Salute to Sunni

We named her Lone Goose Sunrise Princess, "Sunni" for short. I immediately took her to be groomed.  Six weeks with eleven brothers and sisters had left her with a less than desireable odor. I don't think she ever forgave me for that first bath and blow-dry. She never liked baths from that time on. Strange when you think that crashing through frozen lake ice never bothered her a bit. 

Our first weekend together was a trip by john boat out to a sand bar on the Mississippi River. It was 4th of July vacation, and we were spending three days camping with friends. She was a natural riverrat. There were lots of kids to chase, lots of sticks to carry, and lots and lots of water. She loved it. All of the fun wore her out so much that she slept through the fireworks display.  When we got home Monday night, the serious puppy training began. I had never trained a hunting dog before, and I'm not one to read "How to" books. She and I had already bonded and she was responding to her name and to the command "no". I decided that we could "wing it" with a little common sense.  Within a week, she was housebroken, and was retrieving socks stuffed with paper. We moved on to socks stuffed with feathers so that she could get the scent of ducks. I took her to the local trap shoot to get used to the sound of guns. We started by sitting in the car with the windows up, then I lowered the windows a few inches at a time so that the shots were louder. It didn't take long before she was comfortable enough with the noise that we got out of the car and watched for awhile. The system must have worked, because she was never afraid of a gun. (An extremely important feature for a hunting dog!)

At 14 weeks old, she got her first hunting test. Dove season was opening and Craig and Cody were going. Craig would have is hands full with six year old Cody and his first hunt, but agreed to take Sunni for the experience. The three of them came home later with 7 doves, all of which she retrieved, even chasing one down "on the fly". Sunni had passed the preliminary with "flying" colors. Soon it would be time for the real test---Ducks!