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Great thread pointer, don't know how I missed this one.

Well it's official, Hank IS a pointer!! This past Saturday, I skipped my 8yo's morning baseball game (which I hate to do) and attending a local NAVHDA chapter training day. For Hank and I this was to be an introduction to live birds! The chapter members all met and we split into 2 groups, one at the pond working on duck searches and the group I was with headed to the field to work on pointer, holding steady and retrieving. Having not attending one of these before I did what I could to help, but mostly just observed and kept Hank out of the way while birds were planted, pointed, shot, and retrieved for the first round.

I was a bit interested to see how Hank did around gunfire. He's not shown any skittishness around loud noises or the cap gun at home, but... The previous Friday, my neighbor set off a mortar style firework while he was outside and it scared the bejeebus out of him. Later that week, he was even skittish about the thunder that came with the storm that hit home. At the first shot he did flinch and tucked his tail, but didn't run nor whimper. I petted him up and he seemed fine with all the rest of the shots. I and another guy were up for the second round as we were both working with young dogs.

We dizzied and set the 3 pigeons for Hank. I kept the check cord on him but wanted to give him some time to gains some independence/confidence. Once we walked him towards the first bird, he was faster than I and caught it on the ground. We reset the bird and showed him where it was and then flushed it. He chased it in flight for a bit and then it lit in the tree. The second bird was much better... I worked the check cord better catching him just as he found the bird. We flushed it and I followed him as he chased it again. This time in lit in the short grass and just as I was getting ready to reel him in on the cord; BANG! First point! He locked up and after a few tail waggles, even that went still. A chapter member got this pic just as one of the others was picking the bird up to show Hank and to make it fly.


The third bird took Hank a bit more looking than I would have liked, but once he found it he locked up on it as well!


This one flew much better and I let Hank go as the bird flew low and fast with him in hot pursuit! Every time he took off after a bird, one of the members would fire a starter pistol. With a bird in sight, he didn't even flinch! He chased this bird about 100yds and it decided to set down. Moments later Hank pounced on it! I quick Come Hank, and he was bring the bird right back to me letting me take it from him with one, soft Give command! Though I was told that you don't want them to catch the birds, this one was unavoidable. I was pretty darn proud of the little guy, even though they were sight points, and very proud how well he retrieved the live bird.

Homework after they day: 1. Work more obedience and be more diligent on WHOA, 2. tracking drills as he needs to start using that sniffer more, and 3. since I have 3 dead pigeons we're going to start doing some retrieving drills with them in some tall grass so he has to use his nose.

Not sure anyone from the Chapter will read or see this, but I want to thank them again for all the help on Saturday! It was well worth the drive and time spent.

This past Saturday, Hank and I attended another local NAVHDA training day. I greatly appreciate these as I'm new enough at this dog training thing to not know what I don't know and the other members are a great help. One thing Saturday taught me is that I need to temper my expectations a bit, same as when I'm working with my kids on something. Since he pointed last month, I had it in my head that he'd lock up instantly at the first whiff of bird. That was not the case...

Anywho, since the last training day we've spent some time working on tracking in the yard with dead pigeons. He would work the track well, IMO, and always found the bird or treat at the end. On Saturday, it was apparent he was using his nose more and did a great job at finding all the birds (3 pigeons and 2 quail) that I planted for him. His snuffler does work! He had a couple of flash points and one that he held somewhat after I stopped him with the check cord. But, it is definitely something we have to get better at before his NA test in August. It was suggested I get access to some bird lauchers.

Now for what he did very well. Each time in the field after birds, another member was firing off a starting pistol. I was a bit worried that he may be abit gunshy after a firework experience a few weeks back, but he didn't even flinch this time. So, I think we are good on that and I plan on buying some 20ga 'poppers' for next months training. His prey drive is very strong!! I think that is one of the reasons he's not pointing well yet. He smells the bird and just wants catch it. He did momentarily catch one pigeon as I was too slow on the check cord and almost got a quail. That said, once the bird flushes he hits the after burners and is after them! One of the pigeons flew a bit over a 100yds into an adjoining woods and disappeared with Hank hot as his tail. I called him back and nothing. I called again and here he comes bounding through the grass with the pigeon in his mouth!! So, at least I know he knows how to find birds, now I just need to teach him to stop when he gets close. Any and all suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Many more members showed up this month than last and therefore the field work took much longer than last. As such we didn't get to spend as much time on the water as I'd have hoped. I tossed the bumper for him a half dozen times or so and he showed now hesitation in going after the water and brought them all back to me. I think we are solid on that part for the test!

