Betty's made a ton of progress over the spring and it's been a while since updating this thread so here goes.
Back in April my buddy Steve (owner of Betty's mom) asked if I'd take on one of his pups for a couple weeks of training (same sire and dam as Betty's litter, just second breeding). He was approaching 7 or 8 months old at the time and was ready for some formal obedience and force work. When Cicci (pronounced
cheech) first showed up he was pretty timid. I was unsure what to expect out of him and was a bit worried by the lack of confidence, but after a couple days he settled in and began to show some promise. When he arrived he wasn't steady, would hardly retrieve to hand, was just starting to learn the "hold" command, and had a terrible lazy sit habit of rolling over on his hip. We worked on a lot of obedience and after a few days I had him taking the "hold" command really well. So we moved into force fetch and he just blistered through that. I was really impressed with his ability to learn and desire to please. He's just an awesome dog. So long story short, two weeks later he was 85% steady at the shot, would consistently retrieve to hand, place-trained, and about 90% force fetched. He was being introduced to "force to pile" retrieving drills just before he had to go home. Not only did Cicci benefit from the two weeks of training, but so did I, and especially so did Betty. We train around other dogs on occasion but definitely not what I would consider regular. It was really nice to be able to work on honoring drills on a daily basis. That really helped steady up both dogs.
Here's a pic of Betty and Cicci on the first day he showed up.
After Cicci went home I started to work on pattern blinds and T-drills with Betty. T-drills basically teach the dog how to take directional casts from the handler... Retrieve the birds the handler says to, not necessarily the ones the dog "wants" to. This was a long process. You really have to start in close, then as the dog learns you slowly increase distances to the bumpers, building confidence. We spent at least a month on these t-drills... eventually working up to running double t-drills (2 sets of "over" piles). I've been wanting to get her running them in water instead of in the yard but now it's been so damn hot it makes training a black dog especially difficult. She's really solid taking casts in the yard though... We just need to work in some more variables and transition to the field.
Since Betty is a Pointing Lab, you have to sort of balance the retriever work with the upland work if she's to be a dual-purpose dog. So since her retrieving skills are getting pretty well-honed, I built a pigeon coup out back and now I have a flock of pigeons out back. The back acre of my lot is not mowed and the neighbor has over 40 acres of prairie next door so my upland training is going to be really slick. Once the birds are acclimated to this location, I'll be able to plant them in the field, work Betty through, point, flush, (shoot if I want to) and bird will fly right back to its coup. Yesterday morning I set out one of my homing pigeons for her... I have 4 homing pigeons that a buddy has in his coup about 8 miles away... Betty pointed solid, I launched the bird, fired a blank, and the bird flew back home by the afternoon! It's awesome. Pigeons are such a great training tool.
Betty pointing some birds in the coup...
Now rewind to just a couple weeks ago, the owners of Cicci's sister asked that I watch her while their away on vacation. Tippy came to stay with us last Friday and will be here until Sunday or Monday after the holiday. She's been great to watch and her and Betty get along great. As you can see in the pic below, they look damn near identical at certain angles. I haven't worked with Tippy quite as much as I did with Cicci, mainly because she's 3 months further ahead now and it's been too stinking hot to do much outside in the heat of the day. We have managed to work on some double mark drills and some long water retrieves.
Betty and Tippy (Tippy on the left):
For reference, Tippy is an inch or two taller than Betty. But Tippy at 43 lbs is outweighed slightly by Betty at 52 lbs. Both are pretty small Labs.
Betty watching Tippy make a retrieve...
Betty has gone through her second heat cycle recently. She's not a very "snuggly" type of dog... in fact she often times dips her head and walks away when you try to pet her... but since this second cycle I've noticed she's changing her ways quite a bit. It's amazing how much a dog can change in a year and a half.
I'm hoping to run Betty in a few UKC Hunt Tests in August and I'd like to get her her Certified Pointing Retriever title soon as well. One of these days I plan on her spitting out a litter of pups so having a couple titles in front of her name would sure help sell a few. Above all else though I think she just flat out deserves a ribbon or two. She's been an incredible dog for me so far. I couldn't ask for more out of my first true hunting dog.
I'm really excited for hunting season to get here. It's going to be her first trip out to NoDak and I just can't hardly wait for October to get here!
