How to clean quail

Some relevant comments from the post:

Comment: I love the video and especially those shears. But one thing I noticed you nicely listed having to leave a wing, head or foot, then cut off both feet.

Response: I wondered if someone would catch that screwup, old age brain f*rt. I did keep a wing and put it the ziplock with the bird. Since the mearns limit is 8 and gambels/scaled is 15, that requirement is so the warden can tell species. Where I hunt the nearest mearns is at least 250 miles away so I doubt if a warden would be too concerned.

Fundamentals, not kindergarten

Larsen and I joined Jeanne and Cathy at Danny's for a day of training on a cold and wet March morning.

Larsen started casting wide, so we backed up a step. We started at a more basic level. I started Larsen and then would, myself, roll in the clip-wing quail while his back was to me. This ensured that Larsen would find the bird about 5 steps in front of me.

We did this same exercise three times.

Larsen improved each time, with tighter casts, better response to the whistle, and even an occasional glance back to me for instruction. This eliminated the self-hunting.

Later, I described this to the others as going back to kindergarten, but then I caught myself and thought that that is really not right. Everyone, even professional athletes, work on fundamentals and there is no reason to understate the importance of doing something simple successfully and repetitively. Having returned to and improved our fundamentals, we are in a much better position to move forward with some more advanced steadying techniques. If we can't get the more advanced steps right, we will return to the fundamentals that we know how to do and enjoy doing.

A few more

While we are at it.

Wiggling puppies

For your Tuesday morning.

Illusion is not reality

Larsen and I often walk a one-mile loop trail around Blackburn park.

At one point in the walk, we cut through a passageway that is flanked by a fenced soccer field on one side and a fenced softball field on the other. We practice some steady drills here. I whistle-sit him, walk about 20 yards from him and pip him toward me, and then, when he gets about half-way to me, I whistle sit him again. We do this exercise three times along the length of the two fences.

This alleyway between the fenced areas is nice because it gives the illusion of being in an enclosed place and makes it less likely that he will run off.

Unhappily, illusion is not reality. The alleyway is not fenced on two of its sides, and this morning Larsen had foremost in his mind a squirrel that had been gamboling about the tree trunks on the western, open, end of the alleyway. This is the end that borders Ashford Dunwoody Road, a very busy street.

Larsen took my measure and bolted. After much ineffectual pipping, I finally corralled that dog but with my heart in my mouth. I leashed him and then had the presence to correct him by pipping him to me multiple times while snapping his leash. However, I completely forgot to first grab him by his ear/wattle and duck-march him back to the point of infraction and then do the pipping.

This partial correction left Larsen a happy and unchastened dog who saw his frolic near Ashford Dunwoody as great fun, which is not at all the lesson that he should have received. The result is setting our training back by what feels to be a month.

As important, I should have been ready for the potential for a break. There was a point when I could tell that Larsen had not forgotten about that squirrel. In my mind, right next to my unconsciousness, I sensed that Larsen was liable to break. I foolishly forged forward and figured that I could keep his attention, get him to come, and he would be fine. That is the instant that near-disaster struck. The lesson for me is to not get slack. Not even for a moment. I can't put him in a position where he can fail like that.

The strip of land between the chain-link fences of a softball field and a soccer field make a nice run for practicing steadiness

The 6-foot lead

There is no single piece of training equipment as important as the simple six-foot lead.

That connection between you and your dog can be used for the most critical obedience exercises. A dog that will sit (and stay) when told to sit, and a dog that will come when called is a dog that can be trusted virtually anywhere to do almost anything a dog can do. Your six-foot lead will allow you to get to this high level of obedience.

Toss out the zip-lead and pick up a nice leather 3-quarter inch by six-footer with a solid brass buckle. The leash looks good and smells good. You can saddle soap it up when it gets dragged around. You and your dog are ready to go.

There are many books and how-to's on how to leash train your dog. What I will mention here are some simple but advanced exercises.

