Hey everyone. Welcome back to the Bird Dog Podcast. my name is Tys Erickson. I'm here, as your host, and this is part two of picking up. My new little dog that I just got. So listen to part one, this is part two. I am on my way back home to Utah and I have a red little dog sitting here on the seat next to me in part one. I, talked about how I was going out to meet a breeder to pick up a red setter, for a little upland dog for myself. And, I have one. I talked about how I was gonna evaluate the dogs. There were three dogs I was choosing from two males and a female. I didn't really care on, uh, sex at this point. I didn't care if it was a male or a female. I just wanted a good dog. And so I, was open to what everyone showed me the best, things that I was looking for. So there was two males. The owner had named one Steven and one Michael. and then there was a female, her name was Isla. And ILO is a little bit older, in age than them. I think she's only about a month older from a different breeding. And then there's Steven and Michael. So these dogs were nine months old, roughly And so talking to the breeder from the situation. I didn't feel like they had gotten out a whole lot. he probably did his best, like most everyone, but I think he's a single guy. And, had the dogs more together. He did have some land so they could get out. He said he had 10 acres, that were fenced, where he could run the males and the females, two separate 10 acre parcels. I think they got outdoors, plenty. Um, where we met in Wyoming, it was pretty cold and windy. The dogs had just traveled for three hours, I'm sure it was their longest road trip and dogs, and they go their first road trip. That long. It just, it throws'em off. It's kind of like us sometimes we just get out of the car and we're kind of stiff and tired just from that traveling and they can sense things too. I think they can sense when the owners are gonna be, dropping'em off or. Getting rid of one. they can kind of sense that type of stuff. And so they were a little nervous. I could tell that, I could tell they were, pretty attached to the breeder'cause they're, nine month old dogs. and that's common I see when people bring dogs into us for training and for my training business, you know, very commonly they're drooling. they're dogs and they get nervous, especially in travel. They'll get a kind of a tacky. Drool, this drool that'll kinda like hang from their lips and get all tacky. it's kind of weird. it is something the dogs get nervous, their drool gets kind of sticky and tacky and it kind of hangs from their mouth anyways. So there's a little bit of that I saw with, one or two of'em, mostly the little female, kind of evaluating her. But I'll kind of go through each Once. The first dog we pulled out was the little female named Isla. she, seemed to have a good little personality. I could tell she was, a little nervous, didn't know what the heck was going on, and cold weather, and all of a sudden we drove and all of a sudden there's some stranger there. And, um, but I could tell she had a good little personality to her. Um, first thing I did is pulled the, the chucker out. Took the wing and dangled that kind of around and played with it. And I have a few little techniques, get'em chasing it and just see if I can get her kind of warmed up and drive and, she was showing some interest. Um, I. Kinda getting a little creepy. I don't know if I ever saw her throw a point, but if I'd talked to her vocalized, she'd kind of get a little nervous and she'd run back over, kind of by the owner. I was hoping I'd maybe get like a Lock up on a wing type thing. But I think just there was so much going on in their surroundings, they wouldn't allow'em to like get real comfortable and focus in on things. So I tried a dead bird. She didn't seem interested in that. Again, I think she was more, um, aware of. Just me and what's going on. She couldn't really relax a hundred percent in the situation. Then I pulled out a live pigeon that was clipped. The wings were clipped, and so threw that around. She actually did show some excitement towards that. She, ran after it. I couldn't get her to pick it up. She never did retrieve it or pick it up. Um, she kind of put her mouth on it, like she was going to pick it up. Then she'd leave it and just kind of almost get nervous and then come back to the owner and, and so we tried that with that pigeon for a while. So she showed interest in it. And I think she'll actually probably be a pretty good little dog. She just needs to get out, get socialized, get more exposure. I think she'll, come around if she ends up going to a home. Um, so that was her. I evaluated her on barking. She whined a little bit. We had her in the crate, made a little bit of a noise, but