Steady

Danny took us way back on his property - - the part beyond the single-file bridge of dubious integrity -- where it was ok with him if we used our barn chukar (a/k/a pigeons) for training.

Obedience.  I first demonstrated to Cathy Larsen's performance with the fetch dummy.  As is often the case, Larsen pretended not to see or find the dummy and used that as an excuse to tour the grounds.  I caught up with him  each time and corrected him by marching him to the dummy and commanding that he pick it up and hold it.  We engaged in this little battle of wills for a while and only stopped when he brought the dummy in smartly and sat.  This will endure for a bit until Larsen understands that he must fetch the dummy any time I request it.  It's boring work for a spaniel, but it's his job.

Quartering.  I still feel only partly in control with Larsen's quartering.  He wants to range wide, but I know that my ability to sit him on a flush declines with the square of the distance he is from me.  I try to hold him tight and he tries to wander and the display is messy-looking.

Steady.  On a good note, Larsen was steady to his last flush of the day.  It was a solid flush, and one pip from my whistle, and no shouting or arm waving.  The setup was me-Larsen-bird, with the bird flying away from us, and so not ideal for steadiness, which made the result all the more gratifying.

Larsen earlier had broken on a sucker bird that got away from his trap.  I did not hit the whistle because it seemed impossible to stop him.  He returned readily on my recall, however, which was good, but I'm not entirely sure whether he'd already started his return before I pipped.  I'll give myself the benefit of the doubt and chalk that up to a good practice day.

Retrieve.  Larsen tried to be sloppy with the retrieve, and got a firm correction each time for his effort.  I believe that this ultimately will pay off.  I think he is past the point where I need to be overly concerned that his lack of full retrieve is a fear of correction insofar as he absolutely knows why he is being corrected.

We practiced with Cathy (Bing, Zelda, and Humphrey) and Shoni (Sunny) on a hot Alabama morning buzzing with late summer bees.

  Larsen follows Cathy off the field after a good run.

The spaniel still has some gas in the tank as we leave the field.

Shoni is pleased with Sunny's advanced work in the field.

Sunny cools down after her outing on a steamy morning.