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 co-host Pup Fan from I Still Want More Puppies for hosting the hop!

Thanks to our readers for the all the great comments and questions this week.

Follow-up Friday 7-26-13

Jodi asked:  It is so interesting to me all of the rules for hunt training. Here’s a dumb question, what is the purpose of this exercise? Is it designed for people who are hunting with their dogs to train them the proper technique or is it simply for the pleasure and bond of working your dog?

Not dumb.  🙂  I would say that it is a little of both.  The big payoff for the dogs is that they get to do something they were bred to do, and the big pay off for me is watching them work at something they were bred to do.

Freighter
Freighter

humanrescuesdog asked:  Is it just me, or do they always look quite proud when they get the bird?

They do love their birds!

Thunder
Thunder

Monday Mischief–Huckleberry Hound Dog

We don’t pick or eat the huckleberries.  I leave them for the wild life.  I am no berry expert, but I believe these are Black huckleberries (Gaylussacia baccata). Source:  Is it a Huckleberry or a Blueberry?

Huckleberries
Huckleberries

From that article:

Importance to Wildlife

Huckleberries can be found growing wild in most of the eastern United States. While they are not as popular as the true blueberries (Vaccinium spp.) for human consumption, they are important to wildlife. Many songbirds as well as ruffed grouse, bobwhite quail, and turkey consume the fruits. Small mammals also eat the fruit, and deer browse the twigs and foliage. Some butterflies seek them out as larval host plants, and several types of bees gather nectar and serve as pollinating agents. In addition, they are wonderful native plants that add to the diversity of our woods and landscapes.

We have songbirds, grouse and turkeys which will come to our yard, so I like to leave this natural food for them.  I have only had them made into jam and it was very similar to blueberry.

Gold Finches
Gold Finches
Hummingbird
Hummingbird
Storm
Storm Among The Huckleberries

Working On Line Manners And Steady

Gizmo asked:  In the picture “Trying To Back Out Of The Holding Blind” (and others) what is the trainer holding in each hand…I figured one mus be a transmitter for the collar, but what would the other one be?

It is a heeling stick, (well that is what they call it).  You use it as an extension of your arm to help prevent the dog going to the wrong side of your body.  Storm pretty much understands backing up, but Thunder and Freighter have a harder time being comfortable with it.  We ordered a holding blind so that we can really practice, but it hasn’t arrived yet.  Last evening we wanted to go out to work on marks, but it looked like a storm was brewing so we stuck to our yard and did some breaking birds and heeling.

Using The Heeling Stick To Keep Thunder To The Left While Backing Up
Using The Heeling Stick To Keep Thunder To The Left While Backing Up
After A Few Tries, Doing It Without The Heeling Stick
After A Few Tries, Doing It Without The Heeling Stick
It Is Hard For Thunder, But He Is Getting It
It Is Hard For Thunder, But He Is Getting It
Heeling Back Up Toward The Line
Heeling Back Up Toward The Line

Wordless Wednesday–Running Blinds

Emmadog asked:  Probably a silly question, but since us dogs are color blind does the color of the object they are fetching matter or have any meaning?

Not silly at all.  Generally it is thought that dogs cannot see orange so many times that is the color we will use for blinds.  However, sometimes you will use white if you are teaching a concept and you want the blind more visible to the dog.  In this case, we only had a limited number of orange bumpers with us so we mixed the orange with black and white.  They were placed behind a small log so not visible to the dogs from the line.

Thunder Getting A Mark
Thunder Getting A Mark

Gizmo commented:  Love the flying ears…But my favorite thing is that they’re each carrying the bumper with unique style…Thunder to (my) right, Storm to (my) left and Freighter in the center.

Yes they each have their own way and often do not carry the bumpers properly.  😆

Freighter Watching And Waiting For A Mark
Freighter Watching And Waiting For A Mark

Have a nice weekend!

