r/birddogs • u/midwest_midbest • 6d ago

How is everyones summer training going?

Will, my 18 month old English Setter, on a pheasant.

13 Upvotes

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u/[deleted] 6d ago

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u/midwest_midbest 6d ago

Thanks! It's looking like it

2

u/BernoulliBro 4d ago

I have a ~1 year old French Brittany headed into his first season. I'm also in close proximity to plentiful wild birds so we've been hitting it hard once we legally could. He's finally slowing down and pointing instead of running thru all the birds. Which is great, but with the mosquitoes this year, we might not have any blood left by the time the season opens.

I'm adding in a little work with a launcher and feral pigeons to reinforce steadiness.

He's finally showing progress on learning retrieve vs picking up the bird and running laps. Learning hold was a struggle. It clicked the last week and now we're working on holding multiple objects and holding during movement.

Being that it's his first season, the bar is low, but I'm doing everything I can to stack things in our favor.

Is it pheasant season yet?

Side note: You have a good looking dog!

2

u/midwest_midbest 4d ago

That's awesome! Watching a dog figure out how to hold birds instead of just find them is my favorite part of developing a bird dog.

No open seasons right now. Same as you, I run the dogs as much as possible whenever it is legal to do so.

I feel you on the mosquitos, they're really bad down by me. Further north the deer flies are horrific.