A Little Brag

I have recently got to the point where I've decided I'm not going to let Rocky flush a bird and not be steady anymore. Meaning, every time he flushes a bird, I am going to make sure that he sits when the bird flushes, regardless of how inconvenient it is for me. Last weekend I trained with a Springer owner and was able to work the dogs on live birds. I kept Rocky on a long lead (probably about 50') and when he flushed the birds, I gave him a "hup whistle" and used the lead to make sure he didn't chase. The birds didn't fly straight out when he flushed them, so the lead was slack, but he did eventually sit each time.

This past week I took him out for a little run at a local field and twice he flushed doves out of some low willows. When I blew the hup whistle, both times he immediately stopped and watched the doves fly away while he sat their quivering. To be honest with you, I was totally shocked that he responded this way. Macy isn't even close to this point, and I've done a lot of obedience training with her (which, unfortunately, you might not know just by watching her!). I was very encouraged by Rocky's performance, and although I've never fully steadied a dog, it seems like he is well on his way to getting the concept.

Today I took him down to the park for a few retrieves. When I first got there I took him off his lead and gave him a "get out" command. When he got to about 20' away, I blew the hup whistle and he hit the brakes in a hurry. I then rolled a tennis ball about 12" from his nose and he watched it roll by without flinching. Somewhat surprised by his performance so far, I decided to step it up a notch. I walked over and picked the ball up and gave it a good toss, probably 30 yards away. All the while he sat watching. I then gave him the release command (his name) and he torpedoed after the wall. When he was about half way there, I gave him a hard hup whistle, and he hit the brakes, spun around, and sat down! I was absolutely shocked by this. He has such a strong retrieve drive that I didn't think there was any way I'd be able to stop him in mid retrieve without a lot of work. I then sent him to finish the retrieve and did the same drill over again, and got the same response. I'm also working on making him hup before he delivers the ball (or dummy) to my hand, and he did this both times as well.

This was my first time ever asking Rocky to sit in the middle of a retrieve, and he performed as if he’d been doing it his whole life. This dog is really making me excited! I can't believe how easy he is to work with and how quickly he picks things up. He turned 9 months old a few days ago, but sometimes he seems like he is 5 years old