Curiosity

So far it's been nothing but fun learning what the outdoors is all about for Jake. He has become more daring with each trip out and is now searching every nook and cranny looking for the smell of birds. But with that urge to find birds he is also finding many new smells that grab his curiosity. He's at a point where he needs to learn the difference between good smells and bad smells as well as movements in the brush that could get him in trouble.
Jake is doing a great job of finding birds, especially for a four and a half month old pup, but he sometimes get's right on top of the bird before he scents them. The way he sticks his nose into the brush and down rock cracks and holes is making him a prime candidate for a snake bite. Although I don't think Jake has seen a snake yet, he has stepped over several that have scared the crap out of me. Just yesterday, he was pointing some quail, and when I moved in to flush the birds a huge bull snake hissed from under my feet just one step from the dog. I don't know how Jake didn't see it, but it sure made me move fast.
Although Jake has not felt any stimulus from the collar yet he is always wearing it in the field. He is mature enough to get a dose on unwanted situations. A prime example was yesterday when he found this elk calf.

At first he wasn't sure what he was pointing and soon had to creep a little.

 Jake held real good due to his curiosity until I moved around him and finally decided to get nose to nose with the calf. The calf and Jake looked to be about the same size as they were nose to nose and probably could have had a good time playing but that probably wouldn't be a good practice to start.

  I took Jake by the collar and led him away with the elk watching our departure. Jake wanted to return but I encouraged him to find birds. Had he started chasing I had the shock collar on to let him know that would be unacceptable. 

 The day will come when he feels the sensation of the collar and if done right he will associate the shock with the bad source. Chasing unwanted animals such as porcupines , deer, skunks, coyotes, and many other things. On the 15th of June there is a snake avoidance class in Boise and Jake will be there to get his first dose of  bad things to stay clear of.

 With the amount of snakes I have already seen this year I'm excited to get this part of his education done. As I mentioned He needs to associate the pain in his neck with the snake so that he always wants to stay clear of the sight, smell and sound of snakes.
On a side note, another problem we are facing with abundance are tick's. This has been a huge tick year and it seems no matter where we go we find tick's. Barb and I pulled these tick's off Jake after one of our training hunts. This was only about two thirds of what we really got off him.

 Barb is the best. Most women would have kicked both Jake and me out of the house. She finds a tick crawling on her and just responds with "here's another one." I'm a blessed man. Now if I can only keep Jake from getting snake bit or hurt until we get Riley's bills paid off.  By the way, Riley has been a real trooper through all of this. He get's a little disappointed when I load Jake up in the truck without him but seems to know he hasn't been forgotten.