Saturday at Tim's

Larsen and I visited Tim's for another round of one-on-one practice.

Larsen had a magnificent flush & sit.  A pigeon went up, got hung in some brush, and fluttered in Larsen's face while Larsen sat and watched.  Tim shot the bird and Larsen sat.  He keened a bit, but sat.  I sent him and the happy dog fetched the bird.

Tim compared that discipline to Moses, which is the highest of praise.

We did a bucket drill to teach Larsen left, right, and back.  Three buckets are laid out in T formation.  I started up by Larsen and sent him for single and multiple fetches.  I stepped about 3 yards away and did the same thing.  Larsen fetched even the blind retrieves, following my hand signals.  This was a great drill to learn.  I'd read about it in books, but doing it is the best teacher of all, and Larsen had a good time showing us how smart he was.

Case closed

Entries for the 2012 WSSCA Hunt Test closed yesterday at 7:00 pm.  The final entries are in the table below.  We have a nice bump up from last year's 28, even if we lose a few through last-minute pulls.

Let's hope for fine November weather.  Cool dryish and overcast days would help.

2012 WSSCA Hunt Test Nov 10-11, 2012 Heflin, AL
Count of dob	Column Labels
Row Labels	JH	MH	SH	Grand Total
American Cocker Spaniel	2			2
American Water Spaniel	2	3		5
Boykin Spaniel	1	1		2
Clumber Spaniel	1	3	1	5
Cocker Spaniel-Parti		1	1	2
English Springer Spaniel	3	3	2	8
Welsh Springer Spaniel	5	1	1	7
Flat-Coated Retriever		1		1
English Cocker Spaniel		1		1
Flat Coated Retriever			1	1
Airedale Terrier		1		1
Grand Total	14	15	6	35

More Octoberness

Zelda's Wisconsin Pass

Another MH leg for the indomitable Zelda.  Cathy reports that she played the clown, as she has been doing of late.

During one recent practice session, she came in step-by-step, ever so slowly.  In another, she placed the bird's wing over her nose, like Humphrey does, and pranced in.  What goes on in her mind?  Or any spaniel's?

Mid Fall fun

Larsen and Aki enjoy an October afternoon, and Larsen steals a kiss.

Team Bing on the podium

CH Shogun's Blue of the Night ("Bing") got his first two Junior Hunter legs this weekend at the Fox River Field Spaniel Club's Hunt Test at the Ottawa Field Trial Grounds in Eagle Wisconsin.

It's a long drive from Wisconsin to Birmingham, Alabama, but Cathy will have plenty of good thoughts to make the trip more enjoyable on the way home.  Congratulations.

Sunday at Tim's

We trained at Tim's place near Royston, Georgia on a postcard mid-fall day.  I told Tim what I thought Larsen's strengths and weaknesses were.  Tim opted for a few different drills.

• Larsen quartering.  Sit him/control him periodically.  
• More quartering.  Roll in a bird (pigeon).  If the bird flies (and a number of them did), Larsen was pipped to sit.  If Larsen flushed the bird, he was pipped to sit.  
• Same as above, but with random gunfire.
• Same as above with a genuine flush and non-random gunfire (trying to hit the bird to set up a retrieve).

Larsen was attentive and biddable.  He was a little sticky, as often happens when we roll in birds, but he played the game without punching far out or simply hanging around and waiting.  He had a very nice retrieve on the genuine flush & shoot.  The bird went over the driveway, and into the front yard.  There were plenty of distractions in and around the house, and Larsen ignored them all to get the bird.

Tim trained me on how to accept a bird.  I'm to stand up straight and really expect Larsen to bring the bird all the way in and hup.  I let Larsen hold the bird for a bit before gently taking the bird, and then I give Larsen a gentle attaboy on the cheek and chest.  

Time thought that Larsen had come a long way, and and all of us were happy with the day.  

 

Pheasant hunt

It felt like a hunt as Larsen tracked a rooster pheasant.  It was a plant, to be sure, but that tough bird got up and started running and didn't look back.  I quartered Larsen, but pretty soon decided to just pocket my whistle.  What was the point?  That's when the hunt began.  The little dog scented the bird and started after the bird and never let up.  We didn't need whistles or commands to get his attention or keep him in range.  The rooster and Larsen's response took care of that.  This was a field-smart dog and a wily pheasant.  There were no straight lines on this hunt.  Larsen pivoted on his nose, wheeled about, and moved across and deep into the  field.  Bill T. and Al were flanking with the guns, and we lost ourselves in this hunt.

Along the way, Larsen found a downed chukar and started to bring it in, and then got a full whiff of pheasant.  He started toward that scent, chukar in mouth.  I called him in, and Marilyn B, following closely behind, told me to take the bird and immediately release Larsen to the hunt.  On we went.

Larsen corralled the bird in some tall stuff just before the bluffs of the Tallapoosa.  The bird went up hard and Bill brought it down.  Deep in the blind, Larsen couldn't mark the bird.  He got his reward for his hard work as Marilyn gave him a toss into that blind.  

There was fun talk on the long walk back.  We had been caught up in the quick strategic moves of bird and dog.  It was a fine effort all around and made the day worth it.

More on Larsen's day later.

Best wishes to Humpers

Humphrey (Celtic's Always Have Paris JH SH MH) tore his ACL and is undergoing surgery today.  Best wishes to Cathy and Humphrey.  May there be many more falls afield for Humphrey.

New mistakes

I'm tired of making the same old mistakes with Larsen.

On our run last Sunday, Larsen self-hunted and was definitely un-steady.  On one flush of a big rooster, he followed just behind those enticing tail feathers.  Al shot the bird, and Larsen retrieved.

On another, Larsen sat, but only after I read to him from the book.

This marks at least the third Sunday in a row of doing the same thing and getting the same results.  Larsen is not ready for free-range hunting.  He's simply not steady.  I need to back up a step to the drill and the roll-in.  I'll move to a full hunting environment when he gets in closer to me and starts to obey that sit whistle.

I'll make more mistakes.  I'm not fooling myself about that.  But I want the mistakes to be different and show a zig zag forwardward.  Not just treading the same old ground.  Progress will come in fits and starts, built on small successes.  Larsen and I will go back to success and then move forward.

A sunscreen over the dog crate is essential during the summer, and it is useful year round.  The screen keeps the dog cooler and it also blocks the action on the field and thereby reduces the plaintive whining of a dog that thinks the whole is stacked against him if some other dog is in the field.  

I've got sun screens from Gothic Arch Greenhouse in Mobile, AL, which provides greenhouses and accessories to the gardening set.  

The suncreen  is called "Aluminet" and it comes with many options.  

I have two of and each is 7' x 10'.  It seems standard width is 13', so I'm not sure why I didn't just go with the standard. (maybe it was cut for the binding, I don't remember).  You can get other standard and non-standard sizes.  Mine is 70% sun blocking, and that seems to work for me.  I also have the binding or taping with grommets.  

I got a couple of stuff sacks from Amazon.  At day's end, I fold and roll up the screens and stuff them into the stuff sacks.  You can get nylon stuff sacks from WalMart as well.  

My order for 2 of the 7x10 screens was $89 all in and they have held up for several years now despite looking very delicate.