What age do you start gun training

[rossymcg]

sorry for above post didnt read that pup was only 17 weeks old, play play play and sneak in the commands while the pup doesnt even realise your doing it.

[Cookie69]

While me and my 4 month old cocker have been out on our walks over the last few weeks, I have been walking a quartering pattern.

however he doesn't venture very far, in fact I normally end up tripping over him because he is right under my feet.

im not concerned with this, someone told me they would rather have it that way.

 

anyway over the last few days I have tried something different, I have thrown a dummy out while he is still attached to the lead , then released him.

it's certainly shown his natural hunting instinct and a natural quartering even if its not exactly a controlled quartering.

he is also showing an eagerness to retrieve.

 

sorry for the poor video, I hope you like the music choice? I was entertained.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=YrBzfIckSts

 

while we were out on the walk we also came across two crows on the field, when he seen them he immediately took chase.

im know were near having him trained on the stop whistle, so I gave him a recall on the whistle and he returned 1st time.

I was really pleased with that.

just one question.

I presume I should have recalled him? because we don't want our dogs chasing our quarry?

did I do right by recalling him?

 

Thanks

Paul

[B725]

Cookie I would have used the stop wistle so the dog will stop on a flush,because you do not want the dog to come back to you each time some thing get's up.You did the best thing you can as only you know how far on you are with the dog's training.

[pigeon-hunter]

I now have my little Casper, been asleep most of the day, on me lol

[Cookie69]

I now have my little Casper, been asleep most of the day, on me lol

 

may you have many years of joy

[pigeon-hunter]

may you have many years of joy

Thanks tried attaching picture but it just keeps saying file to big

[Cookie69]

Thanks tried attaching picture but it just keeps saying file to big

 

if your using photobucket you should be able to adjust the size?

[pigeon-hunter]

if your using photobucket you should be able to adjust the size?

No I'm just doing it on my iPad

[Cookie69]

Pigeon-hunter here you are

 

he is a cracker good luck with him

 

Paul

 

 

 

 

[pigeon-hunter]

Thanks mate

 

Jamie

[Greenhorn]

I,m a complete novice, but I was so proud of my spaniel when she never flinch first time under the gun 2 Sundays ago she is 9 months old. We went roost shooting, the pigeon I shot she went and found them but never retrieved them. Early days I suppose. But she will retrieve a rabbit in the garden

[seph234]

Good to see you Jamie

 

 

Fern and Casper before Departing

[Greenhorn]

But my spaniel (maddy) is a bit of a pot head LOL

[pigeon-hunter]

Good to see you Jamie

 

 

Fern and Casper before Departing

Haha quality at least my jumper was hiding my second chin, lol. Good to meet u too mate stay in touch maybe get out and bash some pigeons together

[seph234]

Yeah wil do. Fern was very good on her first night with only a little whining and then slept ok.she has already taken to her duck toy.

[pigeon-hunter]

Casper was fine after half a day he was running round into everything. Last nite didn't whine at all, come down this morn and he had put everything in his bed including the water bowl. Haha, been hoovering his food down. His asleep on the missis now.

[seph234]

Make the most of the sleepy time, it wont be long before the devil wakes lol

[lozrob]

when i decided to get a working dog , i was recommended by others on here to buy the book " TRAINING SPANIELS" - written by JOE IRVING,

i have found it to be really good and it seems to be

written for people like me who have never trained a dog before.

my sprocker " BEAU " is now 8 months old and coming on really well.

I have just started to train some steadiness to the thrown dummy - early days but lots of fun.

 

get the book its helping me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[old rooster]

Picked up my new pup yesterday, looks like she has the makings of a goodun in the long term, I'll be avoiding the mistakes I made with the last one and hopefully ending up with a better finished worker.

 

I reckon you can start with the training at a very young age, at least by introducing the basic idea of throwing something and encouraging the pup to bring it back. The newbie, did that first day, no pressure on her, I just rolled a tennis ball down the hall and tapped my hand on the carpet to get her attention when she got to the ball. Picked it up and brought it straight back to hand first time! Didn't want to make it boring for the pup so just did it a few times then let her play.

 

She went out on the grass in the back garden and had a good run about, I let her go off a bit then whistled her and she came straight back and sat by my feet, tried that one a couple of times to see if it was just a fluke but she did the same again so quite encouraging.

 

One of the worst things people do is over walk young pups, times I've seen folks with pups obviously no more than a few months old miles from anywhere walking them, it will give joint problems later in life. We have a handy big garden and paddock so the pup won't have to walk or play on hard surfaces, plenty of space to run about and later do some more detailed training.

 

When you look at how some professionally trained dogs react to their handlers at game fairs you can see they've had a hard training regime and seem a bit cowed, IMHO if you are training a dog for yourself it is far better to take your time and treat it kindly. You can get just as good results and a happier dog at the end of it.

 

We called this one "Pip" she came from Elby on PW and is going to be a little cracker!

[pigeon-hunter]

Picked up my new pup yesterday, looks like she has the makings of a goodun in the long term, I'll be avoiding the mistakes I made with the last one and hopefully ending up with a better finished worker.

I reckon you can start with the training at a very young age, at least by introducing the basic idea of throwing something and encouraging the pup to bring it back. The newbie, did that first day, no pressure on her, I just rolled a tennis ball down the hall and tapped my hand on the carpet to get her attention when she got to the ball. Picked it up and brought it straight back to hand first time! Didn't want to make it boring for the pup so just did it a few times then let her play.

She went out on the grass in the back garden and had a good run about, I let her go off a bit then whistled her and she came straight back and sat by my feet, tried that one a couple of times to see if it was just a fluke but she did the same again so quite encouraging.

One of the worst things people do is over walk young pups, times I've seen folks with pups obviously no more than a few months old miles from anywhere walking them, it will give joint problems later in life. We have a handy big garden and paddock so the pup won't have to walk or play on hard surfaces, plenty of space to run about and later do some more detailed training.

When you look at how some professionally trained dogs react to their handlers at game fairs you can see they've had a hard training regime and seem a bit cowed, IMHO if you are training a dog for yourself it is far better to take your time and treat it kindly. You can get just as good results and a happier dog at the end of it.

We called this one "Pip" she came from Elby on PW and is going to be a little cracker!

Looks lovely, I know les cracking guy, my little man is doing really well on retrieving, iv rolled his little tennis ball in the kitchen 6/7times in a row without me saying anything he came straight back to me. Just about got there with house training, crate training was never a problem once I put him in it, by the time I got upstairs he stopped his whinging. Highs mastered sit, ie for dinner and when his done his business outside come in the back door, and he waits for his treat, say sit and his straight down.