Speaking of the test, here's a quick run down of what he needs to do and where I think he stands.

1. Search the field and point a bird. He's good at searching and will work up to 75yds from me as I move through the field. As stated above, he finds birds, but we must get better at getting them pointed.
2. Not be gun shy. So far he doesn't flinch with the starter gun and I hope that continues when I move closer and to louder shots.
3. Track a live bird. He's using his nose and figuring out what birds smell like. He needs more exposure to this.
4. Go into the water with little/no hesitation. He's only been in water twice and so far he seems well adapted to it.

Again, I didn't get my expectations met, but we are progressing. I also recognize that any/all of his shortcomings are on me due to lack of exposure. I did find out about a conservation club not 10mins from the house that has a dog training area. Hope to put that to use over the next few months. Any and all advice or suggestions is great appreciated!!

ne thing I am trying is to do shorter sessions more frequently. I'm hoping it helps. Last night I had about 15mins before we had to leave for a baseball game, so I laid out a few short tracks in the yard. Previously I had been using dead pigeons for this and leaving the pigeons at the end of the track. This time I coated his canvas bumper with some quail scent and used it as the drag with a treat at the end. First two were pretty easy as they were only about 10yds each and straight. The third one was longer and I put a J hook on the end. He's starting to learn what's going on so he was running at Mach 1 when I brought him outside. But, taking him past #1 he blew through it, but on his way back picked up the trail and found the treat. Using his collar I led him to the start of #2 and he followed it like he was on rails. For #3 I just kind of led him to the general direction of the start (FIND THE BIRD) and he picked it up right off. He did overrun the J hook, but came back, found it and ran it out. I was pretty darn stoked! I did like using the pigeons, but they're only good for a couple of days and then they get squishy enough that he chews them on the retrieve a bit too much.

Not sure if the next thing I did was "good", but I did it. After letting him retrieve the bumper a few times I'd get him excited with it and trying to get it from me. I kept him from grabbing it and then I'd stop moving it and give him a WHOA. After about 2 times of this he started to sit when I said WHOA. I think it's because I make him sit often before tossing the bumper. When he'd sit I stood him up and rubbed his belly while holding the bumper in front of his nose, but not letting him have it. Then I would toss it for him to retrieve. After a few times he did stop and stand when I said whoa. We'll see if that helps him in pointing better. Thoughts on doing that?

Thanks again for all the advice and suggestions. They are greatly appreciated.

My neighbor lady has pigeons.

I do my best to thin out and cull her flocks for the benefit of all my neighbors.

Maybe you could send Hank out my way.

Looks like great fun for both father and son.

Keep us posted.

Jeff

Okay, the Central Indiana NAVHDA had another training day on Saturday so I have an update. We've been working a bit on WHOA at home. Nothing to technical or proper, just trying to get him to slow/stop when it hears the command. A large reason for this is that he's not pointing all that well yet and I (more accurately I was told) think it's due to him catching birds on the ground during training. I put my order in for 5 pigeons for the day and contacted a couple of members whom agreed to bring some bird launchers to keep him from hopefully catching the birds.

The first bird was loaded and ready. As soon as Hank caught the scent and turned toward the launcher we hit the launch and the bird took off! We kept that up for 3 more birds and you could see him starting to get it. When he'd hit the scent cone he started slowing/getting more cautious until the bird took off. I spent a good part of the rest of the day helping either plant or shooting birds for others. BTW, be sure to check to make sure you've taken your turkey choke out. Makes it harder to hit birds on the wing and does a number on them when you do hit them...

Most everyone in the group I was with was about done with the field work and ready to move on to some water work, so I planted the last pigeon I had in the launcher and put Hank on the check cord. I let him burn off some energy and then gently encouraged him downwind of the bird. He caught the scent, slowed and started creeping towards the bird. I gave a soft tug on the check cord, whispered WHOA and bang, he locked up on point about 10' from the bird! Not even a tail wag! We let him hold it about 10sec and launched the bird. He gave it a good chase, but it didn't land. I was tickled! Thanks to one of the members I now have an application for a Conservation Club about 10mins from the house that has a 20ish acre dog training area and homing pigeons. Hopefully I can get everything processed and keep Hank progressing on his pointing.

