A Walk With Clyde

Sunday we took Clyde for a walk. We wanted to see how he would react to the sound of an actual gun shot. We took Gus along because Gus is an experienced hunter and he is not gun shy. Chester, on the other hand, runs from the room if anyone sneezes. That's the honest truth!

We got to the field north of town and let the dogs run around. They were having a great time. When they were about thirty yards away we fired the first shot. There was almost no reaction. The second time we fired the shot when Clyde was a little closer, maybe 20 yards. He was next to Gus, and when the shot went off they both looked up. I think Clyde saw that Gus was not concerned, in fact, he seemed almost excited, so Clyde continued sniffing around the brush.

We did this a couple more times, and to my great relief it doesn't appear that Clyde is gun shy. That had been one of my fears. Can you imagine spending that kind of money on a dog that's supposed to be a hunting tool and then he ends up gun shy? It would be a real shame because it's so obvious that he's got the talent.

When he was a little puppy I would pop the newspaper bag while he was eating breakfast, and I think maybe that helped him just a little too.

We have finally decided on a trainer. That trainer doesn't know it yet because now we have to see when we will be able to get a free weekend to bring him there. I'll keep you posted on how that develops.

Last week I was lamenting to Clyde's breeder about the darth of available trainers in our area. He had recommended contacting the NAVHDA (North American Versatile Hunting Dog Assoc.) organization. It was a good idea, except after I checked I found the closest clubs in CA were either Orange County or north of Sacramento.

Speaking of the breeder, they have a new web site. You can check it out at http://www.braccousa.com/ . And look at Clyde's puppy page here. And how could I have forgotten to tell you that Clyde's uncle won the world dog show in 2006? Click here to see.