Sunday practice

Cathy (Humphrey, Zelda) and I (Larsen) met with Shoni at Danny's Circle W at around 7:00 am.  We practiced at the east field (or what I call the "master" field since we've sometimes held the MH events there). The west field has already gotten its summer cut and has no cover.

Here's where we are with Larsen.

• He has the components.  He will sit and let a bird get tossed or even fly and flutter about.  He will come to the whistle, but not every time.  His obedience radius is approximately 20 yards.  Outside of that, his obedience factor drops with the square of the distance.   
• Larsen has not put the components together.  I don't think he would find, flush, and sit to wing & shot.  I think if he were in the heat of the hunt, he would go for the bird: my whistle a distant sound from another world.

We've been running Larsen on short quarters, and trying to quiet down my hacking as well.  Unhappily, Larsen has gotten very bird-wise and he sticks around Cathy or me, depending upon where he hears the chirp of the quail.  He is basically under foot.  Venee has said that while this type of stickiness is not ideal, it is ok since at a test he will automatically range farther and wider.  It makes it a challenge to roll in a bird.  But, on the upside, he flushes it while right under my nose, which gives me the best opportunity to stop him and sit him in his tracks.

Larsen had some self-hunting going on and I had to correct him using the e-collar to pull him back in.  His sitting while I visited with Shoni and Cathy was very good.  In fact, in one flush situation, he remained sitting despite keening and sometimes lifting a front pay in order to get permission to get a flown-off bird.  He came to me when I pipped him in.  So we are making real progress.

His delivery to hand on the hunt deads was perfect, and I loved him for it.  His delivery from the water, less so.  When he laid the bird down to shake, I gave him one set of pips to bring it in.  If  he did not pick up the bird and bring it to me, I stepped up, grabbed him under the chin, and pulled him to me while pipping.  There now is a zero tolerance for sloppy handling.  I have to consistently and every time give him some nice (but not gushy) praise for a job well done, and a firm correction for sloppy work.

Humphrey and Zelda are hunting at a master level.  Cathy is pleased, and she has reason to be.  Humphrey has a relaxed, confident roll to his shoulders as he quarters.  He is fetching quail, and while he might rough up the delicate bird to some extent, these morsels definitely are table-ready and not overly-mouthed.  That's a tall order for Humphrey, and he has come a long way from last year's confusion.  I think his softer mouth is a reflection of his growing confidence.

Zelda had a beautiful flush & retrieve on the last land work of the day (before heading off to hunt dead and water).  It was on a tough shot that Shoni hit, just a sliver of blue under the bird.  The shot and perfect hup and retrieve ended that part of the practice on a high note.

Like Larsen, Zelda did a little tomfoolery with the bird on the water retrieve.  It is a temptation to the dog to start playing with a nice, smelly, wet bird, but, like Larsen, she got caught up short for her troubles in the new  no-nonsense attitude that Cathy and I have adopted.