2017 woodcock season summary

With snow on the ground and -11 couple days ago, it's time to look at the season
I guess I got out 14 times, if I believe this journal.
Liza had few contacts every time, so she had roughly 50, give or take.
Not nearly as much as Ivy in the first season (250).
Liza had couple solid points on wc, she didn't have independent retrieves, but she picked wc retrieved by Luna.
All in all not a stellar season, but not a disaster either.
Liza follows Luna a lot, but she does a bit of her own searching, she finds the birds too.
So she had decent nose and the rest will fall into place later.

I haven't done any dummy retrieving lately, she really likes to fetch socks and slippers, yesterday she brought 3 socks to me one after another (from the second floor of the house to the first).

Nov 3 - wc hunt

Tiny

11 am
8 C
windy cloudy wet

I hunted the first hour with 3 dogs, Luna pointed some, Ivy pointed one, Liza came up and honoured,
I think Ivy got nervous with Liza relatively close, she moved in and the bird flushed a bit far for me to shoot.
Luna was pointing for at lest 5 minutes while I put Ivy and Liza in the car (we were next to it), so they don't mess it up.

The second hour or so I hunted Luna alone, we moved a lot of birds, there were a lot of bumps,
I think the wind was wrong and the birds were jumpy.


I shot a lot of shells, but only got 4 birds.

No points for Liza, one for Ivy, lots for Luna.
Luna does well.
Moved 25 wc in 2 hours.

Oct 31 and Nov 1 - wc

Oct 31 - took the dogs to the park, they found 2 wc, one point each from Luna and Ivy


Nov 1
Terry called and said there's a flight at Tiny
it was 4 pm and I rushed there with Luna only
hwy 400 was closed, so it took longer

we got there around sunset time 6:10 and it was cloudy +4 C and drizzle stop and go
within 20 min Luna pointed solidly 3 birds, I got 2 and missed one
one other point the bird got away, I think it was running

What a joy to shoot over a solid dog (Liza's home :) )

I stood by the car for the remaining legal shooting time
and took one more bird, missed another, alltogether may be 5 birds flew by

Oct 31 - wc hunt

yesterday Oct 30 I took the dogs to the park.
2-3 wc were found


Oct 31
Rob's place
3 C
9 am
good breeze
mostly cloudy

Luna had 5 points I shot one bird and missed another.
One more I saw was flushed by either Liza or Ivy
and one point was NP

Liza stole the shot wc from Luna, I let her hold it for a few seconds, she was chomping on it.

Oct 28 wc hunt

Rob's place
10 am
8 C
light rain, all wet

Moved 7 wc in 1 hour
Luna had 3 points, Ivy 0, Liza bumped about 3.
One Luna's point I placed Liza and Ivy at sit, walked in, Liza ran in, the bird flushed, I missed.
The second Luna's point the bird left before I got there.
The third, Liza flushed it.

I saw Liza flash point for 1-2 seconds before flushing another bird, no solid points.
She finds them. The point will come
Ivy moves quite slowly.

Oct 27 - wc hunt

Rob's place
9 am
cloudy
4 C
decent breeze
pretty dry

We moved 10-11 birds. They were pretty scattered.
Luna pointed 3-4, Ivy 2-3, Liza flash pointed one, but flushed it pretty quickly and I didn't shoot.
Liza bumped few more, she bumped twice from Luna's point, I am pretty sure
Ivy also pointed a rabbit.
Luna had nice long points, she was standing waiting for me.

I only shot one bird (my only shot taken), when Ivy bumped a bird and it flew over my head into  the open field. Looks like large female.
10-15 cm of snow is forecasted in Timmins and full moon is in about one week, so I think the next week will be the last for wc hunting.

Ivy is pretty slow and 'lazy' it has to be her thyroid.
She's in decent shape, 20 kg weight

Retrieve

I give Liza few simple retrieves once every few days  in front of the house.
She's very eager and comes reasonably to deliver, not much circling or running away.
This is good progress, she's getting more cooperative and her recall is much better (I'd say almost 100%)

Oct 24 - wc run in the park

11 am
local part
13 C sunny

The dogs found 2-3 wc today, Liza pointed something, but it was non-productive.
She's showing progress nevertheless.

