# Lab's first pheasant hunt



## jeffinwestfargo (May 5, 2007)

Hey guys.

Grace, my 7 month old lab, is doing great retrieving ducks in the water when it is just her and I and maybe one hunting buddy. As you may have read before on other postings, I have worked with her every day since she was 6 weeks, and it has paid off very well so far thanks to Richard A. Wolters' training methods. But this weekend is pheasant opener, and we are hunting with my best friend "huntcrazy" from Valley City and his 4 yr old lab, Annie. Annie is an all around fantastic hunting dog. I have hunted with her since she was a pup. But Grace loves Annie and loves to play with her every chance she gets.

I plan on using the check cord on Grace this weekend to keep her from running off and just following Annie around which will distract Annie from what she is supposed to be doing...getting us pheasants. "huntcrazy" is very patient and agrees with me that we should get Grace out there to see what she can do. She has been a pleasant surprise so far.

Even though I know some of you will repeat what you have said before about not having Grace hunt at all with us this Fall, for you others...any advice on pheasant hunting with an older dog, and also hunting with a check cord...never done it before. Thanks in advance for your help.


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## Guest (Oct 12, 2007)

I know this probably will be disagreed with but here goes my :2cents: ,
If your friend is patient as you say, then I would not use the check cord and just let Grace follow (shadow ) Annie. Annie will/should stick pretty much to business and Grace will figure it out. Maybe not in one day but I have seen this work when you have enough birds. This year should be perfect! Good luck with the pup.


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## jeffinwestfargo (May 5, 2007)

We'll get the two of them out in the field and see how they do. But in the end, I will leave the decision up to "huntcrazy" as he has the older dog and is the veteran hunter. But I think we can try your advice and see how they do. If Grace causes problems and won't shadow like she should, I can always put her on the check cord.


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## kevin.k (Dec 31, 2005)

I had that problem the 1st time i took molly out, i just sperated the dogs and spread out more and worked with molly more so one on one and it worked good i tried keeping her close. im not a big fan of check cords anymore dogs know to be obediant with it on but once its off...they know, eventually your pup will know its time to hunt pheasnts not play molly dosnt even hardly look at other dogs now if i even hunt her with another dog, most times i dont even work 2 dogs at once.


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## GOBBLER12 (Apr 5, 2006)

I started my lab Billy at 8 months. I had the same worries. We let the dogs out about 5 min before we hit the fields so they could get all the sniffin out of the way. It only took him about 10 min to figure out it was time to work. I had an ecollar on him, but never had to touch it. The good ones have more natural instincts then we could ever teach them. Worst case is he will follow the older dog, but that is not all that bad to start out with. Just go in with lower exspectations, and i will bet you will go home a proud pa pa... Keep us posted on how it goes...


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## mdaniel (May 2, 2007)

Another great thing that you are teaching the dog is to honor other dogs.
As most have posted that she will pick up alot from the older dog. And you can strech out for a while and let her pick up on scents.

Good Luck hunting, sound like your in the right direction.


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## jeffinwestfargo (May 5, 2007)

hey guys! Thanks for all the advice you offered. I used the check cord on Grace about half the time we were out this weekend...when in prairie grass so she wouldn't get tangled up. She worked fairly well the other half of the time without it. She worked very well this weekend, and 90% of the time, she didn't bother Annie at all, but worked the field. She did great. However, we couldn't find a rooster to save our lives.


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