My little up-and-comer Pearl has proven herself completely unfased by shotgun blasts, so I took her for her first few walks in pheasant cover recently. She's doing great - not quite 6 months old. She seems to have an innate ability to pick pheasant scent out from everything else and her prey drive is a sight to behold. We've had three short jaunts so far.
First time, last week, I didn't bring a shotgun - Take'em was with me as the gunner and I just focussed on handling her. She got on scent and flushed a rooster, but Take'em didn't have a shot from where he was. But she was very easy to read - she knew what she was looking for!
Yesterday I brought a shotgun for the first time and she flushed a pair of roosters. The first one was low and would have been shot right over her head, so I let him go. But the second one flushed to the side so I shot him (he kinda "lost his head" in the process, hence the placement of the cap!). She worked a very cagey hen absolutely beautifully and managed to pin her down and get the most beautiful exciting flush.
And this morning, this one flushed wild twice with us following him each time. The strong wind was in our favour - he didn't want to fly very long each time so we caught up with him and she flushed him properly the third time.
I'm so pleased with this little dog. Still a lot of work to do, but she appears to have all the right stuff!
-Dave