Sally pointing a pigeon.
Sally on point.
Sally pointing a pigeon.
I’m going to get the cataract taken off my left eye in the morning. I went to have the right eye checked last Friday and the doctor said I could read until they do the left eye. That means I can work on my blog, I guess. Anyway, I did some puppy training.
Sally came to me when she was 7 weeks old. I have let her play with lock wing pigeons and I have tossed birds in front of her from the first day. She loves the pigeons. I like to introduce the release trap with it out in the open. I don’t show them the release trap until they have seen a lot of pigeons and are chasing really well.
Sally was 14 weeks old on 9/11/16. I have been putting pigeons to sleep in grass strips I’ve left on my training grounds and letting Sally find them. I started doing this when she was about 9 weeks old. She didn’t point the birds but I could tell when she smelled them. She would move in, wake the pigeon and it would fly away. Most of the time the pigeon had less feathers when it flew away but she never really hurt one.
Last Saturday, I put 6 pigeons in the box on the 4-wheeler and hid one, in a release trap, in the tall grass. I put a check cord on Sally and turned her loose near where I had hidden the pigeon. She started moving through the strip of tall grass and when she got close to the pigeon I flushed it. She chased a few steps. I took her back by the 4-wheeler and tied her to a tree. I put another pigeon in the release trap without moving the trap. I turned her loose. There was a closer strip of grass and she hunted it first then went to the second strip. She smelled the pigeon and started to it. When she got close I flushed the bird. She chased a few steps.
I took her back and tied her to a tree. I put another pigeon in the release trap. I turned her loose and she went straight for the release trap. When she got close I flushed the pigeon. She watched it fly away. I tied her to the tree and reloaded the trap. When I turned her loose she headed for the pigeon but slowed down when she got close but didn’t stop. I flushed the pigeon. She chased a couple of steps.
The next time she pointed when she got to the edge of the grass strip. She was quite away from the pigeon. I didn’t say anything nor did I move. She moved a little closer and went back on point. She was rigid but had no style. She started to move again and I flushed the bird. She chased a few steps.
I had one more pigeon and I put it in the trap. I turned her loose and she went straight to the strip of grass and went on point. This time her head and tail were both high. The tail wasn’t twelve o’clock but it was close. I could see her nose moving as she got the scent of the pigeon. She took a step and I flushed the pigeon. She chased a few steps.
This morning I put another 6 pigeons in the box on the 4-wheeler and hid one in the grass strip I had left on my neighbor’s side of the training ground. I put the check cord on Sally and when we were still 30 yards from where I had hidden the pigeon in the release trap she started slinking along. She was walking real slow with her tail rigid and her head up. We had a good breeze but the wind was swirling. She got close to the pigeon and went on point. Her tail was straight out behind her. She held the point for about 20 seconds then took a step. I flushed the pigeon. She chased a few steps.
I put another pigeon in the same place. This time I walked her where I thought she could get a better shot at the scent cone. She pointed at about 15 yards from the pigeon. Her head was up and her tail was straight out behind her. She was on point for over a minute without moving. Then she leaned forward and picked up her left front foot. She stood like that for a few seconds then leaned back and put her foot down. I never said anything and I didn’t move. She was on point for over 2 minutes then took a step. I flushed the bird. Again she chased.
The next pigeon, I took her around like I did on the one before but this time she didn’t point or act like she smelled the bird until she was close so I flushed the pigeon. She chased. I put another pigeon in the same spot. She didn’t go with me this time. She went straight to the bird and pointed. After about 15 seconds she decided to get a little closer. I flushed the pigeon. She chased a short distance.
I had left another strip of grass just a short distance from the one we had been using so I moved the trap. This strip was up the hill and the wind wasn’t hitting it as well. She went by the bird and circled the grass strip. She came back around again and this time hit the scent cone. She snapped into a point with a high head and tail. I took some pictures. She held the point for a few seconds then took a step. I flushed the pigeon. She chased a few steps.
I hid the last pigeon and when I turned Sally loose I took her in a big circle to give her another perspective of the area. This time when we got on the south side of the pigeon she snapped into a point with a high head and a good tail. She held the point for about a minute then took a step. I flushed the pigeon.
I took her to the front yard and let her play while I drank a cup of coffee. When young dogs point I don’t move and I don’t say anything to them. That’s extremely hard to do. Most people want to tell the puppy “whoa” or brush their tail up or walk in front of them. Delmar Smith said, in his book Best Way To Train Your Bird Dog, and I believe, “that the parents put the tail where it’s going to be. No need to brush it up.” I also think that the pup’s mind is going 90 miles an hour trying to figure out what he should be doing. I stand still and wait for the pup to move. When he moves I flush the bird hoping he will think that his movement was what caused the bird to fly.
Puppy training is what I like best. The older dogs should do what they are trained to do but watching puppies learn is the reason I mess with dogs. I nearly always have a young dog coming on.
Sight pointing a pigeon by the pigeon coop.
Pointing a pigeon.
This is the way her tail was at first.