Sally pointing a pigeon at 11 weeks old.
Sally pointing a pigeon.
A pigeon flushing in front of my puppy.
I really like puppy training. I have a female puppy that is out of my Shadow Oak Bo pup, Tur Bo and a female out of Tekoa Mountain Outrage owned by Jerry Larson. She was my pick of the litter for the stud fee. I used to have white and orange setters but all of my dogs now are tri-colored except Sally.
When I got Sally, at 7 weeks old, I started locking the wings on pigeons and letting her play with them. I had two puppies that were 4 days younger than Sally that I put her with. When all 3 puppies got too aggressive for the lock wing pigeons I started teasing them with the birds then letting them fly. All 3 pups would chase.
The other two pups went to their buyers. A few days ago I took 4 pigeons in a bird bag on a walk with the puppy. When she got a ways ahead of me I would put a pigeon to sleep and hide it in the tall weeds then call her back. She had no idea what to do. The very first pigeon she paid no attention to at all. I stopped near it and she sat down looking at me to see what I wanted. She sat right on top of the pigeon. I don’t know if she smelled it or felt it moving but she turned and rooted it out of the grass.
She found the other 3. I could tell when she smelled the pigeon. She would whirl and start rooting around. If she saw the bird before it flushed she would put her feet on it and push her nose and mouth against it. She didn’t try to bite it. I would grab her collar and finally the pigeon would fly away.
Yesterday, Saturday, I put 4 pigeons in the box on the 4-wheeler. I rode back to where I had left some tall strips and put the pigeons to sleep and hid them. I turned Sally loose and we walked to the first strip. I walked her in close to the strip. When she smelled the pigeon, she jumped in, waking it up. It flew away.
When we came to the second strip she ran down the middle of it searching for a bird. When she got close to the bird it was awake, standing up. When she got close it flew away. The next bird was standing in the edge of the strip and she saw it before we got close. When it flew she chased.
The last pigeon was asleep, covered with tall grass. She smelled it but couldn’t see it from where she was. She pointed and held it for about 30 seconds before jumping in waking the pigeon. She followed when it flew away.
Puppy training is too much fun. Normally, I don’t work the dogs on Sunday but I couldn’t wait. I put 4 pigeons in the box on the 4-wheeler. I put each of them to sleep and hid them in the strips of tall grass. I turned Sally loose and we headed to the strips. The first pigeon was still asleep and she smelled it. She jumped in waking the bird. I held her collar and the pigeon flew away. We headed to the next strip. This bird was awake and walking around outside the strip in the short grass. Sally saw it. As she ran toward it the bird flushed. She chased a short distance.
We continued to the next strip. This pigeon was awake but standing in the tall grass. When Sally got close the pigeon flushed. She chased then came back to check the strip for more birds. We headed to the next strip.
This bird was still asleep and buried in some tall grass. She smelled the bird and pointed. She stayed on point for 15 or 20 seconds then took a couple of steps going back on point. She held this time for about 30 seconds then moved in waking the pigeon. She chased a short distance then came back to look for more birds.
On the way back to the kennel we passed another strip and she checked it out from end to end. I really enjoy puppy training. You can see them trying to figure things out. They have every thing to learn and the sooner they start the quicker they learn.
This was original point. Then she moved up and had a higher tail.
Sally chasing a pigeon.
Chasing another pigeon.