At 5:32 this morning the sun was a huge red ball just at the top of the spruces as we headed for Red Barn with both Big and Little Thuddd in the truck. His trainer had been bragging up the Little Thudster who had just spent a couple of days with the Big Thud getting spa treatments and generally being spoiled. Tony seemed nervous as he chained smoked his way around the cover but Little Thuddy did him proud. He started out with a perfectly executed stop-to-flush on a woodcock right off the breakaway then busted another a couple of minutes later. Through the billows of smoke I watched as Little Thuddy ripped it up with boundless enthusiasm and was soon rewarded with a stop 40 or 50 yards away. He was covered up and it was still dark enough that the auto-flash on the camera went off. The trainer thrashed around in the dense cover until he got a bird up and Little Thuddy stood for it all with mature manners.
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| Little Thuddy on his first finished find of the morning. |
As we went on Little Thuddy hit the cover hard and was rewarded with a few more finds. The one in the picture below he had the directly off his nose and never moved when it lifted and flew out past the gallery of Tony, Thudd, and Marie. His nicest find had him standing on on the edge of a bank with another woodcock in front of him. It took us a few minutes to get to him and he was still high and tight with the bird still in front of him.
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| Little Thuddy with a woodcock directly in front of him. |
On the find pictured below his proud trainer styled him up before flushing. I will admit that after going home for parents' weekend and laying on the bed for a couple days Little Thuddy lost a step at about the one hour and 15 minute mark, but overall it was quite a show. We then went to where Rigby got to show her stuff with four nice woodcock finds (one on a pair of birds). LJ had a couple of his own and pointed a fawn that still had spots which were seen clearly when it broke cover and ran out in front of Katie and Marie. The total for the day was 9 or 10 birds with Little Thuddy and another half dozen with LJ and Rigby. It was good morning coming shortly after a nice meal where Big Thud supplied the steaks, wine, scotch, and bread. I think he expected a certain amount of ink as a quid pro quo for the food and drink, but really I would have had nice things to say about the Little Thudster even without the bribes. Besides its great to see Tony with a dog that isn't all covered in long hair!!!!
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| Tony maybe a rookie as a pro, but he's an old hand a training championship caliber dogs, and if everything continues this may be yet another one. |
Please elaborate on the taped up tail-my dog get a bloody tail too.
ReplyDeleteIt's just black electrical tape. I start about four inches down on the tail and wrap up to the tip and back. Just tight enough for it to stay on. The two layers almost always last for an hour or more training session or hunt. I usually don't tape a tail in a trial because there are a few judges who find it objectionable. It's interesting that some dogs need it more than others. It seems that some of them have a tail action that is just more damaging to the tip of the tail in thick cover.
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