My 24 yr old son, Trax and I took Boris and Bully out Saturday, up a
valley nearly to the top of a mountain and back. No ptarmigan nor
bunnies or hares at all which is very unusual! We fired the 12 gauge
6 times with a few seconds in intervals as the boys were used to the
sound of a 22 already. No fear or nervousness from Boris (longhair)
at all:)

Bully became just a bit nervous the 5-6th shots so we waited till
halfway down the draw and fired twice more, my son firing down next to
the creek and I up on the hillside w/the boys. They were 20-30 feet
away from me, searching and came right to me, so it was a very good
start with the noisy 12 gauge.

Bully (shorthair) is now 2 years old and does a fine job of searching
for game in front, close, too. Boris is just 9 months as of the 21st
Sept., so he's still not matured enough to search as well but his
total lack of fear and his eyes/nose work are hand in hand, just not
leaving his mama (me, not his dam) enough yet. He just began
venturing farther from me the weekend prior so he's venturing into
that phase, too.

I believe if we could have produced game Bully would have dropped his
uneasiness but we are still to prove that...they will not honor each
other's retrieve, but both strong retrievers to hand so much work
needs to be done separately and together to ensure two don't deliver
to hand the one bird!