We are back from our morning of pheasant hunting, and what a morning it was!
Tito flushed 9 birds in 2 hours. What a nose this dog has, so typical of the goldens. He tracked the birds like crazy, excellent persistence, and when he was on a bird we just stood quietly and let him do his thing. It was awesome. He was giving me goosebumps he was so good at it!
The thing I didn't like was that the cover was very tall and thick, and about 90% of the time I couldn't see the dog. That's a huge leap of faith for me. I could hear his cowbell most of the time, and could sometimes see the weeds moving where he was. But it did scare me. The cover in the photo behind my friend is typical of what Tito was hunting in.
The really bad moment was when my friend missed a shot, and Tito took off after the bird. That's been my fear with him, and sure enough, he did it today. The cover is so tall and heavy that we couldn't see him AT ALL and had no idea where he had gotten to. I went into heart failure. He was gone for probably 60 seconds, which felt like a lifetime. I was calling him and whistling him in, and he came charging back from a completely different direction from the direction we had last seen him heading. So that was scary stuff. My friend said that he trusts Tito won't go anywhere, as soon as he realized he couldn't catch the bird he turned back. But still...
Anyway, we had a fabulous time. Here are a couple of photos of Tito with my good friend that took us hunting this morning.

Attached Images

   

__________________

Gibson's Golden Girl, CD, CGC, TDI (born 3-20-1997), a.k.a. "Tiny"

CH Rosewood Little Giant, UDX VER RA SH MXP MJP VCX WCX CCA CGC FFX-OG (born 3-10-2007), also UCH HR UUD UJJ URO1 UHIT a.k.a. "Tito" (the Tito Monster)

and my heart dog
Gibson's Golden Guy, CD, CGC, TDI ( 01-31-1998 - 01-02-2012) a.k.a. "Toby", "HRH"

Good boy Tito Sounds like a GReat day to be 'primarily a hunting dog' and giving your people cause to smile & be proud !!

__________________

Golden moments shared with
Casey, Faelan, Towhee & Brady too !

and forever in my heart, my golden Bridge boys
Rowdy & King

My girls are SO jealous of Tito!!!
And I bet you will think twice before complaining about the cover at a hunt test in the future.

__________________
Hank and the girls

Lucy - UDX RN MX MXJ WC CCA VCX Can CDX WC

Oriana - UDX VER WC CCA VC

Brooke - UD CCA

Waiting at the Bridge

Brandi - CDX (1992 - 2003)

Kizmet - Am/Can CD (2005 - 2007)

Keeper - Can OTCh UD RN SH MX MXJ OAP AJP WC CCA VCX OD Can AGN WC VC (1996 - 2010)

Good job Tito!!

That panic feeling is never good- glad it was for such a short time!

__________________


Meet Yogi! http://www.goldenretrieverforum.com/...tion-yogi.html

Funny thing, Hank, I am one of few people who doesn't complain about heavy cover at the tests. Tito does better in heavy cover than lighter cover. He LOVES to be in there, and will seek it out. He, um, goes where the birds "ought to be", not where they "are". I love to see heavy cover at hunt tests. We do have very heavy cover in this area.

__________________

Gibson's Golden Girl, CD, CGC, TDI (born 3-20-1997), a.k.a. "Tiny"

CH Rosewood Little Giant, UDX VER RA SH MXP MJP VCX WCX CCA CGC FFX-OG (born 3-10-2007), also UCH HR UUD UJJ URO1 UHIT a.k.a. "Tito" (the Tito Monster)

and my heart dog
Gibson's Golden Guy, CD, CGC, TDI ( 01-31-1998 - 01-02-2012) a.k.a. "Toby", "HRH"

Tito so deserves these pictures to make up for the previous hat pic. I hope you didn't tell him that you posted that on the forum!!!!

Good job TITO!

Nice pictures. BTW, don't you feed Tito and get him "dates"? Not likely he would run away---he has it too good.

Atta boy Tito...fetch 'em up. Looks like it was a good day to be a retriever. This must have been at a club?....so many birds!

I feel your anxiety...we had an English Setter take off after a jack rabbit on a pheasant hunt once and we all wondered whether or not we'd ever see her again.

Great pictures...one and all!

Pete

__________________


Sonny, the black lab, ran ahead to make sure there were no gophers or jackrabbits in the way. If you don't give a dog a specific job, he'll improvise one for himself and it will invariably be fun. There's a lesson there.
John Gierach

Great job, Tito.

__________________
Dave

gdgli, I always say Tito has the best F'ing life you can imagine...food, feathers, and females!
Pete, it's at a public hunting area, not a club. They release birds there every morning, though. There are LOTS of birds out there!

__________________

Gibson's Golden Girl, CD, CGC, TDI (born 3-20-1997), a.k.a. "Tiny"

CH Rosewood Little Giant, UDX VER RA SH MXP MJP VCX WCX CCA CGC FFX-OG (born 3-10-2007), also UCH HR UUD UJJ URO1 UHIT a.k.a. "Tito" (the Tito Monster)

and my heart dog
Gibson's Golden Guy, CD, CGC, TDI ( 01-31-1998 - 01-02-2012) a.k.a. "Toby", "HRH"