Oct 23 wc hunt

on Oct 22 I took the dogs to the park - not a single bird

Oct 23
9 am to 10:30
Rob's place
cloudy
14-16 C hot for the dogs
pretty dry

Luna had 2 solid points early on, I shot one bird and missed the other, I had Ivy and Liza sitting away and waiting

Luna and Liza bumped a few

Then in the end Liza pointed solidly (in the little island bush), the bird was under some conifer and it flushed to the other side, so I missed with 2 barrels.

All in all 7 flushes I think and a nice solid point from Liza.

Oct 21 - wc hunt

Rob's farm 9:20 to 11:20
10 C to 18 C
partly cloudy
dry
pretty hot


19 flushes, at least, 2 points I didn't make it to - one from Ivy and one from Luna.
I also heard Liza yipping couple times, she was probably flushing wc.
She flushed one rabbit too.

The dog worked bad, really bad. I only shot one bird and missed 3 more.

Liza pointed for the first time!!! I brought the dogs to a ditch where they drank water and cooled, it was the second time at this spot, after we moved on and Liza pointed a wc. It wasn't pretty, she was hunched, rear legs slightly bent, almost like she was going to poop. But when I stepped closer a bird flushed from the bank of the ditch, going right, I missed with both barrels, but I gave Liza the bird I had in the vest, shot 5 min before from Ivy's point (relocated bird). Even that bird cleanly killed they couldn't find for a good few minutes, even though I had a good idea where it was.
Scenting conditions were bad and the dogs were hot.
Liza finds birds, so I am pretty happy.
Luna was working far away a lot, she knows the place well and thinks she knows better where to hunt...

wc hunt - Oct 17

11 am
Rob's farm
14 C sunny, failry dry, some breeze (there was frost in the morning)

Found 5 wc, Liza bumped the same bird 3 times I think.
She had another couple finds, all bumps

Ivy had 2 points. It's amazing how she doesn't go far or fast, but still finds birds.
This time she pointed a bird close to me, in the area where Luza was running for a while before.
Ivy pointed and I shot the bird. Luna found it, Liza is always trying to steal from her.
Luna delivered to hand and I let Liza pick up the bird too.

The second Ivy's point was close to the fence and she was standing while Liza was repeatedly bumping another wc. So I heard GPS point beep and found Ivy. She started moving slowly when I approached, she followed up very nicely on obviously running wc. Finally the bird flushed.
BTW, I think Liza was backing Ivy, at least some of the time. May be she flushed the bird, I am not sure. The wc instantly disappeared behind some green bush, I fired, Ivy jumped the rail fence and searched for the bird, but found nothing. I guess I missed.

So about 5 contacts and one in the bag.
Liza is searching well and she finds birds, but the point is yet to come.

Oct 15 retrieving cold game

I put cold dove in a pantyhose (so she doesn't pluck it) and threw it for Liza.
She sniffed it, picked it up. She didn't really want to come in, so I reeled her in on CC.
I did it couple more times and she got better - delivery to hand.

WC hunt Oct 14 2017

Rob's farm
cloudy wet
14 C
10 am

Luna had one NP and one good point in the end on the line with the next property, but Ivy came and the bird flew away before I could get close enough

Liza busted 2 birds that I saw and I heard her twice more make the yipping noise she makes when a bird flushes, so may be there were more.... No points, but at least she finds them...

Ivy slowed down a lot, she doesn't run far or fast

Next to the car I shot one dove, the dogs were in the car. I took Liza out and walked with her encouraging her to find it. She did and after plucking the birds a bit she picked it up, first she went sideways, put the bird down, but after some encouragement she picked it up and brought to hand. Good girl.

wc train Oct 13

Local park
noon
light rain
13 C

Luna pointed one, it took me few minutes to find her, so Liza was there already, backing Luna.
Don't know who moved, but when I was under 10 m out the bird flushed. Think it was Liza.

In the end of the walk found 2 more wc, no points.

so 3 wc in one hour, usually there's more

hunting grouse in the north - Oct 8-10

I went north of Sudbury as usual to hunt grouse. Last year I didn't go, but before that I used to go few times each fall. It used to be very good. I usually shoot my limit of 15 grouse in 3 days and go home.

This year the grouse numbers are not good, they weren't good 2 years ago either. 

