Stacking for Laurie, Bel Alton MD
She needed to be a tiny bit more forward in this shot, granted it looks like she was finishing chewing on some bait and was probably back a bit due to that.. anyway, a quick shot from this weekend.. I have a couple others I will fiddle with but don’t have time tonight.
Though the show ring was a bust this weekend.. the bird field was NOT today.. We had really nice weather so we decided to put some dogs out on some birds (Chukar to be specific).. First time on a chain gang for her while she waited her turn.. took it in stride and was very quiet and well behaved on it (to be expected from a dog that is used to being tied up and doesn’t bother to fight it, she may pout on occasion but doesn’t fight it).. When it was her turn to be put on a bird.. she went out well right away (a nice surprise, probably went out the best of the bunch, outside of Jack maybe, but hey he’s used to that field) and got down to business rather quickly. She pointed the bird real well, nice and locked up. We have not done ANY whoa training in the field but I would say she did darn well with us kicking around trying to produce the bird. Once the bird flew so did she.. it got shot, she ran to it and pawed at it, trying to get it to move around I guess.. then mouthed it, picked it up, put it back down, picked it up, put it back down.. she was a little unsure of it, but hey can you blame her? she hasn’t picked up a bird bigger than a pigeon/quail in I don’t know how long, if ever.. and she hasn’t been on a shot bird.. well ever either.. though she’s had a couple dead birds to play with that has been it. First time being shot over with a live round, and could care less, she just wanted that bird.
The second time she was out we had Jack (a fellow Dynata Vizsla, about a year younger) run with her to simulate a hunt test. Our main objective was to see if they were going to try and mess around and play rather than hunt (they play together often).. But outside of a second long check in with eachother, both moved on well on their own and got to business so that was great. Luna found the bird, and went on another solid point. She found the bird so fast we were still a ways out from her, so she did creep in. But once I got to her, and backed her off the bird, she stayed solid after that until it flushed. She more readily picked this bird up and paraded around with it. After that we called it a day.
Her performance (and ensuing comments by Dan) made my day.. First day on any kind of birds since September of last year (she got a chance at a pigeon, but only to point and then flush) and before that she hadn’t been in the bird field since January or earlier of 2009.. so she has had 2 times on birds since finishing her Junior title in Jan 2009.. She has never been shot over with live rounds, let alone given the chance pick up a freshly downed bird. In my opinion I really couldn’t ask for more than she gave me today.. It seriously made up for the crappy show weekend we just had. I can’t wait to see what she can do when she gets to be put on birds on a regular basis. Next time I shall try and bring my camera.. anyone want to donate some money for me to buy a zoom lens???
I also learned how to plant birds (by putting them to sleep), and clean birds off the back of a truck bed.. Currently I have about 7 Chukar breasts sitting in my fridge waiting to be cooked up. One thing is for sure, I have never cooked one before.. anyone have any good simple recipes?
Alright, time for bed.. It was a good good day… here’s to hoping the nice weather holds out and we can get the dogs out more this week yet.
Vizsla Inspiration 