Training Begins
That title is a bit misleading. After all, we've been doing our yard work for the last two months, reinforcing the "whoa" and "come" commands regularly. This morning was the start of training in the grouse woods, in an attempt to simulate what the dogs will be facing in less than three months (can't believe another hunting season is almost at hand).
We were supposed to start last week, but the heat wave that seemed to afflict the whole country put an end to that. Yesterday morning would have really been great for running the dogs - low 40's (work!), but this morning wasn't bad at all - low 50's when we began, but it had warmed considerably by the time we stopped at 9:30 A.M.
Conditioning for myself and the dogs and further reinforcement of the commands that we use all autumn are the primary goals of our training sessions in July and August. The dogs will hit the woods three or four mornings a week, when weather allows, and the hope is that they will gradually expand their duration in the woods as we go along. Our sessions are conducted all around the north country, sometimes in areas that we will hunt during the season, but we are scouting for new areas as well. Reinforcing our commands is important in all of our sessions, in an effort to establish what is expected of the dogs while we're out there, in a multitude of locations. They begin to learn that they have to respond the same way to my commands, wherever we are.
Actually getting an idea of how the bird numbers will be in the fall is tricky at this time of year. The broods will be together all summer and through most of September too, so you can go through some great looking cover, finding nothing, and then stumble in to a brood of grouse that will disperse in the fall to inhabit that great looking patch of woods that was barren as a desert two months before. Nonetheless, it's exciting to start seeing birds again and hopefully watching dogs on point here and there. Scenting conditions aren't great during these summer training sessions, but getting out there early when the temp is cool and the scent is still on the ground and in the air helps considerably.
Rosie (turning 2 in October) took her turn first, and this could be a big season for her. Lots of energy, and a prey drive that I'm not sure any of my dogs have displayed - perhaps Greta and Monty were as "birdy" as Rosie seems to be, but I'm not sure. While all of this is great, that energy has to be harnessed so that she's not running wild when we're out there. A couple of my clients saw this side of Rosie last year, but quite a few saw her good side too - let's hope for the latter in 2018 ... She did well this morning, pointing one grouse and also bumbling in to a small brood of four. She would go on to point a couple of the chicks after that busting. She worked well and listened too - the grouse point was a good long one, so maybe she's on the road to being a grouse dog. Bode ran for a short time after that, abbreviated by the rising temperatures of the day. He had a couple of promising points, but nothing was there - perhaps birds that had already moved on ahead of us.
On the way out of the cover we saw another, larger brood on the road and yet another single bird graveling a little farther down the road - a good start to our training season, and we hope a harbinger of the season ahead ...
We were supposed to start last week, but the heat wave that seemed to afflict the whole country put an end to that. Yesterday morning would have really been great for running the dogs - low 40's (work!), but this morning wasn't bad at all - low 50's when we began, but it had warmed considerably by the time we stopped at 9:30 A.M.
Conditioning for myself and the dogs and further reinforcement of the commands that we use all autumn are the primary goals of our training sessions in July and August. The dogs will hit the woods three or four mornings a week, when weather allows, and the hope is that they will gradually expand their duration in the woods as we go along. Our sessions are conducted all around the north country, sometimes in areas that we will hunt during the season, but we are scouting for new areas as well. Reinforcing our commands is important in all of our sessions, in an effort to establish what is expected of the dogs while we're out there, in a multitude of locations. They begin to learn that they have to respond the same way to my commands, wherever we are.
Actually getting an idea of how the bird numbers will be in the fall is tricky at this time of year. The broods will be together all summer and through most of September too, so you can go through some great looking cover, finding nothing, and then stumble in to a brood of grouse that will disperse in the fall to inhabit that great looking patch of woods that was barren as a desert two months before. Nonetheless, it's exciting to start seeing birds again and hopefully watching dogs on point here and there. Scenting conditions aren't great during these summer training sessions, but getting out there early when the temp is cool and the scent is still on the ground and in the air helps considerably.
Rosie (turning 2 in October) took her turn first, and this could be a big season for her. Lots of energy, and a prey drive that I'm not sure any of my dogs have displayed - perhaps Greta and Monty were as "birdy" as Rosie seems to be, but I'm not sure. While all of this is great, that energy has to be harnessed so that she's not running wild when we're out there. A couple of my clients saw this side of Rosie last year, but quite a few saw her good side too - let's hope for the latter in 2018 ... She did well this morning, pointing one grouse and also bumbling in to a small brood of four. She would go on to point a couple of the chicks after that busting. She worked well and listened too - the grouse point was a good long one, so maybe she's on the road to being a grouse dog. Bode ran for a short time after that, abbreviated by the rising temperatures of the day. He had a couple of promising points, but nothing was there - perhaps birds that had already moved on ahead of us.
On the way out of the cover we saw another, larger brood on the road and yet another single bird graveling a little farther down the road - a good start to our training season, and we hope a harbinger of the season ahead ...