Not sure what happened there.. it cannot be explained by hunting pressure, most of the time I hunt overgrown old trails which are not accessible to ATV hunters. Even driving the roads, I only saw 2 birds on shoulders, usually I see many more. Many spots produced no birds at all.

Ivy stayed home, 3 dogs was a bit much to sleep in the car with and she also rubbed her armpit raw when a strap of her vest slipped in a wrong place few days ago.

I left on Sunday (Canadian Thanksgiving), stopped halfway there near Grundy lake, hunted 2 spots for 30-40 min each, flushed one grouse at each, no shots. No woodcock either, the second place usually holds woodcock. It's also pretty dry in the woods.

Hunted about 2 hours in 2 spots at my final destination. The first one - nothing. Luna pointed non-productive (NP), then she chased something up to 160 m away. It had to be a hare. Liza follows her mom most of the time. Luna came back panting hard (it was 18 C) and with a bloody tongue.

The second spot just before dark produce 3 flushes of spruce grouse, I shot one off a tree branch.

I drove to another spot to park on level ground and camp for the night. I made a mistake and pulled into some overgrown trail. The next morning I heard grouse flutter from branch to branch, after light breakfast I went there and shot one spruce grouse from a tree branch. There were probably more... 

It was very very wet, sunny morning, I had to put on rain pants, but my shirt got soaked going through tag alders overgrowing the trail. I think I heard one more flush on this trail.

Then I drove to the next spot, where I planned to sleep initially. Walking on 'road' part there, I saw nothing, saw three 410 ga shells in one spot there, so road hunters got some birds there.

When I walked into overgrown part of the trail. I shot one ruffed grouse from a branch and I heard another flush later.

I ate lunch, fed the dogs and we drove off to another spot. Luna pointed NP, then 5 min later flushed the only wc of the trip. No grouse. Next spot, no grouse, I was hoping for wc, but nothing.

Next spot - nothing.

Then I saw grouse running across the side road. I stopped and put Liza out. She smelled it right away, but started going backwards, I called her to me to put her in the right direction and she went into the bush and flushed it. I heard the grouse clucking at her from a tree. Liza is very vocal, she barks and yelps if something is getting away from her or even when she can't find Luna.

Then I drove to the next spot and parked for the night, cause we were all tired. Luna clocked 25 km and Liza was not far behind.

Both mornings it was 6 C, the second day no dew and it was around 10 C by 1-2 pm

I hunted 2 spots. One next to the camp, the dogs found and pointed dead spruce grouse. Luna retrieved it. I guess someone shot it off the road and didn't bother go and look. Damn road hunters.

The bird didn't smell bad, so it had to be from the day before.

This walk produced nothing. Then I drove to one more spot, one flush next to the truck, then in the end, one more. 

The last spot I hunted was the same spot I shot the first spruce, but this time we saw nothing again.

Altogether, very poor bird numbers, less than one flush per hour. Dogs didn't point anything productive. Luna doesn't have enough experience hunting grouse. She runs them too hot on ground scent and flushes. It's like she's trying to catch them. Liza has no idea what she's doing. She's behind her mom 90% of the time. She has good search though and has decent nose, I think.

The shot birds she wanted to pick up and gave good plucking to one of them (guts were out).

I will teach her HOLD soon.

On the way back I wanted to check out one area south of Sudbury for wc, it's Mowat CN road and it's just north of hw69 and hw522 intersection. Nothing there. Talked to an old fella on a quad, he says grouse numbers are not good and so everything else is down - moose and deer (bad winters)

I also stopped after sunset at Tiny, but no wc were flying.

wc hunt Oct 6

Rob's farm
9 am
cloudy
wet
14 C

Hunted under one hour, shot one wc from Luna's point, she was pointing in conifers, I didn't see exactly where, then when Ivy came close the bird flushed, I don't know if Luna moved or not...
The birds flew right to left and I shot it.
Ivy flushed 3 more, one was repeat, I shot at the second flush (no point) but missed.

Liza was running around, some time after Luna or Ivy, some time alone. She barks when she doesn't know where everybody else is... also I saw her bark on scent trail again, but didn't see any game.

Liza's first wc hunt Oct 5

First we had 30 C weather, than a cought a bad cold, so the first wc hunt of the year was record late - Oct 5.
I took all 3 dogs to Rob's farm.

