gorin Posted April 18, 2013 Report Share Posted April 18, 2013 Hi people, I Have a query in anyone can help, I have to springers, one being 10 and the other 4. Over the last few years I have go very much into shooting and love the sport. What I was wondering is are my dogs to old to train to retrieve birds, any hints and tips would be greatly appreciated Many thanks in advance Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lee-kinsman Posted April 18, 2013 Report Share Posted April 18, 2013 You might get away with training the 4 year old. You can only try and keep trying. ATB, Lee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Outlander Posted April 21, 2013 Report Share Posted April 21, 2013 You can only give it a go and see how they get on fella, you never know you might be pleasantly suprised. Outlander Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fenboy Posted April 21, 2013 Report Share Posted April 21, 2013 Worth a try , if they come from good working lines then they may have some natural instinct , try throwing the young one in at the deep end and see what happens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gorin Posted April 21, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 21, 2013 I have never trained a dog for the gun before so I'm unsure of we're to start, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fenboy Posted April 22, 2013 Report Share Posted April 22, 2013 Any training always starts with basic obedience , which at four years old your dog should have anyway . Spaniels have a natural instinct to hunt so that should not be a problem . The thing you need to work on is your dog returning to you whenever you call it . Once it will do that the work on some retrieving , using a dummy first then moving on to cold game and finishing with just shot stuff. There are plenty of books on the subject , but obviously they mostly concern training a dog from a puppy , I can recommend training spaniels by joe irving should be some on amazon or ebay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gorin Posted April 22, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 22, 2013 thanks for the replys, she is a pritty obedient dog and always comes straight back as soon as i call but my worry is she is not a very playfull dog when it comes to throwing and fetching but maybe thats cause the older dog always gets it first she maybe different out on her own i wonder i will have to get a dummy and try her, do you use any kind of scent on the dummys to get her used to the smell of the pigeons ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scotslad Posted April 22, 2013 Report Share Posted April 22, 2013 I'd try and join a local gundog training class or something if possible. Otherwise loads of books out there or even dvd's. Start with the boring stuff the basics and get ur dog used to whistle commands trying to build up to a stop command at distance no matter wot, it just takes time and perseverance It really doesn't matter wot it retrieves, wether it is a tennis ball, proper dummy or a toy(althou squeaky toy's are a no no, as could encourage to crush game, hard mouth) as long as comes straight back to u. I'm sure tere will be other threads on here covering basic training, intro to whistle and training stop commans plus intro to shot. Just take it small steps and work away Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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