It's finally happened!!!!!

Yep....22 days off the trap, and it happened!!!! No, we didn't catch a rabbit, which is what one would expect after this amount of time......no, I'm talking about getting our first hop :). Yep, that's right....it took her TWENTY TWO DAYS to loose weight, so we have just been twiddling our thumbs, and playing the waiting game. She started "acting" like she was ready to do some work a few days ago, but it took up until this morning, before she made the leap. It was all over after that though, and the light bulb came on! Had another quick session at noon, and I had instant response the whole time. I didn't even give her the opportunity to start hesitating, and put her back out to weather after four leash length hops. Gathered her up for another session around 4:30 this afternoon, and we stayed outside for this round. I only need the bird hopping the distance from the lure to my fist, so I keep the "calling to the fist" portion of training short. We did 15 or so 5 to 8 yard flights on the creance, and she was instant the whole time! Flying to the fist....CHECK! On to the next stage of training!!!! Introduced the lure to her, and she did well! I had to fiddle it around with my fingers a little bit, but she eventually jumped down to it. She got a front leg for her effort, and hopped back to her perch immediately when finished. I left it out there for another hour or so afterwards, just to make sure it was out of mind, and then I took her inside for the night. We will do calls to the lure the rest of the week (hopping from the lure to the fist to end each session), and unless something crazy happens, I'm aiming for our first hunt to be on Saturday. Of course, behavior will have the final say, but I'm thinking it will happen. We are FINALLY moving! :). Now, we just have to hope that she didn't get too out of shape, during her three weeks of rest and relaxation.........I wish I got a three week vacation from life :). You can only look at so many pictures of a bird sitting on a perch, so instead, I added a picture of Ryan's dog (Lu Lu) doing what she does best.......sure is an ugly thing, isn't she ;)!!!!!!
-D-