quartering

[darren m]

just want to know when quartering should be taught and how do you go about it .

 

my springer pup will free hunt with her tail going like mad if she finds a scent , but sometimes she goes out too far from me , shes 8 months old , theres no style to it as yet - is she still too young learn ?

 

Also - when quartering how far in front do you want your dog , i,ve seen videos of them at the feet almost of the handler and at a distance on some.

 

thanks again

[Al Downie]

You can start them at pretty much any age, as long as you can keep the dog close to you. If that's difficult, use a 30ft long cord leash and collar, so you can let the dog hunt around without fear of it running off. Start by just walking very slowly to and fro, in the same pattern that you eventually want the dog to hunt by itself, and make it seem like a game, whispering ("Whassat! Whassat!") and pointing very close into bits of cover that you pass, right at your feet. If you're lucky the dog will race enthusuastically into all these bits of cover to see what you've found. I used to secretly hide tennis balls, dummies, or even wee biscuits in *some* of the bits of cover I knew I'd walk past - I think this is helpful because in time the dog will start to learn that you know where stuff might be hiding, or have fallen, and it'll look to you for instructions iin future. Every time you change direction, give a quiet signal (one or two short pips) with the whistle, and the dog should turn with you and stick close. Then it's just practice practice practice! Eventually, you can shorten the length of the sideways pattern that you walk, but let the dog extend just a couple of yards out to the side before you whistle and turn towards the other side. And gradually reduce your own sideways wandering even further, until the dog is doing all the work by himself but still hunting 'with you' rather than independently.

 

For trialling etc, you want the dog to be ranging about 5m out to the sides, but not much more than a couple of metres in front of you. I think the best way to stop the dog from ranging too far is just to walk super-slowly - if you don't give the dog enough time to hunt thoroughly, and it sees that you're getting ahead, it'll race ahead to get back in front of you. Take it easy, and make the dog think you're a partner, rather than a competitor in a race! Keep it close, so you can hammer down on any bad habits or mistakes you see.

 

If you take the dog beating (especially in woodland drives), all of the above will probably go to pot because you'll be expected to sweep a much wider area, and the dog will have to range further than you might like. It's a very different game! You don't need to worry about stye and details so much, but the 'trust' between dog and handler has to be 100%. It's a totally nerve-wracking moment, the first time you let your dog off the lead in a woodland stocked with game! Something to look forward to!

[darren m]

thanks Al - thats a pretty good explanation

how far in yards would you walk to and fro ( with dog on the long line ) before changeing direction , and giving it 2 peeps and a tug

 

thanks

[Al Downie]

Hi,

 

Walk just as far as you want the dog to go once he's doing it on his own - at the beginning I'd just walk 3m out to the right, pip-pip and turn back, and walk about 6m in the other direction, so that you're going out 3m to each side of your 'line'. Once the dog starts to get the hang of it, keep doing the same but let the dog go out an extra couple of metres on each side, so that his range is 5m from your line. And after that, keep the dog operating at that kind of range, but shorten your own range so you're pretty much sticking to the line.

 

Two other things are worth mentioning -

 

1) Whan I started training my dog, I'd read advice like I've just written above, and follow it religiously, and if it didn't start showing good results in a matter of days I'd get really frustrated and assume that I must be doing something wrong OR my dog was ****. Neither is true, of course - there are just some things that take a long time. You'll not see anything 'click', but one day you'll take stock and realise that the dog is MUCH better than it was six months ago, and realise that patience and perseverance are the way to go.

 

2) Although you want your dog to range out to 5m on each side, you need to remember that it has to hunt all the ground within that 10m range. A lot of dogs (my own included) will often race out to 5m, hear the pip, then turn around and race to 5m on the other side, and so on, especially if there's not much scent around. Keep encouraging your dog to explore stuff around your feet, and try not to let it whizz past any cover without checking it out.

 

3) I forgot a really important bit! The direction of the wind! It's MUCH easier to train quartering into the wind. If the wind's behind you, the dog will tend to go too far out in front, and if there's a crosswind he'll hunt better on one side than the other.