I stopped our walk to train. I paid little head to the Purple Martin single birdhouse about 10 yards away in a non mowed area. ( I was on a large trail in a meadow area. ) I got the sit stay out walked away and heard this hissing noise. I was being dive bonbed by Purple Martins. Being the calm person I am I grabbed the leash and screamed while running(the whole while Alred Hitchcock's "Birds" flashing through my mind). I got about 20-25 yards away At this position they left me alone. My mother had been pecked on the forehead by a Blue Jay when I was growing up so I had visoins of blood running down my head. Didn't want to hit the deck either(ticks).

But the real question is "Did the dog hold the sit stay" ??? Excellent distraction training!

 Quote:

I was being dive bonbed by Purple Martins. Being the calm person I am I grabbed the leash and screamed while running(the whole while Alred Hitchcock's "Birds" flashing through my mind).

How did your dogs react ?

Think of it this way, someone took the time to provide those little Martins with their proper home, they are a diving bird, and really very social, maybe they thought you were their landlord delivering food!


I am glad you were not pecked to death by the pretty little birds, nor infested with ticks.

The dog held the sit stay and didn't even try to protect me from the birds. Actually I had quite a bit of trouble with his drive, he didn't even want hot dog bits and he is a scarfer being a street dog(he's a rescue from Gary was found living in the streets). I think I walked him too long, it was warmer than usual and he just wanted to keep walking in the forest rather than train in the meadow. I'd been having probelms with the "front" command with him.So after the bird episode I put him in a site stay, went about two feet away as I'd noticed he wasn't really into it. I said "Bolt front." He looked at me and laid down. I just walked him around some more after that. We did heel and halt a few times I wanted to end on a good note and he did those fine. He's very skittish, he reminds me of a horse the way he get's spooked sometimes. He was hard to keep focused so we just had some fun. But hey he's not charging the fence or biting my neighbor. I did find a half dead tick on him this mroning. Thank God I had frontline on him. We had a lyme disease scare in the family(human) when I used to have my Golden.