11 C
synny
very wet forest, I was soaked.

Nothing happened on the 10 min walk from car to the back where I find wc.
At the deer stand Ivy tracked and flushed a turkey, I saw it fly across my FOV.
After getting into poplars, they started busting wc, no points.
I tried to put Liza onto relocated birds couple times, I sat the other two, so they won't interfere.
I saw Liza flush at least 3 birds - one, then 2 very close, no points.
The whole thing - the first wild bird hunt was a bit too much for her.
She was following Luna a lot, but also ran independently.
2-3 times she found and chased something, not sure if it was a rabbit or another turkey.
She's quite vocal, She's definitely 'scent laut'.
Couple times I think she was barking because she couldn't find/catch Luna.

So as soon as we stepped into poplars the dogs produced about 10 flushes, some repeats.
The first point was from Luna, but it was unproductive.
Right after I saw Ivy on point. She was flagging a bit, also Luna run right by her and didn't smell anything, so I thought it was old scent. Then I saw wc on the ground. I guess she didn't have a very strong scent. While I adjusted my cap to shield my eyes from the sun, the bird flushed and instantly disappeared in thick foliage, I fired as I was swinging and saw nothing fall.... Ivy and Luna went looking in the direction of the flush and soon Luna came back with our first wc of 2017 (large female). Liza was there as well and happily grabbed the bird. I took it from her, but let her smell it for a bit, while holding it.

After that, I only saw 2-3 flushes, 15 min later, but no points.

So that was it for the first hunt.
I continue to intro e-c to Liza in 'everyday situations', e.g. when I call her and she doesn't respond, which is rare.

I also threw couple retrieves for her on the sidewalk in front of the house yesterday.
She did well, no run-arounds and no going somewhere to chew on it.

fetching Sep 20

I haven't done anymore work with birds, waiting for the hunting season to have her on wild birds, primarily on woodcock around here in October

She's really gotten better with simple retrives, she's very enthusiactic, always runs and picks up the dummy happily, most of the times she returns to me, sometimes she will circle or go lie down, esp in the yard and chew on the object, the more valuable the object, more likely she's to do it.
She also chews when she delivers to me, we'll fix it in the winter with teaching HOLD, when there's nothing else to do.

When she's chasing rabbits on morning walks, she's giving tongue (laut)

The e-collar intro is not going all that well, nothing wrong is just I can't figure out the right intensity, I can't tell if she's getting the stim or not sometimes. I got my Dogtra collars from repairs I will try those maybe.

Pigeons Sep 9

Mike's farm
11 am
sunny
good breeze
light dew on grass, knee high

I planted 2 pigeons in cages again, but this time it didn't work all that well.
I think I reached the limitation of manual release by pulling the string.
There was a lot of commotion and confusion, between 'spare' bird flapping in my hand to the juvenile pigeon that wouldn't fly when I flipped the cage.
I don't think Liza learned anything.
I will consider steadying her to flush, but perhaps I better wait for the next summer with that.
As far as searching and pointing, she'll be better off on wild birds, woodcock.
The dogs are already finding wc, when we go out. Both old dogs pointed some recently.

e-c intro, fetching

I used e-c for the first time today, Liza is about 5.5 months old.
She's been wearing the e-c for a few weeks now, not every time out, but quite a bit.
I used CC in the backyards and command HERE, it worked OK.
I need to find the time to do more of the training....

I continue to give her few retrieves, not even every day. She's doing OK, delivering to hand most of the times. She's actually better in the school parking lot with no distractions, in the backyard she's still trying to go around me and lie down to chew the dummy.

Pigeons Sep 2 2017

Mike's farm
knee high grass, wet
10 am
sunny 14 C
wind 0 to light breeze

I planted 2 homers in cages and brought 3 barn pigeons with me to shoot.

The first bird Liza pointed from 8-9 m, she stood there for a bit, I stepped between her and the bird, turned around to get sun at my back, not my eyes and thres barn pigeon in the air, it went up and I shot it. Liza marked it, went to investigate, picked it up after a bit of sniffing and came to me. I didn't take the bird from her, but walked with her. After a while I took the bird from her.
This went really well.

