Why we play this game.

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Garrison
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Why we play this game.

Post by Garrison » Wed Nov 25, 2020 5:07 pm

I went to one of my favorite spots this morning with my father in-law. We were both rewarded with the best piece of bird work that my young setter has shown me, actually the best piece of work from any dog that I have ever owned.

We were in an absolutely beautiful spot, close to where the opening scene of a classic TV Western was filmed. With workable coveys of valley and mountain quail mixed in to ponderosa pines, manzanita and pockets of meadow, I try to get up there as much as possible.

We came out of some thick manzanita in to a clearing and he quickly opened up to work down an edge. He ran down the edge and looped back headed towards an island of trees in the middle of the meadow. As he passed the cover in the middle at full stride, he jumped to clear a cactus. Completely stretched out and in mid air he caught scent and turned about 95 degrees to his right and locked up while in flight. He stuck the landing and was rock solid. I kicked around the cover in the middle of the meadow and nothing. I went to release him and he wouldn’t budge. I worked it again and still no bird so I kept on towards the edge that he hadn’t worked yet and boom, a pair holding about 25’ across the meadow on the opposites edge.

Just awesome!

Garrison

shags
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Re: Why we play this game.

Post by shags » Wed Nov 25, 2020 5:31 pm

Moments like that make all the training, all the drills, all the aggravation that comes with birddogs - totally worth it.

Congrats :D

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deseeker
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Re: Why we play this game.

Post by deseeker » Wed Nov 25, 2020 6:29 pm

I love it when it all comes together :D :D

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Garrison
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Re: Why we play this game.

Post by Garrison » Thu Nov 26, 2020 12:24 pm

shags wrote:
Wed Nov 25, 2020 5:31 pm
Moments like that make all the training, all the drills, all the aggravation that comes with birddogs - totally worth it.

Congrats :D
So true, I smiled the whole hour it took me to pull the cactus thorns out of my shorthair who at 10 should probably know better and during the tailgate operation to trim the flap of skin that was dangling over his eye......I didn’t even yell at them to be quite when they woke me up last night barking at something outside in their kennels! :D

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NEhomer
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Re: Why we play this game.

Post by NEhomer » Fri Nov 27, 2020 7:24 am

Garrison wrote:
Wed Nov 25, 2020 5:07 pm
I went to one of my favorite spots this morning with my father in-law. We were both rewarded with the best piece of bird work that my young setter has shown me, actually the best piece of work from any dog that I have ever owned.

We were in an absolutely beautiful spot, close to where the opening scene of a classic TV Western was filmed. With workable coveys of valley and mountain quail mixed in to ponderosa pines, manzanita and pockets of meadow, I try to get up there as much as possible.

We came out of some thick manzanita in to a clearing and he quickly opened up to work down an edge. He ran down the edge and looped back headed towards an island of trees in the middle of the meadow. As he passed the cover in the middle at full stride, he jumped to clear a cactus. Completely stretched out and in mid air he caught scent and turned about 95 degrees to his right and locked up while in flight. He stuck the landing and was rock solid. I kicked around the cover in the middle of the meadow and nothing. I went to release him and he wouldn’t budge. I worked it again and still no bird so I kept on towards the edge that he hadn’t worked yet and boom, a pair holding about 25’ across the meadow on the opposites edge.

Just awesome!

Garrison
Terrific story. Reminds me of a time a few years back while I was training with Whip. He had leaped high and long over the patch of grass you see to the right. In that patch of grass was a release trap with a pigeon in it. He scented it and turned mid-air like you describe and stuck the landing like Spiderman on a wall. I'm guessing the point looked something like this!

Image

Image

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Garrison
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Re: Why we play this game.

Post by Garrison » Sat Nov 28, 2020 8:32 pm

NEhomer wrote:
Fri Nov 27, 2020 7:24 am
Garrison wrote:
Wed Nov 25, 2020 5:07 pm
I went to one of my favorite spots this morning with my father in-law. We were both rewarded with the best piece of bird work that my young setter has shown me, actually the best piece of work from any dog that I have ever owned.

We were in an absolutely beautiful spot, close to where the opening scene of a classic TV Western was filmed. With workable coveys of valley and mountain quail mixed in to ponderosa pines, manzanita and pockets of meadow, I try to get up there as much as possible.

We came out of some thick manzanita in to a clearing and he quickly opened up to work down an edge. He ran down the edge and looped back headed towards an island of trees in the middle of the meadow. As he passed the cover in the middle at full stride, he jumped to clear a cactus. Completely stretched out and in mid air he caught scent and turned about 95 degrees to his right and locked up while in flight. He stuck the landing and was rock solid. I kicked around the cover in the middle of the meadow and nothing. I went to release him and he wouldn’t budge. I worked it again and still no bird so I kept on towards the edge that he hadn’t worked yet and boom, a pair holding about 25’ across the meadow on the opposites edge.

Just awesome!

Garrison
Terrific story. Reminds me of a time a few years back while I was training with Whip. He had leaped high and long over the patch of grass you see to the right. In that patch of grass was a release trap with a pigeon in it. He scented it and turned mid-air like you describe and stuck the landing like Spiderman on a wall. I'm guessing the point looked something like this!

Image

Image
Yes!!

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NEhomer
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Re: Why we play this game.

Post by NEhomer » Sun Nov 29, 2020 5:21 am

Lol!

....indeed why we play this game!

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