Monday 5th March 2007

In the last few days since I posted I have continued to work with Molly on her sitting and recall. The recall is going very well now and she is 100% reliable even when she is running away from me. The sitting is getting better every day. She will sit now no problem when you call her to you and tell her to sit. She will sit quietly for about 20 seconds at a time until released with a single pip on the whistle.
On Saturday I took her out with a friend of mine who has a pup of a similar age. This was mainly a fun walk for the 2 pups and they got nice and dirty and enjoyed themselves playing and running around. We were careful to keep them close to us though and not get out of range. We decided that this might be a good time to see what their reaction would be to a gun shot. My friend walked on about 300 meters with the pups and when they were well distracted playing and wresting with each other I fired a shot. Both pups stopped for a second to see what the noise was and then continued with their game with no problems at all. We walked back to the car and left it at that.
Yesterday I took Molly to a group training day organised by a Spaniel Club I am a member of. I wanted to get Molly used to groups of people and other dogs. I needn't have worried. She was unfazed by it all. We did a few short marked retrieves (she came straight back to me and didn't try to pass me...great!) and then a short hunt-up in some rushes. The ground was very wet and soggy after persistent rain the following week and Molly just walked around the rushes picking her steps at time. I am not at all worried about this as the whole experience was new to her and I have seen the way she searches and hunts the lawn at home. I will gradually build up the cover that she is introduced to. The spaniel trailer that was giving the class said that he would not have expected anything more from a pup of such a young age in these new surroundings.