Brooke and Rylee Steadiness

Today I trained with thirteen-year-old Brooke and her pup Rylee. Brook's entire family spent the weekend at our gun dog ranch. I didn't know her mom, Peggy, was taking this video. But it is a perfect example of how we work into steadiness with a young pup. This is Brooke and Rylee's third session of the weekend and the second to last bird of the session. In the first session, Rylee did not point the first few birds, so I put her on a lead to help her slow down for a point. In the second session, she started pointing about ten feet from the birds. We then whoaed her and had Brooke walk back and forth to the bird. Every time Rylee broke, we launched the bird. Here in the third session, she is twenty-five yards from the bird, and you can see that she lets Brooke walk back and forth to the bird and even lets her come to her and pet her on the back. I always carry a throw-bird with me in case a pup rocks it as Rylee did here. I tossed the bird, and Sherman Murray, who trains with me, fired a shot. Rylee made a nice retrieve as a reward for her steadiness. On the next bird, her final bird, she rocked it again, and we shot the bird for her. She again made a nice retrieve. In three sessions, she went from flushing the bird to a rock-steady pointing machine... because we helped her understand that if she broke point, the bird went bye, bye. If she remained steady, regardless of Brooke's movements, she would get a bird. She's working as a team now with Brook. Great weekend with a wonderful family. I hope you enjoyed the video and the insights. George