# Almost may, still cold



## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

Cold and windy, plus some drizzle. Pain in the neck, the state lands usage permit prohibits driving out into the field so I had to walk out my equipment. Still trained a bit. Picked up a tick. Forget about it if you have to "use the woods" during training.:frown2:


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## ceegee (Mar 26, 2015)

We had several hours of freezing rain on Monday, and then it snowed this morning. We still have 2' of snow on the ground on our land. We're a little fed up ...


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

However the silver lining is it's still cold enough for Tito to upland hunt at the hunt club! Can't do it once it gets warm, especially at his age. We're heading down tomorrow morning when it will be in the upper 20's or so.


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## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

hotel4dogs said:


> However the silver lining is it's still cold enough for Tito to upland hunt at the hunt club! Can't do it once it gets warm, especially at his age. We're heading down tomorrow morning when it will be in the upper 20's or so.


I would be doing the same but our preserve season is over.


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## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

While training, I heard two pheasant cockbirds crowing. On the way out of the grounds, I saw one moving in a hedgerow. These are probably birds released during the hunting season which ended at the end of February. Survivors, at least 6 weeks in the wild, nice and wild right now.


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

I can only do this because it's the hunt club, and so their season technically never ends.
They planted their last birds this past weekend, and that's it for their formal hunt program. But there will be lots and lots of "missed" birds, hanging out in the hedgerows and berms, for him to find. 




gdgli said:


> I would be doing the same but our preserve season is over.


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## Romeo1 (Apr 19, 2008)

I think it's been that way all over the place. Even here in Florida, it's cold for a couple of days and then warms up. Crazy weather....


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## Sweet Girl (Jun 10, 2010)

We'll be lucky if we get back into water before the end of May. It's been a long, cold winter here. :frown2: 

Hunt tests start here mid- to end of May, so that water will still be cold. And unless dogs have been down south to train, some will be testing without having much time back in water after the winter. Shala's been doing water treadmill work weekly through the winter, and we do interval hard swimming drills, too. So her swimming muscles are in good shape. But we won't test until at least July - need some time to get comfortable again with water blinds.


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## Piper_the_goldenpuppy (Aug 26, 2016)

[YOUTUBE][/YOUTUBE]


gdgli said:


> Cold and windy, plus some drizzle. Pain in the neck, the state lands usage permit prohibits driving out into the field so I had to walk out my equipment. Still trained a bit. Picked up a tick. Forget about it if you have to "use the woods" during training.:frown2:


I woke up to rain, snow, and sleet today. Blech. It feels like spring weather is never going to get here. I found my first tick up here about a month ago after Piper and I went for a walk in the goods. It avoided my dog, but found its way right to me!


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## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

Piper

I wanted to do some drills today. Guess what---it's raining, cold and windy. 

On the upside, I have been doing so much indoor obedience in the last few weeks that my dogs are becoming super obedient. Let's see if it holds up at a group training session.


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

We found NINE pheasants this morning. Bagged 5 of them. 
One ran across the mowed strip into the woods, so we kept trying to send Tito into the woods after it but he kept going back to the field where the bird had come from. He was having nothing to do with heading into the woods, which is pretty surprising. Sure enough, a few seconds later he flushed a second bird from the field! Obviously a bird in the field is worth 2 in the woods, lol.
The best part was a cripple that went down in a tree. Fell a bit, then roosted about 5 feet off the ground.
The old man still "has it". When he got to the tree, it took him a minute to realize the bird was off the ground. After hunting around a bit, he found it in the tree and got up on his back legs, gave a bounce, and grabbed the bird.
Where's the video camera when you need it??
My heart sings when I see how much he loves his birds.


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## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

hotel4dogs

Love stories like that!


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## brianne (Feb 18, 2012)

I just love to read stories about wonderful hunting Goldens. So many folks around here think they are just for pets, including a good family friend who trains and breeds an occasional litter of Labs for duck hunting. 

Tito is amazing - the complete package. I would love to see him in action!

Despite that Chumlee was never trained for hunting in his life (well, not that I know of, since he's a rescue), it always makes me smile that he's so "birdy". 

He has flushed some roosting turkeys (I know you don't hunt turkeys with dogs ) on a few occasions and he just about lost his mind yesterday when a pair of mallard ducks strolled through our yard.


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## Swampcollie (Sep 6, 2007)

We're nowhere close to training yet. Still 16 inches of snow on the ground and 18 inches of ice on the lake. It will likely be mid May before the ice is off the lake.


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## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

Swampcollie said:


> We're nowhere close to training yet. Still 16 inches of snow on the ground and 18 inches of ice on the lake. It will likely be mid May before the ice is off the lake.



I avoided water work this past Tuesday even though my group in the club had the training rights to the best pond. We have three groups and rotate areas on a weekly basis. Too cold and to come out of the water cold and sit in the truck while I work another dog---recipe for dead tail.


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## Jessie'sGirl (Aug 30, 2010)

No buds on the trees here. Cold, damp and dreary. We really need sunshine.


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## hollyk (Feb 21, 2009)

It's been a horrible spring for training here as well. I ran a HRC test a couple weekends ago on a very cold and rainy day. It was miserable but at least I was lucky enough to catch rain breaks when it was our turn to run.
But the trees are starting to leaf out, the weather looks good for the next 5 days and I'm headed out to train water today.
Come on Sunshine, we have water training to do!


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