sat at heel,
watches the sky as birds dart around,
watches the barrel of my gun at all times ( not gun shy ! he learned very fast that the gun
Brings the birds down and fetch and dead bird mean he gets to go to work ),
retrieves to heel ( left side ) / hand,
Soft mouthed – even doves with all of their pin feathers etc .. ( still prefers QUAIL scent WAAAAY MORE ! ) ,
Goes into another feverish gear when you say “ Dead Bird “,
obeys whistle command for Here immediately,
Casts and quarters like a pro,
always checks to see where I am at while in field,
works the wind and downwind side of cover methodically !
Goes through a complete elimination of possible hiding spots for his quarry,
Tracks scent cones well.
I am continually amazed at the amount of natural ability that is in Barley’s DNA.
I have been working him into coveys of valley quail and he is doing great , the quail scent Really fires him up .. He just can’t figure out why I am not shooting yet. ;)
He got his first sight and scent of wild chukar on Sunday.. We were checking a waterhole for
Birds and sure enough there were 11 chukar in the dry river bed on their way to the waterhole
we pulled over to watch them about 50 yds away. Barley was in the back of the Jeep and he
Spotted them immediately through the windshield and was giving them the death stare. As we
Continued to watch, the chukar got anxious and started to head off in single file across the river bed –WELL, Barley had had enough – next thing you know – BAM out the rear window he went – full extension
As he pushed off out of the window like an Olympic swimmer off of the block at the sound of the gun.Completely horizontal clearing the vehicle by 5 feet and hitting the river bank like the man from snowyRiver going over the hill at full speed. By the time the chukar were clearing the other side of the dry river bed,Barley was hot on their tail and almost caught one of them as he shot up the bank chasing and scattering
The gray bandits all over the sage , it was quite the sight to see.. this was a whole other notch above his
Feverish quail enthusiasm..
Now, of course the out the back window exit has to be dealt with but all in all I couldn’t be happier withBarley and the companion and hunting dog he is turning into … very excited for his and our learning and experienceso come with him.
Thanks for a GREAT DOG !
Andy McCormick
