Texas Coastal Brittany Club

May 2012

Paw Prints

Texas Coastal Brittany Club

HoustonTexas (TCBC)

TCB Club 2012 Calendar

May 8 / TCBC Meeting – and Officer and Board Elections7:00 p.m. Trini Mendenhall SOSA Community Center, 1414 Wirt Road at the corner of Westview and Wirt. The building is next door to a Valero gas station.
June / No TCBC Meeting
July 19 / Houston Reliant Specialty Show
July 21 / Planned Summer Social, BBQ$10 a plate,Little Woodrow’s Ice House, Houston (weekend of specialty show)
August / Planned Clay Shoot, AmericanShootingCenter (date to be announced)
September 11 / Board Meeting 6:00 p.m.,TCBC Meeting 7:00 p.m. Trini Mendenhall SOSA Community Center, 1414 Wirt Road at the corner of Westview and Wirt. The building is next door to a Valero gas station. Agenda: set up next years meeting and contact SOSA
October / No TCBC Meeting
November 2, 3, 4 / Club Field Trial, Boyd Ranch, Wortham, Texas
December / No TCBC Meeting
January, 2013 / In planning stages potentially a Sunday, Monday, Tuesday
CLUB / BY-LAW INFORMATION
Fiscal Year / June 1 through May 31, Meetings second Tuesday of designated months
Board Membership / Not exceed 10% of Full Membership. Officers are members of the board.
Membership / Full Member: $30 ($20 to American Brittany, $10 to TCB Club)
Associate Member: $3 ($1 to American Brittany, $2 TCB Club) Contact AKC at AKC.ORG to renew your membership
Voting Quorum / At any meeting: 1/10 voting members (Associate + Full + Honorary Members))

Dog of the Year Awards – Points as of April 30, 2012  Forms Due May 15, 2012

The committee chair is Michelle Lingan. Members of the committee are Robert Power and Mary Crawford. Let me know if you need the rules and the forms . Talley up your points as of April 30. There are some club dogs that have those points. The forms are due May 15 to Michelle.

Nominations Committee Formed – Announces Slate of Officers and Board Members

The nominations committee offers the following slate of officers who will be voted on at the May 8, 7:00 p.m. meeting.

OFFICERS (officers are members of the board)
President,Patricia
1st Vice President - Activities, Michelle Lingan,
2nd Vice President - Field Trial, Jim
3rd Vice President – Specialty Show, Mary
Hunt TestsOpen Position

Secretary/Treasurer- Robert
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
James
Fred

Summer Social – July 21, Houston at Little Woodrow’s Ice House

The summer social is planned the weekend of the Houston Reliant Specialty. This has been a success in the past because it will fall during the specialty show. More information will be provided. Fred Brooks, who does an excellent job planning the social, will coordinate again. Thanks Fred.

Speakers at Future Meetings

Michelle Lingan announced she has contacts who will agree to come to our meetings and speak on dog-type topics. Thank you Michelle. Stay tuned.

Club Website

James Barrett and Robert Power have agreed to update our club website which is an open invitation for new members. The club agreed to reimburse Robert for costs regarding the website. Thank you guys. Stay tuned.

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Article by Fred Brooks Anna - A Smile, Douche and Doves

Patricia Mankin has asked me to write an article for Paw Prints each month, so here is my first effort. Since my involvement with the Brittany has been as a member of thefamily and as a bird dog, that is what I will emphasize. I know that there is more to the Brittany fancy than that.So, any member who wants to supply material on anything relating to the Brittany, or anyone who wants to write an article, get in touch with Fred Brooks, 3618 Aberdeen Houston, TX 77025, or 713-669-8972, or .

This first article (and probably many others) will be about "Anna”. Anna was a forty poundliver/white female. She was an absolute natural. She made me feel like I had arrived as a dog trainer. I have heard it saidthat a man and/or woman is entitled to one really great bird dog. She was IT. Intelligent, great temperament,good nose, good bird sense, natural pointer, backer, soft-mouth retriever, easily trained. At least I thought I was training her. She did have one exasperating trait. Once a year she would pull some completely out of character prank. Do not tell me that these animals can't think or have no sense of humor. She would come in after one of her performances, look me in the eye and say "OK Buster, I have this bird hunting figured out, but do not think that I am an extension of your right arm, I am a person (of the dog type) and don't forget it". I have three instances that I will sharewith you.

We had a good day hunting wild birds (quail) and were on the way back to the truck. She was hunting well to the front, and when she reached the truck she blew right on by. This was not unusual; when she sensed that the hunt was overwe were on way back to the truckso we could go home. This time though she kept going down a fence line, she had a favorable wind in her face; then in a completely anomalous act, she ran up a single quail. He took off perpendicular to the fence line with Anna right behind him,he went down in the middle of this large pasture, and she put him in the air again,and then watched him fly off. She came back to the truck with a smile on her face and said "did you whistle?” DidI punish her? Of course not--you don't punish them for coming in; you only punish them, if you can catch them, but for not coming in. This would have been a good time to have an e-collar, which I never did use on Anna.

On another wild quailhunt in a pasture with an abundance of close ground coverAnna pointed acovey. I knocked down two on the covey rise. She retrieved the far one I picked up the near one. I sent her on, she went about 200yards and went on point again. I thought she had a single. I hustled over there, kicked around--nothing, and then I saw it-- black with a white stripe down its back. As always when dealing with a skunk I gave it both barrels. I sent Anna on, then I will be #^@*%$ if she didn't go over there and roll in it. There are two things I would like to share with you about this. One,as sensitive as a Brit's nose is, why is it that skunk juice doesn't bother them? She went ahead and pointed the singles. The other is anX-rated tip that I had read about. Most people who have Brittanys have experienced skunk encounters. I have tried tomato juice; all it does is make them look like they lost a fight with a chain saw. The solution is Massengail'sDouche. This stuff really works. You put it on andthe next day, ifthe odor is back, hit ‘em again and that is it.

This last instance is a little hard to write about as it was just before Ihad to have Anna put down. I was using Anna as adove retriever. Yes, Brits can be a more than adequate dove dog. The first job is to convince them that they need to sit down here beside you and not try to cover a section every few minutes. Once you accomplish this, the rest is easy. The dove hunting at my farmvaries between mediocre andzero. Anna and I went outand gave it the old college try. I only knocked down 3 doves. Since it was late and getting dark, I breasted the doves. As usual I threw the remainsout in the lake so the turtles could cleanthem up. Anna decided to join in she swam out to get one of the remains, when she got back to where the water was belly deep on her, I had on leather boots and couldn't tend to her. She looked me right into the eye, and then it was down the hatch with the dove.

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