Hazel Now over a year old and starting steadiness

Looking back to last year's videos, you'll see Hazel at six months old. At that point, we were getting her used to her owner, Rick, walking back and forth and going to her on point. This is part of early steadiness. At a young age, I let the pup chase after the flush to build a bird drive and have fun. In this video, we start to work on more advanced steadiness. Hazel has one hunting season under her belt and is ready to move forward. I start the steadiness with the dog on whoa. No search and no point. I put a half hitch on the dog to help it remain steady. After doing this for a few sessions, there will be no lead on Hazel. Once she is steady without a lead, I'll take her out into the field, let her search, let her point, and then put the half hitch on to let her know we are transferring what we learned on whoa to an actual hunting situation. Please look at Hazel's tail during the upcoming sessions, you'll see she is very happy learning this. I do it this way because the dog understands what I'm asking of it, and there is not a lot of pressure applied.