December 29, 2010
Lake Hartwell, GA
Almost named her Tesla, because she's a live one!
Friday, December 31, 2010
Winter Morning
December 28. 2010
Sandy Creek Park, GA
Another morning you know where with you know who.
Snow, Pt. 2
December 27, 2010
Athens, GA
A day later, the snow has diminished but there are still plenty of traces, thanks to daytime temperatures around the freezing mark.
White Christmas
December 26, 2010
Sandy Creek Park, GA
Well, they said it might happen and it did! It started snowing late on the 25th and kept on snowing enough to give us 3 inches of accumulation. Not THAT much but we take it! Tessa and I booked two hours at the park and we both had a blast.
This was the first white Christmas in the metro Atlanta area since 1882!
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Bizarro Tessa
December 24, 2010
Athens, GA
As always, we had to work today, and as always, they let us out a little earlier - 1 p.m.! Grabbed the dog and ran some errands, and stopped by Wuxtry for a little visit. Here is Tessa with Devlin who runs Bizarro Wuxtry. It took a while to get to this zen moment.
Christmas Hunt
December 23, 2010
Jersey, GA
My friend and his son invited me to a quail hunt today. Tessa was going to bring a good nose and the stamina of a young dog, to complement old Shane who is a finished hunting dog with great style but due to his age (14) he is lacking the endurance for a three-hour hunt. Or so we thought - he actually did very well!
This was Tessa's first real hunt - all the training put to the test. She is now having pretty steady points - steady enough to give me the time to walk up and grab her by the collar if needed, once the bird has been flushed. It becomes clear very quickly why bird dogs have to be trained to such an extent. You just can't have a dog run after a bird at the same time a gunner takes his shot - not a good idea!
About an hour into it she kind of fell apart and started chasing birds again - argh! I think it had to do with dead bird contact that got her all bird crazy in a wrong way. To snap her out of that frame of mind, I walked her back to the car, and then back again to the field, in a heel. It worked - no more bird chasing after the short time-out.
Tessa really seems to get the big picture now. It is nice to see things fall into place.
Training Day
December 5, 2010
Jersey, GA
Well I knew it wouldn't amount to much today but I had ordered the birds so we went. Tessa had been on the wild side all week and didn't have a chance to run off some steam prior to this field search which made for a wild run. Ultimately it always comes back to failure on my part to provide her with enough of the right kind of training so I can't be too surprised if we are not progressing very much. An hour into the run she started settling in and held the last point nicely so at least we quit on a good note.
Then she went for a swim. Brrrrrrr!
Giving Thanks
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