It’s Follow-up Friday.  The blog hop that:

Let’s you wrap up your week and leads you right into the weekend.

Thank you to Jodi from Heart Like A Dog and Flea from Jones Natural Chews Blog for hosting the hop!

Friday is the day to answer questions from the previous week and believe it or not, hunting season is upon us already.  Early Goose season opens September 1.  Grouse season will be opening the 15th of September.  Woodcock on the 21st and duck in October.

Today I am sharing some pictures of the dawgs hunting through the years in addition to answering questions.

Follow-up Friday 8-23-13

Jodi asked: At rally tests besides being marked the dog is timed, this is in case two dogs get the same grade. But in hunt testing they are not assigned grades right, they either pass or fail?

Yes it is pass/fail, but they are actually numerically scored on various requirements to determine whether or not they pass.  I think that is similar to what they do in Rally, except no one keeps time at a hunt test.

becomingcliche wrote:  Those geese look like they need to be fluffed back up!

They sure do.  Those decoys are sort of like wind socks and fluff with the wind.  Unfortunately there wasn’t much wind that day.

jank1961 asked:  since you mentioned Storm coming into season, I wondered if/when she will be having puppies again? Was that last litter her first?

Storm only had one litter which was this past April.  As you know she was spayed on Tuesday so no more puppies for her.  Hopefully now that her breeding years are behind her, we can enter her in more hunt tests next year.

Freighter’s First Attempt At A Senior Test

raisingdaisy asked:  I was wondering – and this may be a really dumb question, but until I started following your blog I knew nothing of what hunt training consisted of – is a freshly shot duck ever just so lightly wounded that it fights back when the dog tries to grab it?

Not a stupid question at all.  Hunt tests are to evaluate the skills a dog might use while hunting.  From time to time both at tests and while hunting, you may have a bird that is only wounded.  One of the things the dogs are being tested on is their ability to pick up a wounded bird or pursue a strong cripple.  This skill is important because hunters do not want to lose game in the field because a dog won’t retrieve a bird which is wounded.

From time to time, I have actually seen a dog that will not pick up a wounded bird.  That is not a problem with any of our dogs.  🙂

At times wounded birds might still be moving and “fight back”.  Ducks are not too fearsome.  Although not used in tests, geese can be intimidating to a dog and at times mean.  Pheasants can also be nasty if they are still alive when the dogs retrieve them.  Freighter’s first pheasant was wounded when he retrieved it, but it was no issue for him.  He picked it up and brought it right back.

Robert asked:  What is the reason for pulling your dog off the line during a hunt test rather than allowing them to continue, even though they have failed the test?

Freighter’s trainer told his handler that if he broke, don’t let him get the bird.  So he didn’t.  😆  But seriously, we do not want Freighter to think that breaking will get him to the birds.  It is all about control with Freighter right now.  I think it depends on the dog and where they are in their training whether to send the dog or take them off line.  In this situation, based on Freighter’s reaction (as if he knew he messed up), it was a good choice.  Freighter needs to learn to be steady so in training, we will go back to long delays before he is sent and taking him off line and coming back on line before allowing him to get the bird or bumper.  Hopefully it will teach him to remain under his handler’s control.

This ‘N That Thursday

weliveinaflat asked:  Did {Storm} really howl for a whole hour? I don’t think I could stand it, hearing Donna howl for an hour…

Yes she did.  One thing you have to know about Storm.  She is a drama queen.  When we go out to train she howls and wines when a dog gets a turn before her.  Eventually, after she has run enough to be tired, she quiets down.

Jodi asked:  Does it get held against the dogs when there are issues with the birds? Somehow it just doesn’t seem fair.

No if a dog gets a “no bird” it is not held against them.  But in Storm’s case, she is running a Master level test and her marks were fair.  You would think by now she would understand “sit” and that she has to wait to be released.  In a hunting situation, it is not uncommon for several shots to be fired at once, especially if there are multiple hunters.  When Storm gets back to training, she is going to work on her steadiness.  A lot!

Jan K commented:  I am glad that Storm’s surgery went well, and that her recovery period won’t be too long. It sounds like she really enjoys the hunting, and I’m sure she wouldn’t want to miss out on that!

You got that right!

Have a nice weekend!

This is a Blog Hop!

Many thanks to Jodi from Heart Like A Dog and Flea from Jones Natural Chews for hosting the hop!

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