Heel. Work on heeling your dog. It looks great to have him trotting along respectfully with you rather than tugging along. I let Larsen tug more than I should. I'm just as lazy as the next guy when it comes to being consistent. He knows how to heel, but needs a gentle reminder. The trick is to correct him just before he goes off the reservation.

Here. I have to write a separate blog post about the virtues of six-foot drills. You can practice here (or come, if you prefer) as you walk along. Just call him. If he doesn't respond with crispness, give him a bit of a correction. Quickly and with some authority.

Sit. Teach him to stop and sit at your command. This is required for steadiness in the field, and it is handy to have in any event.

Whistle drills. You communicate with your dog in the field using hand signals and an Acme 210 1/2 pealess whistle. No, you don't need to toot on your whistle when your dog is about four feet away from you, but the lead provides you with a a perfect opportunity to practice any number of cricitcal skills. So, give him a toot and hup him. Give him three or four toots and call him in. Is he lagging? A quick correction on that lead will take care of that.

Off-lead exercises. You can do off-lead exercises with the lead draping behind. This is a step up from leash-based exercises. Try "here", "stay", and even a combination of steadying him half-way to you. The leash will get grimy, no doubt about it, but the nice quality of the leather allows you to get the lead back into shape with some saddle soap.



There are great opportunities while on a city walk to practice some obedience fundamentals and even some field drills. All on the end of a nice, leather six-foot lead.

Statesman visit

We enjoyed hosting our friends from Statesman Welsh Springer Spaniel last Saturday.

The purpose of the visit was to bring and help socialize a passel of 11-week-old puppies. For the past few weeks, Susan and Gary had been managing two litters -- a combined 13 dogs. One litter was from their dam, and the other from daughter Meghen's. Meghen, meanwhile, was at the Crufts dog show in England. So Susan and Gary were up to their ankles in puppies. They were overjoyed to have some of the pups stay at someone else's house.

We kept little Rysa and Boyo. Susan expects to breed Rysa at some point. Boyo will be placed (and probably get a new call name).

We took the little dogs around neighborhood and called in MaryAnne with her red & white, Chance. We finally gave them up to Susan W., for some fun over at her house with her dogs, Lars, Mazie, and Tatum. Our house was unnaturally quiet after the dogs left.

This little guy surveys the grounds like visiting royalty.




Focused photos generally involved sleeping puppies.



Ryssa and Boyo are from different litters, but you wouldn't know it as they curl up together after a day of play.

Larsen at four

Larsen turned four today. We had visiting puppies this past weekend, which was a party of sorts. Susan W., Larsen's breeder, stopped by to pick them up for a two day visit at her house. (It's a complicated story.) Larsen was excited that Susan would come to visit. He would have gone with Susan without a moment's hesitation if only we'd let him.

Sunday training report

Larsen and I met with Cathy V. and Jeanne G. at Danny's for practice. Cathy has two clumbers, Humphrey and Zelda, who are working on Master titles. Jeanne's cocker Millie is working on her Junior.

I started Larsen with his "steady" drill. He did it very nicely. Later, his quartering work broke down, and so did my whistle work for that matter, as Larsen took to some self-hunting, ranging down the field to the birds. My challenge is to be crisper in what I want, and to keep him in a tighter box in front of me. This is a change for both of us compared to the looser restrictions I gave him at the Junior level and it frustrated Larsen to the point where he was disregarding me. There were some forced marches back to crime scenes and some six-foot "here, sit" drills. On these also, I have to improve my timing and whistling.

This more exacting level of obedience is necessary so that I can pull him off a fly-away expeditiously and otherwise demonstrate that he is under control at all times, which is what is required at the Senior level.

Later, Larsen ran a hunt dead and on a water retrieve. He loves hunt dead and does it well. He knows it and it is fun and relaxed. I put the bird 50 or more yards out, and about 10 yards into the woods while he sat and waited. I came back, said "dead", and then said "fetch." He took a hot line toward the area of the bird, scouted a bit, and then brought it to hand. Lovely.

