I put the e-collar and roading harness on Tur Bo and walked him around the yard pulling the weights. I stopped probably 50 times saying whoa. I would hold my hand up like a traffic cop and walk out in front of him. Before we quit I was getting 20 yards in front and he would stay on whoa. Sometime I would walk straight back to him and sometime I walked around him then back to his side.
I heeled him to the retrieving bench and he jumped onto it. He is a lot more comfortable on the bench now but he only retrieved the tennis ball 2 times. If I have to I will do the trained retrieve with him. The only opportunity he had to retrieve a quail last year he played keep away with it but he wanted to show it to me. He finally dropped it close to me.
I loaded the dogs and all of the training stuff in the truck and drove to the park that is just a couple of miles from my home. The park is large enough that I could go to a new place.
I threw the ball for Blaze and Whitey and Blaze retrieved it every time. The third time I threw it for Whitey she refused to retrieve. I held the button on the e-collar down, on level 2, and she retrieved the ball. She picked it up and ran to me like she hadn’t even refused. I threw it 8 or 9 times and she did it perfectly.
Tur Bo was a different story, he knew I had birds with me and he retrieved one time then kept trying to go hunting. I put him back on his tie out leash.
After all this time training dogs you would think I would know better than to put the birds out too far from the truck. I took the traps and birds out found a place to my liking for the first one then put the other one out about 50 yards from the first. Then go back, get a dog, walk it out, work the birds, take the dog back, go back and replace the birds. I stepped it off on the last dog and to the farther bird it was 175 yards. It would have been the same for the dogs had I put the farther bird 50 yards away.
Whitey
After putting the birds out I turned Whitey loose to hunt. She pointed the first bird and I walked around in front of her, then I made a large circle in front of her. I spent more time kicking the cover, then flushed the pigeon. She never moved. I went back in front and kicked the cover some more. Then released her. She found her second bird and I went through the same routine and she was steady on this bird, also.
Blaze
When I turned Blaze loose, she was pumped. She was bouncing from one birdy looking place to another. The grass was waist high and a lot of the time all I could see was the grass moving. She pointed the first bird and I walked all around kicking the cover, then released the bird. She flinched but didn’t move. On her second bird when I flushed it she took a step then stopped. I held the button on her e-collar down on level 2, then picked her up and put her back where she had pointed. As soon as her feet touched the ground I let off the button. I walked in front, made a circle kicking the cover, then released her.
Tur Bo had been whining and barking wanting his turn. I always heel the dogs around some before I turn them loose but he had to have a lot. Finally, he figured out he was not going to get to hunt unless he heeled. After he settled down I turned him loose. I had moved one of the birds because the Whitey acted like she couldn’t get the scent very good. When Tur Bo hit that hot spot he slammed into a point. I let him stand there for awhile, then when he let down some, I encouraged him to move. He checked the spot then went back to hunting. He pointed his first bird but didn’t hold very long. At his first movement I flushed his bird. He pointed his second bird and I walked in close to the bird. When I got close, he moved and I flushed the bird. This was a young bird that flew real low and he almost caught it.
Tur Bo
Blaze and Whitey are getting better retrieving and are steadier on their birds. Blaze is still moving sometime at the flush but I will continue to set her back until she stops. Tur Bo is learning more each day. After he learns whoa real well I will steady him on his birds. It is 7 months until quail season opens so we have time to work on everything.