The Education of Millie and Me

Arizona Outdoorsman / AZOD

Graduation Day! (Well … Sort of)

By Linda Dightmon Team AZOD

July 2003

There are few things better for a desert rat than a trip to the pines in mid-summer. The highs at 6,000 feet are a comfortable 85 or so and the nights are downright cool. It is a welcome respite from the mind melting 110s of the valley. So, for further motivation a dog-training weekend in the high country was planned.

Millie, my 3-year-old GSP, had done this before but that was a year, and a gigantic litter of puppies back. She seemed to enjoy the break from our desert inferno home and for the most part, behaved. She was content to wait patiently on the chain gang for her turn in the field, and slept quiet in her kennel both nights.

Linda and Millie

Our routine was to plant a few birds in the field and then take out two dogs at a time. One would point while the other would get some backing practice. There were ten dogs in our group so this way we were able to get each dog a morning, and an afternoon session.

Millie's pup Mason relaxes on the chain gang

In our early morning desert training sessions Millie had been running with the e-collar for obedience but we had been check cording her into birds. I made up my mind that Millie was going to be weaned from the check cord this weekend. You gotta cut that string eventually.

“Are you sure that she will hold point” my mentors warned. “If she grabs one of these pen raised bobwhites it’s gonna put you back a month.”

I wasn’t sure at all but I was ready to take the gamble. So, transmitter in a slightly nervous hand, I gave her the command to start hunting. It was wonderful not to have her dragging me around. If she got behind me or too far over to one side, I was able to whistle her back.

“Wow, it really works. She comes in to the whistle! This is too cool.” I marveled to no one in particular while I practiced sending her out and bringing her back. Millie was having a ball just being able to stretch her legs.

“What do you think all of those 3:30 a.m. wake ups were for?” Tony says, obviously amused.

We had another problem this first morning. Our quail had been laying eggs recently and their scent wasn’t real strong which made it tough for the dogs to find them. To make matters worse, there were several birds out there that for one reason or another had moved. We were not sure exactly where they were.

Suddenly, Millie stopped on point at what seemed like the smallest bush in the entire field. This scrawny excuse for flora was barely big enough to hide a lizard much less a quail.

“No way,” I said. Calling my dog a liar.

“Always trust your dog,” Tony said.

Sure enough, not six inches from her nose sat a bobwhite. What happened next was totally my fault. I got jumpy and moved in too fast. I needed to clip the check cord on her collar because she was going to break when this bird moved. Millie was holding steady and if I would have just moved in slowly and nonchalantly snapped the cord on the ring all would have been well. But that is not what I did. I moved in too fast and flushed the bird!

The training gods were with me because the bird was a flyer and took to the heavens with Millie in hot pursuit, yipping in frustration. I had to hit her with the “3” on the e-collar before she came back.

“Well, you were right, she held point,” Ryan said while laughing at me. The rest of the weekend Millie trailed a check cord while in the field.

Ryan's pointer Sedona

This “graduation” weekend was the first time where everything came together for me as a handler. There were several times where we were able to go through the whole scenario. Millie did very well. She held to shot on her own, but needed the check cord after. She marked, and even retrieved (not her strong point) a few birds. It was a good weekend and the best part was to see the fruit of all those early morning sessions.

October is coming up fast and another weekend is planned for September. In the meantime we have been going out most Sunday mornings. Stay tuned for Millie (and my) progress as we prepare for the upcoming season.