The $300 lesson

It's not often that a day of training will cost you $300.

Larsen and I were at the edge of the farm pond at Circle W Hunting Preserve. George had the duck call, blank gun, and a dead bird. I steadied Larsen and gave a nod to George, who quacked, threw the bird, and shot the pistol.

Without hesitation, Larsen leaped into the water.

This is a fault. Larsen is supposed to wait until I give him the signal. Without hesitation, I leaped in after Larsen, hauled him out and sat him down. Unhappily, I leaped in with my iPhone in my pocket, and the device faded out. I'll put it in a bag of rice, I suppose, but I'm not holding my breath, and in fact went out and got another iPhone, and hence the $300 lesson that I received.

For what it's worth, I'm hopeful that the lesson stuck with Larsen. After getting unceremoniously pulled out of the water, he did not want to re-enter at all. I became concerned that I caused him to "fail" on a water retrieve, which Joe DeMarkis cautions against. At Susan W's suggestion, I played some games offline with Larsen: I walked about the edge of the field with him at heel. I let him fetch the bird, walk with me at heel with the bird in his mouth, give me the bird, and take it back. A little one-on-one fun time.

His second practice retrieve was much better. He sat on shore until I released him, swam for the bird and brought it in. It was not a perfect retrieve by any stretch since Larsen put the bird down and shook first, but it was not bad.




Larsen examines his new iPhone.