The Week in Review

At the beginning of this past week my 9 year old desktop computer finally died on me. Hence the lack of blog updates. So as of late Thursday night I finally broke down and joined the cult....I bought myself a brand new Mac Pro. Let me just say once you go Mac you never go back! I couldn't be happier with my new purchase or more addicted to it. But lots of stuff happened this week. I'll start with today and the picture above.

There was no training this weekend with Bob Corsaro. After having lovely weather for the past few weeks it was scheduled to rain all weekend so training was called off. Jim works with Cleo everyday even if it is only for 10 minutes or so. We decided to take her out on a live duck today. She has only been working with dead/frozen ducks for the past 5 weeks. We had a live one in our bird pen so since it was raining we thought we'd head over to the pond and see how she would do.

Before we took her over to the pond Jim worked her on the table and on the ground with a frozen duck. As soon as she saw him in the garage with the duck she ran outside and jumped on her whoa table without being told. I don't think I can adequately explain how much this dog loves to train.

She did great on the table as well as on the ground we so decided to head over to the pond. She knew she was there to retrieve ducks. Jim has taken her over a couple of times a week to throw frozen/thawed ducks for her. As soon as we let her out of the truck she took off down to the pond.

She ran up to the pond on her own and hopped around full of excitement. We called her back and Jim walked her at heel for a bit without a leash. Walking at heel is a requirement for the NAVHDA Utility Test. She does pretty well with it.

Once she got to the pond Jim threw in the live duck for her. She took off after it and brought it back to hand without playing with it at all.

She did a great job today!! Jim threw in the live duck several times and each time she brought it right back. There was no nipping and each time she brought it to hand. We were so happy.

We praised the crud out of her and as soon as we got home she rewarded with a pig ear. Such a happy GSP.

Also earlier this week I got Cleo out and down to the Dog Park in Horsham, PA. I met my sister in-law Rebecca there and she brought Cleo's most favorite dog friend, Fisher the Basset Hound. Below is a pic of Cleo running around the dog park with some new friends.

Earlier in the week I took Cleo over to the park by our house to run her in some fields. I always have her wear her e-collar just in case she sees a rabbit or a fox in the field and takes off in hot pursuit. I have never really had to use it. Only once or twice to keep her from rolling on dead stuff. I had to use it this past week tho. We were walking along and there was a little league game going on. She took notice of the tings of the metal bat when it came in contact with a ball. Some kid hit a line drive and almost in slow motion I could see her face change and like that she was off after the ball. I practically had a heart attack at the impending doom of her charging through their game in hot pursuit. I hit her with the collar just in time to save myself from utter embarrassment and true walk of shame. Luckily the e-collar saved the day and she came back. I did get some evil looks from parents and I quickly hustled away from the ball game. Lesson learned.

We also learned this week that Cleo loves cucumbers. I already knew she loved green beans, sugar snap peas and carrots but cucumbers are her new favorite treat. Once our garden is in full bloom she sits outside the fence and barks at me to throw her green beans and peas. I guess I'll have to add cucs to the mix this year.

So two more weeks till Cleo tests for her 1st leg of the AKC Senior Hunt Test. It's coming up quick and I know at this rate the NAVHDA UT Test will be right around the corner. I feel like we have been making progress so I'm hoping when the time comes we will be ready.

Retrieving....

 

We had another great day training today. We worked on quite a few things but we really focused on retrieving. The last few weeks we have been working on the force fetch with Cleo so we could get to this point. She has greatly improved with her issue of holding birds in her mouth. She's not completely there but she's made great progress. Two weeks ago while working with Bob he was trying to determine exactly what her disconnect was. After Cleo had successfully retrieved some chukars he decided to do a pheasant drag. Cleo did a nice job of tracking the pheasant but she did not bring it back. It suddenly became apparent that she understood that she needed to find the bird but she did not understand that once she finds it she needs to bring it back to Jim. Today we basically worked on getting her to understand any bird she finds she needs to bring back. Bob implemented this in more than way.

First he started off with a dummy launcher. Depending on the charge he used he could shoot the dummy closer or further away. The launcher serves more than one purpose. When its fired it makes a noise similar to a gun discharging, then it shoots the dummy into the air and it shoots the dummy a farther distance than you could throw it.

Bob with the dummy launcher

 

Cleo retrieving the dummy

 

   Cleo bringing the dummy to hand

We also worked Cleo on some live planted birds today. We've been working on keeping her steady to the shot meaning she can not break when the gun is fired. Remaining steady to the shot is a requirement for her to pass her AKC Senior hunt tests and her NAVDHA Utility test.

