Tur Bo pointing a pigeon.
Tur Bo backing
Tur Bo and Dolly both on point.
I guess the title to this should be Training Dog instead of Training Dogs but somehow that doesn’t sound right. Tur Bo has been moving on his birds when he can see them on the ground. He’s steady, most of the time, when the bird is well hidden. To give him the opportunity for more birds I left the other dogs home. I had two bird bags. One bag held 6 pigeons and the other had 2.
We drove to the county park close to my house. The dew was heavy and it was still cool when we got there. I put the e-collars around his neck and flanks. As I heeled him toward the field he decided to lead. I made a 180 degree turn. He’s really quick. The piggin’ string didn’t even get tight. He wheeled with me. I did another 180 and he decided that I could lead. I whoaed him at the edge of the field of tall fescue. I walked away from him then made a circle around him and came back. He didn’t move. I tapped his head to release him.
I have worked him several times in this field and he knows the drill. He goes pretty fast from side to side but he doesn’t go very far down the field. That’s okay, I know when we start hunting he will run. I let him go for a little while then when he got close I whoaed him. I took a pigeon from the bag, put it to sleep and placed it about 10 feet in front of him. I walked back and forth in front of him. As I got between him and the pigeon on the ground I dropped a pigeon from my hand. He moved his head so he could see around me but he never moved his feet. I continued to walk around him and woke the pigeon up. It didn’t fly. It was a young pigeon and it took a couple of steps but didn’t attempt to fly. I picked it up and returned it to the bird bag. When I turned back to Tur Bo, he had moved up a step. He had stopped on his own. I carried him back. I put another pigeon to sleep and placed it in front of him. It was less than 10 feet from him and he could see it really well. I got between him and the pigeon and woke it up. He watched it fly away without moving. I went to him and stroked his sides. I whoaed him and started kicking the tall grass. I dropped another pigeon. He didn’t move. I stroked his sides then led him away. I released him to hunt.
When he was on the west edge of the field and a little way ahead of me I put a pigeon to sleep. I hid it in a patch of fescue and milk weeds. When he came near I started saying, “look close”. He started making short casts from side to side. He hit the scent cone and went on point. I kicked the cover then woke the pigeon. He watched it fly away without moving. I put another bird to sleep and placed it in front of him. I kicked the cover and dropped a pigeon. He watched it fly away without moving. I stroked his sides. I woke the pigeon and he didn’t move when it flew away. I stroked his sides then went back in front of him and dropped another bird. He didn’t move. I went to him and stroked his sides. I led him away. When I released him we went back to the truck.
Training dogs is just a lot of repetition. I’m trying to make Tur Bo understand that no matter what the bird does he no longer gets to chase it. Sometimes that bird does something that he can’t resist. It’s going to be really warm for several mornings in a row but most cool mornings I will take Tur Bo and some pigeons to the park. With enough repetitions he will get this figured out.
I put some pictures on that I really liked. These are from the last couple of years.
Luke pointing Dolly honoring.
Luke pointing a single quail.
Luke