I had the privilege to take my 5 month old boykin, Ruby, to hunt some managed dove plots. I knew she was young and it would be fairly controlled but a lot of excitement for a young puppy.
She had been exposed to gun fire but still kept get back and quickly worked closer to the live fire until we were sitting on the bucket next to another shooter. She sat and marked the first dove shot, went on her name and with a little help, fetched it up and brought it back in my direction. Great! A few birds later, she was really excited and just wanted to keep picking up the dead birds we had laying next to us. After I put the dead birds in a bucket, she calmed down and be really started to focus. I had her on a 6' check cord which I just stood on... That first evening, she was sitting steady, marking birds and going on her name. I was blown away and never expected that from a young pup.
We hunted 3 days and she heard hundreds of gun shots, watched over 100 birds go down and picked up dozens on her own. Only 3 times did she try to break, never was successful. The 3rd morning, she sat at heel for minutes, quietly watching the sky before the birds started flying... The light was on and she was really focused.
Her delivery is far from polished as she would stop halfway back and wanted to keep the bird ... outside of that, she exceeded every expectation I had from a 5 month old pup.
The video is from our 3rd morning hunt.
https://youtu.be/JsiJfsO-Vj0
She had been exposed to gun fire but still kept get back and quickly worked closer to the live fire until we were sitting on the bucket next to another shooter. She sat and marked the first dove shot, went on her name and with a little help, fetched it up and brought it back in my direction. Great! A few birds later, she was really excited and just wanted to keep picking up the dead birds we had laying next to us. After I put the dead birds in a bucket, she calmed down and be really started to focus. I had her on a 6' check cord which I just stood on... That first evening, she was sitting steady, marking birds and going on her name. I was blown away and never expected that from a young pup.
We hunted 3 days and she heard hundreds of gun shots, watched over 100 birds go down and picked up dozens on her own. Only 3 times did she try to break, never was successful. The 3rd morning, she sat at heel for minutes, quietly watching the sky before the birds started flying... The light was on and she was really focused.
Her delivery is far from polished as she would stop halfway back and wanted to keep the bird ... outside of that, she exceeded every expectation I had from a 5 month old pup.
The video is from our 3rd morning hunt.
https://youtu.be/JsiJfsO-Vj0
