I came home with another puppy last night. This one is a stud fee puppy from a litter bred by Mann out of a sister to Abby. I was out of kennel runs so I doubled her up with Annie. It will take them a couple of days to get used to each other, I think. A lot of people put different aged pups together and it works well. This is my first time. Usually, I don’t have this many dogs.
Bodie pointing a pigeon.
Boss on point.
Bodie pointing a covey.
I apologize for having to re-use pictures. My computer, for some reason, hides the new pictures from me. I may have more than the computer can handle. I don’t know. I’m a low tech guy in a high tech world. I hope to get this worked out soon.
When I clean pens I turn the older dogs into a big pen. Last night I turned Annie and the new puppy out in my yard before releasing the other dogs into the big pen. I scooped up the poop and bagged it with the new puppy whining to get back with me. As I started washing the first kennel down I saw the new puppy about 4 feet up the fence around the big pen. She was unsteady but not showing any fear. I grabbed her and put her back in her kennel, alone.
After I cleaned pens I took both puppies into the back yard. I sat in a chair in the shade and let them play. The new puppy, I’m thinking about Stormy for a name, didn’t want to be near Annie. Pretty soon Annie went to check on some of her hot spots and Stormy was fine. She investigated the area. Shouldn’t be long before she’s used to the routine.
I worked Bodie and Annie 5 days last week but only got in 3 days this week. Sunday night when it was pretty hot my air conditioner quit. We did without air Monday and about 2:30 Tuesday the heating and air guys had us back up and running. Having air conditioning is way better than not. But anyway for 2 days I didn’t have time for working dogs.
I work Bodie first and Annie is hooked to the chain gang. She can see me work Bodie on the barrel. That let’s her see a lot of birds. For Bodie I flush a bird out of a release trap, with a string tied to the bird and the trap, and I have one on a string from a short PVC pipe. I fly each bird several times for Bodie and Annie sees them, also.
Annie finding dog food in the grass.
After I work Bodie I reload 3 release traps on the training grounds and 1 in front of the whoa barrel. I also put another pigeon on the string from the PVC pipe. But before I put the pigeons on the string and the release trap in front of the whoa barrel, I put a bird to sleep right in front of her on the chain gang. She smells and sees the bird as I’m hooking the other birds to their strings. When I come to take her off the chain gang I wake the pigeon up and let it fly away.
For Annie I move both pigeons real close to the barrel. I flush the pigeon from the release trap several times and let the one on the PVC pipe fly several times. With the 3 birds hidden on the training grounds she gets to see several flushes each day.
When I’m through flushing the birds for her on the barrel I bring each of them near her on the barrel and release the pigeon from my hand. Then I set her on the ground and have her whoa again before turning her loose. This morning she was on whoa but decided to leave before I tapped her on the head. I grabbed her check cord, set her back on whoa and made her stand a few seconds longer than usual before tapping her head to release her.
Mann honoring the backing dog.
Annie stayed in front of me pretty well until she hit the scent cone of the first pigeon. It was hidden on the very back fence line and Annie was in the thick stuff when she got the scent. She pointed and I could just see about half her body. After just a few seconds she took a step and I flushed the pigeon. Annie was 10 yards or more from this bird and she went toward the bird. We went back to hunting.
On the second bird, she smelled it, then the wind changed a little and she lost it. Since she was a long way from the bird I let her move. She moved the right way and got a good line on the scent and pointed. Her head was hidden by a tree but her tail was up and she wasn’t moving. I waited, watching for her first movement. As soon as she moved a foot I flushed the pigeon. She hardly moved. Just watched it fly away.
When we got near the third bird she smelled it and went toward it. I flushed it before she got close. She chased a short distance and went back to hunting. That’s all of the birds we had out so we went to the retrieving bench.
Sally, Abby and Bodie honoring Boss.
I’ve been styling Annie up and telling her whoa on the retrieving bench. Then I feed her a chunk of hotdog. It’s sometime amazing what these dogs will do for a chunk of hotdog. This morning I introduced something new for her. I used a clicker. In the past I’ve tried the clicker but when I watch the videos on how to use a clicker, I can’t hear the clicker. So I’m just winging it.
Annie is doing so well, with me just styling her up on the bench, that I think I will stick with the clicker for a while and see if it will help. I style her up and she does real well holding her tail up but wants to drop her head or move it around. I had the clicker in my left hand which was the hand under her chin and since it was new she wanted to watch it. After a couple of times getting bumped under the chin she quit watching the clicker. When she stood with a high head and tail for just a few seconds I clicked and gave her a chunk of hotdog. I styled her up in 5 different places on the bench.
We went back close to the chain gang and I sat in a chair for a few minutes and let her play. I fed her a few pieces of the hotdog and clicked each time. I put her in the kennel and brought Stormy out.
Another shot of Bodie honoring the backing dog.
Annie wasn’t too happy about me paying attention to another puppy. She could see us just sitting there with me having the other puppy in my lap. This puppy climbs. She climbed up the side of my chair to get in my lap. After a few minutes sitting we walked to the back. Stormy explored pretty well for a puppy that won’t be 8 weeks old until tomorrow. I took her back to the kennel.
A little bit about working Bodie today. I worked him on the barrel and then turned him loose to find the 3 birds I had hidden in the release traps. He pointed the first bird and I thought he was way off the bird so I tapped him on the head. He moved a little and went back on point. I still thought the release trap was a long way from him but I tried to flush the bird and it didn’t go. I had forgot to turn the trap on. I looked for the trap but I had done a really good job hiding it. Finally, I saw it and turned it on. I flushed the bird and he stood as it flew away. We went back to hunting.
I came around a patch of brush just in time to see Bodie point. I took about 2 steps toward him and he started in. Fast. I flushed the pigeon and it came right over his head as he was going in and lit in a tree just a short distance away. He followed and stopped under the tree. I whoaed him, picked him up and set him down where he should have stayed on point. Then I found a shady spot and made him stand there for 2 minutes. I timed him on my watch, 120 seconds. When you are actually timing it, it seems longer. I lead him away then tapped his head to release him.
Mann pointing a single.
He found his third bird and looked good on his point. I walked in front of him kicking the ground and he didn’t move. I kicked some of the tall weeds and he moved a hind foot. I set him back. I kicked the tall weeds and he moved a half step. I set him back. I kicked the tall weeds and he didn’t move, finally. I held his check cord and flushed the pigeon. He didn’t move. I stroked him up and lead him away. I tapped his head to release him. When we got to the kennel I put him up.
I really enjoy watching the young dogs learn. It would be a lot better at 60 degrees rather than the upper 80’s to low 90’s. But we will work with whatever we have.