Day 3346

 I woke up at 7:30 and got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After that we left for Hondo.  It was about 8:20.

We made good time going to Hondo.  We arrived there at little before 10:30.  The appointment was at 11, so we had to wait.  They were out running the dogs. 

The appointment lasted about an hour.  We talked about how she was doing.  They think that she's great.  Then we took her out to the field to do retrieves.  They had me shoot using a 20 ga side by side that shot really low.  

Abby did great on the first bird.  It took a little time to have her calm down, but she responded well to the commands to change direction.  She ended with a beautiful point.  When the bird flushed I broke its wing.  Abby stayed still until she was released.  She went back on point because the bird wasn't dead.  The lady picked it up, killed it, and threw it a little ways.  She had me shoot when she threw it.  Abby did a good retrieve on it then.

Abby found the second bird a lot faster.  Again she pointed really solid.  I wounded the bird.  The lady released Abby.  Abby went and got the bird and brought it back still alive.  The lady also put out a bird for Mini, but I couldn't shoot it because it flew directly behind the lady.

After that we spent a lot of time talking about how to control Abby and keep her doing what she's been trained to do. 

We paid the bill ($3,000) and were back on the road a little after noon.

We stopped at the BBQ place and got some smoked turkey and sausage.  I'm not overly fond of their brisket.  Then we stopped at a burger place in Del Rio to pick up lunch.  The hamburgers were huge.

The rest of the trip was pretty normal.  There was a big tie up just as we got on I35.  Some asshole's van was stopped in the lane next to the fast lane.  There were also a couple of small slow downs later on.  We almost got rear ended at one.  I almost hit someone at another where they slammed on their brakes in front of me.

We got cheap gas at the HEB in Kyle on the way home.  We were home by 3:30.

The cats are thrilled to have the dog back.  Devon is still hissing at Cooper.  They both hid in the bedroom.

Abby is REALLY happy to be home.  She kept switching between laps all night whie we watched videos.