The other day on her run, 10 month old Crush snapped into a point on the trail but after just a few seconds self released and continued on up the trail. About 30 yards later a grouse flushed wild only about 20 feet from her, unnoticed until the flush. She went crazy, working the area including backtracking to where she had hit that hint of scent.
Fast forward to today when I was fooling around trying to get some video, and I saw this:
Swinging in to me, she hit scent; it didn’t pass the sniff test so she didn’t point but she also didn’t leave. Instead she turned and hunted up parallel to the trail. I can only imagine her nose was set on High at that moment.
This 11 second video shows learning. In that brief encounter the other day she learned to not totally dismiss, or dwell upon, what might have been only a hint of scent. Instead, today, Crush turned and worked the cover forward.
Lessons include me. I was reminded to trust my puppy to learn and do the right things. I was reminded of the value of my staying quiet and letting the birds be the teacher, not thinking that I know more.
Had I said "Whoa!" the other day when she hit point we maybe could have handled that particular bird. She maybe would have learned that a hint of scent plus whoa = bird. However, I imagine that dogs come across crumbs of scent hundreds of time each run and it would be very inefficient (and aggravating to me) if the dog stopped and pointed each time because she thought that’s what I wanted. I sure as heck don’t know what they are scenting or if there is indeed a bird there. That's why I have a dog. Had I interfered the other day she would not have had that mini lesson about running birds. She learned more from her own mistake and the grouse's response than I could ever teach her.
The photo below is of my puppy, later in the run, pointing a bird that proved to be quite a ways off. Crush is proving to be a good student.
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