In the next few weeks, most of our hunting seasons will be open. Iowa and Nebraska bird seasons opens this weekend and Missouri opens the first of November. Kansas and Oklahoma open on the second Saturday of November. The weather has cooled down and the dogs know it’s close to time.
Puppies on the chain gang waiting their turn.
Daisey, looking for a forever home.
Gabe is also looking for a hunting home.
I had one of the best retrievers, in an English setter, that I have ever seen, a few years ago. Lady almost never lost a bird and when she did it was probably my fault in not putting her in the right place to start with. She lived to almost 13 years old and hunted to the end of her last season. Since then Dolly, her daughter, retrieved some but not near as good as Lady. Dolly is gone now, too.
Mann was sent to Lion’s Den Kennel to be force broke to retrieve. I have him back and he’s doing great when he has been worked on pigeons. I have been working Sally and Tur Bo real hard on their retrieving. When I put pigeons out for all three of these dogs I take frozen quail along and have them retrieve the quail after the pigeon flies away. They are expecting to fetch something after pointing the pigeon.
Also, I have started dropping a frozen quail near where the dogs are pointing the pigeon and after they retrieve the quail I toss for them, I tell them to hunt dead. The first few times I tossed the frozen quail near where I had dropped the frozen quail. After they retrieved the tossed quail I told them to hunt dead and waved my hand in the direction of the bird on the ground. Usually, they had seen or smelled the other bird and with a little encouragement they retrieved the other quail.
Austin Farley and I worked Sally and Tur Bo on some pen reared quail by putting them in launchers. We only did them on two birds each but Sally with a little encouragement retrieved both of hers. Tur Bo retrieved one but the other flew toward a barn and we were unable to shoot.
Later, Vince Dye and I took Sally and Tur Bo and his dogs with some pen reared quail to a farm and worked all of the dogs on birds and retrieving. Sally and Tur Bo retrieved their birds with no problem so with them retrieving and Mann having been force broke, I better have some good retrievers this season.
Now with the seasons opening soon I hope there are lots of birds so even I will be able to get some for the dogs to retrieve. All three of these dogs will get better as they gain in experience.
Daisey, pointing a pigeon.
Now to the puppies. I have changed their names several times but now I think I have found names that fits them. The white and orange male I have been calling Gabe. That name seems to fit him. The tri-colored female with two black eyes and two black ears I have been calling Daisey. The tri-colored female with half black face and a big spot on her side is Abby.
My stud fee puppy, that is six weeks younger than the other three, is called Josie. Her name hasn’t changed. My cousin, Jim Smith, went with me to pick her up at Troy Smith’s kennel and he named her. He thought the name fit her and so do I.
I put all four puppies on the chain gang. Some times I go to the house and have a cup of coffee to give the puppies more time on the chain gang. I take them off the chain gang one at a time to work them on pigeons. I think the chain gang teaches the puppies a lot of things. It teaches to give to the lead and patience, for sure. When I’m ready to take one off the chain gang I stand in front of them, where they can’t reach me with their feet, and wait for them to calm down. When they either sit or stand still I unsnap them but make them stay in that place while I pet them for a few seconds. I release them with an “okay”.
At the start, when they went toward the hidden pigeon I flushed it when they got close. I hide the pigeon really well. I don’t want them sight pointing or trying to get closer so they can see the bird or trap. They soon started pointing, most of the time.
Abby out of Sally’s litter.
When they first started pointing I didn’t do anything or say anything. I just watched the puppy and on it’s first movement I flushed the bird. If they pointed with a foot in the air and put it down I flushed the pigeon. If all four feet were on the ground and they raised one I flushed the pigeon. When they started toward the pigeon I flushed the bird. I want them to think that any movement on their part caused the pigeon to fly.
I try to find a different place each time to hide the birds so the puppies will learn to search for them. These puppies aren’t dummies. I see them check each place where I have hidden birds for them in the past.
There are a couple of the puppies that I am now starting to walk in front of and kick the cover. But they have all seen a lot of birds. As I kick the cover I watch the puppy and try to flush the bird at the puppies first move. I have been trying to video some of the pups and I’m not good at doing two things at once. Usually, I’m slow to flush the bird when I have the camera in hand.
Sally the mother of the litter.
There is a shooting range, pistol, rifle, skeet and trap, about two miles from my home. There is a road about a half mile from it that parallels the range. According to my GPS the closest I can get to the range is 800 yards. There have been a lot of people shooting the last few weeks getting ready for the season. I walked the puppies down this road several times to get them used to gun fire. Sometimes when the wind is right it’s pretty loud and the puppies get to hear two or three hundred shots.
The three puppies I raised heard the Gun Conditioning CD from Masters Voice and they were never bothered by the shots. The first time I took Josie, at about 9 weeks old, she pulled back on the leash for about a 150 yards. Part of it was probably that she didn’t want to lead but part of it was the shooting. I just kept walking down the road, pulling her. She was pulling back on the leash then went in front of me and I unhooked the leash so she could play. She’s not been bothered by the leash or shots since.
This weekend I will be hunting somewhere and I will be taking the puppies with me. All except Josie. She’s a week or two away from being big and fast enough. The others should benefit from a few days of hunting. I know I will.
Abby, pointing a pigeon.
Gabe, in the brush pointing a pigeon.
Josie, pointing a pigeon.