not bad. and that was pretty much the one little one named Isla. Then there was, Michael pulled him out and he, had a pretty good little personality. he came up and I pet him and kind of got to know him there for a second. He did chase the bird on the wing. He showed some interest on it a little bit, but he was pretty distracted. I think he was just kinda like more. Where are we at? What are we doing? Kind of distracted by his surroundings. Tried throwing the dead bird, uh, no interest. Tried the live bird and really no interest. He showed the least amount of interest out of the three, And, uh, you know, still pretty fairly reserved. Now these are setters, so I knew they were gonna be a little more reserved. Um, a little more uncomfortable just with travel, new people, stuff like that. so that was Michael. And then Steven was the last one we pulled out. The other male, he's a little taller, has a little longer coat on him, but still More of that field bread coat. I threw the wing on the string right off the bat. He was, showed the most interest, continued focus, didn't worry about it. The guy said he. The most independent, strong-willed one. And when I have an upland dog, I want a little bit of that. I want a little self-confidence. And especially with the setter where they tend to be a softer breed. And so it totally made sense that he was that way where he was showing interest in the bird or the wing. I did get him to point some. Then I. Grabbed the clip wing pigeon, threw that out, He was excited, about it right off the bat. I was able to get him to pick it up and not retrieve it to hand, and I didn't really care again about that, but I was able to get him to go out there, grab it. And actually carry it around. Um, and, he was consistent on that and consistent on the bird. So I like that. Um, he was still reserved, like the other ones. I think just again, new surroundings, new person. Uh, he was a little standoffish, but, I checked on vocalization. I put him in a crate, let the owner and I stand where he could see, so he'd get a little, uh, when we were in front of him and all. So knot in front of him and he did not make a peep. And so he is the one that's riding and holding the car with me. his name was Steven. Name will probably be changed. Nothing against the name, but I'm probably gonna name him something else. So we got a few more hours here to hopefully pick out a name for him. And then I think he kind of knew his name a little bit, but not overly so we can still make that change. That'll, be no problem. So yeah, evaluations, I feel like it was good. We did it. Just if I had just jumped out there and picked one off, you know, personality or something like that, I, you know, I would've known so. Um, hopefully those tips can help you guys. If you're looking at maybe a little older dog, or, even evaluating a puppy, you can get'em on birds, do a few things. But an older dog, I definitely want to evaluate and kind of see where they're at. Um, I think too, just being in the industry of training that I'm in, it helps that most dogs come to us for training at six months of age or older. So I'm used to dogs kind of being nervous off the bat. I feel like I got a pretty good gauge, obviously doing this for 16 years of reading personalities and kind of, Hey man, This is what he's telling me and, looking at those traits that I have seen to produce a good bird dog. So he's been riding here in the passenger seat with me, hasn't made a peep. Seems calm. That's what I was hoping for, is a good, calm dog around the house. But then hopefully he'll turn it on birds when we want him to, and we can develop his point and turn him into a beautiful upland dog. So I'm excited about him. It's gonna be a fun, fun little adventure to see what we can turn this guy into. so something with setters, and I knew this going into it, they are a softer breed. Um, they're actually not one of the funnest dogs to train in my book. but they're fun and challenging at the same time, just because they're. Softer. You gotta be more patient with them. You gotta use lighter pressure. Um, but when you put'em in the upland field, they really open up, they turn on. And then I do like how around the house some of'em, not all of'em can tend to have a Pretty good little off switch. So anyhow, we're gonna continue to bond with this guy. Socialize him, get around the kids, let him open up and, uh, yeah, maybe we'll do another episode here in the future. Fill you guys in on how he's doing once a. We start into his training, kind of give you an update on him and, we'll give you, his name also. So anyhow, that's it for part two, coming and going and picking up, my new Red Setter. And, hope you guys enjoyed it and we will talk to you later. Have a great day.