The second bird she pointed from about 25-30 m, I couldn't believe it, she didn't lock on the bird, she didn't know exactly where it was, but she knew it was there and she was standing, after a bit she relocated and pointed closer and exactly at the bird (may be 6-7 m). I let go another barn pigeon and fully intended to shoot it, but this one flew very low and Liza was chasing it, so I didn't risk a shot.
The pigeon made a circle as they often do and came back to me. Here I may have made a mistake, I am not sure yet. I shot at the pigeon twice and I missed :( Well, hopefully she didn't learn anything wrong from this. When Liza came back I released the bird in the cage, Liza pinned this one, the bird was a bit slow to take off and Liza was a bit too close. I get in trouble if those don't come back to the coop and pinning birds is not good either, so without much thinking I grabbed the bird from Liza and let it go, it flew away. This was definitely not good, she doesn't need to think she can catch them.

Then I went back to cage #1 which still had a bird in it, I don't recall now what I did there, but nothing remarkable.

I should have stopped after the first bird, quit while you're ahead.

pigeons Aug 31

Mike's farm
knee high grass
14 C
dry sunny
decent wind ~20 km/h

As last time I planted 2 pigeons in my DYI cages
After about 15 min I brought Liza on CC from downwind, crosswind as usual.
#1 she pointed nicely and stood 20-30 sec, when she moved I yanked the string releasing the bird.
She chased.
We moved on to #2. She wasn't sure where the scent was coming on first, but then she locked again good distance away may be 8 m. She was standing there, but another pigeon I was holding started flapping and distracted her, so I released the bird in the cage. She chased. I shot a blank.
All is well.

She's pointing nicely and holds longer. I will try to get a pigeon I can shoot for her and shoot it  in the near future if she does everything right. She needs to connect the dots.

In the end I let all three dogs run around and planted the last bird rocked to sleep in the grass.
I was thinking may be Ivy or Luna will find it, but in the end I put them in a sit and walked with Luna (off leash) to the bird. She again was a bit confused about the location (the air must've been swirling) then she locked on point. I walked in and kicked the bird up, so she let me walk in. She chased and so did Luna. Amazingly Ivy remained sited, she only whined watching the bird fly. At 7 years old she remembers steady to flush training I did with her for UT when she was 2. Some training really sticks if done rights, I guess :) BTW it was done using Maurice Lindley method (variation of West-Gibbons method).

pigeon training Aug 27

9:30 am
Mike's farm
knee high wet (dew) grass
light breeze

Much better scenting conditions today.
I planted two pigeons under my DIY cages and put good size stone on top of each to hold them down.
I took all dogs for a run in another field, letting bird's scent dissipate for 25 min or so.
Took Liza on CC to the birds, leaving the other two in the car (screaming murder).

#1. Liza pointed, can't recall may be from 10-15', after few sec she moved, I pulled the string flipping the cage and releasing the bird, Liza chased, I fired blank. All is well. When Liza came back I let fly another bird (to show her there could be more than one bird in one place), she chased that one too and again when she came back I let another one fly.

#2. She pointed from at least 10m. Very nice, what a difference wet grass makes!!!
While I was thinking what to do - the string was on the ground in front of Liza and I didn't want to move and break her concentration... She broke and I let another pigeon fly (I was holding it in my hand). She chased that one, I fired blank. When she came back, I let the one in the cage fly.

All in all very good training session and good progress from Liza.

I planted the last pigeon (rocked to sleep) for Ivy and Luna, but they missed it and it flew away, I guess it was awake by then.

retrieving

Couple days ago I tied up all 3 dogs on a soccer field and gave each one couple retrieves in turn, while the others watched. Liza did really well with 20-30 yards.

Today I repeated the drill, parked the car on empty parking lot, kept 2 dogs in the car and gave the third one couple retrieves.

Liza is also doing pretty well with 'staying'. I sit all dogs and walk away. Liza is managing short stays.

Liza second time on pigeons - point

5 pm
Mike's farm
dry grass
19 C
sunny
light breeze

I made 2 small cages from rabbit wire, tied some string to them.
I knew they'd need some weight on top of them to prevent pigeons from flipping, so I put some 2" sticks on them, but I lost 2 pigeons in the process anyways. It's hard to improvise, remote controlled launchers are so much easier....

Bird #1. Liza didn't point on scent, but pulled in until she was staring at the bird, then she sight pointed.  I don't think she had good air scent on this one. I flushed it and let her chase, fired my blank too.

