Friday in the Field

Savi, CH Grayhart's Shear Genius,JH,NSD,NRD,CGC,V, with her favorite accessory!

We are in high gear training for the Spring hunt tests.  Jam is entered this weekend in Senior Hunter and we are still working on steadying her on the bird.  She is a very smart cookie and an opportunist, taking advantage of any opportunity to take the bird out if she can.  She had a beautiful point in the back course and did a great job backing the other dog before we entered the bird field.  That's when things went downhill.  The wind disappeared and she was very close to the bird when she went on point.  Although she didn't catch it, she broke point, which is very bad.  We had to correct this behavior as it is an automatic fail in the tests and unfortunately, she has learned that she can get away with it.  She spent some time in her crate, not happily, while we then worked Savi.  When we brought Jam back out, she was raring to go and we were very careful to keep her close and bring her into the wind to get a nice point, far from the planted bird.  The wind was blowing lightly and bam, she went on a beautiful point.  I went to the planted bird, reinforced Jam's "whoa" command, setup the gunner and flushed the bird.  Jam held steady, even after the bird did not fly, but ran and then finally flew.  She was not only steady to shot, but stayed until I release her for the retrieve.  She flew out and did a nice retrieve.  Success!  We ended her session on a very positive note.

Savi had a stellar day and was truly impressive.  With little experience backing other dogs, Savi acknowledged the other dog on point, getting her back in.  She also found the pigeon on the back course and pointed it from 20' away!  She held while I flushed the bird, shot the blank gun and then heeled her away.  In the bird field, again, she had a terrific, staunch point from a nice distance and no only held through the shot, but until I sent her for the retrieve.  She ran out and got her bird and retrieved to hand.  This girl is already showing Master hunter potential.  We were so happy with Savi's performance that I entered her in an upcoming hunt test for her first time in Senior Hunter.  

A big weekend ahead and we'll report the results.