By Chad Love

One of the great things about the Internet is the window it provides for learning about sporting traditions in the rest of the world. Since I am not much of a big-game hunter these days, I tend to restrict my cross-cultural hunting-related web surfing to pursuits involving birds, shotguns and dogs. You can spend hours on YouTube watching all sorts of things, from classic European driven grouse shoots to British retriever field trials to coursing hounds to videos detailing how Ukrainian gundog owners teach the basic blind retrieve. And how, exactly, does the Ukrainian gundog owner in this video teach blinds? With a bottle of vodka, of course...

This video has apparently been floating around the Web for some time now, but being the stodgy unhipster that I am, I had never seen it before noodling around on YouTube last night, trying to find video on eastern European upland hunting and pointing dogs. Instead, I discovered this decidedly Slavic twist on the classic American "Dog Fetches Beer/Paper/Slippers" trick. Some things, it seems, are universal. I personally have never trained a dog to bring me any sort of frosty beverage or spirit, but perhaps I should rethink that position so I, too, can achieve Internet fame.

Interestingly enough, I never did find out anything about upland hunting in eastern Europe — other than their dogs make good bartenders — but judging by the video it's apparently a helluva good time.

Comments (5)

from Double D wrote 13 weeks 2 days ago

This video is relevant to my interests.

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from Ontario Honker ... wrote 13 weeks 2 days ago

Dog slobber in my hooch? No thanks! I don't mind them kissing me (except when the pup has been eating turds in the back yard), but I just can't picture myself sucking on any bottle the dog brought to me. Yech! And you're not just going to wipe that sticky goop off either. "Where'd you put the sandblaster, Ivan?"

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from Nyflyangler wrote 13 weeks 1 day ago

Considering alcohol is poisonous for dogs, I don't find this all that funny.

Reminds me of a time about twenty years ago when a former friend thought it'd be a good idea to give another friend's seeing eye dog a beer during a bar night. After we found out we took turns beating on the stupid bimbo.

Now that was fun.

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from Ontario Honker ... wrote 13 weeks 18 hours ago

Congratulations on beating up your former friend for nothing. A dog the size of one needed for seeing eye assistance could handle a bit of beer no problem. Beer and chocolate are not nearly as "toxic" as most people believe. Yeah, for teeny dogs one must be careful and don't make a habit of it in any event. But a bit of beer or the odd piece of chocolate is not going to have any detrimental effect on a dog the size of a lab. Mind you, I don't feed myself beer at home, let alone the dogs. But I don't have a cow if they happen to scarf up a chocolate chip that falls on the floor when I'm making cookies and I'll give them a bit of my Snickers when we're out hunting. They haven't dropped over dead yet.

By the way, I have also heard that alcohol is an emergency treatment for antifreeze poisoning. Not sure about that one though. Maybe another old wives' tale?

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from Nyflyangler wrote 12 weeks 6 days ago

The guide dog was my friend's eyes for all intents and purposes. Their way of getting home. The stupidity of giving the dog beer needed needed to be rewarded and the perpetrator needed to be encouraged to never do it again.

Mission accomplished.

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from Double D wrote 13 weeks 2 days ago

This video is relevant to my interests.

0 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from Ontario Honker ... wrote 13 weeks 2 days ago

Dog slobber in my hooch? No thanks! I don't mind them kissing me (except when the pup has been eating turds in the back yard), but I just can't picture myself sucking on any bottle the dog brought to me. Yech! And you're not just going to wipe that sticky goop off either. "Where'd you put the sandblaster, Ivan?"

0 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from Nyflyangler wrote 13 weeks 1 day ago

Considering alcohol is poisonous for dogs, I don't find this all that funny.

Reminds me of a time about twenty years ago when a former friend thought it'd be a good idea to give another friend's seeing eye dog a beer during a bar night. After we found out we took turns beating on the stupid bimbo.

Now that was fun.

0 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from Ontario Honker ... wrote 13 weeks 18 hours ago

Congratulations on beating up your former friend for nothing. A dog the size of one needed for seeing eye assistance could handle a bit of beer no problem. Beer and chocolate are not nearly as "toxic" as most people believe. Yeah, for teeny dogs one must be careful and don't make a habit of it in any event. But a bit of beer or the odd piece of chocolate is not going to have any detrimental effect on a dog the size of a lab. Mind you, I don't feed myself beer at home, let alone the dogs. But I don't have a cow if they happen to scarf up a chocolate chip that falls on the floor when I'm making cookies and I'll give them a bit of my Snickers when we're out hunting. They haven't dropped over dead yet.

By the way, I have also heard that alcohol is an emergency treatment for antifreeze poisoning. Not sure about that one though. Maybe another old wives' tale?

0 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from Nyflyangler wrote 12 weeks 6 days ago

The guide dog was my friend's eyes for all intents and purposes. Their way of getting home. The stupidity of giving the dog beer needed needed to be rewarded and the perpetrator needed to be encouraged to never do it again.

Mission accomplished.

0 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

Post a Comment

 

All submitted comments are subject to the rules set forth in our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.