#2. She pointed this one nicely from about 15', when I started walking past her, she held for a few sec and then broke, so I had to slow her with the CC, kicked the bird up, then let Liza chase.
Good one, it was her first real point

#3. She scented something, wasn't sure, relocated (I would have launched the bird at this point if I could), finally pointed from about 4' away. I had to hold with CC a bit, Liza almost managed to grab the tail, when the bird was in the air, I wish I had a photo.

Anyhow, this is progress and pretty fast at that. I'll have to rethink the cages...

pups are 5 months old

Congrats to all the pups! Happy mini-birthday, belated, it was on the 21-st

If I didn't mention it yet, I vaccinated Liza against rabies (well, vet did - legal thing) and chiped her 2-3 weeks ago.

She's doing well, sweet little girl. Most of the teeth replaced with permanent ones.

Liza's firs pigeons

8 pm
Mike's farm
25 C
no wind
dry grass

I got lucky and was given some homers under condition they will not be hurt.

I released 3-4 birds in front of Liza just to get her excited and let her chase them.
She's definitely ready, she really wants the birds. She gave chase to the edge of the field - 100-150 m.

After that I gave her 2-3 birds rocked to sleep in the grass. She found them and tried to grab them, so I had to hold her with a checkcord and kick the birds up with my foot. After that I let her chase.
I don't have my launchers anymore, so I'll have to either use cages with a rope or borrow launchers from someone. She didn't point.

I gave one bird each to Luna and Ivy. Ivy pointed nicely, Luna tried to take the bird out after brief point. They know it's a game and don't like to play it. They just want to grab the pigeons.

In the end I let go one more bird and when all 3 dogs were chasing it and were nearly 100 y away I fired my blank gun, Liza didn't blink, Luna started looking for the dead bird :)

sportdog sd 425 e-c and GPS tracking collar on sale at cabelas.ca

...

stop to flush

Here's a good way to train stop to flush if you're ambitious enough to attempt it (the vast majority of hunters in NA don't bother)

https://www.gundogtrainingforum.co.uk/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=24485&start=10#p277152

The last two HPR's I trained were "Rosie" the vizsla and "Libby" the Brittany . I trained steadiness to flush with them first by insisting on a definite stop/sit every time they flushed a bird (or ground game) no matter whether I had commanded the flush or whether they had "bumped" the game. Both dogs had several months of finding birds and stopping to them during which no shot was fired.

I trained the sit/stop to shot as a completely separate exercise before adding a shot ( a party popper or a starting pistol) after a flush. That meant the pups had been given two commands to sit whenever a bird was flushed.

Then I did some picking up with them but kept them on a lead to begin with. Picking up means dogs see numerous birds fall so as they fell I made the pup sit going so far as to deliberately walk about with the pup during drives to ensure the pup would "sit to fall." That meant that every time my pup flushed a bird that was fired at and brought down it received 3 commands to sit, each one backing up the previous command. I didn't use voice, hand signal or whistle , the 3 "situational" commands were commands in their own right.....BUT a vocal or signal or whistle command could be used in case of dire emergency ! 

Only after all that did I take those dogs to be shot over for the first time as I knew that if they had run-in to flush or to shot or to fall of game I was not nearly fit enough to catch them in the act ! I took Rosie to a friends farm and a few pheasants were shot from over points and she was completely steady. 

Libby was a "hotter" dog than Rosie so I took her to be shot over twice paying out more than £100 for this. At one of those days run by a HPR club the guns fired at every bird that took to wing. Birds fell like confetti near Libby a couple of times and yet she stuck to her training and remained rock steady. Then I took her to a field trial and ran her. She was rock steady in the trial too.

Libby's new owner has 3 brittanies inclusive of Libby. He says the one thing he can't get used to with her is the fact that she does not run - in ! 

It is possible to train an HPR to field trial standards without ever shooting over it yourself but I would be the first to say that it is better to shoot over your own dog if you can. When all those birds fell around Libby I was not too pleased about it ! Things could have gone badly wrong.

e-collar intro

I put the new ecollar on Liza when we go out, but don't turn it on yet.
She needs to get used to it and NEVER associate the collar and the nicks, we don't want to create 'collar wise' dog.

