A Lab named Tish

                                               Tish working a SK. farmstead 

My first Gun Dog was a Yellow Lab named Molson , he and I  would hit the Grouse Woods that where close to   our home in Petawawa Ontario, even though I really did not know what I was doing (and still don't)we had a lot of fun and even managed to knock a few Ruffed grouse down from time to time.

                                       Mearns Quail retrieve 

In 2007 I decided it was time to get another Lab., the justification with Lisa was that I could use the Lab to flush birds as opposed to me getting between the pointers and the clients , enter the safety factor . I also needed a retriever for the waterfowl hunting we do in Saskatchewan so we ended up purchasing High Plain's Latisha ,  Tish for short.
During her first season  the  plan was to get her "birdy" via a lot of exposure to wild birds so  I worked her on road coveys , ran her along hedgerows and micro hunted her around old farmsteads , I would also bring her out to search and retrieve birds that the pointers could not find,this seemed to work well as she really started to develop prey drive along with the use of her nose.
This year I introduced her to waterfowl hunting via easy to manage  field shoots for Whitefronts and Mallards , at first she was a little hesitant about picking up big stinky geese but quickly got over that and became very good at staying in the blind with me while I called the geese in , on the first shot she was out of the blind and on her birds.Her epic  retrieve was on a crippled  Snow goose that flew 300 yards into a fallow field and began to run , she marked it and began her chase , five minutes later she was running back with the goose in her mouth, needless to say  I was very proud .

                                                     Tish giving fish fighting support 

Here in Arizona I use  Tish  as a non -slip retriever ,when the Pointers  are pointing I have her at heel then when everyone is in a good position she is  released to flush the covey and do the retrieving . .When the Pointers are running Tish stays in gun range working  the close cover, she has also proven to be excellent while  following up on singles .
Yesterday I took the B team out , I ran Cruz and Speck down a canyon  then moved to another spot and ran my old guys Zane and Covey with Tish . Covey got the first point  ,Tish went in and put the birds up and I made a real nice "pat myself on the back" right to left crossing shot on a male Mearns ,the bird was in my hands in seconds , 5 minutes later the Tish's tail started to look like a helicopter rotor she flushed a covey  which resulted in another "did I make  that " left to right  crossing shot.
Finally Covey was on point while Zane backed I heeled Tish in and released her for the flush ,the result was a long straight away shot and after a good search Tish retrieved the bird .
As I am re-discovering one of the cool things  about using a flushing dog is the shots you get are a little more interesting than the typical straight away shots you get when covering a point and you  always have to be ready .
Tish turns two this January  although she still needs some polish I think she is well on her way to becoming a good  gun dog , she is also a lot of fun around the house and provides some cheap entertainment on fishing trips .

                                   Clair Kofoed  & Tish  with a Canada Goose .