Spring Has Come AT LAST!

Heard my first woodcock last night (April 1st).  He was trying to get some girls to come over and Meg and I tried to sneak up on him only to get to close.  Then this morning (2nd) I heard my first Turkey gobble of the new year.  Spring is coming on fast here.

AHDC Clinic 7/13

Well another clinic has come and gone.  Bob whites are getting hard to come by in new england this summer.  The most recent batch refused to fly more then 20 feet.  At least these did not like to be pointed and would run.  This creates a challenge for the handler as they can move off quite a bit before you find them to flush them.  Zoe has started to get sticky in training.  This is good and bad as it shows she is thinking about what she needs to do but she doesn't have the confidence to just stick those birds.  What she will be getting is a couple of empty runs.  Hopefully this will remove the stickiness but we'll see. She has been pointing everything in the yard for a while now.  She's got a good nose I'll give her that.  Her bird work is still in progress.  With a shotgun she will take a jump HOWEVER with a blank gun she stands pretty.  I have been putting the collar on her at the beginning of the day and leaving it on her until I'm ready to run her much later. I have not needed the collar for her recently so hopefully I can start playing some games with her.  Next I will have to run her in a brace with a friends dog and see how she handles that situation.  Regardless it will be an opportunity to work some backing into her bird work.

AHDC Training clinic 6/29/14

Had another AHDC training clinic this past weekend. Zoe went swimming unbelievably.   Of course she would only go for Meg.  If I threw a bumper then it was a no go.  On her birds she was OK.  The first bird she worked with a single step.  The next bird she had flush into her face which was retrieved to hand and put back in the box.  The final bird she worked perfectly without any help.  Improving with bird contact is a nice thing.

AHDC Training Clinic 6/8

Well this Sunday was another AHDC training clinic.  There were allot more people out to see the club and begin training their dogs.  OF note some people from MA with French Brittany's were there as well as a young man with a chocolate lab and another fellow with a Griff.  As such I did not get to have much time with the dogs.  Ivy did a few marked water retrieves and a simple blind retrieve and while I'm sure she was not thrilled with the lack of work she was somewhat tired by the end of the day and at 10 years old I want to be careful with getting her back into hunting shape.  Most likely she will be doing allot more water work over the summer to prepare her for the fall.  Zoe in the recent month has decided she likes to retrieve for a change?!?!? She had been willingly picking up things when NOT being command to.  I don't know what has come over her but I'm not arguing it.  On Saturday I introduced the concept of Blind retrieves with her and had her going about 50 yards.  She was not yet ready to go through cover to find the bumper but That was more then I was really expecting anyway.  On Sunday at the clinic there was a bumper with wings taped to it.. I have been having a sloppy retrieve on shot quail and thought I might revisit her fetching.  As a way to transition her to the recently shot quail I used the bumper with the wings.  I started with placing it in her mouth like any other object then having her walk with it etc before sending her for her first real retrieve. On the first retrieve she balked and messed around before picking up the bumper and bringing it back.  A quick touch of the ear reminded her what she was supposed to be doing.  Three retrieves later she was ready for the quail.  Placing it in her mouth produced no problems and walking with it was the same.  However, the first real retrieve was another story.  She once again started messing around with the bird.  I should have known better and touched the ear to begin with. Trainer mistake.  The subsequent retrieves went relatively smoothly.  I still am not happy with the way she tosses the quail after the initial pickup but we'll see if that goes away with bigger birds that are not so easy to move around.  In terms of her field work.  We got some quail from a new supplier which are VERY difficult to plant and quite jumpy. i.e. EXCELLENT training birds.  The bird planter tried to plant the birds in his location but the birds felt they were not in the correct area and relocated to a location they felt better at.  Unfortunately for the dog we could only find 1 of the 2 birds.  Which she remained steady on without help not even moving at the shot.  YEAH!! We'll see how it progresses.