Here's decent video on the intro.
I would only use one command at first and I like HERE.
Also, adding distance and distractions is a very gradual process, it's not done all in one session, as they show and they're not clear about it.

https://youtu.be/WAvn4FKx2GQ

new e-collar

I did some (a lot) of research and ordered Sportdog SD 1225 (need third collar)

3/4 mile range, low/med/high level on the collar, 8 levels of stim on the remote
both the remote and the collar are waterproof
quick charge - 2 hours
I only use continuous stim, never nicks and I don't have a use for tone and vibrate, but the collar has them.
Expandable to 3 dogs/collars, in which case you can only use one type of stim per dog - exactly what I need, i.e. no tone/vibrate.

I used one dog Dogrta and now have the same 2 dog Dogtra, which I am reasonalby happy with, but Sportdog is chepear and easily extendable (I had to sell one dog Dogtra and buy 2 dog unit).

The remote seems to be nice.

I ordered it from Amazon in Canada for 299 + tax.

Most of the reviews are good, although SD is made in China (Dogtra in S Korea, but I had to repair the one dog unit). Some complaints, looks like mostly from some years ago, hopefully they fixed those issues.

It's better to have 2 systems, if I lose or break one of them, at least I have the other.

I'll report on the collar when I get it.

dog food

I found puppy food I like (well Liza does :) )
It's Royal Canin Medium Puppy (digestive health), large bag (30 lbs?) something like $71 before tax.

It looks and tastes (according to my wife ;) ) and has the same ingredients as much more expensive RC food called Gastro available only through veterinarians.

It's 30/18 (prot/fat)

https://www.royalcanin.com/products/royal-canin-size-health-nutrition-medium-puppy-dry-dog-food/3003

skunk

Luna found a skunk today, Ivy joined, thankfully I caught Liza in time.
I spent most of the morning washing Luna and Ivy with H peroxide, dish soap and soda mixture, then
baby shampoo, then conditioner, then repeat again.
They are clean enough to be in the house now. Oh the joys of having fur crazy dogs...
This is our first skunking, so hope it won't be repeated for many years, OTOH if skunks moved to the area... they're will be more, the only hope is that the dogs will stay away... we'll see.

Liza is developing nicely. She's very promising in her hunting attributes and she's totally adorable.
All of her front teeth are gone, canines are next.

I will introduce her to e-collar in August, so she's ready to go hunting wearing it in mid September.

She finds her own rabbits, gives chase with voice/tongue (laut as they say in Germany).

4 months

The pups will be 4 months old tomorrow.
Liza continues to replace some front teeth. She's chewing a lot (things she's allowed).
We just went camping. She was very good, slept well.
She's not swimming after her first dash a while ago, it'll come.
She's getting much bolder on morning walks, running alone into dense vegetation, exploring, following her nose. She's going to be  a handful in a couple months.
She's very interested in birds now, I have to see what I can find for training.
Retrieving is at the same level, I think recently I've been neglecting it...

3-d vaccine, teeth

We gave Liza wormer and 3-d dose of puppy vaccine, she's also on monthly heartworm preventative.
She lost 2 teeth and the bottom and one at the upper jaw.

She really shows more interest in birds and scents now, she's not running after mom all the time, but rather investigates on her own and more around me, which is great news.

Retrieving was slow going, she's possessive.

I found one ball she loves playing with and started using it.

Also, I am taking her in the yard on a checkcord and play fetch few times,
It's not working all that well with the CC, she just lies down and chewes on the retrieve object, but if I walk away, she follows, so I'll use that.

She's great little pup and all is well so far.
We met one of her brothers for the vaccination and the pups had great time running around hay fields, except for a broken nail and a bitten face (just a scratch from ant Ivy), sorry Archie.

bonding

I really expected to do more formal training by now...

I should allocate some time every day for obedience.

We have a new problem - Liza is more attached to her mom, then to me. It's not surprising, but still new.

I continue light play fetch training, 2-3 throws inside the house in the hallway.
I tried in the yard for the first time. She's quite possessive, so I put a checkcord on her and gently reeled her in. That worked OK.

If I had quail, I'd introduce her now, but the Stoufville market has closed, they tell me...

She's growing, weight's about 20 lbs.

puppy video

two of Luna's 'nephews' were imported to the USA from Germany, they're about the same age as our pups. Here's one's intro to birds

3 month old today

Happy 3 month 'birthday'!

breed club package

I received in the mail the breed club pedigree and the 'manual'.
I quickly skimmed over it, it's pretty good, lots of good info.

