graduation day
 

of sorts

Grouse and woodcock open next Thursday -

it has been a slow summer for training - hot and dry, and the shooting preserve i used to belong to to train dogs went out of business and for some reason there has been no pigeons available to trap around here. Even the grain elevators down the road have no birds around.

But whining aside - I did get to use some of a friend's quail around his recall pens. And a couple weeks ago I found a bunch of barn pigeons available a ways away on Craigslist, so I made the drive to get them.

today was quite warm and windy but we took Tweed out for a session using the four last pigeons I had available. There was a cross wind in the field we use, which gave us the chance to have him run into a narrow stream of scent as he zig zagged up the field rather than follow it up the field as it got stronger.

He hit the first bird's scent stream at about 30' from the bird - he was so sure there was a bird that I kicked around in front of him to make sure there wasn't a left over quail hiding there:) but no-

he found the other three at varying distances but all where found and pointed.

so it was time to put the pieces together before Opening Day-

I flushed the last bird and shot when it was about 15-20 yards out - i told him fetch ( he has fetched dummies and toys but no feathers up to now). Tweed was on it in a wink and brought it right back, we made a big fuss over him. I did throw it out again and he went right to it and did a rather fanciful victory lap of the field and an end zone dance :rotf:

but he passed the test and gets to move on to the next grade-

my hands were full but my wife did manage to capture part of the day in photos

Great stuff Rick! Wish you all the best with it!





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Rick, sorry I missed the action. I was at our local club shooting skeet. Looks like Tweed put it together right on time. I believe you found the drive down to work with birds on our farm worth your time and am very glad for you and Tweed.

welcome to the board JC - it would have been a good day for skeet.

yes - in spite of the heat it was well worth it and I cannot thank you enough for the use of the land these last several weeks - I think it has made a world of difference for Tweed.

for the rest of the board - since he likely won't brag on himself - Tweed came from his most recent breeding at Sugar Creek Kennels - wonderful bird dogs in the Ryman style

Beautiful dog Rick. Good luck to you and Tweed this season