A day of two halves – Archie – 4th July 2009

I took both dogs out separately today, Archie up into the forest and Grace down by the river.  We were up in the forest before it got too warm and I noticed that the common spotted orchid was out along the side of the tracks, always a reminder of summer.  I didn’t do too much, recalling Archie whenever I thought it worthwhile and dropping him whenever the mood took me.  Archie drops really well to the ’sss’ of the ’sit’ now.  I barely even have to make a sound, often a short ‘tsst’ will do it.  The second photo shows the distance from which he will drop using the ’ss’.  The camera does exaggerate the distance but it is still impressive, well it is in my book anyway.  This particular forest is full of pheasants and with a warm breeze the smell must have been tantalising.  The whole session was a series of investigative stalks and points, although the birds were too far off for me to bother flushing.  He will have to wait until August before he finds birds at close quarters.

I made a short video of  Archie.  He is  moving along a stream of air sent and I drop him with the whistle, then finger click to release him, followed by a drop to the ’sss’, followed by the recall whistle.  Nothing too serious but an insight into how he responds.  He is a good looking dog, but I am very biased.