My Luna is 2 already

[brushbuster]

Time flies when your not spending enough time training your dog.

I cannot believe my little Luna is 2 already and I haven’t finished half of the training I had planned.
I only hope there are enough birds to keep things interesting for her.

[jolly bill]

It looks like you and Luna are doing quite well.

Very nice for both of you.

[loggy]

It looks like a great day! John

[44whiskey]

beautiful dog, beautiful pics, looks like you are living the dream,thanks for post ps is luna he or she

[Jeff S]

Wow! That looks like 3 grouse and 2 woodcock. Amazing! Clearly the two of you make a great team. Congrats!

[Stan Hoover]

Dennis,
That looks like you and Luna had a great day, was this in Pa?
Thanks for posting,
Stan Hoover

[Jim Cloninger]

All right! Another great black dog.

[brushbuster]

Stan that was NY. I hunt PA, NY and usually either VT, NH or ME.

Luna is my little female pointing lab she is my second pointing lab my older dog is 13 and now retired from hunting.

[loggy]

How does she do with pointing? Judging from the photo she can certainly find birds! My new pup Molly is also a pointing lab. We have had a number of labs over the years but this is the first pointing lab. I thought I would try and learn something new. My goal in picking her was a dog with strong upland skills. If she points it will be a plus. John

[jolly bill]

Brushbuster/Dennis,

I sent you a PM.

Jolly

[brushbuster]

As far as pointing grouse she didn't do that great last year. In most cases the grouse flushed before she established point and in best case she went on point and I had seconds to get in position before the bird flushed. Grouse in my opinion are some of the most difficult birds a dog can work.

She did better on woodcock probably about 60% or so of the birds were taken over a solid point. they seem a bit more tolerant when she wanted to crowd them before establishing point. I'm working on having her lock up on first scent with training birds and I"ve even whoa'd her into a few points when I see her first find scent. This is the part I'm working on now and for her to be steady to wing and shot.

She is the best on pen raised pheasants the state of Pennsylvania puts out and on chukar in the training fields. Those birds hold pretty tight but tolerated her getting close. Again I"m working on trying to get her to establish point and first scent but its a process.

She hunts pretty close which I prefer in my little grouse covers and does pretty good on wood ducks and mallards when I cannot manage to go grouse hunting for for me she fits the need.

If you do not already have it pick up Julie's book on training the pointing labrador it is the best one out there and also her podcasts are invaluable with training a pointing lab. They are quite different than my buddies setters in that their desire to retrieve often overwhelms the point. I enjoy hunting with them my labs have been very lightweight and well suited to the uplands I frequent.

[loggy]

Thank you for your reply. I will get a copy of the book. I hunt wild birds in the river bottoms. Those birds can be tricky. It should be interesting next fall. I also like small dogs.
John