Hunt training

Larsen and I enjoyed a lively spaniel hunting practice with some friends and their dogs on a cold but pretty Sunday in Alabama.  For Larsen, I set out two quail and a chukar each time for some land work.  We played a few toss-and fetch games.  I later set up and ran him in a hunt dead, where I set the bird out myself.  I ran him not-so-blind water retrieve.  He watched me toss the bird across the waterway and into the thickets, and on command he went to find and retrieve it.  Larsen looked good on Sunday, although he ran the bank once or twice before finally plunging in for the blind water retrieve.

I am not trying to get ahead of the game.  I know that Larsen has not completed his JH, and is not Senior-ready right now.  However, in our mindset and in our approach we have to start making the adjustment to the higher level.

Here is the outline of what we need to accomplish.  Our goal in the next few weeks is to design exercises that contain the core features of these requirements but that allow us to get in valuable repetitions in the yard and basement.  Larsen's boldness and intensity are a given; a solid retrieve to hand, as always, is the gateway to his success.  

According to the AKC:

. . . [the Senior hunting dog must] show all the attributes of a Junior hunting dog.  In addition, a dog must show true boldness to cover, a pattern addressing the course objectives and an intense desire to hunt.  A proper working distance and independent hunting sense must be maintained.

Seniors should not be afraid to enter cover and should hit the spots likely to hold birds regardless of how difficult.

Some other AKC points:

1. Must demonstrate a true boldness to cover [. . .] an intense desire to hunt.
2. Must be linesteady at water (i.e., no physical or excessive verbal restraint).
3. Must retrieve eagerly to hand from water without "constantly stopping and dropping the bird".
4. Must retrieve all birds - - land or water - - to hand.
5. Must maintain proper working distance.
6. Independent hunting sense.
7. Must return to a call on a missed bird in a reasonable amount of time with a reasonable amount of persuasion. 
8. Must exhibit the ability to "hunt dead" on a blind retrieve.