HUNTING -- As with any athlete, you can't expect to put a good bird dog in the field without weeks of training for the season.

With just 10 weeks until the opening of the forest grouse season, time's a-wasting.

I had my English setter, Scout, out early this morning for his regular field run:   45-minutes of cruising followed by a half hour of cheatgrass eradication. I stuff cotton in his ears for field running this time of year, but his toes were loaded with spears.

Cheatgrass, like everything else this year is ahead of schedule. The seed heads are in full "bloom" right now.  

That means this is a good time for WATER training/conditioning. Take the dog to a lake and throw retrieving dummies for cool weed-free conditioning.

The bright side of cheatgrass curing this early, says my friend and dog trainer Dan Hoke, is that the troublesome seed spears should be pounded out to the ground by rain, hail, and wind by the time hunting seasons open.  

That is, if it EVER rains again.

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