TV Time

Sitting on the grass in the back yard at mid-summer is a trifle boring for me.  There's a clatter of squirrels, some lightning bugs becoming evident as evening approaches, a few birds flit.  A car door closes.

For Larsen, I suppose this is like watching TV.  He observes the tree bough bending as squirrels pass hither and yon.  A bird is observed and logged in.  A car door raises an eyebrow.

Real TV is too abstract for Larsen.  Once in a while, he may respond to the cackle of a rooster on a youtube video, or to a sqeal from a videotaped litter of pups, but for the most part, it does not register.

The back yard, by contrast, is kalaediscopic, at least for him.  I enjoy our little outings.  He sits or leans on my leg, and observes the passing, knowing that I'm with him.

Hand delivery

We had a very warm practice this morning.  One bird per dog and then a lot of water and shade.

Larsen's land work was very nice.  He put up a very trappable pheasant, and then stayed with me until I let him fetch it.  His second bird flew off.  That's the breaks, Larsen, and I guess you don't get to chase the bird into the next ZIP code.

We continued to work on delivery to hand.  I'm pondering when it is right to correct him and when to wait him out.  The corrections are done fairly gently.  He knows what he has to do, so when he does not perform, there is some reason he wants to dismiss me or keep the bird.

His return from the hunt dead is very nice, but his land and water to-hand need some thought and work.

This is Spinal Tap

Larsen's back appears to be much better lately.  There's a lot less of the crenalation along his spin, a lot less hunching.  He has more springer-like spring in his step.  Some of this is likely from a lot less activity in the last few months.  I'll get him to Lake Alatoona this weekend for some swiming and hiking.

Snoopy gets laser heat treatment for his back.

The AKC opened the Spaniel Hunt Test (now called the Upland Hunt Test) to curly-coated and flat-coated retrievers in 2012.  Goldens and Labs were permitted in 2013.

The change is driven by the numbers.  In 2012, Spaniels accounted for about 2,800 (2%) of all AKC Hunt Test entries.  Retrievers accounted for about 70,000 (53%) of the AKC's entries (in Retriever tests) and pointers about 60,000 (45%).

Joe D. argues that the AKC's retriever have become overrun with trial washouts.  The trialing world is quite competitive, and those that leave trialing for the AKC tests have distorted the original purpose of the AKC test, which is to provide a venue for the ordinary hunter to prove in his or her dog as a hunting companion.  Even a small percentage of retrievers leaving the retrieving tests in favor of the upland tests can distort the nature of the Upland/Spaniel test and turn it into a new type of retriever test (with a focus on long water work and complex hunt deads).  Retriever judges in the upland test would cause great changes as well.

 Source: AKC Springer Hunt Test Judging Seminar, June 2, 2012.

Outing at Circle W

Larsen received a compliment from Shoni.  She noted that when he hunted down a pheasant hen, he poked at it and caused her to fly, then he rocked back and sat.  Easily, he could instead have trapped the bird.

A gundog's job is to produce game for the gun.  It is exciting to watch a dog leap high after a pheasant, but the dog's primary responsibility is to get the bird aloft.  Larsen's actions, on a trappable bird, demonstrated that he has gotten deeper understanding of the game.

Larsen enjoys a run in the field at Circle W in Heflin, AL.