First flush

Larsen had his first find/flush.  He did ok twice and broke twice, but even in the breaking we got him back under control.  

The setup was very controlled.  Cathy put a flag in the field, and I placed a bird right on the flag.  The field had its summer cut so we were able to watch as the bird got its bearings and in some instances strolled around the grounds a bit.  I quartered Larsen, and because neither Cathy nor I were rolling the birds in, Larsen had less reason to hang around our feet.  He quartered ok, but not terribly crisply and I probably hit the whistle more than I should.  I tried to make sure that I was right on top of the dog and the bird when Larsen flushed so that I could whistle him to a sit.  Cathy too was letting him have it in her demure southern way at the top of her lungs.  Larsen sat as the bird flew.

Larsen was not steady to the gun.  When Shoni took a shot, the dog took off.  We were able to get him back before he got the bird, but he certainly was not steady by any means.

It was rough, it was ragged, but it was a start.  Larsen understood that he had to sit to the flush, and he did so at times in a somewhat controlled environment.  It was a setup, sure, but it was still dogs, birds, and guns all coming in at once.

The big dogs, Humphrey and Zelda, were out for tuneups.  Zelda had her now-familiar flush and retrieve on a nice crossing shot by Shoni.  Humphrey had to content himself with nice work on fly-offs, since the birds were tracking low on Shoni's lee side, giving her no opportunity for a shot.


Man, it was a hot morning.  We got the dogs out to short turns and iced them down, even though they seemed ok (tongues hanging from front of mouth and not from side).