Zettertjärns Una De Perdiz and Zettertjärns Dariuz were mated on October 26th. The litter has been planned for some time and we hope to confirm the pregnancy at the end of November. Information on the planned litter is also available on the Norwegian Gordon Setter Club’s website (http://www.gordonsetter.no). We’re pleased with the interest people have already shown in the litter. Please take contact if you’re interested in a puppy. We will post more information on Perdiz’s progress as we have news.

The combination of young kids, busy jobs and bird dogs can be challenging when trying to fit everything into the day. Well organised lowland hunting can offer a good alternative to effectively get many bird situations and plenty of birds to bring home. We have just retunred from two fantastic days with Janne and Jenny Bodell I Sweden (www.viijagarens.se). Good weather, plenty of pheasants and partridges, countless bird situations and child free were a good investment for both us and the dogs. We thank Janne for good guiding and valuable input for both the dogs and our performance. We recommend it! Highlights include calm Perdiz in flush and shot with 100 pheasants overhead as a distraction, reporting, tracking over 200 m with a pheasant in the bag as a result and steady retrieving of injured birds. We return extremely satisfied with Christmas dinner secured and dogs as obedient as when we left! The saying “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks” doesn’t seem to hold for Dariuz who now has become a pheasant expert :-).

August is here and that means training. Plenty of running in “dog training areas” in the mountains for fitness, but important also that the dogs experience bird situations too. There is always some polishing to do, and good that the excitement of the first birds has passed by the time the competitions and hunting begin for real. Last week Perdiz and I travelled to Janne and Jenny Bodell of Viijagarens in Sweden and took part in a training course in collaboration with Kristina Edh of Zettertjärns. What a fabulous training! The hunting terrain is perfect, plenty of birds (ptarmigan) so the dogs got lots of experience on birds, but not so many that it is unnatural. Perdiz had to make good use of her impressive search. Kristina has much experience to share and gave me useful tips both on how to improve Perdiz’s performance, but equally importantly also mine. Perdiz was matched with another Zettertjärns girl, Yakira and hunted “against” her for much of the time. Very useful for me to sharpen my competitive edge and practice getting my dog into the bird first.

Perdiz and I ended the course with a good bird work resulting in Perdiz taking point in dense bushes. She flushed on my command from a distance towards me. While the bird (with me standing in the way of where it wanted to fly) danced on Perdiz’s nose as it tried clumsily to fly directly up, she sat on the whistle. She rounded off the performance with an elegant apport. What a way to end a successful couple of days.