The Spring Hunt Tests

I hate Pump Pond! It was a perfect day, warm, clear and shadows from the trees darkened the northeastern end of the pond. Earlier in the land series, Sport made two near perfect land retrieves and I was looking forward to the water series. Sport is a swimmer, he will swim to chase waterfowl, but he spooked in the dark waters.
I do not know if it was because the bottom of the pond drops off sharply or he did not know how to where to enter to get to the darker portion of the pond. This is the second time he has not entered and retrieved in a Hunt Test, in a Hunt Test at Pump Pond, in a Hunt Test at Pump Pond going into deep water on the Northeast end of Pump Pond. (Sense frustration? Thank the judges and go home.) Eventually he retrieved the drake, after the pick up dog also failed to the duck, so I do not feel as bad.

The Importance of A Good Retriever

The other day I took the dogs out for an extended run/training session along the river. They had been in the house, "cooped up", as we say, for a couple of days and as the weather was a perfect February day it was the perfect time for them enjoy a few hours outdoors to runoff some energy. When we got to the beach, the snow was not plowed from the primary parking area, most of the field was closed except for a small area near the concession stand, so I parked the car, put on my boots and off we went to the beach. Snow and ice still covered the sand and we walked down to the water. This is our usual walk at Short Beach, up and over the sand to the water, along the water's edge to the east bank of the river and eventually back to the car. It usually takes from an hour to an hour and a half. We always meet people, some with and some without dogs and everyone is friendly and we're happy to see someone else on a cold, sunny day.

Sport and Maggie consider themselves the mayors of the beach. They run up to everyone and to every dog they say hello. They welcome you with their "hello, come, let's play together" greeting. It's a great way to meet up. The dogs sort themselves out, run around in circles and play king of the sand dune; sometimes to mix things up a bit, there is quick game of fetch and all the dogs are sent to retrieve a ball thrown into the water. Nothing stops these dogs, water is part of their lives.

After walking along the sand for about a quarter mile, we reach the mouth of the river. We have been walking on a baymouth bar which was formed by different forces of erosion and tidal movements after the glaciers retreated 10,000 plus years ago. Wind, waves, storms and twice daily tides have cut back the headlands and redistributed the rocks and sand across the width of the riverbed and all the while the river has been cutting a channel in these deposits to flow into the sound. The river is wide and sand from the eroding headlands has been moved and removed many times to create this bar and the beach.

Along the riverbed there are small pools which are formed by the river cutting into the sand of the river bed and these are great places to practice retrieves and other skills. The pools are not deep, they provide cover for the ducks and other birds that live on the water. They are edged with salt grasses and reeds. All that remains of last year's grass on this February day is a dense mat of broken stems and stalks. It is still too early and cold for the new grass to sprout from the roots that hold everything in place along the edge of the pool.

I place a pile of bumpers on the edge of the pool and send the Sport across the pond to retrieve the bumpers. He makes the retrieves while Maggie searches the grass for any sign of life which may be moving about, underneath the broken stalks. Soon it is time to move on back to the car.

On the trip back to the car we find dead goose on the sand and I send Sport to retrieve it. The goose is lying near the high-water line. It must have been shot on Saturday or earlier in the day and had flown for a couple of hundred yards before dropping onto the beach. Sport brings it back. Something real to retrieve. It was shot further upriver by a hunter who was working from a blind. Some waterfowl fly for a while before falling and the hunter determines it is "too far" to make the effort to bring it back to the blind.

But here is where a trained retriever is an important asset for the hunter. Not getting the goose is not an excuse. The state expects hunters to retrieve their shot game, “Waterfowl hunters must be equipped with at least one of the following: hip boots, waders, a boat or a retrieving dog.” So I was glad that Sport was able to collect the goose that someone else did not bother to retrieve. He is a sporting dog and did what generations of retrievers are expected to do. It is in their blood, it is ingrained in their minds and it is what make him one of the best of dogs, willing and ready to work, even when he is just out for walk.