Max Opening Day- Working/Hunting On His Own! - Paw Talk

Deja · #1 11-10-2003, 02:34 AM

Saturday was Opening Day for Pheasant here in NJ. Max has been in training, and for a nearly 8 month old puppy, he's showing incredible potential!
Max found his first bird. Very, very impressive for such a young pup!

It was such an exciting day for Max, and for Jim!

I had planned on going out with them early Saturday morning, but I decided to sleep in. The boys were all prepared and went to the Black River WMA where over the course of the season they will be planting 80,000 birds. (my first estimate was way off and after really reading up I realized just how many birds they plant for the season). They stock 3 times a week and the state has done an incredible job creating gorgeous habitat.

Jim was taking Max for the experience, fun, exposure and training. Max now gets so excited when he sees anything in that Hunter Orange color. It's really, really amusing and cute to see how worked up he gets over the prospect of getting suited up and going out!

They left here early to arrive at the fields (about 15 minutes from my house) by 7:00am. Jim wanted to stake out an area where Max would have a lot of room to work. Since I wasn't there I can only tell Jim's story of how it all happened!

They'd been working the field and Max was doing a great job covering ground. The ground is thick with tall brush and Max is still hesitant to get in there over his head! Jim said that it didn't take very long for him to see Max go on point! Jim walked in ahead of Max and didn't realize how close the pheasant he was pointing was, but he walked in and the bird flushed.

Jim took the bird down, trying to visually mark where it landed. They started to look for it. Jim was getting a little upset because the worst thing is to take down a bird and not find it. It was so engrained in Jim growing up with this sport, that you must find your bird. Nothing should be taken down and not found.
Max was picking up old scent and ranging back and forth in search of it. They doubled back to cover the area again and all off a sudden Max locked up on point! He'd found his first real bird. It was a good sized male and was a little big for Max's puppy mouth. Jim was thrilled to see Max perform like this at such a young age! Max retrieved the pheasant! It had fallen in an area where it would have been impossible for Jim to get, but Max got in to the thick cover and retrieved his first real complete start to finish point and retrieve.

They covered some more ground and decided to head home since the plan was for me to join them in the afternoon. I was woken up to Jim excitedly standing over me in bed yelling, "Come see Max's bird!! Max got his first bird!" I bounded out of bed and ran out to the deck. Max was so proud!! He lead me to his bird and was happy to show me he could pick it up and bring it to me!

Here are some pictures...
The first ones are of Max showing off his bird on the deck...

Deja · #2 11-10-2003, 02:36 AM

Max bringing me his bird....

Deja · #3 11-10-2003, 02:39 AM

I went out with the boys that same afternoon and took some pictures of Max in the field.

He's very hesitant to get into that tall brush and cover! That will come in time...

Deja · #4 11-10-2003, 02:41 AM

Another... I just think he looks so cute. He was pretty unfocused with me following behind. He was waiting for me to command him- he was torn! He kept checking to make sure I was there...
but he was listenting very well to Jim...

Deja · #5 11-10-2003, 02:46 AM

It was such a beautiful day. It was really cold though!

Deja · #6 11-10-2003, 02:48 AM

My personal favorite...
I thought he might have scented something and gone on point!...

Well, I was wrong, he stopped to pee

Deja · #7 11-10-2003, 02:53 AM

It was getting really cold and it was time to head home... Max was ready to jump into the truck, warm up and rest...

Deja · #8 11-10-2003, 02:54 AM

Max had a great day!! It was time to relax at home and tell Jack all about his adventure....

Deja · #9 11-10-2003, 03:00 AM

One more of Max relaxing after his long day...

Tonight I am making Pelee Island Pheasant for dinner.

I'll let you know how it turned out! I think I'll even let Jack and Max have a taste

Linda Lee · #10 11-10-2003, 08:08 AM

Congratulations Max!!!

I love that picture of Max in the truck, so sharp and clear!

capnsweets · #11 11-10-2003, 09:31 AM

All of the pictures are so cute. Deja you have done such an awesome job with him!

**Scarlette** · #12 11-10-2003, 11:42 AM

Great job Deja! Your training has obviously paid off.

Great job Max!

Pure14K · #13 11-10-2003, 02:23 PM

OMG I love those pictures! They are wonderful! You must be so proud!

This might be a stupid questions, but what kind of collar is he wearing?

jmb9101 · #14 11-10-2003, 02:28 PM

That is a wonderful job for Max! And ya know he is a real cutie!!

Deja · #15 11-10-2003, 02:50 PM

Thank you so much everyone!

Pure14K - He is actually wearing 3 collars

One bright orange buckle collar- for his ID and rabies tags.

One bright orange beeper collar. This collar beeps at 10 second intervals (an electronic polytone beeb). The dog on the move causes the collar to beep at the 10 second interval and the handler always knows where he is by sound. The cover is so tall it's hard to see where the dog is sometimes!
When the dog goes on point the collar beeps at 1 second intervals- signaling that the dog has stopped moving and is on point. It's easier and quicker to find him if he happened to range out a little further ahead of you.
He also wears a standard e-collar. He can be corrected with a mild static charge with that collar. It's only if he really loses focus-runs off and doesn't come immediately when called. We've never had to use it on him, but it's there for back-up just in case!

What you are seeing in the picture I just realized - is his invisible fence collar- it does double duty and can be set for manual correction when he is out in the field.

OY complicated

That's a lotta collars on that little dog