The forecast is for the temperature to be in the 90’s today so about 7:30 am I loaded Blaze, Whitey, Tur Bo and 6 pigeons into the truck for the trip to the county park. Lately there has been people parked in the parking lot when I got there but not this morning. I left the dogs in the truck while I put the pigeons out. Instead of putting the pigeons close together as I have been doing I spread them out about 75 yards apart. While I was putting the pigeons out I remembered that I hadn’t brought the camera so I made sure the release traps with the pigeons in them were hid real well and drove back home for it.
Blaze
Blaze
I put the e-collars on Blaze, on the tail gate of the truck, then heeled her to the field. We had a south east wind of about 10 miles an hour. She found the first bird real quick. I walked in front of her kicking the cover then I flushed the bird and fired the blank pistol. She never moved. I kicked some more then released her to hunt.
I went on to the south of the first bird and kept Blaze with me expecting her to find the second bird. She hunted that area real well and wanted to move on down the field and I kept calling her back. She went over all of that part of the field again and still didn’t find the bird. This field is probably 30 acres with woods all around it but out where I hide the birds it’s just tall grass with a few weeds. I was really starting to worry about Blaze’s nose until I figured out she had pointed the farther bird and the other bird was back closer to the truck. When I let her work that end of the field she found it right away. When I flushed the bird and fired the blank pistol she tried to chase. I whoaed her and she stopped. I picked her up and carried her back to where she had been on point. After I kicked in front of her I tapped her on the head to release her.
Whitey
Whitey
I put Blaze back into the truck and brought Whitey out. After putting the e-collars on her I heeled her to the field and released her. It helps when I can remember where I put the birds. Whitey doesn’t really like pigeons but it’s better than staying in the kennel. When she points, every thing must be perfect for her to raise her tail. If she is close with the wind directly from the bird to her she will raise her tail a little, if she’s getting the scent in a cross wind she is rigid but her tail is just level. Her first point was of the level tail kind. When I flushed the bird and fired the blank pistol she didn’t move. I continued to kick in front then tapped her on the head to release her.
As she moved down the field the wind came up a little and she got the scent of the second bird a little better than she did the first. She’s still not even close to a 12 o’clock tail on pigeons. When I flushed the bird and shot the pistol she took a step. I carried her back, walked in front, and tapped her on the head to release her. Then took her back to the truck.
Tur Bo
Tur Bo
Tur Bo had heard the pistol shots and he was ready. I heeled him out to the field, whoaed him then tapped him on the head to release him. He’s a lot like Luke, he goes all out until he hits the scent cone and he slams into a point. His first bird, when he slammed into his point, his tail was level with his back. I waited and it started coming up. His head was real high when he pointed and as I waited his tail came all the way up. I whoaed him 1 time then walked in front of him. I kicked the cover then flushed the bird. I’m trying to make him point for longer and longer. He chased the pigeon. He likes pigeons.
He didn’t chase the first bird very far and came back to hunt. He made a big cast then hit the second bird. This time his head was up and so was his tail. I still have not touched him when he was on point. Each picture is the way he was at the time. I whoaed him 1 time then walked in front of him. I took a picture then looked at the camera. When I looked back at him he was moving toward the bird. I launched the bird and fired the pistol. When the bird came out it never got very high and Tur Bo was pretty close so he chased for a long ways. We hunted back to the truck.
Each day I work dogs now is almost a carbon copy of the day before but that’s the nature of dog training. Dogs learn by repetition and so you have to do the same things over and over until they do it the way you want. Then you have to do it some more. After a while it gets boring to do and I know it’s boring to read about but it’s necessary.