A friend, Vince Dye, asked me if I wanted his young English setter, Betsy. I already had 6 dogs and I have only 6 kennel runs. Betsy is out of a Shadow Oak Bo pup, that I sold Gailen Cooper, and a litter mate to Tur Bo. So, basically, she is one of my line of pups. I don’t know anything about her mother’s breeding but I sent for a 5 generation Pedigree on her. Of course, I took her.
Betsy pointing my empty quail pen.
Betsy pointing the quail pen.
We are going through heel and whoa training.
She’s about 18 months old. When she runs she flows through the field. She, along with Sally, gives me two young dogs to work with. They are in different levels on their training and that should keep me from getting bored or frustrated with them.
I’ve been working a lot and haven’t been working dogs. I took Saturday off and decided I would work Tur Bo, Sally and Betsy. I had to unload one of my trailers to haul my 4-wheeler over to my 100 acre training ground that my friend, Kory Needham, lets me train on. When you train every day you know what you need and where it’s at. It’s been a while for me. I made several trips before I got it all.
I unloaded the 4-wheeler and hid two pigeons along the edge of the corn field. The corn had all been combined since I had run the dogs the last time. The first release trap I covered with some soy bean plants that were lying close to the trap.
I put the Garmin e-collars and the Garmin GPS collar on Tur Bo and turned him loose. He was on the wrong side of the first release trap when he came by. With the corn out I thought we might find some quail around the field so we circled it. We hadn’t found anything when we came back by the release trap. He almost passed the trap then caught the scent. He looked good when he pointed and I took some pictures with my phone. I kicked the cover and released the pigeon. It got tangled in the soy bean plants I had put on top of the release trap. It only fluttered one time and Tur Bo caught it. I told him, “give.” He dropped it in my hand. I whoaed him and tossed the pigeon in the air expecting it to fly away but it didn’t even try. Tur Bo stood and watched it walk away. I went about 25 yards, caught the pigeon and put it in the box on the 4-wheeler.
I released Tur Bo and started around a smaller corn field where the second pigeon was. He was running the edge of the field really well. He ran through the scent cone, whirled around, took a step and went on point. I didn’t have my regular camera with me so I took pictures with my phone. My regular camera was in the truck and each time I worked a dog I thought I will get it from the truck. I worked all 3 without my camera. I kicked in front of him and flushed the pigeon. He didn’t move. He hunted back to the truck.
I reloaded the release traps, put the e-collars and GPS collar on Bet and turned her loose. She hit the first fence line and went the opposite direction from what I wanted. I called her and she came with me. A lot of English setters have a rocking chair gate but she just flows through the fields. It looks like running is really easy for her. On a smooth road I could keep up with the 4-wheeler but in a rough corn field she was gaining on me. The closest she ever got to the pigeons I had hidden was about 40 yards. I called her in to hunt where I had hidden a pigeon. She got close then the next thing I knew she was 150 yards north of me. Pretty soon it was over a 1/4 mile. As I rode to the north she stayed ahead, by a lot.
As I got to the north edge she was off the property I was supposed to be on. Pretty soon she circled back down to the corn fields and went south. I followed as well as I could on the 4-wheeler. She was having a good time and my calling told her exactly where I was so she could stay away. There were a lot of robins around the corn field and I’m sure they were getting up in front of her. I tried to call her in for about an hour. I decided to go ahead and work Sally hoping she would come to us.
I put a GPS collar on Sally and turned her loose. I have run her at home with the 4-wheeler and she sometimes runs in front and sometimes behind. She acted like she knew what to do. She hit the edge and most of the time stayed in front of the 4-wheeler. She was on the fence row away from the first pigeon when we came by. We went on around the corn field and she came by the second pigeon. What little wind we had was out of the south west and she was running east. She was in the corn field and past the pigeon when she got the scent. She slid to a stop, whirled around and pointed. I took pictures with my phone and walked in front of her. She let me kick a couple of times before she moved. I flushed the pigeon. She didn’t chase. She just went to the trap and smelled around a little then went back around the corn field.
As we went around the corn field she pointed in an area where Betsy had pointed earlier. When Betsy pointed in that spot we didn’t find anything and we didn’t this time either. There must have been something there to leave some scent. Maybe more experienced dogs would have come up with some quail.
She came on around the corn field and pointed the other pigeon. I took pictures then walked in front of her. She was turning her head, back and forth, because she wasn’t sure where the bird was. I flushed the pigeon and she chased it about 10 yards. We hunted on around the corn field and Betsy came to us. I got off the 4-wheeler and petted her for a long time. I had a leash with me but with the 4-wheeler I didn’t want to try to lead her back to the truck. She had come to me so I thought she would go with us. Boy, was I wrong.
Both dogs were in front of the 4-wheeler going along the edge until we got about 150 yards from the truck. Betsy went into the brush along the fence row on the south side of the place. According to the GPS she continued on south. I took Sally back to the truck. I came back to the south fence and Betsy was about 200 yards south. I called and she started to me. She got within 48 yards then turned and went south again. I continued to call but she was having too good of a time, running.
I took the other dogs and the 4-wheeler home then came back. She had 2 e-collars on and it took a great deal of restraint on my part not to hold the button down until she came to my side. But it wasn’t her fault. She was new to me, I’ve had her a couple of weeks, and no one had ever taught her here. I should have checked that out before turning her loose. At 18 months I was expecting her to have her “name” and “here” down. She doesn’t. I had turned her out about 9 am and it was now about noon.
I had a friend coming over to work a couple of dogs with the pigeons. I reluctantly went home. I ate lunch and I had about 30 minutes before my friend got there so I drove back over. She was still off to the south where I couldn’t get very close. I called and she would start in my direction then go back away from me. I left my hat near where I had turned her loose and went back home.
We worked his dogs on the pigeons for about an hour and a half. As soon as he left I drove back over. The GPS showed her on point about 75 yards from where I had turned her loose. As I drove across the field toward where she was I saw her tail sticking up. She was on her belly pointing a bug. I stopped the truck and called her. She came running to me like nothing had happened. I loaded her up and took her home but she was on a leash when I took her out of the truck.
Today, Sunday, we started yard training. I put a e-collar around her neck and another around her flanks. I heeled her around the yard whoaing her every once in a while. I put her on the retrieving bench using it as a loving bench. I petted her and had her run up and down. I had an airline crate without a door that I made her kennel in. She was dragging a long check cord and we walked around the yard. Every once in a while I would kneel down and call her to me. If she didn’t start to me immediately I would pull on the check cord.
As we started back to the kennel we came close to the airline crate. Having the flank collar on er gave me another handle to get her in the crate. I would say, “kennel” and start her in the crate. If she didn’t go I would grab the flank collar and force her in. When she turned around I would pet her without letting her feet come out of the crate. The second session she started walking in on her on.
George Hickox teaches that you should teach kennel with the e-collar first. You are teaching them to go away from you. I will have her kenneling very well before I ever use the e-collar. After the kennel command with e-collar you go to whoa. After whoa you can teach the here command. It’s not long until hunting season so I’m hoping to get the here command taught quickly.
Pointing the quail pen.
On the whoa part of heel and whoa.
Sally either saw something or smelled something and pointed. She let me walk in front and take pictures.