mackesr

I originally broke my GSHP on pheasant and quail, but last year I finally had a really good place to dove hunt and took her out. As always in Va. this time of year it was very hot and humid. The birds were not flying very much at first and some of our group were getting shots and my dog would react to them and want to retrieve their birds. I would have to continually check her from going to retrieve their birds and she did not like it one bit that I would not let her. She eventually settled down and the birds started flying more towards the late afternoon and she ended up retrieving all nine that I shot plus I took her over to a fellow that had lost some in the tall grass and she found those as well. Overall I think she did pretty good. The problem was that she was so geeked up that it was hard to get her to drink water and I was afraid she was going to overheat, even in the shade. We found out later that evening that one guy who brought his overweight lab had to take the dog on an emergency run to the animal hospital which is pretty far away and the poor thing died before he could get it there. Dove season comes in this Sat. and its been blazing hot here the past couple days so not sure if I am going to take her this time. She just got checked by the vet with a clean bill of health but she has gained some weight since last year. Its supposed to cool down a little to the mid eighties tomorrow but still pretty hot and humid. I would hate for her to go down like the other fellows lab did so I am going to make a decision on Sat. before heading out. I would love to continue to train her on dove as it sure is nice to have a dog to find downed birds as they are sometimes difficult to locate, but not at the expense of my dog.