Dex89

I haven't got a book just yet but I've been reading a bit more on the forum and looking on youtube. I am tempted by the pet gundog and advanced pet gundog books I've seen on Amazon.

So I have an update, after getting back in touch with the previous owner. It turns out he knows more than I realised. I've bought a whistle and 1lb canvas dummy. He has been doing marked retrieve, memory and blind retrieving. And has been doing it well. I've been told he is trained on the whistle but I've not had much success yet. Perhaps he is used to a 210.5 where as I have a 211.5, I'm not sure. And he will apparently hunt and retrieve from water and retrieve fur and feather dummies although I've not tried this with him yet. With this in mind we have plenty to practice and perhaps when the lockdown eases the focus should be on checking if his gun shy or not apparently he is fine with gunshot at a distance. Certainly the fireworks at new years didn't bother him.

👍 thanks again for the advice

Thanks snow white. Where/why do you still them? Do you arrange and secure the feathers together first then glue them onto brass ends or do it as you go?

I'm looking for some advice from anyone who may have made cufflinks from used cartridges and buttonholes using cartridges and feathers. There doesn't appear to be any guides online that I can find. I want to make these for my wedding and thought it would be nice to use cartridges and feathers that I have shot rather than to buy them. I'm assuming you must by cufflink blanks, use epoxy to fill the space in the brass and glue the blanks on? And similar to attach a pin for a buttonhole. Not sure how to secure the feathers together though?

Thanks for the replies and advice. As I'll mainly be doing rough shooting I would ideally like him to hunt and retrieve but I realise the former is the speciality of the spaniel. As long as we can both be safe and enjoy a few hours out in the countryside shooting achieving the basics that a gundog should then I'll be happy and anything additional would be a bonus. I don't think I'll have any issue keeping him within range as on walks he doesn't venture far from me in fact the opposite might be the issue as he tends to stick right by my side. Hopefully an 'old' dog can learn new tricks

Hi all, I have recently got a 5 year old lab. He is very well trained with basic obedience (sit, stay, heel etc) and is fairly steady. However, I wish to take him rough shooting and I have no idea where to start, I am new to owning and training dogs. Most of the articles I can find online are focused on puppies and what to achieve rather than how to achieve it. To get me started I am wondering what I should focus on first? Should I train him on a whistle, get him retrieving, introduce him to gunfire. And then with dummies there seems to be so many options so I don't know which I should get? What weight, colour, with or without a pelt etc. Any advice would be really appreciated. Thanks