WHAT ARE ROGER AND SUZANNE UP TO THESE DAYS?

            There are currently two Roger and Suzanne novels at the Work in Progress stage.   The first book, still untitled (but there’s a strong nominee for the honor), brings our two detectives to Alaska’s Denali National Park, a 6 million acre chunk of unspoiled wilderness capped by the highest mountain in North America.  If they’re going to leave South America, I reasoned, why not take them as far away as possible?  And, on top of that, Elaine and I had taken a vacation to Denali (and elsewhere in Alaska) a year or two ago in preparation for this book.

            The novel begins, as many of the Roger and Suzanne series does, with a brutal murder, this one in the National Park.  The victims, who we had met previously as supporting characters in “The Surreal Killer”, were close friends of one of our series regulars, Vincent Romero, Roger’s partner in his private detective agency in Los Angeles since “The Deadly Dog Show”.  Vincent asks Roger to investigate the death of his friends, and we‘re off for our usual mix of travel, tourism, and murder that are the trademarks of this mystery series.  The novel is complete, currently going through its third round of edits, and may be ready for publication as soon as the end of this month.   If anyone wants to volunteer to write a review for the book page on Amazon, I’ll be happy to send you a pre-publication copy to read as soon as the current round of edits (by Elaine and me) is complete.  Just e-mail me or message me on Facebook with your e-mail address if you’re interested. 

GERMAN SHORTHAIRED POINTERS AND HUNT TESTS-PART III: MASTER HUNTER

The third, and final, entry in my series of posts about hunt tests and our dogs follows. I hope at least some of my readers found this series interesting.  If all goes as planned, the venue of hunt tests will be the centerpiece for the next novel in the series.

Master Hunter is the third, final, and by far the most demanding, title a hunting dog can achieve in hunt tests.  Very few dogs achieve this title compared to the number of dogs who become Junior Hunters.

What are the judges looking for? Junior Hunter is all about the dog’s instincts and motivation to hunt.  Senior Hunter competition adds in the criteria of trainability and having the required skills to hunt with minimal guidance from the handler.  This third and most difficult hunt test degree, the Master Hunter level, adds the requirements of a polished and perfect performance by the dog without guidance in the field.  Now the judges are looking for the trained bird dog in all respects– steady to wing and shot, and able to scrupulously honor its brace mate as soon as it sees the other dog find the bird.  The handler is not allowed to give the dog any instructions in the field; the bird dog’s training has to be complete before the test.

GERMAN SHORTHAIRED POINTERS AND HUNT TESTS-PART I

Good news today:  The Deadly Dog Show won today's (7/26/14) Indie Book of the Day Award.  This Roger and Suzanne mystery novel features Juliet, a poorly disguised Jolie, as one of the detectives in a complex murder case.  Romeo, a poorly disguised Ries, is born at the end of the novel.  Sooner or later Roger and Suzanne will have to solve a murder or two at a hunt test.

Like the movie Groundhog Day, each new puppy we keep starts off the cycle of conformation shows and hunt tests once again in our household.  At the moment we have four generations of dogs, great grandma Viña, Grandma Jolie, mother Schöne, and son Ries, still a puppy.  All three of the older girls are currently at the Senior Hunter level, with Jolie two qualifying rounds away from Master Hunter status and Viña functioning at the Master Hunter level in the field, even though she resists honoring random brace mates in hunt tests.  Today’s post will focus on Ries, who has already completed his Junior Hunter certification (at 7 months of age), and what it requires to earn the Junior Hunter title.

What are the judges looking for?  Junior Hunter competition is mostly about the dog’s instincts and motivation to hunt.  The animals need enough training to understand what is expected of them, but finding a bird and pointing it should be instinctual in a well-bred pointing dog.  At this level, the judges want the dog to show they want to go out in the field and search for birds.  The judge is looking for the dog to demonstrate using its nose and searching for birds by their scent.

SCHÖNE”S LITTER---UPDATED

            The long-anticipated day arrived Monday, 10/21.  The puppies were 8-weeks old and ready to begin relocation to their new homes.  Two of the pups left us---Gil to go to his new home in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains about an hour northeast of us, and Molly to her new home in Silicon Valley, about 2 hours southwest of us.   Gil will be living with two adults and several horses being trained and competing in endurance events.   Eventually, we’ll find out for sure whether an adult GSP can trot along for 20-30 miles without having to breathe hard, but I think all of us who own this breed of dogs already knows the answer to that.  They are incredibly gifted athletes with huge chests and equally huge hearts that translate to great stamina and endurance in the field.   Molly in Silicon Valley will be joining a family with a teenaged son and his younger sister, an ideal situation for a puppy that loves cuddling and people.   She also may have a show career ahead for her based on puppy grades, and will surely have a hunting career based on what the new owners are looking for from their dog.

BEHIND THE SCENES AT THE DEADLY DOG SHOW

            The newest book in the Roger and Suzanne series, The Deadly Dog Show, is getting excellent reviews (see a couple of previous posts below, July 26th and August 1st) and four of the more recent ones at the end of this entry.  It’s also selling well, apparently both to dog lovers and to mystery fans.  As indicated in the book’s foreword and this blog, the canine heroine of the novel, Juliet, is very much modeled after our middle dog, Jolie.  This post explores the real-life origins of a few specific scenes in the novel and takes you "behind the scenes" to illustrate the integration of reality and fiction in my creative process.

SENIOR HUNTERS: A GRANDMOTHER-MOTHER-DAUGHTER THING

A few weeks ago Jolie and her daughter Schoene finished their senior hunter certification about two braces apart during a local AKC hunt test.  Grandma Vinia has had her Senior Hunter certification for several years, so we now have three generations of Senior Hunters to hunt pheasant, quail, and chukar with.  Vinia functions at the Master Hunter level, but refuses to honor any dog she doesn’t respect so only has a few legs on her MH degree and is now a spectator when the younger generations of the family compete in hunt tests.  Interestingly, Vinia has no difficulty honoring any of her family members (including all of the brothers and sisters of her pack mates) while hunting in the field so hunts at the MH level in real life as opposed to hunt tests.  A couple of months ago we were hunting five dogs at once---Vinia, Jolie, Schoene, Sarah (another granddaughter), and Tiger (a Jolie brother)---on a large field.  Somebody (either Jolie or Schoene) found a pheasant and pointed it.  Four other dogs stopped where they were and honored the point.  They’re trained to hold the point (and the honor) until someone human does something about the bird.  That’s a pretty spectacular sight!  It makes finding the bird pretty easy.

THE VERY EFFICIENT HUNTERS

            What do I mean by efficient hunters?   How about getting four pheasants with three shots in less than 20 minutes?  It really happened.  Keep reading for the details.