Rocking the intensity

 

  Another good point

 

Jim keeping Cleo steady while Bob fires a cap gun

 

A highlight of the day was introducing Cleo to the duck drag for the first time. In short, a dead duck is drug through a field and hidden by a hedgerow. Then Cleo has to track the duck and bring it back to hand. It was very similar to what Bob did a few weeks back with the pheasant. Two weeks ago Cleo did not make the connection and failed to bring the pheasant back. Today she found the duck and brought it right back to Jim. We were elated. Not just because she brought the duck back but because she understood what was expected of her. Were moving in the right direction!
 

 

 

We brought home some chukars and Steve was kind enough to give us his dead duck so we will work with Cleo this week and hopefully be ready for the next step next week. Cleo's litter mate and brother Bruin was also doing duck drags today. Bruin will be testing for his utility test this fall with Cleo. Bruin also did a great job and brought his duck back to his dad and owner Steve Fiasco.
 

We also experienced the DK invasion today. DK is short for Deustch Kurzhaar and is basically a pure breed German bloodline GSP. Cleo is not a DK dog. She is an American bloodline GSP although she does have some DK in her bloodline.  We got to see Jasmine and her owner Vinny again today.

 

 

We also got to see two 17 week old DK brothers in action. The first one was Boss. This handsome little fellow is full of desire!!

Boss on point!

 

Bob working boss

 

I'm pretty sure that Boss will make his owner Rich very proud this coming fall. Boss's brother and litter mate Chase had a great day of training too. I got a chance to spend a little more time with him and his owner Anthony and it was great to witness Chase's instincts come alive.

Chase on point!

No bird Chase!

 

So once again it was a great Sunday spent with wonderful people improving our bird dogs. I look forward to us working with Cleo this week in anticipation of having her ready for next weekends training. Cleo has come so far in the last 19 months. She has really come into her own and I also feel Jim has grown immensely with her as a handler.

The Force Fetch and then some...

What a great day of training today! We started the older dogs (Cleo, Bruin, Brandy and Jasmine) off working on force fetch. Each pup started off on the whoa table working with bumpers and then eventually progressing to frozen chukars and then some to actual retrieves off of the table and on the ground.

Cleo's brother and littermate Bruin retrieving a pheasant

Cleo really struggled last week with the force fetch. Jim worked with Cleo almost everyday this week for about 5 to 10 minutes a day and she made real improvements and it showed today. But Cleo is still having some disconnect between fetching a bumper/frozen bird and fetching a live or freshly killed bird. For some reason she doesn't like having the feathers in her mouth.

Cleo and Jim on the table

Cleo fetching the bumper on the table

Making the progression to a frozen chukar

Moving from the table to the ground. Cleo retrieving to hand a frozen chukar. 

Cleo's sister and litter mate Brandy also spent some time on the table today. She missed last weeks training due to all the flooding we had in the area last week but you could almost see her light bulb moment on the table when she started to realize what she needed to do.

We also got to meet Jasmine a DK German shorthaired pointer. Jasmine is a year old and has to be one of the most sweetest dogs I have ever met in my life. What an absolute lover. Below are some pics of her and her owner/dad Vinny.

When we were done working with the dogs we took Cleo and Brandy out on some birds. Steve was nice enough to tag along to shoot so both Mike and Jim could work the pups. Normally Steve would have brought Bruin along but both Cleo and Brandy are in heat. I'll be blogging more about that this week. Anyway both dogs did a great job and had a blast. Below are two nice pics of Brandy on point.

I was so happy to finally get some goods pics of Brandy in the field. She also made her first water retrieve today but I totally missed it!!  What a bummer! I had bailed out on them hunting to get some pics of Maggie training. Maggie is a full blood sister of Cleo and Brandy but she is only 4 months old. What a cute pup. It was so nice to see her in the field. It was great for me to witness watching such a young pup's natural instincts coming out. Maggie has lots of desire and is quite a cute pup. But it was also nice to see her work because it makes me realize just how far Cleo has come in the last 14 months since she was Maggie's age. Below are some pics of Maggie!

Maggie's litter mate Scout was also there. Was a handsome little fellow. Both Scout and Maggie are training to test in the NAVDHA Natural Ability Test this coming fall. You'll see in the pics below that Scout's senses are really coming alive. I have the feeling that Scout's owner/dad Jim Givens will end up shooting lots of birds over his head this coming fall! Besides I'm pretty sure he is the cutest puppy just look at those eyes!

We also had a few visitors at the end of training today that made things quite interesting

So we spent about 3 or so hours in the field today. It was a gorgeous day and the company was great. I was also very happy with Cleo's performance. I felt she had a good day and good days make it so exciting. Sometimes you learn the most from not so good days like last Sunday for Cleo but its the good ones that keep you coming back. I feel the same way about my fighting. I have always learned more from my losses than my wins but its getting my hand raised at the end of the fight that always lights my fire. I'm looking forward to next weekend already.