Training Young Dogs, 7/2/14

I took the barrel out and replaced it with a 2x6.

I took the barrel out and replaced it with a 2×6.

Yesterday, I decided to replace the barrel that I have been using to teach the dogs to not move when birds are flushed in front of them. I took the barrel out and replaced it with a 2X6 board. This morning I put 4 pigeons in release traps and hid them in the grass I have been letting grow around the pigeon poles. Two of the birds are attached to the strings on the pigeon poles. This will be the first time that Blaze or Tur Bo have been whoaed on a 2X6.

Blaze on the 2X6

Blaze on the 2X6

Blaze

Blaze

I put an e-collar around Blaze’s neck and another around her flanks then heeled her to the whoa board. Lifting Blaze to the 2X6 is a lot easier than it will be when I put Tur Bo on. Blaze weighs about 30 pounds and Tur Bo weighed 52 pounds when I weighed him yesterday. I hooked a chain, that was hooked to a cable above the 2X6, to Blaze’s collar. If she steps off the board the chain will hold her in an uncomfortable position. Her feet can touch the boards on the base of the stand holding the 2X6.

After putting her on the 2X6 I walked to the far end of the tall grass. After kicking the grass for a minute I flushed a pigeon that was attached to a string. When it was ready to land I fired the blank pistol. Blaze stayed on the 2X6. She moved her feet a little but stayed on. I continued to kick the grass then flushed a fly away bird and shot the blank pistol. This time she didn’t move.

I walked to the birds that was closer to her, kicking the grass as I went, then flushed the other pigeon attached to a string. Even when I shot the blank pistol she never moved. Blaze was steady for a while, when I worked them at the county park, then she decided to chase and she even caught a pigeon so I decided I would work her on this exercise. (Whitey has been real steady so I’m not working her on this.) I continued to kick the grass, flushed the last fly away pigeon, then shot the blank pistol. She never moved.


I tossed one of the birds, attached to a string, in the air and shot the blank pistol. She never moved. I tossed the birds in the air but I only had one blank left and I shot it but she never moved. Altogether she had 10 or 12 birds flushed in front of her and she never came off the board. I lifted her off the board and heeled her back to the kennel.

Tur Bo on the first bird flushed.   Sitting with a leg on each side.

Tur Bo on the first bird flushed. Sitting with a leg on each side.

Tur Bo after I walked to the shed and reloaded the pistol.

Tur Bo after I walked to the shed and reloaded the pistol.

I heeled Tur Bo out with an e-collar around his neck and another around his flanks. With his large feet he was a little harder to place on the 2X6 than Blaze. I walked to the far end of the training area kicking the grass and flushed the bird attached to the string. When it was about to land I pulled the trigger on the blank pistol. I had forgotten to reload. Tur Bo’s front feet stayed on the board but he was sitting with a leg on each side. I put him back on the board and he went back on point. I left him on the board and went to the shed to reload the blank pistol. The second picture is the way that Tur Bo was when I came back. I didn’t touch him, I just took his picture.

I walked back to the far end, kicking the grass as I went. I flushed the fly away bird and when I shot the blank pistol Tur Bo came off the board. I put him back and walked out front kicking the grass. I flushed the second bird attached to a string and fired the blank pistol. He came off the board. He is steady until I fire the pistol. I put him back and went back out kicking the grass. I waited for a few seconds after flushing the second fly away bird before shooting the blank pistol. He was steady until I shot the blank. Off the bench he came. I put him back.

The grass is getting tall on my training grounds.

The grass is getting tall on my training grounds.

I had shot 3 times and he had come off the board 3 times. I tossed a bird on a string into the air and when it was about to land I fired the blank pistol. He stayed on the board. I tossed the bird in the air again and fired the blank. Again he stayed on the board. He stayed on the board for the third shot, too. After I ran out of blanks in the pistol I continued to toss birds in the air and he never came off again. I lifted him off the board and heeled him back to the kennel.



This was the first time I have used a 2X6 as a whoa board and for me it seems to work better than the whoa barrel. On the barrel the dogs can walk around some without coming off. On the 2X6 if they move, off they come. It’s worth trying for awhile to see if it continues to work.


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