First swim

walks

Liza is going for my regular morning walks now.
She can't keep up with the other two, but she manages 30 min walk at her own pace.
Most of it is off leash. She sleeps well after.
Puppies should not be overexerted, so I was carefully building up to walks this long.
She seems to be fine.

We continue 2-3 retrieves every day, sometimes I skip a day. I still do it in the hallway, where she has nowhere to go, but to me. I will add rolled carpet dummy for variety.

We vaccinated for the second time on Sunday. One more 'puppy' vaccine left in 3-4 weeks.
We also gave her monthly heartworm preventative. HW is not very prevalent in ON, but the preventative is reasonably efficient, cheap and safe.

just a photo

video on dog training

if you have one hour to burn and really want to know how dogs learn and get a view at some fundamentally good dog training

Nails

I clip Liza's nails about once a week with small 'human' nail clippers.
Most of her nails are white, so it's easy to see the quick (live tissue) in a bright light.
I do it when she's sleeping. This way there's no wiggling.

We continue the same 2-3 retrieves with paint roller and 2 small dummies... have to find more stuff - some fur, may be stuffed animal.

vaccination

It's been 3 weeks now since the pups received the first DAPPV vaccine (5 way). It's time for the second shot. I gave Liza wormer today (Fenbendazole) and will give her the shot in the next day or two. She's been picking up goose poop in the park, so wormer is not a bad idea. Her stools are nice and firm.
I've been walking her to the park for a few days now, she's getting better on the leash.
In the park she's getting bold, she follows the older dogs as far as I let them run, almost 100 m away.
She comes back nicely, esp with the older dogs for a recall whistle. I give her small bit of hot dog I carry. She has to sit to get it too.

I hear one of the pups in Nebraska is pointing and swimming, Impressive progress.
I am not too concerned about all that, they're still very small.
I take Liza to a farm almost every day, I have to keep an eye on her, I think she can be lost in the tall grass, but when she doesn't see the big dogs, she just sticks with me.

No accidents in the house yesterday, but this one definitely takes longer...

paint roller

I am a big believer in developing natural retrieve, rather than rely on forced fetch.

I introduced a new paint roller yesterday and Liza really liked it. She tries to get past me, but she can't do it in the hallway. Couple retrieves a day, to avoid boredom and I hide the roller.
I have to get out some small dummies I have too. The variety of objects helps them generalize the retrieve.

Unfortunately, she's having pee accidents in the house daily, we think it's because she grew up here and used to it. Oh well.

food

Liza (I am going to use this name unless the boss comes up with a new one) switched herself to adult kibble. She was basically ignoring her puppy food and stealing from mom's dish. So we just give her the same now.

BTW, antibiotics were finished on the 23-rd.

She asked to go outside to potty twice today - pawing the glass door.

Now she and Luna are running circles in the house, Thank G the floors were all scratched already or I'd be in trouble.

house breaking

She's slept through the nights without a peep for the last 2 nights, 8 hours.
No accidents in the crate. 2 days ago she had both #1 and #2 in the house :(

Today she asked to go out by scratching the backyard door even though it's raining.

I give her 2 retrieves a day with a tennis ball in the hallway. She's already trying to keep away, probably because I took few things from her she was chewing. Have to be careful about that.
I also make sure not to take the ball from her right away, but rather let her hold it and pet and praise her.

Still haven't agreed on a name... 

video

First trip out

We have to come up with a call name, but her registered name is Alice. So I'll use it for now.

Today the last puppy went to his new home and it was just us. Now that I don't have to worry about all the other puppies, I will take her out even though the standard vet advice is to wait.

We drove about 10 min to a farm, where all three dogs ran in a hay field filled with blooming dandelions. Luna's white legs are completely yellow now.

I was a bit worried about Alice, she's quite a character and what if she decides to take off..?
I fit her with a new collar and attached a brass name plate to it.
But I worried for nothing, she stayed withing 30 ft of my feet. I talked to her and whistled encouraging to follow me around. This way she'll get used to respond to my voice and whistles.

On the way back I stopped in the bank for a few minutes. At home when I opened her crate there was some vomit and she was a bit down. Oh well, she'll get used to it. She didn't want to eat lunch and is sleeping in her crate now. I am sure she misses her litter mates.