Bird Dog Training

Once I had my basic training down, Mommy and Daddy decided that I was ready for an introduction to birds, 'cause besides being a show dog, Mommy really wanted me to be her bird hunting partner. Mommy says that she likes Rhodesian Ridgebacks the best because we always want to either chase lions (or birds, or whatever) or sleep on the couch! No in-between for us! That's kind of funny though, 'cause she never lets us on the couch, hmmm. Anyway, we had been playing games with pheasant wings- chasing, retrieving, and following a drag trail and I did all of those things easily, so next up was to meet live birds.

Mommy and Daddy took me to a neighbor's hunt club where they had lots and lots of birds. I also met another new human friend there named Steve. We went out to a field with a couple of pigeons and Steve put one of them down in the grass. The pigeon had one clipped wing so it could not fly very well, but I know I could have gotten it even without the clipped wing! When I first smelled it I wasn't sure what to do. We have chickens at home, and they are like birds, but I was never supposed to mess around with them. The pigeon kind of smelled like a chicken, but not really, so it was kind of confusing. But then, Mommy and Daddy started telling me to "find the bird", and "get it", so I did! I ran right out there in the grass and found that pigeon! Then I wasn't sure what to do next, but Mommy and Daddy kept telling me to "get it", and finally I just grabbed that old bird right in my mouth. That made Mommy and Daddy really happy so next I started swinging it around. When I stopped and put it back on the ground it wanted to run away, so I grabbed it again! It was like a really fun game, and everyone was so happy.

When I was done Steve took the bird away from me and everyone was happy that it wasn't even hurt. They all said that I had a really nice, soft mouth, which I guess is good for a bird dog. Steve gave Mommy the pigeon to take home so that we could practice "finding the bird" some more. We used that bird for several more days, then we went back to Steve's and played the same game with a different bird. This one was called a quail. It smelled kind of like a bird, too, but different from the chickens and pigeon. We played with that quail for two whole weeks and Mommy was so happy that I did not even hurt it. But one day, while we were playing, my sister Abby smelled that bird and she came running to get it from me. I had to run all over the field to keep it away from her, and I didn't even respond when Mommy told me to "come here RIGHT NOW, you Kwetu's Tchaka Olmurani Lolowuara!!!!!!" I didn't mean to be bad, but I didn't want Abby to take my bird away, and I didn't know what else to do. Finally, I let Mommy come and take my quail. She was very sad because it turns out that I had accidently hurt it while I was running around the field. Mommy tried to fix it, but it died. I was afraid that meant that I would not have my nice, soft mouth anymore, but luckily, that was not the case and I was able to keep getting birds after that without hurting them.

I got to keep playing bird games with Mommy and Daddy all summer long. Mommy said that "hunting season" started in October, and then we could hunt for real. Another part of my training had to do with loud noises. I was supposed to be very brave around loud noises so that I would not get scared when Mommy and Daddy used their guns to shoot my birds. Daddy took his small gun out to the shooting range while Mommy and I stayed in the yard playing with a bird. Daddy was so far away that when he started shooting I didn't even notice! So then we moved out of the yard into the hay field- no big deal! We played this new game for several days until, finally, Daddy took his bird-shooting gun out and Mommy and I moved out of the hay field down towards the shooting range. I was so busy "finding the bird" and taking treats from Mommy that before I knew it, Daddy was practically standing right next to me while he fired the gun. I couldn't have cared less! Mommy was so happy because my brother Argos has thunderstorm phobia and is scared of thunderstorms and all other loud noises. He tried to go hunting with Daddy and one of Daddy's friends once, but he was so scared of the gun that he had to go back to the house. Now he doesn't like hunting season at all. Unfortunately, he also has seperation anxiety and he hates staying alone in the house while the rest of us go hunting. Poor Argos. His first Mommy and Daddy did not teach him to be smart and brave, like me. I wish he could hunt with us- it is so much FUN!