It was another hot morning so I trained Tur Bo at home, again. It was 78 degrees with a strong west wind at 8:00 am this morning. I hid 5 birds near my pigeon poles where I have let the grass grow. It’s an area about 8 yards wide and 25 yards long with grass about 2 feet high. I put the pigeons about 3 or 4 yards apart right up the center of the grass with the last bird close to the edge so Tur Bo could smell it.
Tur Bo
Tur Bo and the tall grass.
Tur Bo after the third bird was flushed.
I had Tur Bo jump on his house for me to put the e-collar around his neck. I heeled him toward the bird field where I whoaed him and attached the check cord to his collar with a half hitch around his flanks. He went on point, near the center of the field, about 5 yards from the bird. I took the piggin’ string off, took some pictures, then walked a big circle around Tur Bo. I picked up the check cord and waited a couple of minutes before flushing the bird that was farther away. He never moved.
I waited a minute and flushed another bird. I had positioned the birds in the release traps with their heads toward Tur Bo hoping they would fly over him. The first two didn’t. When the second pigeon flew he watched it fly off. I walked all the way down the field to where the first birds had flushed from, kicking the grass, then back behind Tur Bo and picked up the check cord. I let him point for a minute then flushed the third bird and it flew right over him. He didn’t move.
The fourth pigeon was only about 10 yards from him and after about a minute I flushed it. It flew over him and he didn’t move. I thought that he was nearly broke. As I patted my self on the back I hit the button on the one release trap that is not a D.T. and nothing happened. I held the button down and nothing happened. The battery was too low for it to flush the pigeon. I walked out to the release trap, bent over to turn it on without watching Tur Bo and he was right there helping me release the pigeon. He stopped when I whoaed him. I picked him up and put him back. He went back on point.
I left him on point while I picked up the release traps, starting with the one farther away. I brought them one at a time and set them down in front of him. He tried to move on the first two but I whoaed him then set him back. He had to stand, on point, until I brought all 5 release traps and placed them in front of him. I let him stand for a little while then tapped him on the head to release him. We went to the back of the property then back to the kennel.
That’s the way dog training is for me. About the time you think you have it figured out the dog does just the opposite of the way he’s been trained. Tur Bo has not seen me bend over to release a bird before. If I was going to do something different, he didn’t have to do what he was being trained to do. I will start bending over, pulling grass and throwing it in the air. I have already started walking in front of him after I release each bird. The more distractions I can use the better.