Amen to that.
South Dakota with a 7 month old pup-yikes !
X2. When it's just you and your dog, you can set up everything so it benefits the dog and teaches her how to hunt for you. When you take her into the middle of the war zone, you never quite know what will happen. A BAD hunt early in a dog's career can set back your training efforts big time.
I took my young pup (now an old dog) out on a pheasant hunt years ago with a big party thinking it would get him a lot of experience. Instead, it was a total nightmare. The pup had never shown sensitivity to gunfire before, but was very nervous when guns were going off from every direction. Especially because the CRP was very thick and he couldn't locate the source of the shooting. Then the pup went out to retrieve a bird that one of the other hunters in my party had shot. This guy was a real #######!
He ran out to the pup and snatched away his bird, then scolded the pup for picking up "his" bird.
Unfortunately, it was the pup's first ever retrieve on a wild rooster. Of course, the dog was completely scared and totally confused.
The dog just quit on the hunt right then and there. He walked at heel and showed no interest in finding birds. It took a couple weeks but I got him to start hunting for me again. It took me the rest of the season to get him back to where he was confident in the field. I didn't hunt with anybody else the rest of that season either. The next year I started inviting friends that I trusted to hunt over the dog with me and he finally started to blossom into a complete upland dog.
Anyway, just wanted to warn you that you could really set back your training if you push your dog into a situation she isn't ready for. If it was me, I would try to get her a lot more experience in a controlled environment before you put her into such a stressful situation. Just my 2 cents.
