rabbit pen

[darren m]

As anyone within 20 miles of nottinghamshire ng12 got a rabbit pen i could use.

 

bitch is coming along fine ( so i thought ), now just turned 2yrs

 

anyway in training shes great , but when out beating she gets ahead of herself , shes only doing whats natural but i need her to be steadier when we come across game.

 

if she flushes she,ll watch the bird away but if it dont get off the ground straight away she,ll give chase.

Also if she catches a scent she,ll go up a gear or two and be away hunting faster than i can run her down

 

i want her to find the game flush it then leave it and touch base with me , been going over and over the same thing with her for months now.

so i,m thinking the only way i can replicate this with game ie fur and feather is in a pen.

 

what do you think.

 

ps, before everyone says stop whistle , in training shes very good , the real thing not so good

[WGD]

I've got one here just now the same, if I took her out and demo'd her to you using dummies and gameless cover I could sell you her for a couple of grand, if I showed you her in the beating line I would need to give you a couple of grand to take her away

 

It needs to be a gradual introduction to game for a dog like this, going from training ground to the beating line just isn't going to work and IMO a rabbit pen will be of limited use also. You need to get the dog out and working on game with other people and dogs around, small rough shoots or walked up days where you are not shooting and where it will not be frowned upon if you do a bit of training/correction on the day. The dog needs her experience built up, rather than just saying, right that's her trained lets go beating.

[Spaniel]

We have just started simulated training sessions, where we are working a couple of dogs at a time and we then simulate a shot,well actually we fire a shot and either provide the dogs with a blind dummy or pigeon retrieve etc

we are training on some good scented ground with the odd rabbit flushing.

Really enjoyed the session and a deffinate move forward from just throwing dummies around.

[pegleg31]

you don't need a rabbit pen to simulate game.

 

you do however need to have some live game to hand.partridge,feral pigeon and quail(hence my thread) all fit nicely into a game bag.

 

 

work your dog over an area as you would while hunting.let them hunt some cover a couple of times as they move to the other side throw what game you have into the cover.the bird will hold as it's in cover.work your dog back into the cover and hey presto you have a flush.plus you're learning your dog to trust you.

 

let your dog flush the bird and then sit it up.at this stage you can bring a friend in to shoot for you so you have total control over the dog and not distracted by the shooting.

 

if you choose to shoot aswell it's also a good idea to let a few get away so you dog learns that not everything shot at is hit and it needs to carry on hunting.

 

as for a rabbit pen i'm working on getting one for training purposes,a littlle wood(about 2 acre's) has just fell through on me but i have a couple more places to look at.i'll let you know when i have one

 

hope this helps

 

russ

[garyb]

All sound advice...

 

I too have had problems going from "training" to field... they just seem to find another gear despite how good they "seemed" on the training field.

 

For example - Just this week we've started having a problem with running in to fall... Now this dog is very steady and stops to shot and stop whistle whilst training, but live game falling just excites him too much!

 

All last week I spent doing dummy & starting pistol training, along with dummy launcher work... and he was as steady as a rock. Great I thought!

 

Took him out on a very small walked up day on the Saturday and again... he just sat and marked birds without running in.. great - problem fixed (I hoped) - Anyway Sunday saw us going pigeon shooting, and we were back to running in to fall again

 

My plan now is to train with a friend, where by I will hunt him up a hedge with my gun... Unknown to the dog my friend will be hidden in the hedge and will throw a pigeon out some 40 yards up (I will follow it with a shot) the theory being, if he runs in my friend will be able to beat him to the fall and pick the bird before he gets chance.

 

With this I hope he will learn that running into fall gets him nothing other than dragged back to the spot where he should have stopped.

 

We could train with dummies but I know he will be 100%

 

Dogs... don't you just love them!

[Spaniel]

I need to get my hands on some pigeons, thats live ones, only want a couple any ideas where i can get some from

[pegleg31]

try giving some pest controllers a ring near you to see i they live catch ferals

[garyb]

I always thought training on ground game (rabbits) gave the best steadiness..

 

Afterall your dog knows he can't catch birds on the wing - but he might have half a chance with a bolting rabbit?

 

Live Rabbit's are obviously easily obtained by feretting or pets at home

[Spaniel]

i think the saying goes, train on fur and should be steady on feather.....

only probs are the rabbits move so fast in the cover most of the time the dogs dont even know they are there, where a pigeon walking around in front of them is a different story