It has rained, some days only a trace, for the last eleven days. We have at least 2 more days to go. The only dog I have done anything with, for the last few days, is Sally Joe. I, usually, turn her out when I finish cleaning pens. I let her run for a few minutes then get her on the retrieving bench or the whoa board or both. She enjoys the attention and sometimes she learns something.
Sally pointing a pigeon.
Tur Bo pointing a single quail.
Betsy pointing a pigeon.
When Sally jumps on the retrieving bench I walk her back and forth, petting her every few feet. Then I pry her mouth open and place a retrieving dummy behind her canines. I tell her to hold. If she drops the dummy I pinch her lip against her teeth. Not hard enough to make her yelp but hard enough that it’s uncomfortable. I say “give” when I’m ready for her to drop the dummy. Not surprising she learns give faster than hold. After a couple of times of just holding and giving I have her walk down the bench holding the dummy. This is hard for the dogs. She and Betsy both want to spit the dummy out when they walk. I immediately pinch their lips against their teeth and replace the dummy. Some of the time I have chunks of hot dogs with me. If they spit the dummy out they get their lip pinched against their teeth. If they carry the dummy until I say “give” they get a chunk of hot dog. Even I can figure out which one of those is better.
After the retrieving bench I let them run while I walk to my whoa board. When they come to me I place them on a raised 2×6. I have a chain that drops from the top that I hook them to. So far neither Sally nor Betsy has tried to move while they were on the whoa board but I have worked them a lot on whoa. I make her stand on the whoa board with style. After putting them on the whoa board, telling them to whoa and walking around them there is not much to do. So I make her hold her head high and I brush the tail up. I almost never do this on birds because I think their parents put their tail where it’s going to be. Releasing birds from release traps makes them raise their head, I think. I put them on the ground and let them run.
Sally will pick up a dummy that is thrown for her. She doesn’t bring it back. She just lies down close to me and plays with it. So I’ve been going to my shed and sitting in the doorway. When she comes to me I snap a long check cord to her collar. I toss the bumper just a few feet and when she picks it up I pull her to me. If she drops the dummy I quit pulling until she picks it up. When I get her to me I don’t try to take the dummy. I just pet her until she drops it. I then pick it up and toss it again. I only toss the dummy 4 or 5 times then let her run. The last time I did this, with her, she needed very little pulling to get her to me.
I sometimes get ideas for posts from the books I read. I got my issue of the May/June Shooting Sportsman and there were two articles about older dogs dying. I have Lucky, who is almost 13 years old, and Dolly who was 11 in February. I really don’t like to think about losing either of them. A few years ago I lost a young dog that I co-owned with Don Bowlen. She got cancer and after we got the diagnosis she didn’t live very long. Losing any of them is extremely hard.
Sally Joe pointing a pigeon.
Betsy pointing a quail.
Sally pointing a quail.