The Baby Bird Debacle

A few weeks ago a robin built a birds nest on a window sill on our front porch. I can peel back the curtain in our dining room and peek into the nest. It's pretty neat. Everyone else can have that eagles nest live video feed....we got baby robins in real time!! I've been taking pictures every couple of days.

When the nest was first built a couple of weeks ago

When the eggs finally showed up!!

Momma bird keeping her eggs warm!

Last week when I came home I peered into the nest and their were baby birds!! I was so excited. I have to admit though at this point their pretty ugly.

So here is when things become a debacle. Cleo found the nest today. It's been raining for the last few days and Cleo being the pre-maddona she is doesn't like the rain. So when we force her to go outside to do her business she runs out front and sits on the porch. What a smartypants. But now she knows the nest is there. Were going to spend the next few weeks having to protect the babies and the mom.

So after her finding the nest and barking like crazy I thought I would take her on a walk. Help get her mind off the birdies. Below is a video of Cleo's idea of a walk. So much for what Caesar Milan thinks.....

So after a nice long walk/run we got back and I took her lead off in the driveway and I headed around to the back door. About 20 seconds later I realized a little spotted someone didn't follow me. She ran out front to check out the birds again. Grrrrrr! So much for getting her mind off of them!

I have a feeling this is gonna be difficult to get her to leave them alone.  How can I be mad when its what this bird dog does? But I still need to make sure she leaves them be. I can't wait till they are bigger and start getting feathers!! Updates to come!

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.

A little bit of this and a little bit of that

Cleo had training this past Saturday for her AKC Senior Hunt Test. I was unable to attend. Boo. A fellow female muay thai fighter from New York came down to Pennsylvania this weekend to train with me. Both of us have fights coming up. It was a two day event filled with lots of sparring and lots of laughter. So Jim ended up taking Cleo to train with Bob Corsaro solo.

I was informed that Cleo completed a duck drag and retrieved to hand without playing with the duck. Score! I know that she also honored and stayed steady to the shot. Jim said she did get a little rammy and wanted to go so I know he will be working with her this week. He also reported back that she was retrieving the dead duck thrown into the pond about 95% of the time. The other 5% she wanted to play with it. Two steps forward, one step back but were still heading in the right direction.

The weekend wasn't all training. Sunday, Jim and I spent the day hauling dirt and fully landscaping the front of our house. Cleo of course was helpy helperton. I spent all week chasing her off the tarped dirt pile pictured above. If unwatched she would peel back the blue tarp and dig like crazy throwing our clean fill all over the place. As soon as the tarp was off she felt she had an open invitation to help herself.

I know your all thinking it so I'm gonna say it. Jimbo's looking a little pale. Lol. Think we all are after the winter. Anyway she assisted in other ways as usual.

Like removing rocks and landscaping tags out of the buckets

 And trying to eat the roll of fabric that covers the dirt

But she did behave herself for the most part. You never know with her though sometimes she can be the devil with spots.



The Tides are Turning!!

It's been a crazy last week or so. Kate and William finally tied the knot, Obama and the U.S. Intelligence finally got their man and almost more momentous than both of these Cleo finally got Jim's shoes! Ha ha ha!! Sweet revenge....sweet revenge.

I'm being dramatic but I did have a slightly sick sense of triumph knowing she busted into our walk in closest and out of a couple dozen pairs of footwear she chose Jim's new pair of fuzzy slippers. This is also a good time to point out she also nabbed one of his flip flops on Monday. I directly attribute this to Bob allowing me to handle Cleo this past weekend! Now she's eating Jim's stuff...it means I'm getting some well deserved respect around here. I do believe the tides are turning....or maybe I'm just getting better at putting my shoes away.

So upon finding the scene above I quick grabbed the camera and then quick grabbed the slipper. The conversation that followed sounded something like this:

Me: I just rescued your slipper from the dog!
Jim: Ugh!!
Me: Good girl Cleo!
Jim: Did you just say good girl to her for eating my slipper?
Me: Crud....you heard that?

She totally looks cuter eating his stuff than mine. Don't you think?

Preparing for The AKC Senior Hunt Test Part Two and then some

5 Month old Scout owned by Jim Given

I had mentioned in yesterday's blog post that Jim was unable to be with Cleo while she trained this entire weekend due to work events. Instead of having Cleo miss out on training I took her to New Jersey solo so that she would still be on track for her AKC Senior Hunt Test at the end of this month. I just want to take a moment and thank Bob Corsaro for all he did for us this weekend. He could have easily taken the reins with Cleo in Jim's absence but instead he took the time to cultivate my handling skills. For that I am extraordinarily grateful. I love tagging along but having the chance to fire the cap gun, screw up tying a pigeons wing and having Cleo retrieve to hand to me was paramount. I am very grateful.

