It may have been, and probably was, more than a week from the last post I did with Annie. But I do work with her most days at least one time. Most of the days, I walk her morning and evening. Miss Annie is extremely hard headed. If she wants to do something she is very easy but when she doesn’t she is extremely defiant. I think some of this will make her a good bird dog but it’s a real pain to train her.
Annie pointing a pigeon asleep in the tall grass.
Bodie pointing a pigeon.
Abby honoring Sally.
I have to recycle some pictures for a while until I get my pictures figured out. For some reason my computer decided to store the pictures in a place I can’t find. Hopefully, I will get this figured out soon. But I’m really low tech in a high tech world.
Now back to Annie. When I first got her she wouldn’t come to me at all. I had to chase her down to do most anything with her. I tried a lot of different things but the only thing that worked was cutting a hotdog in about 20 pieces and goiving her a chunk. I got her coming pretty good until this week. When I’m going to let her run of the evening I put a short check cord on her. I, also, put one on her of the morning. For the last few days she doesn’t want the check cord.
My routine of the evening is to let her play in the shade near a chair that I sit in. I throw some adult dog food in the grass and she has to use her nose to find the food. After she finds most of the dog food we walk to the back and return to the chair. She plays with sticks or anything she can find while I sit and occasionally call her to me. I save a few pieces of the adult food and let her eat it from my hand.
Most of the time she goes back to the kennel when I walk that way. A couple of days ago she wasn’t ready to go back and instead of coming with me she went toward my house. Or the garden. Or across the fence. She has figured out how long the check cord is and how to keep it just out of my reach.
Monday, after I turned all of the dogs into the big pen and fed and cleaned their runs, Annie wouldn’t let me put the check cord on her. After trying to catch her for a minute or so, I opened her kennel and she went right in. I went to my chair in the shade and sat for a while. She could see me from her kennel. She barked, wanting me to come release her. After a while I walked to the back and then came back to my chair. She barked some more. After a while I went to the house.
Yesterday evening I had the same thing. So I put her in her kennel and sat in my chair. This time she didn’t even bark, although she watched me. I ignored her. After a few minutes I walked to the back and then back to my chair. A child may have figured out what I was doing to it but she hasn’t. This evening I will try something different. I’m just not sure what.
Annie pointing a pigeon.
Both dogs, Annie and Bodie, are hooked to the chain gang when I work them both, each morning. I work Bodie first on 2 pigeons, one tied to a release trap and one on a short pole, and she can see what we are doing on the whoa barrel. Then I have 3 pigeons hidden for Bodie to point. We work them then I reload for Annie.
I have been letting the birds that we use on the barrel fly away before I take Bodie off the whoa barrel. Annie didn’t pay a lot of attention to the pigeons once they quit flying, before this morning. Today, I noticed that she was watching the pigeons that I was using with Bodie so I put one in a release trap and tied one to a pole. Annie stills shows a little reluctance to be aggressive with a bird in a release trap. Not every time but occasionally.
So this morning I put her on the whoa barrel with the two pigeons right in front of her. I picked up the short stick and let that pigeon fly around her then land right in front of the barrel. She was really watching. I flushed the bird from the release trap. No adverse reaction from Annie. I flew the bird on the short pole. I put the pigeon back in the release trap and flushed it 5 or more times. I flew the one on the short pole several times. Then I released the birds from the strings and let them fly from my hands right in front of her. She was excited.
Bodie pointing a pigeon.
I took her off the barrel and we went hunting for the 3 birds I had hidden on the training grounds. She was running down an edge when she hit the scent cone. She pointed then moved away from the bird. Then she circled around and hit the scent cone again and pointed. This time when she moved I flushed the bird. After the bird flew away she went to the release trap. We went on to the neighbor’s side of the training grounds.
We had a pretty strong wind and she pointed from a long distance but then lost the scent and moved closer. She pointed again and when she took a step I flushed the pigeon. It flew into a tree just above the trap. She watched it for a while then we went back to hunting.
