All her life Storm has been Little Miss Independent.  She knows her mind and she prefers to do things her way.

This caused her a ton of trouble when she was competing in hunt tests.  When hunt testing, dogs should take the direct route to complete a retrieve.  However, in Storm’s opinion the direct route is not worth much if it is not the fastest route.  So if she has to pick getting in one side of a pond and swimming all the way across it, or running around to a point closer to the bird to get in and get out, she is going to do the later because it is faster.

Just last weekend we set up a water mark in a pond that was behind another pond.  The direct route would have required Storm to swim across the first pond before getting into the second pond to get the bird, (we were using training dokkens).

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Storm Heading Out To Retrieve A Water Mark

Storm started well, and was on line for the retrieve; however, at the last minute she avoided the first pond.

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All Of A Sudden Storm Veers Off Course
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And Around The Pond

Storm figured if she moved fast enough, no one would notice that she skipped the first pond.

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Storm Moving Quickly

So Storm ran around the first pond and just kept going to the second pond.

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Heading For The Second Pond

Storm got into the second pond to make the retrieve.  Even after taking an indirect route, she never lost sight of the mark.

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Storm Getting Into The Pond

When Storm was hunt testing, we required her to take the direct route even if it took more time.  She was not thrilled about it.  However, now that she is retired, we don’t really require it because being Little Miss Independent makes Storm a lot of fun to hunt with.  She knows her job and does it well.  You will not loose birds when you are hunting with Storm.  Recovering all the birds shot during a hunt is the reason people hunt over dogs, not the fact that they follow some arbitrary line to make the retrieve.

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Little Miss Independent Does Things Her Way

We love our independent Storm.

8 thoughts on “Storm-Little Miss Independent

  1. Being a family of independent thinkers, we think it is great she is not afraid to do what she feels is the best way to do things. As long as she is successful and not in a test, who cares, right?

  2. Great to see your Storm,my 9 y.o Stormie is ruler of my other 4 chessies. Youngest male Redge takes similar lines on retrieves to your girl.

  3. How funny! Although you are making me a little nervous about what to expect with my little Miss Independent when Rye starts agility next month 🙂

  4. Storm seems far more suited to being a hunting dog than being a competition dog. Good for her getting to enjoy her retirement doing things her own way!

  5. Haha, smart girl! Sophie was that way too, the older she got, the more “independent” she became.

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