Léo's first wild duck retrieve was on September 1st, the opening day of the 2016 waterfowl season. I knocked down a plump mallard into a stubble field and Léo fetched it to hand, hardly a feather out of place. His first point on wild game was a week later, on the opening day of the upland gamebird season. He pointed a pair of sharptailed grouse... and I promptly missed both.
From then on, every time we took Léo to the field, forest or water, we would see him make huge strides in every aspect of his performance. His search went from the random crazy run of a puppy to a bold, forward search of a top-notch gundog. His points became more intense and he started nailing them at greater distances. He ended up fetching everything from snipe to giant Canada geese with the softest of mouths and I could not be happier with the overall ease of handling him.
Here's a list of some of the firsts for Léo in his first season ever. I should add that not only are they firsts for Léo, but many of them are likely to be firsts for the breed in North America.
First points: woodcock, snipe, ruffed grouse, sharptailed grouse, prairie chicken and pheasant. He also pointed pen-raised chukar partridge at his NA test.
First retrieves: woodcock, snipe, ruffed grouse, sharptailed grouse, prairie chicken, pheasant, mallard, teal, gadwall, pintail, Canada goose and Snow goose (white and blue).
First encounters of the nasty kind: skunk, porcupine.
First hunts with other dogs: Souris (Weimaraner), Uma (Pont-Audemer Spaniel), Kolby (Braque du Bourbonnais), Sula (French Spaniel).
First time hunting in: Manitoba, Saskatchewan, North Dakota, South Dakota.