SC TRAINING TRIP
03/09/24
Kiira and I had a trip planned out months in advance for me to come up to Rhode Island and spend a long weekend at her place. Her husband Chris and her own Wild River Kennels. She is an insanely kind and funny person and to be able to hang out, get to know her more, and train dogs was the perfect plan. I have been so ecstatic to be doing this trip. The week before I was to leave to head up to RI, Kiira asked me if I would want to head to SC where Chris was training dogs. He had been there for a week and was going to still be down there for another week. If it wasn’t possible I would still head to RI and hang out there.
Well, we talked some and I talked it over with Justin since it would be a little farther away, and we decided to head down to sunny SC. Justin took off work last minute and headed down with me. We met Kiira at the halfway point on Saturday in Virginia and caravaned the rest of the way down. We got down there at 1:00 AM Sunday morning. Chris and his assistant Tyler stayed up to meet us. Kiira had a van full of dogs and we had the three shorthairs. So we let the dogs do their business, found our room, and took the boys in. The settle down quickly, probably due to our long day of travel. We were to be up at 6 AM to get ready and head out to training. Day light saving was that night so Justin and I layed in bed and watched the clock turn from 2 AM to 3 AM.
Once we got up in the morning we got the address and headed out. Everyone was beat only having 3 hours asleep. We got right to work once everyone was there. Chris started his truck full of dogs off with some force fetch work. He was extremely thorough and explained and showed everything in great detail. We then put Mo up on the back of the trailer and he showed me how to maneuver my hands to start the hold process for force fetch. After that we ran some memory marks with the dogs. Then the start of the afternoon they did marks with dead ducks. Kiira ran Bennett their 7 year old shorthair on a mark. I love watching her work Bennett he is such a nice shorthair. We tried the boys on this which they are usually good at retrieving and especially like the ducks at home. They used frozen ducks and each of the boys ran out to pick it up, but only Ramsey brought it back. My boys got introduced to the bark collar. Shorthairs are noisy creatures. Especially Archer who needs to be beside his Mom at all times. We tied them out so they weren’t stuck in their crates all day. At one point I looked over and Archer’s whole body was shaking, he was huffing in and out with his jowls flapping. All I could think of was Archer saying, “please mom, I need you, just let me off this thing.” Having them on the chang gang is good for them. This teaches them to chill out. We then did more marks with other dogs and headed back to the house for a nice family meal. On our way back we stopped at walmart and picked up some frozen pies and popsicles for desert. Tyler made a pretty tasty Jumbolia. We talked dogs and life and headed to bed early for another day of training.
We headed to a new place to train on Monday with a couple nice fields and a nice water area. They talked retriever (lol) about the nice points and fingers the water had for training. We got everyone tied out again and started some steadiness training with the boys. They are steady to flush but we are working this year on steady to shot. So Chris showed me where I need to start with that to get them there. We then did marks and was able to watch a double a triple mark. I was able to help on one of these whenever Tyler who usually did it, went and handled his dog so they needed a bird thrower. Might I add I am pretty excellent at throwing dead ducks for marks. After this it was lunch time. Kiira and I headed down to a local convenance store and got some sandwiches. We then discussed the different ways people call these. The RI people call them Grinders, PA people call them hoagies, and SC people call them subs. By this time the boys really learned to chill out and they just lounged up by the truck. The afternoon then was full of water work. We took the Shorthairs down to the water. Let me mention it having geese and duck decoys. The dogs didn’t know what to think of it. I kept yelling at Mo to leave them alone. We threw some bumpers and put them back up on the line. It was time to run the Labs on some water marks and blind retrieves.
This was great to see how the dogs handled on blind retrieves. Kiira was able to handle her sweet boy, Hank. The gentleman that owned the property Steve stopped by to see how everything was going. He owns Hank’s Sire Dre. He ran did a blind retrieve with him. Which was awesome to watch. Then he ran some boykins which are neat little dogs. We continued the afternoon with more water work. Justin and I then took the boys back down to the water to throw them some dummies. Mo was still persistent on getting the decoys, so I just let him. He swam up to one and tried to grab it. He then quickly found out it was plastic and didn’t care for it. Poor Ramsey’s leg got tangled up in one of the decoys strings and we started to freak out. Every time we would move his leg forward the duck would hit him in the head. We finally got him out of the water, and I didn’t want to leave the water at that, so I threw a couple more bumpers for him, and he went in and got them. We then loaded up and headed to a Mexican restaurant for dinner. Chris and Kiira’s son Otto was with us the whole weekend so he was taking a pole on what we thought was stuck on his fishing rod on the dock. Some of us voted Gator and some voted snapping turtle. When we went back to the house, we found out what it was… it was the dock itself (lol). We originally planned to leave super early Tuesday morning, but at the last second we decided to head out Monday night. Justin and I took turns driving home and got home 8 AM Tuesday. Kiira left to head back to RI at 4 AM Tuesday, and Chris and Tyler were staying down in SC for a couple more days. They headed back that Friday.
I am incredibly thankful for the hospitality of Wild River Kennels. As well as their mentorship in making become a better trainer and making these shorthairs of mine even better. I am always looking for ways to learn and to improve my training. I am so thankful for Kiira’s friendship and I cannot wait to keep growing it stronger. I already love and would do anything for this girl and I have only known her for 6 months. She is an incredible human with a giant heart. So I cannot wait to see what the future hold for our friendship. I also cannot wait to see what this training/hunting season brings. Chris and Kiira are incredible at what they do, and as a newbie I only strive to someday be at their level. As I grow I know I can turn to these two for guidance. So I am so incredibly thankful from the bottom of my heart for their mentorship and most importantly friendship. So here is to the 2024 season in making it the best one yet for both Lonesome Willow Gundogs and Wild River Kennels.
NIKKI
