Words by Sarah Crawford. Images by Christy Langston and Tara Griffin.
One of my 2023 New Year’s resolutions for myself was to get out there and hunt with my dogs – Io and Indi. My first goal was to be able to do basic training drills with my two German Shorthair Pointers. The second goal was building the confidence to go hunting with them. Being a woman in a male-dominated sport, I began a search for an organization that uplifts women in handling our bird dogs in the field. I quickly found HerUpland and joined the HerUpland Community.
With two bird dogs at different levels of training, I was worried about how I was going to focus on the needs of each dog. Io, my oldest, had gone through formal training and reached the AKC senior hunt test level. However, my youngest boy Indi never had significant formal training and I really wanted to give him the attention he deserves.
Then HerUpland posted two summer training events – a novice and intermediate pointing dog training camp. The camps were exactly what I needed. I was nervous about doing something so out of my wheelhouse – and I used to paraglide, routinely soaring thousands of feet above the earth! So I got out of my head and decided to jump feet first into this wonderful world of upland bird dog training.
I will admit that I had always seen my younger dog Indi as the “derpy” one. Day one of the novice camp, Indi went through an evaluation to test his ability level. I was honestly unsure how he would perform in holding a point or finding a bird. When Indi landed on the bird and held a perfect point, I was blown away. On day two, the amazing HerUpland professional trainers worked individually with Indi and I to refine his point. Indi even had the opportunity to have a bird shot over him and he brought it to hand. Throughout the rest of the days, I was able to see Indi’s abilities and desires to hunt birds. I was truly so proud to have those moments with him. Indi will always be the silly one, but I now see him for the natural hunting dog that he is.
During the intermediate camp, I was able to work with Io on refining his skills in the field. On Io’s first day of evaluation, he was rusty and not perfectly retrieving to hand. With the volunteer trainers, we worked through the rust. On the last day, Io was steady through the shot and brought that bird right to my hand. Another highlight of the intermediate camp was that we had the opportunity to practice our own shooting skills with clays. During this time, I was able to focus on my own training and received excellent pointers on how to improve my shot.
Attending both pointing dog training camps truly changed my life and how I view my own ability to work with my dogs.
