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Millie’s
Education-
Bobwhites By Linda Dightmon Week 3 July 6th “No, bobwhite is a type of quail not a person.” I found myself explaining to my adult daughter. “ Oh,” she says. “I thought it was some famous dog trainer.” I was of course talking about our upcoming weekend session and wondering where I went wrong raising this child. Ryan had found a supplier who had some bobwhites. Millie, my two-year-old GSP, was going to point on Saturday. I just knew it. Last week we had brought her in to a pigeon but she never did actually point the bird. This week would surely be different with a genuine game bird. Saturday morning, at O’Dark thirty that nasty alarm buzzed me awake. This was Millie’s third early morning experience and she was ready to go. Seemed like she was learning the drill. I sat at the counter trying to enjoy my morning cup of wake-up. That dog stood in the middle of the kitchen floor, eyes wide, stub tail shaking and barked at me. I put her in the back yard. Nothing like an excited dog to get you motivated. A little later when I was ready (I am starting to like this alpha dog game) I loaded up that crazy dog with relatively ease and we were off. At the field we met up with two dog owners from Flagstaff. Because of forest closures there is simply no place to train up there. These guys drove down from the pines to work their dogs for one morning! Wow, I thought I was dedicated by getting up early. Ryan had the promised bobwhites but they were disappointedly young and simply refused to fly. This would made our training session tricky because we did not want the dogs to be able to catch the birds. The idea is to form a partnership with your gun dog. Dog finds bird, human gets bird. If the dog can do both then what does it need people for? By now, a pattern had been established in our Saturday mornings. Drake, Ryan’s English Pointer went first. We planted a few Bobwhites and Ryan put him on the check cord. This young dog is so much fun to watch. He found that bird so fast and did a good job holding solid while our stupid little bird was ‘flushed’. Shot goes off, bird falls and he was rewarded with the retrieve. This chain of events: dog finds bird, dog holds steady while human flushes and shoots bird, dog marks and retrieves bird to human, is the whole game. Sometimes trainers, Tony and Ryan must adapt and overcome to make it happen every time for the dog. In Drake’s session for example: Dog found bird, human picked up bird and tossed it into the air, a blank was fired, dog marked and caught the bird. Drake does not know that he did it all by himself. (Well, at least we hope not.) Now, it was my turn.
DRAKE I put my pretty new batting gloves on and prepared to check cord my dog. Then, Millie and I were introduced to a new tool, a pinch collar. It is an evil looking leather choke style collar with metal studs on the inside. We crossed the irrigation ditch and Millie made a run for it just as both of my boots hit some slimy mud. Down I went. I landed solid on my south side but held fast to the check cord. Millie stopped quick too when those studs hit. My ‘buddies’ were busy smothering fits of laughter and lost no time explaining to me that it looked like I had pooped my pants. OK, so my first efforts at check cording didn’t start out too good. I summoned up what little dignity was left and followed my dog into the field. Pretty soon we developed a rhythm and I had her in front most of the time. A bird was planted and I brought her around cross wind. That nose went up and she was hunting! She went indirectly to the bird and made a not very stylish point. But…it was a point none the less. Then we did it again. This time she made a more defined point but Tony said it didn’t count because she saw the bird before she caught scent. “Any dog can sight point,” Tony said. “Do it again.” Sooo… we brought her around to a different bird and she went on point similar to the first one. The bird wasn’t a foot away. I was told to choke up on the check cord so that she couldn’t just reach out and grab it. The bird was flushed (thrown), a blank was fired and it would have been very hard to hold that yippy horse without the special collar. After she was relatively calm and on command she was allowed to go get it. It didn’t go very far so she found it quickly. She was busy mauling the thing and we played the walking away game. Pretty soon she came bounding up to show us what she had. The beginnings of a retrieve. I got hold of the cord and we walked at heel gingerly through the mud and on to the trucks. Skinner, one of the Flagstaff visitors, is a three year old GSP rescue dog. He had not hunted or trained since February. A quail was planted for him so that he could get some practice. This dog did great! He made a perfect point. When the bird flushed he took one step and then corrected himself. He retrieved on command, perfect. We think maybe he was too hot and wanted to get this over with in one take so that he could go home. Nobody knows this dogs pedigree but owner Jim does not care. He is a well-trained hunting companion with a great nose and that is what is important. Our other Flagstaff visitor was Chuck and his dog Roux. She is another three-year-old GSP. This dog was very timid and a whole new approach had to be used. Wow, just when you think you got a handle on this gun dog training buisness in runs a timid GSP. She is very birdie with a good nose but she must be handled gently in corrections or she will cower. No pinch collar for this girl. The training exercise is the same drill but it also must be tailored for the personality of each dog.
SKINNER I am happy that with some help from Mr. Bob White my dog made a successful point. Progress has been made with each lesson. Today she found the bird, was made to hold steady, retrieved (sorta) and had a great time doing it. Maybe that is why they call these the dog days of summer. ROUX Concepts · Watch for mud especially on freshly irrigated fields · Any dog can ‘sight point’: real gundogs use their noses · Good hunting dogs can be found in shelters · Each dog is an individual and must be trained as such My trainers tell me that Millie will be ready by quail season. Stay tuned to find out.
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