Dale Stovall

Here is an update on Solo. Also attaching a couple of pictures of Solo with his first bird, a ruffed grouse I shot in early Sept. Mid Sept I took him dove hunting and in three days we shot about 75 doves over him and I let him retrieve about 25. He only broke once. The first day of waterfowl hunting, Oct 2nd, we were shooting out of layout blinds and I had him laying next to me. We shot 12 geese and 7 ducks. He did great. The first goose was wounded and running away at about 125 yrds. He had a good mark and stopped when he got to it but decided the right thing to do was hit it like a linebacker. After that he was a blond streak when he hit them. The second day I was hunting over water and shot 2 geese and 3 ducks. The second weekend we got 7 geese and 5 ducks. So, he is a made dog.

He is just the right size at 55lbs and had no trouble with a couple of geese that weighed 12 lbs. He is shy around strangers but is getting better and I don’t really care. His breeding is very evident. He really marks well and I can  cast and handle him well out to about 150 yrds. He wants to please and I have  never e-collar conditioned him. But once in a while we have a “Cool Hand Luke” moment and I get his mind right by sitting over him with a hand on this throat until he submits and decides to do it my way. I had to put my old Lab down in Apr but Solo learned some good habits from him.

Until now I have never used the words “Cute and Lovey” to describe one of my Labs but he is beautiful and wants to be touching me if he can. I have been gone a couple of weeks this month, just returned from shooting an elk. So Solo and I  will be hunting at least 2 days a week until Jan 14th. I have a 3 day pheasant hunt scheduled in eastern Montana next month. I still do yard drills a couple of days a week.

Having a great time with Solo.