The Molly chronicles

[donnie]

Bill dropped off his pup on Sun-Mon. DD, this is one nice pup! I really like her temperment.
We had a really good visit, went to the area I train in and threw a few marks for the dogs on monday morning then headed to the rifle range for a bit of shooting. We stayed awake til the wee hours catching up and talking guns and dogs.
Bill made his soon to be world famouse grilled veggy-shrimp medley and we had a nice bottle of wine followed by more gun/dog talk.
I had to wait for Bill and his much better half to leave before I could get molly out to see what I have gotten myself into.
This morning we did a bit of obedience work then followed up with some basic single mark retrieves.
Bill, youve done a good job. But, before you break your arm patting yourself on the back, This is truly one fine pup! DD gets at least half the credit.
We won't get too serious for a few more days yet but I really do like her temperment and she has a fine nose as well. I don't think we'll have any trouble at all turning her into a hunting retriever.

[deputydon]

8-)Gald to hear she meets your expectations Bill thinks she's hyper I think she's just a pup. ;D

[deputydon]

Plus all that riding and a new setting everyday can't have helped although it should get her used to learning about being in a vehicle and travelling.

[Bubba]

I think they're all a little "hyper".... Jack is like he's been on Red Bull all day... he almost bounces off the walls...but he calms down when he gets tired... every pup I've ever had was the same way.. they play and chew... CONSTANTLY.... until they get tired then the "adult" comes out on them... ...

[jimh]

dang donnie, that dinner Bill wipped up sure sounds good. can't wait to read the progress reports, how's the other two dogs doing with a pup in the house?

[deputydon]

I suspect it's to hot to do much w/ her right now ?

[Bill]

Well I just got home. Just a couple hundred over 2,000 miles total round trip. This last leg only took me 5 hrs so I'm not so tired but do have a bad case of being an hr behind ever since I got out of Mtn time.
Donnie, I'm glad she is doing good for you. About half way thru the trip it seemed like she calmed down and turned into one sweet little dog. Got me on the reason for that but it happened. Also Thanks for the good job on her training so far. Its just that I got that far and then wasn't sure how to progress from there. Seems like she hit a wall and just quit progressing. What I think really happened though was she started loosing teeth and had bleeding gums and durring that time she turned into a small blond monster. By the time we got half way thru the trip her gums quit hurting and all was well when we got to your place. Plus she is in a strange place and is on her best behavior till she figures out the ropes. LOL

[Bill]

Well we got an update from Donnie by phone last night. The wife and I are now looking around the house for another dog as we think that maybe we might of taken Donnie the wrong dog and there is another one hidding here in the house someplace. The dog he describes to us on the phone just does not sound like the one we took him.
It just goes to show you what someone that knows what their doing CAN really do.
Donnie, I hope it cools down soon for you. It was almost cold when we were up there but it didn't take long to change. Lets hope it changes back quick. We had 110 in western NE for our return home. When we got out of the truck at one rest stop it was like standing too close to a very large campfire except that instead of one side being hot and the other cold it was hot on both sides.

[deputydon]

You'll just have to keep her from relearning the bad habits when she gets home.

[donnie]

It has been HOT!!! So we haven't done anything real strenuous this week. I'm keeping the sessions short anyway cause I've always found a pup gets more outta two short sessions than 1 long one.
Here's the update; Molly is doingf very well, her retrieves are stylish and expediant, and her delivery to hand is really coming along. This afternoon she made about a dozen very nice retrieves. She returns to heel at the end of each, sits, and waits to release the bumper on command right into my hand.
She will stay out to about 60 yards right now and we are gradually increasing the distance.
She comes to heel 100% when called and waits for my next command.
She sits when commanded to do so without hesitation and shows a lot of style and drive in the field.
Tomorrow AM we will be working with some pheasants I pulled from the freezer tonight. (I always keep a few fully feathered "training" birds on hand) If all goes well with the dead birds we will be set to try a few live pigeons/chukkar by this weekend.
She is really an impressive pup, seems to have a helluva nose and a brain between her ears.
Not certain I'll give her back to Bill yet

[Bill]

After looking at the pics of your son and Molly wrastling I got an idea that it won't be you keeping her but your son. He isn't a year old yet and he had her pinned. Something the wife couldn't seem to be able to do, EVER. ;D

[donnie]

Just came back into the house with Mollywood! She's doin just fine in fact she showed a client of mine and his dog a thing or two on Sat about style! So far so good, She did decide to start spitting bumpers at my feet on Sat. So we went back to making it as fun as possible.
Bill, I'll be sending pics soon. Right now I gotta get to bed.

[jimh]

Donnie sent me this along with his target picture to post. Bill i hope you don't mind.

[Bill]

No I don't mind but but when I look at that pic I begin to miss her a lot. Donnie keeps me informed on whats going on with her though so that helps a lot. From the sounds of it she is turning into one sweet hunting pup though and I have an Idea that I will be thrilled with the results.

[Bill]

I called Donnie yesterday morning (just befoe he was going to bed ) ;D and got an update on how Molly is doing and it sounds like she is doing just great. He also said that he is going to start her on birds this week. I kind of wonder if the smell of real birds is going to kick her interest up a notch. I know that when I would put a bit of Pheasant scent on a dummie it sure made a lot of differance in her excitement except for a while there she didn't want to bring back the dummie but wanted to sit and lick and smell it.
Biggest problem the wife and I are both having is we miss her, (ya even with her chewing us up which had already stopped when we got to Donnies place with her). I miss her daily walks although I still walk every day and the wife has taken to going along on the walk with me but darn she don't like that leash either.