Our weather is up and down. A few days of nice cool mornings and then we have the warm mornings. When I’m working the dogs I can see the dogs and should be able to tell when they are too hot. I worry less about the dogs than the pigeons in the release traps, covered by the trap and grass, with very little breeze to keep them cool. Probably, more than I should worry about but I do.
Stormy pointing a pigeon.
Stormy pointing a pigeon.
Annie pointing a pigeon.
I got Bodie home from his trip to Nebraska/South Dakota. It was about dark when I led him to the kennel. He seemed happy to be home and when we entered the kennel he passed Sally’s kennel but touched noses with Abby, his mother, and went right on to his kennel. The same run he’s had since he was separated from his siblings as a puppy. I often wonder if that is just a coincidence or if he really knows that she is his mother.
Before Bodie went north I had worked him on pigeons with an e-collar. Most of his life I have run him off the 4-wheeler and now I have a side by side. I was going to run him from the side by side and when I got in I had the hand held for the e-collar and my camera in the same pocket, in a bag around my waist. My leg was against the console in the side by side and it mashed the camera into the e-collar button giving him a long electrical shock. It was only on level 2 but it confused Bodie.
I worked with him several times but if I got in the side by side he would not move. As long as I was walking and had pigeons out, he was fine. But when he got to Nebraska there were several side by sides in camp and usually one going somewhere. Bodie was traumatized. All my fault. Justin worked with him a lot and finally got him through it. It took a lot of work, though.
When I got him home I ran him the first morning without any birds out. Just to see how he would do. I put an e-collar on him but didn’t turn it on. He ran but stayed closer to me than normal, I think.
A few days later I put 3 birds out for him. I heeled him around the yard a little then on to the back. These dogs are smart. He knew there were birds to find and he ran as of old. I had used the side by side to put the birds out and I had heeled him close to it. I didn’t try to run him from the side by side but I will soon. He pointed his birds with style and I had to hurry to keep up. I am sure that Justin Crook fixed my mistake.
Annie pointing a pigeon.
It isn’t easy to admit making a mistake and possibly ruining a dog for life. But it was an accident. And accidents happen and most of the time the dog forgives you, immediately. Sometimes not. But with enough birds you can work through almost anything. In a normal day of training my timing may be off or sometimes I think the dog will understand something a certain way but he is just the opposite. Birds will cure almost anything.
Now for the puppies. Annie is about 6 months old so I decided she needed to start heel and whoa. Stormy is about 10 weeks younger but since I’m heeling and whoaing Annie I will also do Stormy. In my opinion, teaching heeling to a dog really helps with the pecking order thing. After just a little while they accept you as their boss. With the more dominate dogs you may have to heel them a little each day but my dogs accept me as leader.
Annie does really well with heeling and even the whoaing part. I use a Wonder lead for heeling and whoaing. When I start it’s more about heeling than whoaing. I put the knot in the Wonder lead around the neck and right behind the ears. To get the lead on the right way hold it in front of you and it should form the letter P. With the dog on your left side bend over and place it around his neck without turning it. Then step out. When your dog goes one way you go the opposite. Do this over and over until he is looking at you to see which way you are going next.
Stormy pointing a pigeon.
Once he is going with you pretty well take a few steps and stop. By this time the dog should be ready for a short break. If the pup tries to sit step out again. Just a few steps then stop again. The first few days I don’t give either a command. I do say, “good girl” when they do it partially right. Reward them for trying. Later when they are stopping when I do and going when I step out I stroke their sides. After a few days I put the commands, Heel and Whoa, with the movement.
Some people have an aversion to the word whoa. They think they should call it something else. That is fine. Your pup doesn’t speak English. I have thought about teaching one to whoa on the word, Pizza. At least if Pizza was the word for whoa people I hunt with would never be able to whoa my dogs.
The only time, when I’m actually hunting, that I use the word whoa is when I need a dog to back and there is no way he will ever see the dog that is on point. If the dog coming in is going to be able to see the dog that is pointing I wait for him to honor. If he won’t honor right in front of me he won’t honor when they are 200 yards in front of me and I can’t see either of them. When a dog is on point I never say whoa unless he starts to creep in. Most of the time I stop the creeping on pigeons here at the house. Not while we’re hunting.
Annie
Annie and Stormy were worked for several days on the heel and whoa then I started to walk around them when they are on whoa. The dogs always want to twist around or follow as I start moving. This is understandable. They always have moved when I did. I hold the Wonder lead with a little pressure on their neck as I ease around them. When they move, and they usually do, I either set them back or if they don’t move very far I make a complete circle of where they have stopped. I stroke their sides and step off again.
That exercise is really hard for the pups to grasp so I do 3 or 4 times then heel them, whoa them and stand beside them. I stroke their sides telling them what good girls they are. The next time out I circle them with more success and the third time they stayed without moving. Although it was a little harder for Stormy than Annie. But Stormy is a little bit ADHD anyway.
I still put each pup on the whoa barrel and style them up before letting them point or try to point the pigeons in the release traps. Because of the puppies getting a chunk of hotdog on the whoa barrel, they jump onto the barrel when we get close. Annie lets me stroke her tail up and holds her head still until I click the clicker then she turns for the hotdog chunk. Stormy holds her head still but her tail is like a opossum tail. When I stroke it up it bends around my hand. But when she points a bird it’s usually good.
Annie.
After the whoa barrel we heel toward the back where I have hidden some birds. I heel and whoa them a few times on the way. I have to hold on to the check cord on both of them. With 3 or 4 birds hidden on the training grounds the pups can get too far ahead of me. Usually, after they get close to the first bird I turn them loose. Some of the time I flush the pigeon when they get close but before they point. I want them to think that the birds may be really spooky.
Annie is content with pointing the bird and she will chase some but she really doesn’t want to catch it. She is just happy with seeing it. Stormy wants it. She’s caught a few and she likes to carry them around. Stormy will point and if I’m not close she will move right in and try to get the pigeon. So I like to be close enough to see her point and then at he first movement, if she has a foot up and puts it down or raises a foot, I flush the pigeon. Pretty soon that will stop her from running in, I hope.
Bodie.
Then on the way back I put them on the retrieving bench and style them up some more. I had some extra long hotdogs a few days ago and I cut one of them into 28 pieces. The pups aren’t getting much at a time but they will work hard for a small sliver. I style them up 5 or 6 times on the bench then heel them back to either the chain gang or back to their kennel.
I use the side by side to plant the birds for the dogs but I walk them to the back to find the pigeons. If I work 3 dogs, usually, I walk between 6 and 7 thousand steps. That’s good exercise and by the time the day is done I’m close to 10 thousand steps. Maybe that will help get me ready for quail season.