straightbarrel

There may be trouble ahead!

Very nice.

Any news?

This might be worth a phone call. http://www.rytexgundogs.com/for_sale.htm Click on springers next to the cocker for sale. This is the sire of the litter at 9 months old. Now a FTCh. Good luck.

No mate, after reading the post again and thinking about it, I thought you were probably being modest. Is it worth steadying her a bit more with maybe a mate firing dummies around her with you in close on her, so if she shows any signs of moving you can correct her? Or back to basics with the steadiness stuff, sitting the dog up and you stand between her and the object you throw for her to retrieve, once thrown, send her then whistle her to stop before she gets past you on the way to the retrieve, if she does'nt plonk her backside down on the whistle, she is within grasp, take her back to the spot you blew her to stop and sit her back up then repeat. I would only be tempted to take the dog anywhere near a pen if the dog was 100% on this.

If that has worked for you then great, something for Dm to try out. I'm suprised your dog associated walking back a few paces with correction for squeaking, after being told to heel. No doubt it would have given it something else to focus on but as a long term fix? I hope it helps the guy. Darren m , you are talking about the way you behave with her at home and the way you behave with her when working as two seperate things all together, when you say you will 'only make a fuss of her at home' then go on to say- 'in the field though, I'm wondering what to do there?' I would be trying to keep her as calm as possible at all times until you signal for her to start work. That means calm at home as well.IMO Good luck.

Mate, if she is only doing most things reasonably well, she will struggle with most things.

And quite right too. The dog gets on with it when the handler is ready to allow her to get on with it. As you say, just rushing her on to avoid a situation is adding fuel to the fire. Pouring water on the fire is what is needed (metaphorically speaking). Being less vocal with her at all times could help. Cast her off without speaking and greet her in the mornings calmly and without a fuss. Darren m, it has to be said mate that one of your threads last month regarding your springer chasing birds seemed to stem from the fact you were not giving the dog your full attention. Just try and concentrate on the job at hand mate and dont get distracted. keep an eye on her, recognise when she is begining to show signs of anxiety or excitement and break her train of thought, firmly.

Racist! Anyway, they're easier to find in the dark!!

Not sure about that mate. Many of natures best hunters rely on stealth and patience. Any animal that makes noises either prior to hunting or during the search, are cutting their chances of success, IMO. Darren m, if it were me, I would just try to keep things as calm as possble. In the morning I would try changing the routine, come out to the kennel, dont meet and greet, especially if the dog is excitable. Try to work out what the expectation is with her, is it seeing you and expecting a walk? Seeing you and expecting grub? Seeing you and expecting a fuss to be made, or possibly all three? I would go out same time, potter around, if she squeaks, immediately get up close to the situation and shush her, try to snap her out of it midway through the sqeak if possible. Go away after 5 or 10 mins then come back and go over the same thing,when you get to the stage of coming out to the kennel and she is quiet, make sure you reward her, let her out, only when she is quiet and dont fuss over her just be matter of fact about it. No magic wand mate but I'm sure someone will be able to add some ideas that might help also. Good luck.

How do you go about letting her out of the kennel in the mornings? Is she greeted with excitment, lots of verbals from yourself, food, lots of fuss? How do you cast her off to start working?

The first few months conditioning can mostly be done around the garden, just a few mins every day or so. keeping the pup close to you can be done around the house if he is going to be a house dog. Just basic conditioning although very important IMO. Getting a pup now would mean when he reaches the actual proper training stage at 5 or 6 months, you will be into the better weather and longer nights, not that you need long nights to train a gundog, half hour a day is ample for directional training with the rest of you time spent together just conditioning. The warmer the better for water-work though to begin with.

The commands sound a bit disjointed to me mate and possibly confusing for the dog but maybe not? If I were you I would get him retrieving up a narrow alley with very little room either side and spread yourself open when he returns with the dummy. keep on with it for a few sessions and see how he goes. Move to a slightly wider place for the next sessions, again, see how he goes and if all is ok try him again, moving into wider areas slowly until you are back to open fields. Get him into the habit of returning straight back to you and reward him for it. Why dont you just sit him up on returning with the dummy?

I'm sorry, I cant concentrate on this thread after reading this line next to Evil Elvis' avitar. Sorry.

You could always keep the pup and the cross Lab...get rid of the wife! Just let them sort it out in their own way IMO. One thing I would say in response to an earlier post, if you walk the dogs together, a previous poster mentions it will help with the recall, true to some degree but if the Lab cross' recall is not 100%, this might cause you one or two problems with the pup.

He's got that stance allll wrong!

Gerri Halliwell for me Old Spice.

Where do you get em then?

Quite right, they are a reflectinon of society and the nanny state. Do-gooders rule this country now mate, do-gooders and foreigners!

Mate, your dog has aged 1 month today? It was 13 months this morning in your welcome intro?

Ha ha very good!

What complete and utter rubbish. First of all, if you dont want to "pry", dont! He is going to be or is working as a gamekeeper, it's not a dog to cuddle up to next to the fire mate it's a working dog, a tool of his trade! Why should his social life suffer? Work through the day...with working dog, kennel at night? Up in the morning feed it, water it, off to work? If you would hate someone pointing this out to you, as you have stated, why point it out to him? "Not fair on him or the dog", what??? The dog is sitting on death row with no hope at all at the moment, the 18 year old colledge trained gamekeeper is looking for a gundog, a working dog, there is every chance this dog could be what he is looking for, just what is the problem? The blokes question was not...'should I get a dog?' his question was- 'good or bad idea getting a lab from the RSPCA?'.

Who are you to say whether or not this adult needs a dog or not? He is looking for a dog so my guess is he feels he needs one! He's a grown man, not a child! The guy is asking if it's a good idea getting a rescue dog as a rough dog, not whether you think he should get a dog or not. The majority...yes majority, of people buying gundogs do so without any knowledge of hip scores and other health issues. That is fact, like it or not.The vast majority of working dogs in this country are not tested. In other words,the vast majority of people buying these dogs have no idea if they have a dog fit for purpose long term or not.My earlier posts highlighted the fact he would be better off asking someone with experience to assess the dog with him, and if need be, once the dog was starting to look the part, hip score it, if this would put his mind at rest.Problems with behaviour etc are problems that can spring up in any dog, they are often manageable. Take the dog, have it vet checked if need be, although I understand RSPCA dogs are given a once over anyway,, give it a few weeks of your time, once you are confident it will come up to scratch, do all the tests you want. I have to say though, the majority of people buying a pup would not go through all this once their pup is up to scratch.