Bailey the bird dog

[dougell]

We've been having a good time with the pup.She's doing a great job finding the birds and doing pretty good holding her points.It's tough where we've been hunting because it's not very open and the birds don't hold tight.They seem to constantly move in front of the dog but as long as we keep her reined in,it works well.Some of the cover is too high to see the dog and we don't use a beeper so you have to listen to bell when it stops.If you see her,it's obvious when a bird is close,her nose and tail start going crazy and she'll stop on a dime to point.Then the bird moves and she'll start to creep.These birds are jumpy so they generally flush when she creeps in.Sometimes they just flush when she's holding point.Jordan's wing shooting has gotten really good but he has to learn to trust the dog and he has to learn to stop where he can actually shoot.Otherwise,it's been fun.We went out friday after work and had a ball.We had had a couple good points right off the bat and Jordan dumped a hen.A little while later,she had her first encounter with a porkupine.She must have attacked it because she looked like a pin cushion and had them in her gums and tongue.We got them all out and she went right back to work saturday.They were having a youth hunt on the game lands so we got there after it ended so we didn't interfere.We had another good day despite that place being over pressured all morning.

[Dutch]

Hunting like that becomes a social event. Great stuff watching a dog work

[dennyf]

Yay!

[dougell]

Last week I convinced my daughter to tag along.She's not a hunter but was glad to be included and had a lot of fun watching the dog work.About 10 minutes into it,I told her get ready and watch the dog because she was getting really birdie.She locked up and before we could even move in to flush the bird,it lifted off cackling like crazy and Jordan dropped it with the second shot.She couldn't believe we trained the dog to do that.I told her we didn't train it.They're just born with the instinct to do it.Kids and dogs just go good together.

[Deleted]

A bird dog makes a great addition to a hunting family. There is no way I could get Ms. Doris to go hunting, except for bird hunting. She tags along when Mugs and I go because she just loves to see him do his thing. I am happy to see Doug and Jordan having such a great time hunting with Bailey. Does my old heart good. Keep up with the reports, Doug.

By the way, I got some of those iron on transfers that I can print with my ink jet printer.  One I put on a tee shirt has a photo of Mugs retrieving a cock pheasant.  This is the image and words.

My name is Mugs.
I hunt birds.
You got birds?