|
||||
What a difference a year makes! The picture
on the left shows Riley in July of 2000 at Prado Recreation Dog Park in Chino,
California. At 3 or so months old, our goal at that time was to get Riley exposed to
birds and build his enthusiasm. We encouraged his curiosity about birds and most
importantly let him enjoy his day out in the field. No pressure! The picture
on the right shows Riley nearly one year later at 13 months of age. He is being
check corded into planted pigeons. Note how Riley is straining against the check
cord, even though he is on point. Were it not for Gorden holding him, Riley would be
all over that bird. David stands to the other side of the bird, ready to flush
it. Because the goal of this particular exercise is to develop his pointing, Riley
is not allowed to catch or chase any birds. Gorden allows a retrieve infrequently as
a prize to keep his enthusiasm going. |
||||
 |
|
|||
|
||||
| To the right is Riley at 9 weeks old. We made a simple rod and wing
which Riley promptly stalked and pointed. Below is Riley at 12 weeks pointing the rod and
wing.
|
 |
|||
| As I stated earlier, our goal with Riley while he was a young pup was to expose him to birds and build his enthusiasm. This entailed taking him to the national forest and letting him explore his little heart out. We also planted an occasional bird for him, and we allowed him to carry a bird around - a practice we stopped as he got older. See how proud he is with his prize! |  |
|||
 |
During the 2000-2001 season, from approximately 6 to 10 months of age, Riley was also taken hunting a few times. This exercise was to start teaching Riley that he cannot catch birds. At this time, he still had no expectations placed upon him except to understand that hunting and gun fire are FUN. |
 We also continued to work with him at Prado. Here, Riley retrieves his training dummy. See Riley do a water retrieve (mpeg video - 696KB). |
||
|
||||
