Ask Dennis
By Dennis Guldan

Chasing Tweeties?
Dennis: I have been reading your magazine for about six months and tons of articles from back issues online. I love what you do. Sorry if I missed this somewhere but I have a question/problem. My 6 month old German Shorthair pup wants to try to catch tweety birds that fly over her when we are out looking for birds, is this a problem? What should I do?

Your six month old pup is like a 1 year old kid. Do we tell them you can't catch butterflies or scold them. We do only if we want an ax murderer in our family. Let your dog have fun don't push her too soon.
I watched Jenny do that for ten minutes the other day and never yelled. And do you know what she found out after ten minutes? She could not catch them and they were just playing with her. And Jenny is just over a year old. So now Jenny ignores tweeties cause she knows its a waste of her time and energy. Further I think it has instilled the pointing instinct in her to stalk and point a bird.
Before modern medicines dogs weren't even trained until they were two years old, partly because a good number never made it to two. So for the first two years we used to let our dogs chase tweeties and butterflies and get it out of their system, we just push our dogs and probably our kids a bit too hard these days. DG
That time of year
Dennis I have a year old GSP that has the run of the yard and rarely leaves it. Just in the past few days I have found her blocks away what is going on?

Is she also picking up stuffed toys and carrying them around like a baby? Jenny had the same problem, I'll give you three guesses and the first two don't count. She's about to come into heat. I would put her on leash and keep close watch on her for the next month. Because in this state she isn't always sane.
With last heat Jenny had an external cyst that went away with no issues. Thankfully. I am sure the vet would have done a battery of tests, making my wallet lighter, if I had not mentioned it. You may want to mark down the date and six months from now. As dumb as it sounds a person should keep track of those dates for both medical and strange behavior reasons. Males... they are nuts all the time.
Smelly Anal Glands
Dennis is there anything that can be done for smelly anal glands?
Yes there is, they can be removed. And if all goes well, your dog will not loose control of it's bodily functions. Having a Scooby our year old Springer, Ellen and I know all too well what you speak of. Vizslas do not have the problem but other breeds like Labs do. I had heard of people complaining of it before but until you have a dog snuggling with you, you don't really know how bad it is. We are not going to chance the surgery and are just moving our bed to a different zip code. My vet showed me a great way to release the bad scent... but it may be worth the $20 bill the vet charges. Get a glove... stick a finger up the "Smelly area" about an inch and a half and roll the finger... and for god sake do not stand in back of the dog... with Scooby the smelly juice flew 3 ft to the wall. Best you have your vet show you... but it really helped. Scooby's trainer also suggested some stuff to make the stool hard, thus forcing out the smelly juice. DG
Wired pup
Dennis, I have a pup that's restless all the time. Do you have any ideas?

I have two suggestions. First owning two dogs, though a bit more pricey can be less hassle than one. Just as I'm sure you would get bored with no one to talk to. And Ellen has found that if she buys beef neck bones once a week for $1.50 a pound, 3 bones for $2 our dogs are much calmer. Chewing on the bones all week gets rid of a lot of their stress. To prepare the neck bones Ellen boils them in water for 20 minutes, lets them cool then leaves them in the fridge for the pups.
Got any issues or questions? Send me a letter or e-mail, I'll give you my two cents worth.
Dennis Guldan publisher Bird Dog & Retriever News, hails from New Brighton, MN by way of Marshfield, WI