The Dog Blog 9.23.12
Wood Crest Point Hunting Grounds
Babe: “Up and out pretty early this morning. We’re taking the big white truck. I’m in my box and the kids are in Mas’ box. Mas is riding in a people seat. Huh. I wonder if he likes riding without straw? First stop: Sheetz. Jack really likes his morning coffee. I don’t know what the lady likes. Anyway, pretty soon, we were on our way. Jack stopped at the old barn and did something mean. He put a box of chukar’s right in front of my crate. Really? Does this seem fair to you??”
Mas: “It’s pretty nice riding up here near the people. The lady really likes it when I stick my nose in her ear. I know, because she makes lots of noise when I do it. We met up with a couple of our dog friends and their humans. And there were some new dogs today. Hey, it’s just a training day and the more, the merrier.”
Babe: “I’ve been shaking off the rust on my skills. After a long lay-off, it has taken a bit. Lots of hunting time has helped. Today, the skill is long single retrieves. The first one was long. Really long! Jack gave me my release command and I was off! A long run on a cool fall morning is what I was born to do. I think I surprised Jack with how far I was willing to go. He sure was happy when I came back with the bird. I earned myself plenty of ear rubs for that little event. Looks like it’s going to be a great day.”
Mas: “The challenges today were fun. Long birds, angle entries, in and out of different cover. Can someone tell me what sohrgum is?”
Dash: “I’ll speak for the puppies. We’ve learned to love traveling. Jack keeps us on sweet straw and there’s enough room for us all in one crate. We still sleep in a puppy pile with heads and feet on backs and noses. It’s cozy that way. Mom and Dad were in and out of the truck to do tricks or something. The lady hung around with us. We got out of our crate to; you know….the other humans that were there made it really easy to get head scratches and tummy rubs. Everyone keeps saying ‘no jumping sit’. And if we listen to the sit part, we get lots of loving. I think we’re all doing a little more sitting and a little less jumping. Most of the time.
After Mom and Dad were done with one set of tricks, Jack took Ron out of the box and put him on the ground. I couldn’t see what he was doing, but I could hear the food bowl rattle. Jack put Ron back in and took out Gauge. Now we knew what was going on. Usually, we eat in our crates but today, we were eating in the grass where the people were. It’s hard to remember to eat when there are all sorts of new things going on.”
Babe: “Everyone got in their trucks and we drove over to the hunting grounds. Looks like we have a little more time to practice. The lady was taking the kids out one at a time and putting them on their leads. She walked them waaaay up the hill. After all, it was a little bit since they had eaten and we all know what puppies do after they eat! Our other dog friends each had a turn at the new set of marks and it was time to go home. The lady was saying something about things she had to do. What’s a Steeler and what are they on?”
