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Cherrystone Orange Blossom - "Tinker"
(CH Castaway Wilcin von Harwil x CH Cherrystone Clams Casino, JH)

Tinker is a female Weimaraner, bred by Pam Cherry of Cherrystone Weimaraners. She came to me at the age of 8 months, with the intention of training her for Search and Rescue work as a tracking dog. That is still my intent, but in the meantime, we've also started to participate in activities that her breed was developed to do - hunting! We have so far competed in a couple of AKC Field Trials, and have one leg of our Junior Hunter title. We will likely skip the rest of JH and move on to Senior and Master Hunter levels in the future. We also participate in training with NAVHDA (North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association), and plan to test in their system, as well. Agility may also be in our future, as I find it rewarding, and a great way to maintain and improve the bond with my dog, and also keep us both in condition for our other recreations. Tinker is not being shown in the breed ring at this time. That may change, but it is unlikely. While she meets standard, she is on the smaller side of that standard, and many of today's judges prefer the larger dogs that have dominated the ring for some time.

Tinker is a high drive dog, with a stunning, intensely stylish point... when she takes the time to do so! She often prefers to chase and catch her birds rather than point them. This was not always the case, but we stumbled through our introduction to this pursuit, and it is her misfortune to have a complete novice as her owner/handler! My first intro to working a dog on birds was with slow coturnix quail, an eager adolescent dog, and a wet, slippery cotton long line - and instruction of "Don't let her catch it." That didn't go so well. The line slipped through my hands, and she quickly learned that she was easily capable of catching the birds, despite my efforts to prevent it. She spent a few months of the summer of 2011 with professional trainer, Greg Dixon, on wild birds in North Dakota. The hope was that he, and the birds, would be able to curb her determination to catch. He was able to make some small progress on this, and returned her to me to continue the work.

In the fall of 2011, we started our first season hunting together. We were invited to participate in a Youth Pheasant Hunt, as one of six dogs working the birds that day. This was her first time on pheasant, and she produced 8 birds, with two wild flushes, and thereafter handled each of them better than the last, culminating in some outstanding points. We started going out for ourselves a week or so later. Our first hunt for us, she produced four birds, though I only managed to shoot one - a cock pheasant with a 19.25 inch tail, and 1 inch spurs. It was apparently a clear case of beginner's luck, as I haven't managed to hit anything since. She is an eager and willing hunting companion, who will enter any cover I send her into, no matter how heavy, or how many briars there may be. We train our groundwork 5 to 6 days a week, a few times per day, working on "whoa" and fetch basics (she is a natural retriever, but sometimes doesn't like to give the birds up easily), and then we have a field day to put it all together. This gives me a fair idea of how the training is coming along, and what we may need to concentrate on throughout the next week or so of our training.

At home, Tinker is silly, sweet, loyal, and very expressive, sprinkled with a bit of "joyfulness" ("She's not hyper - she's joyful!"). She is content to "turn off" and lie curled up at our feet if we're at a computer, or next to us, if we're sitting on the sofa or floor, watching tv or playing video games. She can often be seen suckling on one of her back feet, as she lulls herself to sleep. I find this especially funny after we've been out hunting - tough little hunting dog, sucking on her tootsie... *lol* But she is always ready and willing to go on a second's notice when we have places to go and things to do. She gets along well with the other dogs in the house, though, being a bitch, she does have a tendency to take a more dominant role. She generally exerts her dominance simply by standing over another dog, or by grooming, whether they want her to or not. That's not to say we don't have our occasional scuffles, as every multi-dog household will have them now and then. But they are remarkably few and far between. With outside dogs, she is sometimes eager to meet and play, but other times indifferent. When meeting new people she is mostly friendly, rarely aloof, and sometimes even exuberant. If she likes you, be careful of her little "Hiya!" nip to the end of your nose. ;-)

Though only almost two years old at the time this was written, I have to say that Tinker is one of those wonderful, once in a lifetime dogs. I will never say she is perfect, as that is just too great of an expectation for any living being, and unfair to her to have to try to live up to. I am extremely grateful to Pam for selecting us

to be Tinker's family.