Growing Pains

                                   As Beau and Mick transitioned out of the puppy stage and gained more confidence they to no surprise started to become deaf at times to my direction. Imagine that! Instances where I might have had them run together and have control now became difficult to handle. The solution was to work with them individually until we once again understood who was in charge. Molly was a few months behind them so this was an issue with the boy's at this time which was around the ten month mark.
                                   Mick was first and tested me by ignoring the whistle or a verbal command. Just being slow at going into the kennel or vehicle. It was an obvious stage of development. Mick was easy. Whenever he would ignore or be slow to react I'd repeat the lesson either on a check cord or training lead a few times. This was done most of the time with the other dog's watching from the kennel or on their stakeouts.And it was done immediately. Right now. Stop the press!  I believe this monkey see monkey do type arrangement was helpful getting the dog's to understand expectations. Mick was laid back and methodical by nature so I had to keep that in mind but if a squirrel or chipmunk crossed his path he suddenly transformed into super dog being off like a rocket so I didn't always buy the 'slow routine". In fact he reminded me of my best friend growing up"Richie". I'd stop by his house to pick him up for work or school and invariably end up waiting honking the horn and then watching him emerge from the house eating a piece of toast as he walked to the car never in a hurry!So whenever Mick tried to stall on me I'd say OK Richie lets go! He was so subtle in how he tried to control the situation it made me laugh many times and still does. Being consistent and revisiting the expectation worked very well with Mick and he was a model student once he understood I wasn't going to give any ground which is where the magic comes from!
                                   Beau on the other hand at ten months became like another dog. His body had outgrown his maturity and being a very athletic dog and the most active dog in his litter I had met my biggest challenge to date. Never having had Setter's before I was learning as I went along and so I consulted the breeder who said" Yes this is normal as they mature but he'll come around". Well what day would that be is what I wanted to know! He just wanted to run and play! Everything was a game to him. He stopped pointing training birds and would just find them then wag his tail and circle around. This puzzled me further as the other dog's never did this. Despite trying to go back to the check cord and other techniques I used with Mick this dog persisted in his quest for anarchy. He was having a ball at the farm of course with plenty of room to open up and let those legs run that made him fly but I was worried where this was going. This was definitely a case where I had to "Put the dog on the shelf for a while". The point being you can't rush maturity. The process of growing up is what it is. You cannot change it and it was different with this dog. He was very smart had an excellent nose and was extremely athletic. The weeks went by and he was still acting like a big clown. Every thing was just so much fun! Lets run run run! Then he started to respect our routines more and respond to the repetition of lessons on obedience. He wanted to please and loved positive reinforcement of course but his mind just had needed time to catch up.
                                           I was still concerned about how he was acting on training birds so had backed off with Beau and wondered what had gone wrong and would this carryover to wild birds? Well at 18 months I had him on the plains in North Dakota for the opening of Sharptail season and when I saw him working in 320 acres of short alfalfa coming to point on a covey I said to myself " There is nothing wrong with this dog!". He just needed to be on wild birds and let loose to learn they're tricks. By the end of the week on the plains I knew he was made for that big open country.

Beau checking out the Sharptail after our opening morning run.
There was nothing wrong with this dog!
He was made to hunt these birds!

 Later that fall my son's had asked to take a dog with them to hunt pheasants in an area about 10 miles south east of the farm with a good wild bird population. I hesitated at first and asked some questions about the area then said" Sure take Beau!" And so they did and today  several years later it's one of they're most memorable hunt's with the Setter's as Beau found and pointed 7 Rooster's for the Boy's and friends that morning all of which went in the game bag!I remember him coming home tail wagging when he got out of the vehicle covered with burrs! This was a huge lesson for me to realize how to recognize a dog's potential and how to help them reach it. This dog frustrated me yes largely due to my inexperience and ignorance of the breed. But once I understood him and knew what he needed Wow! As it turned out he's very suited to how I like to hunt covering lot's of ground quickly in big open spaces and Beau never pushes birds which makes him an excellent sharptail dog. I just love to hunt this dog and am so glad he's on the team!
                                           So I guess growing up is what it is. I learned a lot about these dog's through this period. The bottom line is they're development goes according to they're growth both mentally and physically not according to your schedule or timeline. Recognizing what they needed and when is the skill I knew was most important. The most important ingredient being ' Wild Birds!"