I was reflecting this morning on the past weekend's Hunt Test in Maine with our English Cocker pup, Chunk. The three of us, Gerron, Chunk and I, had such a wonderful time catching up with folks, meeting others and of course watching the dogs do what they were bred to do. It doesn't matter whether it's sled dogs, herding dogs, hunting dogs, whatever, I am always fascinated watching them work. This got me to thinking about my own journey into the world of flushing dogs, especially my first day training at Churchie Kennel & Gun Dog Training with Steve Church, when he put a hand on my shoulder and said "remember this day".
My only experience working with flushing dogs up to that point had been a too brief period with a Lab we had in high school that my brother and I trained using only a book from the Outdoor Life Book Club. We sent in our penny and a promise to buy more books within a certain period of time. With neither of us working, keeping that promise was tough but we did it. We had that Lab quartering, retrieving, doing multiple marks, blind retrieves, just my brother and I and our Lab, "Buck". He was taken from us at the age of two and was the last dog we had until I was on my own.
I've had other dogs since then that have done some flushing, but they were pointing dogs so that hardly counts (because they aren't supposed to flush). Hunting behind pointing dogs is entirely different than hunting behind flushing dogs or at least it is for me. I'll drive to an area I want to hunt, get out a dog and equip him with bell and e-collar and let him go. The dog will make a pass, figure out the wind and head into the woods deciding how he will cover it. He will be out of sight in no time and I'll follow along listening for the bell and when the bell stops, I'll head into the direction where I last heard it until I see the dog on point.
Shooting over a dog on point is a magical thing that I can't get enough of, but there isn't a whole lot of interaction between the dogs and me with the exception of an occasional "come 'round" or when I call them in for water. I put in an incredible amount of time training these dogs to handle far away from me and it has been both rewarding and effective for us. But it is different (I'm getting to the banjos, I promise).
Now in the words of Bluegrass musician Ron Thomason, "Now, I told you that story to tell you this one".
When I was a kid we used to watch The Beverly Hillbillies. The theme song for the show featured Earl Scruggs playing the five string banjo and the first time I heard it I was hooked. Other shows like the Andy Griffith Show and later, shows like Hee Haw, and several variety shows like the Tennessee Ernie Ford Hour, The Glen Campbell Show, etc. would feature a banjo player from time to time and I knew I always wanted to play one. Unfortunately I never knew anybody that played banjo and by the time I hit High School I also fell in love with the guitar, both electric and acoustic and started playing those. It wasn't until several years later that I got a banjo and started learning to play it.
Because I had fallen in love with the Scruggs style of playing that is what I learned how to play and eventually became somewhat proficient with it playing a lot in jams and in a band and even did a recording with it. I just couldn't learn the banjo fast enough and couldn't get enough of it, until...
One day we were attending one of the Noppet Hill Bluegrass festivals (I forget which one, but it was mid to late '90s) and while I was out walking around early one morning I heard this incredible sound. I could tell there was some kind of banjo, a fiddle and a guitar that I could hear. So like a hunting dog following scent, I tracked that sound to it's source. To my surprise there was one of my friends, music mentor, true renaissance man and all around great guy, Robert Fraker playing the sweetest sounding clawhammer banjo you ever heard. He along with the others in that small early morning jam (or maybe it was still going on from the night before) were playing old time fiddle tunes that were being done to perfection; just so incredibly tasteful, mournful, soulful, joyful, almost all at the same time. I didn't know at the time that Robert played clawhammer banjo in addition to his many other talents but I found out that he is a championship clawhammer player, although he'd be the last one to tell you that.
So I vowed to myself that I would learn how to play clawhammer banjo. Robert showed me the basic bump-ditty stroke that is the foundation of the clawhammer sound. I went home and practiced it over and over but just could never get it down right. I got books that described it, cd's that I could play along to, every thing I could think of, but I just could never develop a smooth clawhammer stroke. I would give up for a time and try again a year or two later but I just couldn't do it. I eventually got to where I could play a couple of songs to the point that they were recognizable (June Apple and Fortune if you're wondering) but never to a level I thought acceptable.
I discovered something interesting though during my banjo endeavors and it was this. Other banjo players were struggling with the same thing. I was in a jam with a clawhammer player one time and complimented him on his playing and told him how incredibly difficult I found clawhammer to be. He told me he thought it was easy but he always struggled with Scruggs style picking. He thought that was the more difficult style. Similar discussions with pickers of both stripes revealed that they each thought the style they started out with was easier than the style they were trying to learn. Some of them eventually became proficient at both but I was never one of them even to this day.
Which brings me back to working with dogs. I still feel that handling pointing dogs is easier than handling flushing dogs but what I don't yet know is the reason. Is it because I started with pointing dogs and am now trying to learn something new or is it because handling flushing dogs is in fact more difficult. I wonder if people that started with flushers and switched to pointing dogs have as hard a time as I do or if it's just because I'm an old dog that has a hard time learning new tricks. It's hard to tell though because I haven't met many flushing dog people that switched to pointing dogs.
What I have learned though is that Chunk has made great progress in a short period of time. Each trip out is so much fun. Every time he does something well I think back to that first day when he was first learning to work a cover; the same day when Steve told me to "remember this day". That is when I see how far we've come. And, whenever I start to feel like I'm holding Chunk back, like he is ready for more or should be further along if not for me, I remember something else Steve told me and from time to time reminds me of. "It's not about the ribbons, it's about the process and the journey". To that I can only add, Amen.
Enjoy your dogs,
Ken