On water, he put the bird down to shake, then picked it up, and brought it close to, but not cleanly to hand.

We will continue our Gentle Force Fetch practice and our steady drills this week. The GFF will help with the water retrieve-to-hand. The steady drills are intended to help with overall obedience. I also have to remember to go back to kindergarten and clear success more quickly when we reach any failure. He loves to do things he knows how to do, and we are both more relaxed. So I have to really think through what I want him to do in an exercise before we do it, and think about what steps I'll take if it breaks down. I also have to be quicker to identify an incipient breakdown.

One last reminder, and that is I should park the car and kennel Larsen in a way that gives him a less clear view of the field. His ability to watch me help the others and their dogs gets him wound up by the time it is his turn.

At ease

It's not all work at a hunt training. There's plenty of time for silliness, canine and human.



Larsen bops puppy Kaden.







What's that noise? Mary and Adara investigate.




Kaden and Adara spectate.






Amy (far right) relates a story to MaryAnne, Bill, and Aki as Chance enjoys the comaradarie.

Let's try this again

It's important to be able to correct your dog when he fails to sit on command.

There's no need for temper tantrums or exasperation. Just collect the dog, march him to the scene of the crime and reinforce the correct behavior.

Let's consider a "steadying" drill.

Your dog has been quartering about at your direction. You give a single, sharp pip to the whistle indicating that he is to stop and sit. Doggie keeps milling about. That's not right.

Get that dog. Grab him by the wattles under his throat and pick him up off his front feet. March him back to where he broke. Sit him. Whistle (one pip) and motion to stay put.

Walk off a bit, and repeat that one pip on your whistle along with your motion for him to stay put.

Joe explains the rationale for this approach. He says that dogs are place sensitive. They learn in one place, and don't necessarily generalize their experiences very easily. When you correct your dog and return him to the point of infraction he understands, "Oh, so this is where I messed up!" Then you can redo the pip/sit and let him know what the correct response is. ("Ok, I got it boss!") Moving the dog from point B back to point A by lifting him off his front feet gives him a feeling of helplessness (he is hardly helpless, he just feels it). This lets the dog know that he done wrong and that he is being corrected.

Once the correction is completed, all is good with the world, and you can proceed to the next exercise. For example, you might say "go on" or "go hunt" to get him hunting again.

MaryAnne marches Chance back to the scene of the crime.

Steady

Steadiness separates beginning or novice hunting dogs from their more advanced brothers and sisters. A steady dog is always under control, even in the mayhem of a flushed covey. This control is shown by the willingness of the dog to break off a chase, to sit in the field even when outside of any direct reach of the handler, and ultimately, in a finished dog, to be steady to wing and shot.

Joe's seminar focused on steadying the hunting dog. The exercises included some simple sit/stay drills without birds. Joe said that "game changes everything," and that you need rock-hard steadiness before introducing game.

During the course of the weekend, we went ahead and introduced pigeons even though the dogs were not entirely steadied without them so that Joe could show the types of exercises we would progress to.

Larsen is steady without birds, although he is just now learning how to sit at the whistle. This is something we practice daily on our walks. So it was time to introduce game to the exercise. Here is a pictoral essay on that introduction with Larsen and others.


Bill hups Hampton at the line and prepares to walk away from him.


Having hupped Larsen, Frank walks away. Larsen is steady.



Venee has walked a few paces from Murphy. Murphy is steady.



After having called Larsen, Frank stops Larsen in midstream.




Frank calls Larsen, then whistles and motions Larsen to a "sit" in mid-stream. Joe holds the bird high, which catches Larsen's eye and reinforces the sitting motion as Larsen follows Joe's hand.



Larsen starts to learn to stop at the whistle.


Frank M. keeps an eye on Bibi as Joe tempts her with a tossed pigeon. Bibi stays put.


Larsen remains steady as he watches a pigeon land in the grass. Good boy, Larsen!


Larsen is given permission to retrieve the pigeon.