Heat Indexes and T-Storms limiting work

Well, we are about into our 3rd full week of training. We have finished evaluating the dogs and have worked out a schedule so that each dog gets the type and frequency of work they need. Saturday and Yesterday we had heat indexes in the triple digits. This morning we had wanted to start horseback work but we had thunder and lightning all over the place and the last thing we want to be out on the prairie with lightning in the area - cows and haystacks get hit every storm.`

Preston - Having a great time - pointing birds and running around

Jewel - Running hard and pointing great

Red - Contacts with birds every day while free running of the ATV

Duc - Our best bird finder and mover of the puppies this year. Really fun to watch this dog.

Kona - Has had wild bird contacts and has pointed on a few occasions

Callie - Finding a few birds - have not seen her point yet

Taz - Finding birds and has pointed a few times

Buddy - Needs to be treated like a puppy - will not be broke this summer

Chance - He is doing well still has happy feet - we will work on this with wild birds

Stubby - Doing great - broke on pen raised birds - will work him more and more on wild birds

Charlie - Nice young female - She needs lots of work on steadiness

Sam - Will be trying to get him more steady on both wild and pen raised - flags alot which is sometimes a sign of pressure - will try making it fun for him again and see what happens

Kane - Getting in great shape

Dolly - pretty broke - need to reinforce it on wild birds

Jessie - Great little dog - still broke on pen raised birds - will continue to develop on wild birds

Dot - Beautiful female with great point and steadiness - we will have to work on wild birds

Primo - Nice dog - will work on steadiness as we go on both wild and pen raised birds

Annie - More pen and wild bird work - she still breaks hard - will work on that and think that being derby broke by the time the fall comes is very doable.

Trevor - Running better and we have seen some positive things from him - he is running better and he has pointed a few birds

Hondo - Runs big when he wants too - still not alot of bird work

Gus - Big running puppy - points level tail - but will be a fine hunting dog

Keith - Posting from Under the Rusty Windmill

Still evaluating and doing yard work

Well, we are almost done evaluating the dogs we have and have pretty much came up with a training plan for all of the.

Mac - Nice dog that needs a bit more yard work - but I am very confident he will be broke this summer.

Preston - Nice point, chase - no reaction to gunfire - and delivered the bird to hand

Charlie - Progressing on the "whoa" post

Kona - Making transition from "whoa" post to field training on "whoa"

Red - Still running and chasing birds

Gus - To immature to work steadiness - will continue running him in our puppy program

Sam - Progressing on the "whoa" post

Buddy - Needs more bird work

Jake - Running hard - gonna start working pen raised birds to reinforce some training problems that have cropped up

Annie - Progressing on the "whoa" post will transition to field training soon

Monday - We will start working horseback and wild birds with the dogs

Keith - Posting from Under the Rusty Windmill

Working pen raised birds now

Well, Daniel and I made the trip to ND and got birds and dog food yesterday. Today was our first day working birds. We worked pups and evaluated older dogs.

Charlie - Needs more experience with birds but seemed to have a good nose and style

Sam - Nice dog - shows a sensitivity to pressure that will need to worked on via putting him into more wild birds and letting the birds train him.

Red - Needs to run on lots and lots of wild birds

Duc - Shows good talent, runs big

Preston - Likes birds pointed briefly and had a nice delayed chase

Lucy - Seems to have nice talent and works fine - think we can get this one broke fine

Primo - Nice point and chase - no problems - think this one will make it fine

Kona - Nice point and retrieve

Buddy - This is a 3 yr old dog that acts like a 6 month old puppy when it comes to birds

Jewel - Nice point and chase

Trevor - Pointed, was steady to flush but too close to the chain for shot - has remembered his training and we will just run him on wild birds to increase his desire.

Keith - Posting from Under the Rusty Windmill

Puppies having a good time

I have started roading the dogs over eight miles now. All the dogs are running well, getting in shape and some are starting to muscle up.

Puppies are running well too.

Duke - Is by far the best pup in camp

Taz - Only pup that is regularly pointing birds

Callie - Needs to get more adventurous

Buddy - Although not a pup is doing well

Kona - Running well - a few contacts with birds

Red - Having contacts practically every day


We are working other dogs on the "whoa" post

Charlie - Doing great

Sam - Doing great but I have some concerns about sensitivity to loud noises

Stub - Ready to go

Buddy - Needs more time

Ti0 - Ready to go

Annie - Doing fine

Lucy - Doing well - but still trying to sit down

Keith - Posting from Under the Rusty Windmill

Working on Whoa

Well, we are roading the field trial dogs 8 miles now - the other conditioning and hunting dogs are still roading 6 miles - we will gradually increase the distance and vary the speed at which we road as the summer progresses. All the birds we are seeing are very young yet - but there is a wondrous variety - ducks, sharp tail and pheasants as well as some geese (which is pretty unusual).

Daniel and I are working on the "whoa" post daily now.

Sam - Doing well, and I am confident in his learning ability

Kona - Bit of a problem in that he wants to sit a lot, but we are working on it.

Duke - Taking to it well

Red - Working through some issues - likes to sit occasionally but working through that

Annie - a real trooper no problems so far

Buddy - Did well, I expected more of a rodeo with him

Lucy - Sitting is a problem with her - working on it and making slow progress

Stub - Just a refresher for him - we will probably be on the chain for about a week then worked through the rotation on wild and pen raised birds

Chip - Just some more repetitions are necessary for him - He is progressing well

We usually work dogs on the "Whoa" post for 2 week to a month - depending on their ability to absorb and apply the training and using a variety of stimuli until we are reasonably sure they are ready for pen raised birds and corrections - after that is accomplished then it is on to wild birds for final polish.

Keith - Posting from Under the Rusty Windmill

Well, we have most everything set up - I am roading 2 sets of dogs every day and running five to eight puppies every morning and one or two in the evenings.

Preston - Been adopted by Daniel spends his days when he is not out exploring or running on the prairies curled up on a chair or sleeping in Daniel's room.

Red - Free running him so he can get a few more contacts given his sensitivity issues

Gus - Big running and nice looking dog

Taz - Not running big yet and still not had an contacts

Jewel - Running big - and forward a few contacts

Chase - Big running and hard to catch - doesn't want to quit

Kona - Nice moving - mostly forward and attentive

Chip - Finding birds and running forward through the prairie

Duke - Having a great time - loves running and splashing through the water

For the big dogs we are roading 6 miles or about 1 hour. The dogs are powerful and getting into shape - and will get into much better shape as we go on through the summer.

Sam - Had an issue at first - took a few times roading for him to get with the whole program.

All of the other dogs are old pro's at it and working hard.

Keith - Posting from Under the Rusty Windmill

Starting to get dogs in shape

Well, I have been able to road a few dogs the last two days - I have obtained my training permit from the Standing Rock Sioux Game and Fish - so we have run a few pups around the place here.

Yesterday, while roading and in the harness Rocky decided to point - I got off the bike and went about 3 feet and out came a rooster pheasant. It was awesome.

Keith - Posting from Under the Rusty Windmill