Even in the really warm mornings I have been getting the dogs out and working with them. I gave them all a hair cut and that has helped some but most mornings are 40 degrees warmer than the dogs really like. English setters do their best work at about 30 degrees or cooler. My favorite days to hunt are when the high is about 30 degrees. The roads stay frozen and it’s about the right temperature for the dogs. Oh well, it will be a while before we get that. So make the best of what we have.
Puppies eating their formula with puppy chow.
Gabe.
Abby and some of her pups.
I haven’t been taking any pictures of the dogs because they are doing the same old stuff all of the time. So I went way back to last years puppies for pictures for some of this. I may find some hunting pictures to put on as well.
One of the mornings I trained dogs it was 80 degrees at 6 am. By the time I went to train it was even warmer. I took Mann first. I heeled him to the shade of a pretty good sized hack berry tree. I tossed the Dokken quail dummy, trying to keep it in the shade, about 4 times. Mann nor Boss either, like the treats that I feed Sally and Abby. But Mann really likes to be petted. When he comes back to me, he stands for as long as I want to pet him, before I throw the dummy again. After a few retrieves I whoa him in the shade and walk about 20 yards to the 4-wheeler. I get on the 4-wheeler, start it, put it in gear and say, “okay”. As soon as he hears the okay he’s in a dead run to the back.
We’ve been doing this same exercise for a couple or three months. The dogs are used to it. Mann and Boss rush to the back, make the bend at the back and start for the front yard. They hit the fence line on the north side and there is no way I can keep up. I have to slow to cross the little wet weather creek that crosses the property and they don’t. By the time I cross the creek they are to the back of the house but they both cross the yard and head back to the west. When we first started I was worried about them going to the highway but they cross the front yard then head to the back.
Sally and Abby both aren’t as crazy about running as the boys are. They both, when we first started, ran a short distance then stopped to eat grass. I was riding on to the back then coming back and they would get in front for just a short distance before stopping to eat more grass. Now, when they stop I stop. Then I make them run in front of the 4-wheeler. Sometimes I do it by being a little way in front and I call them. Sometimes I tone them with their e-collar. Anything to get them in front and moving.
The boys are more active in their kennels than the girls are so they need this exercise. I’ve been doing this to keep them in front of the 4-wheeler for over a week as it’s already starting to pay off. They are running more and I think they are starting to enjoy being in front of the 4-wheeler.
Mann with Boss honoring.
I try to alternate the young dogs on who goes first each day. This morning I worked Boss first. I heeled him to the retrieving bench and he jumped onto it. After I walked him down and back on the bench I put 6 retrieving dummies out on the other end of the bench. I used 4 dowel type dummies and 2 long plastic dummies. One white and one blaze orange.
I started these young dogs out with the dowel type dummies and they prefer them to the plastic ones. The plastic ones are a little bigger and heavier and they have bumps on them. But I think just because I started with the others is why they don’t like them. But this is a way to teach them that they have to retrieve whatever I send them after. For a few mornings I just put the 4 dowel dummies out then I added a plastic dummy. After a few days I added a second plastic dummy. They still don’t like them.
Dolly on point.
Boss has been a little behind Abby with the retrieving but in the last few days Abby has regressed a little. Now Boss is ahead. I have dropped the toe pinch altogether and am using the e-collar only, now. But most of the time I don’t even use the e-collar. They are slow but when I tell them to fetch they go down the bench and slowly pick up the dummy. As soon as it comes off the ground I clap my hands and say, “alright, here”. They come to me. I pet them a lot before I say, “give”. I want them to get used to holding the dummy.
After Boss retrieved the 6 dummies I put them out again. After this time I petted him then set him on the ground with the Wonder lead around his neck. I placed a dowel dummy on the ground in front of him and said, “fetch”. When he picked it up I walked to the end of the Wonder lead and called him to me. He wants to drop the dowel when he gets close but just before he spits it out I say, “hold”. When I start petting him he tries to crawl into my lap. That’s okay. I pet him a lot. I place the dowel in front of him 3 times and he brings it to the end of the Wonder lead each time.
The last few days, with the high temperatures, I have been heeling all of the dogs to the shady spot under the hack berry tree, putting them on whoa, and walking about 20 yards to the 4-wheeler. I get on start it and put it in gear before saying, “alright”. When I say, “alright or okay” the dogs take off. A couple of laps around the yard and I sit on my tree trunk and pet Boss. He crawls into my lap. After a little while I put him in his kennel and got Abby out.
Tur Bo, Boss’s grandfather.
I heeled her to the bench and she jumped on to it. After I petted her and fed a few treats I put the 6 dummies on the other end of the bench. When I told her to fetch she moved like molasses on a really cold morning. I watched her on the first one and thought we would never get done at that speed. The second time I sent her I went toward the dummy too. That made her go a little faster but not much.
The third time I got really excited about the retrieve and ran down the bench. I was really animated and she picked up on that and moved a little faster. After she did the first 6 I put them down the bench for her again. With me trotting down the bench and acting really excited, she moved faster, almost a run, for the next 6. Again the trainees are teaching, the supposedly trainer, how to do this.
Abby pointing a pigeon.
I fed her a few treats then set her on the ground on whoa. I placed a dowel dummy on the ground in front of her and said, “fetch”. She acted like she had never heard that word before. I didn’t say it again. I held the button on the e-collar transmitter down on level 2. She very slowly picked up the dummy. Abby wants to walk with me when she’s on the ground so I whoaed her. I walked to the end of the Wonder lead and called her to me. She, too, wants to spit it out when she gets to me but I said, “hold” just before she got to me. I petted her for a few seconds.
I had her do this exercise 3 times then heeled her to the shade of the hack berry tree. A friend had called me yesterday and we discussed him whoa and heel breaking a couple of young dogs. I told him about putting my dogs on whoa and walking 20 yards to the 4-wheeler. I’ve been whoaing them near the 4-wheeler for a long long time and I’ve been whoaing them, farther away, in the shade for about a week. I’ve never had a dog move, until this morning. When I got to the 4-wheeler Abby was half way to me.
Boss in the berry vines pointing a chukar..
I whoaed her where she was. Then went to her and led her back to where she had been on whoa to start with. I whoaed her. I should have carried her but she’s too heavy. I went back to the 4-wheeler and she stayed until I released her. But now I have to call my friend and tell him that most of them will stay on whoa.
After she made a couple of laps of the yard I sat on the tree stump and fed her treats before putting her back in the kennel. I kind of think she may like the treats better than she likes me.
Sally is last because she’s in heat. If I work her first, I’m afraid the boys wouldn’t pay any attention to me or any training I could come up with. I just threw the Dokken quail for her 4 or 5 times and made her hold until I took the dummy from her. She’s really good about holding until I reach for the dummy because if she doesn’t do it right she doesn’t get a treat. And she loves those treats.
The stump, near the kennel, that I’ve made into a loving spot.
I put her on whoa in the shade and went to the 4-wheeler, got on, started it and put it in gear. She was watching but waited until I said, “alright” before running to the back. She’s getting a lot better about running instead of eating grass although she stopped a couple of times. After a couple of laps I fed her a few treats at the tree stump then put her in her kennel.
I get a lot of satisfaction from working with these dogs every day. By the time season opens all 4 should be better retrievers than they were last year and Sally and Mann did real well last year. And working with Boss and Abby keeps the dogs exercised some and me too. We all need it.