Summer Blues

We are having a really nice summer here in Northern New Hampshire which is a real bummer. And I've been too busy to make the early morning runs for a couple of weeks although that should change next week. I have been out twice this week with Tony and Joe McCarl whose up for ten days working his string on wild birds. Mariah's lessons out in the open fields seem to be sticking and next week I'm going to get her out in the woods by herself. We're going out this afternoon (it's 75 at 3:00 pm) and we'll run in a cover that has plenty of water for the dogs. We are also planning to show a friend the rope-a-dope process with a young pointer bitch who keeps getting away from him. Hope to have pictures later.

In the Bag

Today after a 20 mile bike ride and lunch in Errol, we got back in time to work the young dogs in the bird field. My son-in-law Jason helped with birds and dogs while my wife Katie snapped some pictures. After we loaded up the bird bag we used the tip up traps to hold the quail in place until we were ready to flush them. This is as system that works well although as the dogs progress they are given opportunities to find and point the free roaming quail that were released from the traps earlier in the session. Wild Apple June went first today. As you can see in the picture, June has been introduced to the bellyband which is being used to break her of creeping in. Like her mother she has very little interest in chasing birds after the flush but she loves finding and pointing them. I'm not sure she has the style to make in the field trial world but she is going to make someone one heck of a grouse and woodcock dog.

It's interesting how different dogs have different personalities. Trip, our Guardrail daughter, loves to point and is pretty staunch but still wants to chase at the flush like a puppy. She is going to require more effort to break then June and Trey. But every indication is that she'll be well worth the effort.