Finnish Spitz are bred to hunt birds and sometimes small game by treeing them. They bark and stare at their "prey" while moving their tails and essentially hypnotizing whatever it is. They do this to give the hunter time to shoot, then they get a reward once the hunter comes over to claim the kill. In groups, they have been used to hunt elk and even bear. But birds are their main thing in Finland. Here in the US, they are used for squirrel hunting, as we don't have the large types of birds that live in Finland.
That being said, my guys do their fair share of treeing birds, and especially squirrels - we don't do the shooting and killing part, though. We live outside of Houston, which is a large city. There aren't any places around here where they could really hunt. And I'm cool with that. They get rewarded for good work by getting to tree something every once and a while, especially up one of the large trees in our backyard.
Now, Pentti has a natural tendency for treeing - his positioning looks correct, he stands still and does the tail wagging thing, and his barks are clear, evenly spaced, and different from his normal barks (which is sort of how it's supposed to be). Kimma doesn't have that natural ability, though she does try.
Here's where the fun comes in. I took Kimma to Petsmart yesterday to buy some random stuff. We go in, get our things, and go to leave. But not before we've done some random training. As we're doing bits of flatwork outside, we spot a parakeet on the curb - a pretty blue one. It's not moving too much, which tells me it is probably hurt or sick, and I'm pretty sure it must have escaped the store (I don't think parakeets reside in the wilds of Houston :p). I go back in and tell one of the cashiers that it is out there. No one comes out, but we keep watch over the bird. Eventually, Kimma gets tired of just looking at it, and barks. The bird then flies and lands on top of the automatic doors.
I go back in to the store, and find another person working and tell her about the parakeet. Kimma and I go back outside to keep an eye on the bird. Kimma decides that she's had enough of being polite, so she barks at it incessantly. Then her tail goes. And by golly, the girl is "treeing" this parakeet! In good form!!!
Of course once the people from the store came out, I told her thanks, and called her off of it, and she was sort of content to watch the people catch the parakeet with a little whining. But it was still a very interesting thing to see!
Good job, Kimma :p
