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.