Jack's first time in the Field

Jacks first time out in the field! Yes, I changed my mind and decided to take him out. It was rather nerve racking for me at first. I had my hand gripped around the e-collar control like it was going to try to run away. I was so worried that Jack wouldn’t listen to me and would run away.

It was a really rough start because Jack was not listening to me. After a while and a couple of hits on the e-collar Jack started to listen. From there on I was able to let Jack do his thing. He’s a natural….he still needs a lot of work but I was really proud of him today.

The moment I was the most proud was when Tess accidentally flushed a bird, Mitch shot and the bird went down in some really tall grass (hip height). We told the dogs to “find the bird” and they both started to weave in and out of the grass. Then Jack took off to the left into the tree line. I called him back and made him search the grass again. Then again he took off to the tree line. This time, I stopped and just watched him. He stopped for longer than normal and I yelled over to Mitch, who was closer, to check on Jack.

When Mitch got there, Jack was pointing the bird…at least we think he was pointing the bird. You could only see Jack’s rear end sticking out of the grass. The bird was not dead but injured.

The part where Jack needs work is holding point. Jack went after the bird when the bird started to run. We did eventually catch the bird and took care of it.

I was proud of Jack because he was able to follow the scent and found the bird. I was proud of him because he started to respond to me when called. Jack also stayed pretty close to me most of the day. We were out there for about 3 hours and I only lost sight of him 3 times.  Jack and I started to get into a really good rhythm for the rest of the day.

We worked well as a hunting team. We still have a lot of work but for the first time out I think he did a great job!

Here is Jack at the end of the day with the one bird he found! (note: we only got two birds today).