Again, because I was handling Cleo I have very little footage of her training. We started her off first thing with a duck drag. Our friend Jim Given who owns Scout the handsome 5 month old GSP pictured at the top of this blog post was nice enough to drag a duck for us and hide in the bushes to let us know how she did. Cleo tracked the duck and brought it back to hand without playing with it at all. If you have read earlier training day blog posts you know this was a huge deal for us to accomplish this. What a great way to start the day.

Overall Cleo had a great weekend. In fact I felt like it was a break through weekend. Over the past two days she has stayed steady to the shot multiple times, honored on a regular basis and retrieved to hand. Bob said today that Cleo was on the brink of greatness. Regardless if that is true it was so good to hear. I know that I am clearly bias but I think she has the ability to be an outstanding hunting dog. When I look back at our journey as a whole I'm amazed at how far we have come. We still have a ways to go but the adventure of it is by far the best part.     

As always, I love to photograph the other dogs that Bob trains. Today he had two 9 month old Llewellyn Setters there owned by a gentleman named Raphael. Until Bob had told me about them coming to train earlier this week I had not heard of the breed. Since then I have done my research and I have to say from what I have read on the Internet that these dogs do not get a fair shake. These pups had desire and prey drive off the charts. They would turn on a dime and point hard. They were very nice pups. Below are pictures of Cooper in the field.

Here are some pics of Caleb:

I also got to tag along with Scout who happens to be Cleo's full blood brother but is from a later litter. I have been watching Scout in the field for the last several weeks and its easy to see that he is a very special dog. He has an outstanding nose and even though he is so young he has the ability to hang with the older dogs. As I had mentioned before Scout is owned by Jim Given. Below are some pics of Scout in the field today.

Jim keeping Scout steady. The bird is in the lower left hand side of the pic.

Scout is a pointing machine

Some of Scouts litter mates were there today as well. Two of his sisters Maggie and Fern were there to point some pigeons. All of the pups have yet to be introduced to water so Bob had me and Steve bring Cleo and Bruin down to the pond to entice the younger pups to join in. Below are some pics from their fun in the water!

Cleo ready for take off being chased by Maggie and Scout

Scout playing kissy face with his big sis Cleo (Can you blame him?? I can't.)

Cleo, Scout and Fern...looking like gators

Below is a quick video of the pups in the water. Most notably the first time Maggie is swimming. Yay Maggie!!

Another young pup there today was Chase. Chase is a DK German Shorthaired Pointer and he is also 5 months old. Chase has exceptional prey drive. Below are some pics of the ever handsome Chase!

Chase also got introduced to water today. Instead of having an older dog entice him in Bob used Chase's prey drive to get him into the water. Bob tossed in a pigeon and Chase dove in after it. See for yourself on the video below!

Also out to get some field work today was Bob's female DK GSP. Sadie is an amazing dog. When she works a field its easy to see she was born to hunt. There is no other place that this dog would rather be. Below are some pics of Sadie in the field.

Not only is Sadie a phenomenal hunting dog but she is very sweet and calm. I would kidnap...err dognap her in a heartbeat. I do know that Bob plans to breed Sadie next year and if you happen to be interested in one of her pups I would click on the Nobelles link at the bottom of this blog and send him a message. Bob tends so sell out and or reserve his pups early on.

And at the end of the day I got to see Cleo's favorite brothers Griz and Bruin. Bob worked with them on backing and staying steady to the flush. Below are some pics of them pointing and honoring.

The super handsome Bruin on point!

 Bold Grizmont honoring Bruin's point

Griz on point!

Bruin honoring Griz's point as Ed prepares to throw a pigeon

When the boys were finished in the field we walked them down to the pond and threw a dead duck into the water for them to retrieve. Cleo did a pretty good job and she brought the duck back to hand every time except one time she brought it back to Steve instead of me. I thought maybe that she would have done a better job had Jim been there but Bob pointed out that a finished gun dog would bring the duck back to whoever told her to and that it shouldn't matter if Jim was there or not. He's right and I'm glad he said that. Cleo and all the pups have good days and bad days. They do things right and then sometimes they make mistakes....just like we do. If it was easy it wouldn't be this much fun. Below is a video of Bruin on one of his retrieves. He brought the duck back but in the end didn't want to give up his prize.

It was a long day of training today. There were several more pups present that I didn't get to photograph or walk with. But each pup moved forward in their journey.  I know that I learned so much in the past two days and am grateful to have had the opportunity. As soon as we got in the truck to head home Cleo curled up in a ball on the front seat and fell sound asleep. With in seconds I realized she smelled awful from the pond and as soon as we got home Ms. Swamp thing got a bath. So lots of homework this week and back to training next weekend. Gotta love this stuff.