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Each time I drop a
dummy, Lottie must remain seated not only
whilst it falls, but also whilst I pick it up
and put it back in my bag. I will not be
giving her any retrieves at all whilst we are going
through this process.
At home in the yard I am
taking this opportunity to teach Lottie to hold the
dummy in her mouth while she is sitting in front of
me. This is to tidy up her delivery which is a
bit messy.
Meeting the shoot
team
On Wednesday Lottie
travelled to our pheasant shoot and spent much of
the day sleeping in the car with some of the other
dogs who take turns to work. At our mid-day break
time, she came out to meet the ‘gang’, which was why
I brought her with me. Although Lottie was well
socialised as a puppy, she has not mixed much with
strange people or dogs for the last month or so, and
I want to make sure she continues to be comfortable
in crowds and amongst other dogs.
Lottie was quite
reserved to begin with, sitting quietly next to me
and at first shyly refusing offers of food from the
beaters. Appetite soon overcame her worries
however, and within a few minutes she was tucking
in. She was not all bothered by the other dogs,
and was very well behaved. Which was nice. I
will probably bring her again two or three more
times this winter.
Lottie is used to the
sound of distant gun fire as she often sleeps in the
car whilst I am training or working the older dogs.
Over the months I have gradually reduced the
distance between the vehicle and the sound of shots,
and she now sleeps happily through any amount of
loud bangs. Although gunfire sounds different
outside the vehicle, being accustomed to
shots as background noise probably helps speed up
the process when it comes to introducing her
properly to shot. |
