The first winter passed with the dog's having enjoyed the walks up the driveway we took on almost a daily basis that soon gave way to once again exploring the fields around the Love Creek valley. Depending on conditions we also were regular visitors to the local hunt club 15 miles west of us through the month of March.
I was anxious as Spring approached to see if our Pigeon crew of 5 birds would multiply and sure enough it wasn't long before I discovered eggs had been laid in the nesting boxes I had built into the coop. Having birds on hand was not only fun but essential. My goal was to run these dog's together when appropriate for the cover so " Backing" or honoring each others point was critical to this working. They did this naturally from the start but I had to reinforce the rules and set the expectation that you do not encroach on your fellow teammate! Using electronic bird traps made it possible for me to "reset" a dog if they moved or tried to encroach upon the point of another dog. Beau had impeccable manners as well as Molly however the "First Born" Mick often would take it upon himself to validate someone else's point so I had to work on his manner's and ego. This proved to be a reoccurring theme with him as year's went by. I dealt with what was his jealousy if he was not finding as many birds as he thought he should be on any given day.
I had given my friend Tom a call to see how he was doing and learned he had lost his Chesapeake Retriever to a car accident and knowing how difficult this is expressed my regrets. We chatted about pointing dog's as Tom had spent time in North Dakota with Dennis Traugott bird hunting with his Shorthair and looking for property the previous fall which is another story I will tell in a later post that deserves it's own title believe me! Anyway I shared my rationale for choosing the Setter's and brought Tom up to date on how I was addressing their training. He was researching dog's and breeders as I had done and was trying to find a match for himself. I told Tom to stop out and see my setup and that I would be happy to help him with training if I could when the time came as I now had the perfect situation right at home.
As it turned out it wasn't long before Tom had decided on Pudelpointers as the breed and had made a reservation to pick up a pup in Idaho. Like an expectant father he was anxious to get out there. Making the trip with Tom was his cousin Stanley who I also grew up with and went along to ride shotgun but ended up playing the role of "Nursemaid" as the new pup appropriately named "Ida" spent most of the return trip in his lap!
I got a call from Tom weeks later as he had business to do in my part of the country and made arrangements to stop by with his new dog. I had never been around Pudelpointers and was pleasantly surprised when "Ida" arrived. A compact build with a face full of personality plus. Her whole body shook as she wagged her stub of a tail and greeted me then immediately made the rounds about the premises taking in the place. So I showed Tom around the farm as he had never been out to my place and outlined my program for training. We talked as he used a dummy thrower to launch "retrieving dummies for Ida. At just a few month's old I was amazed at her retrieving ability and drive but that's one of the things that makes them the number one Versatile breed Tom explained. Tom also explained his goal was to take Ida through the NAVHDA hunt test program with the first hurdle being the Natural Ability Test which involved evaluating young dog's in all facets of field experiences including water retrieving,pointing and tracking as well as reaction to gunfire. Tom had been working Ida in the water close to his home but didn't have access to birds so I offered my set up to him to help prepare Ida for the test. After a quick demonstration with my dogs using pigeons demonstrating how they were working together and backing nicely Tom was on his way having agreed to take me up on my offer.
A couple weeks later Tom came back with Ida and we spent a couple hours setting birds out for her which she did well on and eventually worked up to incorporating the gun into the process and on later visits actually shot birds for her which she located and retrieved. I was very curious about the hunt test process and knew a little about it but was anxious to see how the work we did with Ida helped her when the day came to be "Tested".
It was obvious we both shared a common interest in pursuing Upland Hunting but the Bird dog aspect made it more interesting as we each had young dog's at this stage. Tom was way ahead of me when it came to guns and shooting as he had shot trap and skeet regularly over the years and since I needed to improve my knowledge and skill in this area I was glad to have something I could in turn help him with regarding training as this was his first experience with a pointing dog. I would also add we both shared an interest in all the "Gear" and gadgets that went along with both hunting and dog's but would later joke that we had "nothing" on Traugott when it came to the accumulation of perceived necessities!
So the days passed that summer as we both were focused on our dog's and the dreams and anticipation of the upcoming hunting season as well as Ida's debut!
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