After that, we moved over to the water. While others were working on duck searches, Hank and I just played with bumpers in the water. He shows no hesitation in going for a swim and to date has always brought the bumper back.

So, we are going to continue to work on WHOA and tracking drills at home. If I can get the keys to the club, do our best to get him on some live birds. They don't have remote launchers, but they do have some manual tip up baskets. If I can get one of my kiddo's or my wife to go with me that should work. I'd really love to get a remote launcher or 2, at $300 a pop I'm just not sure I can swing that right now... He will doing his Natural Ability Test in late August with a pre-test practice day the week before. I am fully confident he'll max out his score on the water portion. He's not flinching at all to the sound of starter pistols or gunfire, so we should be good there. I feel like he's doing well with the tracking at home, but tracking a dragged bumper is different than a live rooster. And pointing... He's doing a great job of finding birds, but I really hope to get him to pointing a bit better prior to the test. In the end, his score is really irrelevant, but as anyone who's done this type of stuff we all want to see our dogs do well.

All in all, we had a very good dog weekend!

Our PP is at Quinebaug Kennel for two weeks of training.

Dog is a wild child according to the trainer.

She has amazing prey drive.

Obedience training is the key, prey drive is there!

Had a pretty eventful weekend. First off, I got my key and membership card to a local Conservation/Gun Club that has a number of acres used for dog training and their own stock of homing pigeons! So, being able to expose Hank to birds is now going to be a LOT easier and even cheaper. They have launchers as well, but the auto ones are on the fritz...

Secondly, the NAVHDA group had a pre-test training day on Saturday which I attended. The test is next weekend and the guy that will be running it took me and Hank through the process. We started in an upland field where they'll be doing the upland field work. I purchased 3 chukar that folks placed for us as we went through a "hunt". I let him run a bit to get some exuberance out of him, then put him on the check cord as I didn't want him catching any birds. Good news, he found every bird pretty easily. Bad news is that I still had to WHOA him up with the check cord. Once stopped he held point pretty well, to the point that the cord has slack in it. But he's not really doing that initial stop on his own. So, I'm not to hopefully to score too well on that portion of the test.

Though it's not part of the test, we shot the last bird over him. I got him stopped with the check cord and he held steady until the bird was flushed then I checked him until it hit the ground. No flinch at the gun and he retrieved the bird to hand. I was pretty stoked he did all that and very well. Now, if he'd just point...

Next on the the pheasant track. I kept him out of sight of the field until given the signal. He started off okay, then over ran it/got distracted and circled over behind us. Once I got him back on the track, he followed it pretty darn well about 5yds downwind of the actual track, which I was told is really not a problem. He broke cover (going from mown into the thick stuff) on the track which would end that session. Overall I he did good. I let him go a bit before I called him back as the test marshall was given me some advice. When I did recall him he came bounding out of the cover, with a now very dead, rooster in his mouth! He can find and apparently dispatch birds! I then took him over to the pond where he did great. No hesitancy what so ever and even though it's not needed, retrieves every bumper tossed into the water for him.

All in all, I'm very happy with Hank. He's become a very nice addition to the household and I'm certain I'll eventually get his kinks ironed out. I also realize that even if we don't come home Sunday with a Prize 1, life will still be pretty darn good.

Jennifer Broome is the real deal. She is an awesome person and a great trainer. She made my boy a great gun dog and took him farther than I ever could alone.
If you can catch the Rick Smith seminar she has occasionally , go. Well worth
The time.

That's a good looking dog, your Hank!

