I wasn’t able to train yesterday but we did today. I put Tur Bo’s e-collar on then hooked the check cord to the pinch collar and we started our walk. Just to do something a little different we walked on my neighbors side of the training grounds. I walked a ways, whoaed him, and kept walking holding the check cord. I called him to me and when he started walking I held my hand up like a traffic cop and said whoa. He is doing this pretty well but I noticed that he would only take a step or two then stop before I said whoa, so every once in a while I pulled on the check cord and made him come all the way to me without stopping. This is hard on dogs, so I’m going slow and I will give him plenty of time to learn this.
Then we went to the retrieving bench and he jumped on it. Now he’s jumping on with no help. After walking him around and petting him at several spots on the bench, I roll the tennis ball. He pounces on it and brings it back. About the third time I rolled the ball he knocked it off the table. When he does that I don’t pick it up. I get my retrieving buck and I make him hold it, then give. I have to open his mouth, put the buck in and hold my left hand under his chin or he would spit it out. I then hold the end of the buck with my right hand, take my left hand from the chin and say give. I don’t pull the buck out I let him move his head off the buck. We do this 7 or 8 times. I pick him up, say whoa and put him on the ground.
Tur Bo
As soon as I release him from the whoa command, he immediately starts looking for the tennis ball that was dropped on the ground. Most of the time he remembers exactly where it is. This morning he picked it up and went away from me, then dropped it. I called him to me then said “get that ball” and he picked it up but dropped it before he got to me. Again I said “get that ball” and he got it closer, dropped it, then he brought it to me. After he brought it to me I threw it 7 or 8 times and he retrieved it to me each time. Each time when he got to me he rolled on the ground while I petted him. Some day I will have to make him stand up to be petted but for now we both like it this way.
I haven’t worked Tur Bo on birds in a couple of weeks but today I loaded him along with Blaze and Whitey into the truck, we went to the county park. I only have seven pigeons and one of those is setting, so 2 birds each is all they get, when I bring 3 dogs.
I heeled Blaze down the road for about 200 yards then released her to hunt. She is good about staying in front of me and going from one side to the other. The reason I walked them so far down the road, the wind was from the north and I wanted them to hunt into the wind. When she went on point, she was 30 yards from the bird and I wasn’t sure she had it but when I tapped her on the head, she wouldn’t move. I walked around and took some pictures, kicked the cover, then flushed the bird. She never moved. I released her and she pointed her second bird. I went through my regular routine and when I flushed the bird she never moved.
Blaze
Next, I heeled Whitey down the road for about 200 yards. I always whoa them a time or two as we walk down the road. They learn that whenever I say whoa they have to stop moving their feet. Until they will whoa, wherever and whenever, I tell them, we practice every where we go. She too, pointed her birds from quite a distance. Some days everything is just right and the dogs point from a long ways off and some days they have trouble. Whitey did a good job on her 2 birds and was steady to flush on them both.
Whitey
Tur Bo was next and I hadn’t brought the pinch collar with me. He was a handful heeling down the road. I don’t know how many times I turned around and heeled him in the opposite direction but it was quite a few. Finally we made it to where I was going to release him so I said whoa and he stopped. I took the leash off and he stayed on whoa until I tapped him on the head. It had been a while since he had been worked on birds and he was really flying.
Tur Bo
I didn’t step it off but his first point had to be 40 yards from the bird. I took a picture then moved closer and took 2 more. I have never brushed his tail up or touched him when he was on point but he really looked good today. Dolly and Shadow Oak Bo put the head and tail, where they are, on him. When he moved I flushed the bird and he chased but not far. He went back to hunting. He pointed the second bird and looked just as good as on the first. I may be a little bit prejudiced but not much. When he moved I flushed the bird.
Whitey and Blaze are at the point that I need to shoot some quail over them. They are doing everything right on the pigeons. Quail would be good for Tur Bo, also. I’m looking for a place to put a call back pen so I can have some good flying quail to work the dogs on. That would help all of the dogs not just the young dogs.