the pickup you can not train for or anticipate that one stimulus that overcomes all of your training. The dog will jump to chase a cat or other dog or because he sees some ducks on a pond. Sometimes that unplanned exit will be into traffic or at the very least into an unfamiliar neighborhood and if the pup lands safely and is not hit by a passing car he will be off and gone chasing a cat, dog, squirrel, duck or whatever triggered his jump. I like having my dog with me when we travel, but the pups travel in there own crates and only get out of the pickup or car on a leash until we are comfortable with the area. This applies to shopping trips as well as hunting trips. One additional note: a resource that you may already be using is your base Vet. They should be able to not only provide some medical support for the pup, but also point you toward some other Base personnel that have bird dogs. These guys can in turn point you toward the area hunting spots.

[maddog]

The base vet is a very good point. They will help you with everything except for surgical procedures. Although in some extreme cases a surgical case will quietly show up. Take advantage of them, it might take you a few weeks to get in for vaccinations, but the service is good. If there is no clinic on base check with the SP's working dog kennel. They can give you info on the next scheduled trip in. I used to travel all over Utah, Colorado and Wyoming running clinics. There's nothing like driving from Denver to Cheyene, Wy in the middle of the winter:)

Steve Kreuser