Last night was a good night. Storms and tornado warnings caused by sons flag football practice to be cancelled, so when TMOB got home I loaded Hank in the truck and went out for some training. The goal tonight was to get him to start stopping (if that sounds correct) when he smells birds. To start with, I let him run a bit to burn off some enthusiasm. Then as it was headed towards me I held a pigeon by the feet and let it flap to get his attention. First time or two he lunged to grab them, but a soft WHOA had him on point. I did this a couple of times then put one in the launcher and him on the check cord. Manual launchers make this less than ideal and a bit complicated, but it's what I have available. I led him downwind of the launcher until he hit scent and when he got close enough I could grab the laucher cord I stopped him with the check cord and no verbal command. We did this about 1/2 dozen times and each time it took less and less pressure on the check cord to get him to point. Once on point he'd hold it while I came up to him and even in front of him! Here he is locked up and as you can see there's no pressure on the check cord. He'd stay like that until I launched the bird and then I'd let him chase it while I got the next one ready. I'll work on steady after I feel better about the point.


Next step I loaded the launcher and turned Hank loose with no check cord, but with me holding the launcher cord. I'd wait for him to hit the scent and react to it, but if he didn't stop pretty darn quick like, I'd launch the bird. Only did this a couple of times as it was kind of a cluster trying to juggle all of that stuff... For our last 'run', I moved the launcher to an area we hadn't been be for and put him back on the check cord. I let him move out in front of me for the full length of the check cord. We started to get closer to where the bird was planted and BAM, he locked up just as I was thinking I needed to get ready to stop him! The previous times he was quite close to the bird when I'd stop him, but this time he was a good 50' away! This caused a small problem as I had to get in front of him to get to the launcher cord. I dallied up some check cord and moved in front of him and he stayed put until I got to the cord and launched the bird.

All in all I was very happy with last nights session. We'll do it again on Friday. The cool part about the homers is that he probably doubled the number of birds he pointed in one night! Not as good as wild birds, I know, but it's the best at my disposal.

Our PP spent a total of 4 weeks at Quinebaug Kennels with trainers Jordan and Phil and we spent another 2 day at a Rick Smith Seminar held at Quinebaug.

My son and I had additional train the trainer time after each session which has been invaluable.

The pup is 10 months old and ready to start the season. This morning we are going to a local gun club to do some field training with her. It should be fun!!

Good luck! It's an amazing feeling watching that switch go on. I just need to get Hank some more exposure to birds to make that switch work more often...

Been too long since an update... We took a bit of a break for a few weeks as our schedule didn't leave much time for field training, but we did spend time working at home on obedience and leash items. Some things fell in place and I was able to score an automatic bird launcher! Wish I would have broke down and bought one of these things MONTHS ago. Makes working with him on his point much easier and my youngest loves to go with me and be the button pusher! The points are getting stauncher and he's now pointing farther away more often. I think he's starting to tie to the smell and his job together. He still spends most of his time on the check cord as he was ranging a bit farther than I wanted and he still charges in on the bird occasionally instead of pointing. The combo of the auto launcher and homers has been great. But, this weekend we thought we tried a variation of that...

After work on Friday the boys and I took a bit of a drive and came home with 5 pigeons and 1 cortunyx quail. Saturday after basketball, Hank and I headed out to the conservation club, but this time we didn't let the birds go! He pointed well and really got into it after he got to bring the first one back to me!!


A mouth full of feathers made him a happy boy! He retrieved all the birds and only failed to bring one back to hand. He dropped it at my feet. At this point we had been working fast and furious as I had to get back home for some evening plans and I think the 75º+ temps were getting to him. So, we worked on range and headed to the creek for a a cool off...




We're gonna keep after the homers as much as possible and I hope I can find some more birds to buy soon. We leave on 11/15 for a trip to see if I can find some wild birds to put in front of him...

Looking good! Hope you're successful on the wild birds, everyone will have a good time regardless.

Thanks! There will be 2 dogs on that hunt under 13mos, so I'm sure it'll be frustrating at times, but we'll definitely have fun.

Frustration is part of the game, as me how I know... BTW, I'm loving Hanks fixtures, he's looking like a proper PP now!

His coat thinned out a bit and got shorter over the summer. I'm interested to see how or if it grows out this winter. He's a bit softer coated than I expected. Burrs/seeds can be a bit of a headache, but a combing usually fixes that.

It may or may not grow back. My Kai's beard was pretty prominent her first year, then shed after the winter. Hasn't come back the way it was. Other than looks, it's not a bad thing, between the burrs and dripping water all over the floor after getting a drink.

That last part is so true. Hank's water stays outside and there's always a towel by the door to keep momma happy!