My 3 year old yellow lab bitch was doing fine with flushing pheasants until this past season, when she caught two crippled hens that other "hunters" had crippled. Something tripped in her little brain after that happened and she started chasing flushed hens and missed roosters as long as she could see them (open fields) - ignoring the whistle. I don't use a collar so this was a real problem to correct. We worked hard with a check chord on whistle sits and she's starting to get it. Attached is a little video of me letting her go all the way on a full retrieve, then on the next one stopping her just before she gets there (when I've found she's most likely to dis-obey because she's only feet away from the dummy). Last week I took her to an urban area (no hunting) where I know that birds roost and she put up some hens. I had to re-enforce the whistle with a loud "sit" but she did it - with flushed pheasant in the air right in front of her! I was quite pleased and I'm optimistic that we'll have this problem corrected come October.
-Croc
-Croc