Training clinic

Today was another AHDC training clinic.  Lots of people at this one. We got to see some nice pups.  Worked Zoe on 2 seperate birds with the blank gun. Dad planted the birds up in the pines.  Had just about a perfect breeze coming off the water and blowing into the pines.  I decided to try to take the step out of zoe by working her on a pc and cord on addition to her normal collars.  We worked the first bird and she must have pointed it from 25 feet away easy. The wind was blowing right into her nose and she was smoking the bird scent.  When she got soft from the wind lightening up I moved her up.  She pointed again and I flushed and shot.  The bird did not fly well and she was stopped with the cord on the shot.  The bird flew to the top of the hill and we continued on away from that bird.  She pointed the next bird quite well. See the picture.   She held steady with a small step at the shot but did not need a correction.   Yeah!! I decided to take the pc off her and run her back toward where the first bird landed.  Unfortunately she tried to circle around and chase the recently flushed bird. Fortunately for me I got her stopped using the collar before she got to the bird.  Collecting the dog I heeled her back up the hill a little way before turning her loose.  Once turned loose she worked nicely forward finding the first bird and sticking it hard.  She remained steady with no movement at the shot without any corrections.  No delayed chase and we all went home happy.

               Bruce was nice enough to ask me to plant a bird for his new pup, Lexi.  Planting the bird where Zoe's second bird was proved just about perfect.  Lexi hit the scent hard and pointed strongly allowing Bruce and I to walk 10 yards to her even allowing Bruce to cause the bird to move before taking the bird for a ride.  She then over ran the bird but found it a second tome where the scent was not as abrupt such that she flash pointed the bird before taking it out on her own.  Exactly what Bruce was looking for.  She should develop into a nice pup. We'll have to see if her range and pattern improve as she gets older.

Ladies Range Day

For the 15th year now we have had a demo as part of the ladies range day activities at the rockville rod and gun club.  Unlike previous years the weather was excellent this year.  The ladies are introduced to a nimber of things including rifle and pistol, black powder, archery, trap and skeet, as well as fishing and demo dog work.  This year seemed to be well recieved with a number of interesting questions.  A few of the ladies had sporting dogs and many went away wanting one.

The training clinic held the next day was sparsely attended.  However I was able to work Zoe on a few birds. The first of which she took out on her own.  Unfortunately it was shot but we chose to leave it.  Big mistake.  When working back Zoe went to the bird and picked it up retrieving it to hand.  The next bird was worked alright with some big moves at the flush and shot but I caught her before she could get to the bird.  All in all not to bad...

AHDC Sunday 4-6

Well the training clinic was a good time. There were woodcock in and Zoe had 3 pinned down nicely.  With a little help she stayed standing nicely.  On the pen raised quail and the shotguns she made a good move and then needed help getting stopped. On a second bird later in the day I decided to let her do it herself.  A nice 8 ft move to chase before stopping on her own. Still going to need some work. I'll test her on the quail later after a few more times working them.  I forgot to do some stop and stand BEFORE working the birds. Next time.

Wet day

With the rain no training was done. Took the pups out on Sat and they had a good run but no birds at the farm.  Did some blank shot work and the old dog was creeping worse then Zoe. Go figure....

Spring training

Well it's that time of year again.  The dogs have gotten fat from all the winter weather we've had and it's time to get them in shape for the fall.  Heard the first woodcock by the house late last week.  He had a few of his friends around and I though there I could here  at least 3 different males singing.  One was kind enough to do his little sky dance near the house and I caught a glimpse of him before he disappeared behind the roof line.  The AHDC (American Hunting Dog Club) has started their training clinics up as well.  There was one on the 17th but with all the ice and snow there was not much that we could do.  This coming weekend there is another clinic and the weather looks to be better for that.  Will probably get a couple of quail and see what Zoe has remembered from last fall. Hopefully the weather will be good for Sunday and the snow that we are supposed to get Tues into Wed passes us by.

Been Awhile

Well It's been awhile since I last posted on here so lets get back to training.

Last Fall Zoe was doing a nice job on her birds.  Finally was able to get her standing them through the flush and shot.  Not all but towards the end of the season we were getting the work I wanted more often then not.

Fast forward to the spring....not so good.  Last time I had her out I forgot a bunch of stuff.  Like making sure to settle her down before working birds....you know basic stuff. ;)  Of the birds we worked I had a great sequence and then some time later tried her again KNOWING I had turned the proverbial corner.  Nope.  Goes to show me what I knew.

It's starting to get to be summer here and that means early mornings and late night for the most part.  With the amount of rain we've had the field is a little tall but should be workable.  We'll have to go and see..