With the cooler mornings I am working with all 4 dogs most days. Usually I don’t work them or hunt them on Sunday but working them the other days is good for me as well as them. Also, this week I gave all 4 dogs a hair cut. This sounds easy but they all fight the hair cut a little but I had to put a muzzle on Sally so I could cut the hair on her ears. Even with the muzzle she tried to nip me when I cut close to her ears or high on her neck. I still didn’t get it as good as I should have but her ears are a little cleaner than before.
Boss pointing a pigeon.
Abby pointing a pigeon.
Abby pointing a pigeon.
I’m still cutting a hot dog into about 20 pieces and working the dogs on retrieving. When they do everything correctly they get a piece of hot dog. All except Boss. He won’t take a piece as long as we’re training. Once training is over and he’s standing on his house he will accept a chunk of hot dog.
Mann and Sally are almost always perfect on their retrieves. Most times I throw the Dokken quail for them 4 times each. Sometimes I take the dummy as soon as they get to me and sometimes I have them hold for a few seconds. Either way they hold until I touch the dummy. I take the dummy with one hand and give them a chunk of hot dog with the other. Sally is a chow hound and loves the hot dog. Mann wouldn’t take the hot dog for a long while. He just wanted to be petted. Now he knows he can get both so he takes the hot dog.
I worked Boss first this morning. I heel him close to the stump, take the Wonder lead off and toss the tennis ball a short distance. Boss doesn’t race out to get the tennis ball but he at least trots out and back. Most of the time he jumps onto the tree stump still holding the tennis ball. Usually, his head is down and I raise it before taking the tennis ball. This morning he retrieved the ball 4 times correctly. I didn’t try to feed him any hot dog but I did pet him and tell him what a good boy he is.
After the fourth retrieve I whoaed him as he stood on the tree stump. A few days ago before I got to the 4-wheeler he jumped off the stump but stood beside it. I went back, picked him up and dropped him on the stump. He hasn’t come off again until I say, “okay”, forcefully. Boss loves to run so we make a couple of laps around the training grounds.
When we get back to the kennel I sit on the stump and Boss crawls into my lap to be petted. Even at this time he will not take any hot dog. He just wants to be petted. If I try to put him up too soon he uses his head to keep me seated. We both enjoy this time. After a few minutes I say, “Okay” and he hops down and goes to his kennel.
Boss pointing a pigeon.
This morning Abby was next. I heeled her out and whoaed her beside the stump. I can throw the tennis ball for her quite a ways and she goes after it. She can hardly wait for me to throw it. When my hand goes back she will spin in a circle. Her ball is about the color of the grass so it makes it hard to see. If she loses it she keeps looking until she finds it. Most of my dogs quit easily when they lose the dummy or ball but not Abby.
Abby is fast retrieving and I have to have the hot dog ready when she gets back. She jumps onto the stump and I pet her for a second then take the ball and give her some hot dog, all the while telling her what a good girl she is. For her and Boss both I make a big deal out of them retrieving. I clap my hands and talk to them as they come toward me. I’m excited so they get excited also. After 4 good retrieves I whoa her on the stump and get on the 4-wheeler. She, too, has jumped off the stump but it’s been a while. I get on the 4-wheeler, make sure they are still on the stump, start the 4-wheeler, put it in gear and say, “Okay”. They run toward the back.
Abby pointing a pigeon.
After couple of laps around the training grounds I sit on the stump and give her another 3 or 4 chunks of hot dog while I pet her. When I say, “okay” she heads to her kennel.
The last couple of weeks I have been heeling the dogs around the yard and putting a pigeon to sleep in front of them after I whoa them. A few times I have hidden a pigeon in a release trap close to where I put a pigeon to sleep. The dogs will be pointing the pigeon that is asleep in front of them and I flush the bird in the release traps. Most of the time Boss raises his head but doesn’t move his feet. Abby seldom even moves her head. She’s locked on the one that is asleep in front of her and doesn’t pay any attention to the bird flying away.
This morning I hid 2 pigeons, in release traps, on the training grounds and had 2 more pigeons in a bird bag. I heeled Abby toward my front yard, whoaing her a couple of times. I whoaed her and put a pigeon to sleep right in front of her. When I straighten up from placing the bird in front of her she is rigid but her tail is down. When I first started doing this exercise her tail would almost wrap around my hand as I stroked it up. Now it just comes on up.
Boss pointing a pigeon.
I walked around Abby and the pigeon kicking the grass. I had another pigeon in the bag and I eased it out and threw it in front of Abby. She flinched but didn’t move. I stroked her belly and sides then rolled the pigeon that was asleep in front of her over. It flew away. Again Abby didn’t move. I heeled her to near the 4-wheeler.
I whoaed her, got on the 4-wheeler, started it and put it in gear. I said, “okay” and she was off. They run pretty good but when they know there is birds on the training grounds they really run. We had a pretty good wind but it was swirling as it usually does on these grounds. Abby missed the first bird on the way through the field and we went to the back. When we got close to the bird she hit the scent cone and locked up. She was looking the wrong way to start but by the time I got a picture and got off the 4-wheeler she knew where the bird was. She didn’t turn around. She kept her feet in place and turned her head and neck as far as possible to look behind her.
I stroked her sides and went all around her kicking the cover. She wasn’t moving. I flushed the bird and it flew to a low limb just a little way from us. As Abby started toward it, the bird flew real low to the ground, right in front of her. She chased it all the way back to the pigeon coop.
Vince’s short hair Ally pointing a pigeon.
When she came back we went onto the neighbor’s side. When she hit the scent cone on this bird she pointed then took a step. I flushed the pigeon and said, “whoa”. She stopped and watched the pigeon light in a close tree but up high. I went to her and set her back where she should have stayed when she pointed. I stroked her up then tapped her head and said, “okay”. She ran back to the kennel.
I reloaded the release traps and put a couple of birds in the bird bag and heeled Boss out. We went to the front yard. I had whoaed him a couple of times before we got to the front. I whoaed him then put a pigeon to sleep right in front of him. I stroked his sides, walked around him and the pigeon in front of him. I took a pigeon from the bird bag and threw it in front of him. It wasn’t real close to the pigeon that was asleep but it woke anyway. They both flew at the same time. Boss didn’t move. I stroked his sides and heeled him away.
Boss with a dowel dummy.
When we got close to the 4-wheeler I whoaed him until I got on and was ready to follow. At my okay he was off. By the time I got to the back he was on point on the first bird. I took some pictures then walked around kicking the cover. I flushed the pigeon and it had a little trouble flying out of the brush but Boss didn’t move. I stoked his sides then tapped his head. He went back to hunting.
When I got close to the next bird I saw Boss trying to point but he wasn’t getting much of the scent. I tapped his head to send him on and he moved up where he got more scent and went on a more rigid point. He was looking the wrong way but he had the scent. I stroked his sides and walked around him. When I flushed the bird behind him he just barely looked at it. He didn’t move. I stroked his sides and tapped his head but he didn’t move. He was still pointing into a clump where I hadn’t put a bird.
Abby with a dowel dummy.
I tried to get him to move and he took a step or two into the clump and went back on point. I looked around in front of him and saw where something had caught one of my pigeons. There were feathers everywhere. Probably a hawk had caught one of the pigeons I had used earlier and the scent was still strong. He didn’t want to leave the area but I didn’t want him in a fight with a hawk so we went back to the kennel.
Prairie chicken season opens today in Kansas but the weather is too warm for my dogs and the next few days will be hotter. Maybe next week late it will cool off enough to get the dogs out. We are ready.