Pups First Birdy Time

[MuleShack]

Now that my 2nd job is all but wrapped up, I have more time to spend with the new pup.

She is a hair over 6 months now and today was here first experience with live birds AND gun fire.

We went to a shooting preserve and got some chukars to get her introduce to birds.

I had a few doubts about her ability because at home she doesn't show a lot of interest in retrieving and gets distracted. I was mostly confident that she had a solid nose and would not be afraid of gun fire. Low and behold, she did not disappoint.

The first bird, I clipped a wing and planted 50' out and led her to it and then she nosed up on it and the game was on. the bird flew up, but could not sustain, so it was up and down and the dog was in hot pursuit. I fired the gun one time (in the air) while she was chasing the bird and she never even blinked.

My #1 concern was that i'm not doing the intro to gun thing properly...which I wasn't according to the books. But all worked out because she never paid any attention to the gun. Now, I had 3 more to plant, so I did one at a time...the first one I let her watch where i put it. Went back to get the gun and release the dog and she went zig zagging toward the general area, then slowed down and used the nose to pin point location and then moved in. She flushed the first chuckar like a pro, I dropped it and she was in hot pursuit of the downed bird. The only problem I had today was that she didn't want to return to me with the bird. It was a new toy...We'll have to work on this. Did the same thing for the remaining 2 chuckars in different locations and she honed in on them once she got the scent (I puposly walked her down wind of the birds) and then she followed in like a trained killer and flushed them.

I figured this was going to quick, so I went in and got 2 pheasants and had a guy plant them in another field about 75 yards apart. This time she didn't know where the birds were and was learning to walk out in front of me. I tried to walk so we were not directly down wind, but if she crossed over to the far left she would pick up the scent. Sure enough, on the first bird, she picked up a scent about 80' out and the nose stayed down and she almost made a direct line to where the bird was. Once she got closer, she slowed down again and got a final direction and then made a small charge. (Mind you this is all with no direction or previous training or experience with birds.) The bird flushed, I waited on it and then dropped it about 60 yards out and she was already heading towards the downed bird as I shot. Same thing happened on the 2nd pheasant, but she was on the right, so she didn't cross the scent until she was a lot closer and then just like that she changed course and zero'd in...another flush...another drop and retieve.

I am so relieved that I have a winner with this dog, It has to be instinct, because I haven't done much hunting work with her.

Anyway, here are a few pics. I brought the clipped wing chuckar home and let her chase around the yard for a little more excitement. Remember this was at a game farm, so Hens are legal (thats what they planted for me).

Here's my Kahlua:

[thedanimalkmk]

Awesome work Muleshack. Got a pup that is the same age. Had him out once already and I am going to try again after deer hunting. They are too much fun at that age.

Dan

[CrazyLabs]

Beautiful pup. Where did you get her?

[MuleShack]

Beautiful pup. Where did you get her?

Thanks,

Got her from Smith farms labradors, they are out by Willmar area.

[mudslinger]

Fun times. Your pup will be a good one. I fast tracked my dog (for better or worse) at a young age. I spent more time on retrieveing a dummy with a gunshot rather than live bird work. Like Pavlovs experiment, she learned that the gunshot is a good thing and learned the shot meant a retrieve came next and was more apt to bring me what had been "downed" rather than play with a great smelling/tasting bird. My pup actually retrieved a free range rooster I shot when she was 4.5 months old and handed it right to me. I'll bet if you put more emphsis on retrieveing the bumper at the shot she will bring back birds better. Just my $.02.

It sounds like your pup is getting great training from you and im sure she'll be great. Great looking pup

[MuleShack]

Mudslinger,

your right, I have to do more work with the retrieves.

Friday we went out to a WMA and she was working the weeds in the direction that I would walk and occasionally would get the drift if i gave her a hand signal. If I turned she would work the area more towards the area I was heading. We didn't roost any birds, but it was good time spent in the field.

I suppose I should take the dummy along with a wing attached and do some shoot n' retrieve work after our hunts. This will help improve the process. We do retrieves at home with the pheasant dummy and she will bring it back to my hand, but after 2 or 3 she gets distracted. She is still young so i guess I cant expect perfection yet, but i'll have to keep the expectations up.

I ordered a Dogtra collar last week, so this might help give a gentle reminder that she still has to listen all the time. Maybe the pager will be enough?