Ronnie Smith (00:09):
It is vitally important that the dog keeps up with where you are, that he goes with you in the field, that you’re not always having to handle the dog. He’s joined up going to his objectives hunting, but keeping in mind where you are. He’s a part of your team.
Susanna Smith (00:27):
This is a partnership that develops at a very young age. So when we have puppies at Smith Kennels, when we are doing our puppy walks, we’re already working on getting those little guys to join up and go with us. So we may be walking in the field with 8 to 10 puppies in a litter, and there may be one puppy over here smelling a leaf and one puppy over here chasing a butterfly. And we give ’em a little bit of a locator, let ’em know where we are: Hey, pup pup. And we keep moving. And then what happens in the puppy’s world is they’re focused on this thing in front of them. They hear us in the distance and realize, oh, the pack leader is moving on. So they naturally want to go with the packs. They pick their head up and go with us.
Susanna Smith (01:09):
They know where you are, and they’re still out there investigating and learning all the lessons that puppies need to learn, but they are thinking about where the pack leader is going and where they need to be in relation to the pack leader. And that is the beginning of how they view that for life. As our puppies grow up, they get more independence. And about the time when you lose that real easy natural flow of going with you in the field is the time to start formal training with your dog to take it to the next level, to keep their attention and keep them progressing in their development.
