Broke on Pigeons

Indian Head Whiski (Jim) standing his birds

Both Jim and Pete are pointing their birds (pigeons) and holding at the flush and shot. In the bird field both dogs are still dragging a check cord and are equipped with an e-collar as they have been throughout the entire training process. As noted in an earlier blog, I do not work my dogs into birds with the cord, I use it to stop them, at some point in their bird-work, when they decide to chase. I believe that check cording dogs into birds can create a number of problems which stem from the handler "whoaing a dog up" when they think the dog is in the scent cone; I like the dog to tell me it's got the bird. The next step in the process is to introduce them to liberated birds.....