This brings me to what you said about the height and density of the cover. A good cooperative versatile gun dog will close in when the cover is dense and will reach out farther when the cover is low and sparse. Emi is doing this. But she carried it a little too far by staying too close to you.

Partly this is lack of self-confidence so she wants to maintain contact with you. She needs to know exactly where you are to bolster her confidence.

When she has another dog to follow it is not so important to her to know where you are, but without another dog she needs you to depend on. This too will change as she gets more self-confidence.

Another thing that could have influenced her is being hacked in. You said you shock her when she gets out too far. She is a sensitive dog so she will quickly pick up on the fact that if she loses contact with you she will get a shock.

In the heavy cover she can't be far from you or she will lose visual contact so she stays very close. By going to an open area you allowed her to go out farther because you could see her and she could see you so she did go out.

I think you have an exceptional dog. She will gain self-confidence as she is allowed to run alone without another dog to follow. So my advice is to just keep working her in the open areas for a bit and then gradually get into increasingly heavier cover. She will make the transition and hopefully will keep closing in as the cover gets heavier, but not be walking by your knee.

Final Response: I would like to clarify the shocking part of Emi's training. I have trained her to the whistle, to which she responds extremely well. The only time that she gets a shock is when she ranges to the point that it is difficult to hear her beeper and she is not responding to the whistle or when it appears she is running into danger such as running onto a road. I am a big believer in praise versus other training techniques.

I ran her this past Sunday (last day of pheasant season here in Ohio) in a tall grassy area (just a little over ankle high) and I didn't think she would ever stop working. She was ranging far and wide with no apprehension at all. She would even move into some of the taller grass without coaxing. All in all, it seems that in the long run I was worried about nothing--she has made the transition you predicted.

Problem: I have hunted bird dogs for over 50 years and am baffled by the behavior of my seven- year-old English setter. She is a good bird dog that in all other ways can do it all. She honors, points, backs, retrieves. The problem I have with her is she seems to be directional in hearing when I blow my whistle.

I work her with a whistle and a beeper collar. If she cannot see me she acts confused and will lie down or just stand in place. I have to go to get her.

As soon as she sees me she will usually come to me but I have had to actually walk right to her. Continuing to just blow the whistle does not work. At other times she will come to me on command immediately from 100 yards. I would appreciate your input on this behavior.