We officially have Junior Hunter #2 out of Halo’s first litter! Sweet birdie, Maggie finished her JH at 8 months, but Louie and Cheeky didn’t take to the bird fields until this weekend. We are so proud of these little bird dogs!
Yesterday, Jenny and Cheeky were in the very first brace. Our bracemate was pretty enthusiastic and had some crazy wheels. This lead to some bird busting and Cheeky ended up going birdless. Jenny learned some valuable lessons about being more assertive with your bracemate when they have a dog without recall and won’t keep their dog separated. Since Marc has always done the field side, this was Jenny’s first time handling one of our dogs and she picked up some great tips.
Shortly thereafter, Tad took to the field with Louie. And being perfect Lou, he found a couple birds, pointed and didn’t chase. That was good for JH leg #1!
In the afternoon test, both Cheeky and Louie were successful in picking up Junior legs! They both even started holding at the flush! That was super exciting to see as it isn’t a skill they need until the Senior Hunter level.
After the LONG day at the test, (Louie was the last brace!) we headed over to this great local spot called The Pepper Pod. And the locals must know about this place too because it was PACKED!! We had a pretty big group after the test, but lucky got a table pretty quickly and enjoyed hearing everyone’s bird dog stories from the day. The naughty ones are always the best!
Today we got to sleep in a little bit as juniors had a reasonable start time. In the morning tests, Cheeky and Louie both picked up another JH leg! Louie was the real star picking up an ALL 10 score card!! Louie had started holding to the flush yesterday, but today he actually held through the shot too! Genius puppy if we do say so 🙂
In the afternoon, Bo showed up to take Louie home and he and Jenny hid behind a van to watch Louie do his thing in the field with Tad. (Didn’t want Louie getting distracted by seeing his Dad!) Louie was a great little hunter and found his bird! That made Louie a new Junior Hunter! Halo also went 4/4 to her JH title so it was pretty cool to have Louie carry on the tradition!
Cheeky and Jenny also picked up a JH leg in the afternoon. That leaves Cheeks just one leg shy of her title. We’ll see if we can get that wrapped up this fall! For now, we are so proud of our Baby Birddogs!
