Iaindp Posted December 19, 2008 Report Share Posted December 19, 2008 Hi All, I have a one year old ESS dog. He seems to be coming on fine considering my lack of experience in training (he's my first dog). He responds perfectly to the hand, voice or whistle when we're indoors. In the garden he's almost as good and he'll be perfect if he thinks he's getting a treat. He will sit, stay, walk to heel, stop, come back, go left, right or back at distance, retreive from open ground, thick brush or water. I have resisted the temptation to take him in the field so far but when I've had a walk in the fields with him and shot the odd pigeon, he has retreived to hand, after a bit of persuasion. He'll also retreive cold game that I bring home after a shoot day. As he responds to whistle, voice or hand instructions - I know that he knows exactly what I'm asking him to do. However as soon as he gets the scent of game, there's nothing I can do to call him back, get him walking to heel etc - he's straight off - which is really frustrating as I know he knows what my instructions mean. This is why I wouldn't take him on a shoot day just yet as he'd clear three or four drives at once! Is this charging off something that he'll grow out of, and the reason why everyone says not to take the a dog out into the field too early? Gun dog people I've spoken to so far, and who have seen what he can do, think that he'll calm down and that he'll become steadier as he gets older. Their advice is just to keep doping what I'm doing and the rest will come. He will also go charging off if he hears me closing my gun, generally to find the bird even though I've not even taken a shot. I think I might be getting this out of him by getting him to sit beside me with a leaf on, treading on the lead and saying "stay" as I close the gun. He also goes charging off if I take a shot, looking for the bird (which under normal circumstances has just flown on!) and he will also chase birds that he's flushed. All advice welcome! Cheers Iain Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WGD Posted December 19, 2008 Report Share Posted December 19, 2008 I've got one the same so you have my sympathy, you never know the minute she will "do one" and go deaf whilst heading 100mph away from me Only thing you can do... stop whistle, stop whistle, stop whistle... in every training circumstance you can think of and until it is an automatice response from the dog... we need brakes! You should also stop letting the dog run in on shot birds (i.e. retrieve when he's told, not when he likes), stop chasing and stop going at the close of your gun... in all these situations he is getting a reward for bad behaviour. He is still young, good luck mate. WGD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stealth Stalker Posted December 20, 2008 Report Share Posted December 20, 2008 Carry on with the steadyness training mate, have you not used the blank pistol I lent you? Sit Harv beside you, on lead if you have to, sling a dummy & fire , make him sit and stay, you go & retrieve the dummy, do this 4 or 5 times before he gets his reward of the retrieve. Work like mad on the steadyness, as I told you I've made more retrieves than Molly has SS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chippy18 Posted December 20, 2008 Report Share Posted December 20, 2008 Carry on with the steadiness training mate, have you not used the blank pistol I lent you? Sit Harv beside you, on lead if you have to, sling a dummy & fire , make him sit and stay, you go & retrieve the dummy, do this 4 or 5 times before he gets his reward of the retrieve. Work like mad on the steadiness, as I told you I've made more retrieves than Molly has SS Good advice, I had the same problem with one of mine. He would clear of and no end of commands with get him back until he was ready to , which is not the idea. I started to keep him on the lead and make sit at the side of me and keep my foot on the lead and to start with i would just fire the gun. He used to keep trying to race of but he soon got fed up with me pulling him back to the sit and after a days of this he steadied up. Once he had got that i introduced a dummy and did exactly the same thing, it took a few goes at it but he eventually got it after he realised that he was nt go to retrieve until i told him. As far as the head down and not coming back bit, with mine once we had got the other sorted he just stopped doing it. Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deeksofdoom Posted December 21, 2008 Report Share Posted December 21, 2008 (edited) I have the exact same problem as you with my dog she's 14 months old. She has run amok a few times, one of the guys I beat with has advised me to do the following, as soon as the dog takes off, go after her and meet her where she least expects it, i.e. get around in front of her and correct her immediately. If she thinks that you are going to stand behind blowing your whistle she knows your not going to catch her. Also I have started working her in cover where I know I have good control of her and where I can get to her fast i.e. knee high briar's and ferns. When I get to the flushing point I put the lead on and make her sit and tell her she's a good girl while the birds are flushing. You will find that the most dangerous time is at the start of the day keep on her case and make sure she knows who's working who. Although on the plus side if she has that much fire in her belly its better than none at all, goof luck with her Edited December 21, 2008 by deeksofdoom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.