Yesterday we didn’t train because of the weather. It was cold, windy, and raining for most of the day. In the afternoon the sun came out and I decided I had time to give the dogs a haircut. I was sitting in the doorway of the shed, about half way through with Blaze when it started thundering and raining. Then it started hailing. The hail was not very large but there was enough to almost cover the ground. My shed has a 4 foot overhang so we didn’t get wet or hit by hail but Blaze doesn’t like thunder.
This morning I started getting the stuff together to register Tur Bo with American Kennel Club. He is already registered with American Field or Field Dog Stud Book but I want to run him in some hunt tests. One of the requirements was a picture from the front and another from the side, so the easiest way is to get him pointing birds.
If I’m going to train I’m going to train all the way. So I put the roading harness, weights and e-collar on Tur Bo and we started around the yard. I would heel him for a short distance, then say whoa, but keep walking. He stopped each time but during the heeling he would sometime pull ahead. When he got ahead of me I would turn around, either left or right. When I turned left with him ahead of me my knee would hit him on the side of the head. He’s fast, when I turned right I wouldn’t even feel him on the leash, he would go fast enough to stay with me. He pulled the weights back to the shed and I sat in the doorway and petted him.
As I heeled him to the retrieving bench I whoaed him 5 or 6 times on my whoa board then put him on the barrel. This was the first time he had been on the barrel. He stood real well. I only left him on the barrel for a few seconds then heeled him to the bench. I’m mainly using the bench as a loving bench. After petting him for a while on the bench I rolled the tennis ball down the bench and he retrieved it. I made a big deal out of the retrieve as I always do but once was all he would bring it back.
I loaded everything up for the trip to the county park. At the park, I used to have several places to work dogs close to the parking lots. Now the workers have closed some of the parking areas and some of the roads. I still have a place if the wind is out of the south and another if the wind is out of the north. Today the wind is out of the north.
I put 2 pigeons out and because I needed to take some pictures of Tur Bo I ran him first. He pointed his first bird and I took some pictures, but when I tried to get closer he moved and I flushed the bird. The bird flew to the south with him chasing but he went back to hunting before he got to the road. He pointed his second bird but the grass was too tall to get any pictures. When he moved I flushed the bird.
Tur Bo
I put both bird releases about 10 yards apart for Whitey. She tried to point where I had moved one of the traps from. She was just getting a little scent and I encouraged her to move on. If you allow them to point old scent they will false point a lot. If they have a good nose, they can tell the difference between a hot spot and a bird. She moved on then pointed. I walked around her kicking the cover, then flushed the farther bird. She turned her head but didn’t move. I kept kicking as I walked around. She let down a little when I flushed the first bird but the scent of the bird she was pointing was still strong, so she got real rigid again. She never moved when I flushed the second bird. I petted her, tapped her on the head and let her run some more.
Whitey
Blaze
Usually Blaze has been first or second, but today she had to watch both Tur Bo and Whitey, so she was really wound up. She covered a lot of ground before she settled down to hunting. When I turned her loose she went almost to the back then west to the far side then south down the edge to get back in front of me. It was a pretty cast and had there been wild birds there she might have found them. She went back and forth in front of me and when she pointed she was in between the release traps. I had brought an extra bird with me so as I walked around kicking the cover I threw a pigeon by hand. Blaze moved her head but not her feet. I could tell which pigeon she was smelling so I flushed the other. Again she turned to look but didn’t move. I kicked the cover some more then flushed the bird she was smelling. Again she never moved. I petted her, tapped her on the head and sent her on.
Do I think Blaze is broke to the flush, absolutely not. But it’s a start. She is going to try me her whole life, I believe. She and Whitey are smart dogs and they will become good bird dogs with enough experience. Pigeons are the only way I have of giving them the experience they need. We used to train dogs with wild birds but that is not an option now.