The (half-hearted) effort is underway to make Savage into a bird-dog! I originally planned to hunt grouse this season as an excuse to spend time out in the woods with my puppy. So bright and early this morning we all headed out to begin Sava's first hunting adventure. Now, my little dane is not much of a hunter, anyway, preferring to harass sticks in the trail as opposed to unneccessarily wasting energy chasing live prey. But he has shown a great interest in grouse ever since we came upon a mother and her covey of babies a month or so ago.
I believe his excitement today was mainly because of R.'s and my excitement over shooting birds, but he had a great time anyway. We walked for miles along old logging roads near the Gunflint Trail, and though Savvy didn't spot any birds on his own, once he heard one of us loading the shotgun he went absolutely wild. It was necessary for R. to hold onto Sava when I was shooting, and vice versa, because when the puppy spots a grouse he doesn't hesitate to go for it. This might be a problem when it's just me and him, but I'm assumming I'll end up shooting more birds in trees after Savage has flushed them up, and him getting in the way won't be an issue.
We allowed him to retrieve the first two or three grouse just for fun, but if given a chance he will chew up the meat. He eats turkey backs every day, after all! I would never expect him to be a retriever, or a pointer, or anything like that, but having him along with me on the hunt is so much more fun. Watching him pounce into the brush going after a shot bird is fun to watch. Once the grouse were killed and I was carrying them back to the truck, Sava lost interest in them and went in search of live ones. Altogether, R. and I bagged 7 birds this morning, and my baby dane enjoyed every minute of his first hunt.