Most days I work these three young dogs, on birds or on something. Yesterday I waited until afternoon so it would warm up some. My plan was to flush the birds just as soon as I knew that the dogs smelled the bird. That would teach Tur Bo that he had to be careful or the bird would fly away and for Whitey and Blaze that they had to stop to flush. That was my plan.
Tur Bo
I put the birds out then put an e-collar on Tur Bo and lead him toward the bird field. I’m starting to teach heel with a piggin string.( This is a what calf ropers use to tie calves with. Delmar Smith puts some washers on them and calls them “Wonder Leads.”) As we head towards the training grounds I have the piggin string just behind his ears. I don’t say anything, I just start walking and when he pulls ahead I turn and go the other way. I do this several times. Pretty soon he is watching to see which direction I’m going to turn next. I would not do this if he had not been hunted a lot and he knows he is supposed to get away from my side to hunt.
I turned Tur Bo loose to hunt and was going to turn the pigeon loose when he got close. Before I could get close Tur Bo was on point. So I took some pictures and waited for him to move. When he took a step I flushed the bird. We went on toward the other bird and when he got close I flushed the bird. He had a good chase then came back to hunt again.
I put an e-collar around Blaze’s neck and flanks, then headed to the training grounds. I use the piggin string on all of my dogs. Blaze heels real well but I also work her on whoa as we go. I hit the e-collar on her flanks without saying anything until she stops. The older dogs have been worked a lot with the flank collar so they know what turns the collar off. If they chase the bird when it flies, they know that they are being stimulated for not whoaing and its not the bird stimulating them.
I turned Blaze loose and she was on point before I got close enough to see her on the first bird. So much for flushing the birds in front of them. So I took some pictures, then went in front and kicked around, then released the bird. She didn’t move. I lead her away, then released her. When she got close to the second bird I flushed it. Blaze took off in hot pursuit. I pressed the button on the collar and held it down. It was on the lightest setting that she would react to. She didn’t slow down. I turned it up one level. She circled around close to me and finally stopped. (Blaze works on my Sport Dog collars on level 2 of the lowest setting. When I turned it up I went to level 3 lowest setting.) I picked her up and carried her to where she was when the bird was released and stacked her up. I tapped her on the head to release her and let her happy time back to the kennel.
I worked Whitey on the piggin string on the way to the bird field. When I turned her loose she pointed before I could see the first area I hid the bird in. I took some pictures then walked in front of her and kicked around. When I flushed the bird she didn’t move. I lead her away and released her. I released the second bird when she was close to it and she stopped. I stroked her up and praised her. I released her and let her have fun running and hunting on the way back to the kennel.
All of my training is low stress on the dogs. It takes more repetitions on some things than being hard will but no dogs have quit. They come to training with happy tails and they leave the same way. Even if you make mistakes, and I do, birds and repetition will make up for the mistakes.