The next bird was hidden in a big clump of brush. The wind was from the south west and her first point was a long way away on the west side of the clump. The way the wind was blowing she couldn’t have been getting much smell. After a few seconds she went around the clump and the next time she was in the scent cone. She pointed hard but then took a step. I flushed the bird and it fluttered out of the release trap. It landed right beside the trap. Annie was after it. When she got close the bird flew but slowly and real close to the ground.
Bodie pointing a pigeon.
This must have been a young pigeon. It tried to land on a bush about 2 feet tall but it wouldn’t support the birds weight. All the time Annie is trying to catch it but it’s staying just a short jump ahead. The bird flew to the north with Annie right behind. Pretty soon the pigeon came flying back where I could see it and Annie was right behind. Finally, the pigeon got some altitude and lit high up in a tree. That was really good for Annie.
I have been putting Annie on the retrieving bench and styling her up and saying, “whoa” to her. She knows that she will get a chunk of hotdog several times on the bench so she is usually ready to be placed on the bench. In fact this morning she reared up on the bench.
When I placed her on the bench I styled her up and she did it pretty well. I gave her a hotdog chunk and went down the bench and did it again. I styled her up in 5 different spots on the bench, telling her, “whoa, whoa” over and over. Then when I take her off the bench I make her whoa on the ground. I tap her head and say, “Okay”. Now, she expects to whoa when she goes to the ground from the whoa barrel or the retrieving bench. We went back to my chair.
Annie pointing a pigeon asleep in the tall grass.
After a while I wanted her to go back to the kennel. I started walking that way. She started toward my garden which is not the way I was going. I knelt down with a chunk of hotdog in my hand and called her to me. She came close but not to me. I cut the distance in half and held the hotdog out toward her. She reluctantly took the hotdog and I picked up the check cord. Had I not grabbed the check cord she would have left. I took her to her kennel and gave her another chunk of hotdog before she kenneled.
I worked Bodie on the whoa barrel then heeled him close to his first bird. I had been turning him loose at the whoa barrel and he would be on point by the time I got to his first bird. I wasn’t sure whether he was moving before I got there or not. This morning I heeled him close before turning him loose. He was running down the edge when he hit the scent cone and whirled and slid to a point. He looked good. I waited behind him, without moving, for several seconds before going to him. He never tried to move.
Annie finding dog food in the grass.
I went to him and stroked his sides. Then I kicked the cover in front of him. He never moved. I stroked his sides then held the check cord and flushed the pigeon. He never moved. I thought, “Boy, you are getting this. Almost steady to wing and flush.” I stroked him up and led him away.
When he got to the next bird it was almost a repeat of the first. He slammed into a point and looked good. I started toward him and he jumped in and I flushed the pigeon. But I was too slow. He caught the bird. I grabbed the check cord and the pigeon got away. I stood him where he should have stayed on point and told him to whoa. I walked around him kicking the cover. Then I stood in the shade for a while. Two more times I walked all around him kicking the cover and telling him to whoa. I made him stay on whoa for about 5 minutes before leading him way.
I was watching when he hit the scent cone on the next bird. He hit the scent cone and just locked up. I look at how the check cord is laying when I get to most of the points. Sometimes, I can tell whether the dog moved or not. This check cord was straight. He slammed on the brakes without turning either way.
Annie with a pigeon.
I stroked him up then kicked in front of him. He was steady. I held the check cord as I released the bird. And it’s a good thing I did. The bird hit a limb and fluttered a little and Bodie tried to pull my arm off. I set him back and whoaed him. After a few seconds I tapped his head and lead him away.
I don’t know why he decided to catch that pigeon in the release trap when he had been doing real well all week but he did. Maybe he was just mad at the pigeons. When he was on the whoa barrel I had flown several birds close to him and he couldn’t catch those. Maybe he knew he could beat me and catch one. I don’t know but we will keep working on it.