Thanks again to Jodi from Heart Like A Dog and co-host Pup Fan from I Still Want More Puppies for hosting the hop!

Hosted By Heart Like A Dog
Hosted By Heart Like A Dog

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23 thoughts on “Follow-up Friday 8-2-13

  1. I didn’t realize there was a “proper” way for the dogs to carry the bumpers! I thought they could carry them any way they chose, as long as they brought them back. Interesting. Enjoy the weekend!

  2. Great follow-up, thank you for joining the hop! And for answering my question.

    I have worked Delilah on backing up (for her freestyle class) surprisingly this is something you can practice in the house. I use a couple of chairs and make a ‘tunnel’ against the wall. It works for her. Mostly I tell her “back” or “back up” and use shooing motions with my hands. Of course, it’s not so easy once I take the chairs away. 😀

    Have a great weekend!!

  3. Geez, Mom would be thrilled if I ever carried a bumper, did not know there was a proper way! So many things to learn. Thanks for answering the color question. Funny how orange is so easy for humans to spot and almost invisible to dogs!

  4. Looks like you had a lovely week! The finches are very beauwooowoooootiful tooowoowoooo, Ku

  5. Great Q & A. We like them since we came across them on Hawks” blog sometime ago. Love the finches too. Have a fabulous Friday.
    Best wishes Molly

  6. Hi Y’all!

    Our hosts, Sampson and Delilah, must have gone on a road trip ’cause their blog is gone.

    Y’all had a great follow up! Really fun!

    My Human taught me to back on command like I was a horse. It’s a useful command to know ’cause my Human finds it handy in quite a few situations.

    Thunder and Storm did not look too happy about learning the back command or heeling to the line. BOL. All they want to do is retrieve?

    Y’all come by now,
    Hawk aka BrownDog

  7. Great questions and comments. I imagine that this sport you do with your dogs is a lot like other dog sports such as disc dog, dock diving, and agility… it’s for training, exercise, bonding, and fun.

  8. Great shots of the finches and hummingbird…Thanks for explaining the heeling stick so well…Have a great weekend

  9. That was very interesting information about the color of the bumpers and when to use which color, and your bird photos are beautiful. Enjoy your weekend!

  10. Which brings to mind the question, what is the proper way to carry the bumper? Are any of them doing it correctly in those photos?
    The birds are beautiful….we also keep berry bushes around to attract them, but I don’t think we have huckleberries. Mostly it’s blackberries, which unfortunately would take over the whole yard if we let them! I also try to plant flowers for the hummingbirds, because I get tired of trying to keep the feeders clean and full! 🙂

  11. Great follow-up! I love that you answer questions, but you don’t want me to start asking them because I’d have about a million of them!
    But, I do have one that you’ve probably covered a long, long time ago… long before I discovered your blog: What first got you started with hunt training? What was your first experience with it that made you know you wanted to have retrievers and train them as hunt dogs? I’m so fascinated with all trained working dogs, whether they are trained for hunting, search and rescue, cadaver search, drug search, etc. So I love to hear the stories of how people get started with it.

  12. You can find a lot of red huckleberries in the woods here. I think they usually grow in places where the woods were once disturbed because you find them more around houses than way out in the woods. There you will find TONS of blueberries in the late summer though. We like to pick those on hikes. I usually pick a handful to put in my morning oatmeal if we are overnight backpacking 🙂

    1. I have heard black huckleberries referred to as wild blueberries, although I think they are different than true wild blueberries.

  13. Love the explanation of huckleberrys. My dogs are ever so proud when they find a bumper and bird, Glory’s little butt just never stops wigglin. Thank you so much for the sidebar link to Glory’s contest. You are such a great friend!

  14. I think it’s great that you use your follow up to answer everyone’s questions. There are so many of us out there that are not doing hunting with our dogs, and it’s nice that you are always ready to give us an explanation without making us feel silly for asking in the first place! 🙂

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