Gundog training

[Spudlet]

Just wondering about taking Henry for gundog training and wondered what would be involved?

He loves to track things down and find things so I think he might enjoy it. He also chases alot (bunnies, cats, squirrels and gamebirds - fortunately sheep seem to scare him!) at the moment, and I was hoping that if I could teach him to flush properly it might help to channel these instincts... he is getting faster every day and I'm a bit worried for the local cat population!

I have never done anything like this so have no idea what would be involved, the cost, what he would need to know in terms of basic obediance etc.

 

[Woody78]

My daughter has booked her lab onto this! The website should give you a pretty good idea of what is involved.

www.thegundogclub.co.uk

Then go to training/courses

Hope this helps!

 

[Ravenwood]

The most important thing in Gundog training is the recall and stop whistle - its fundamentally the basis to all the rest of it!

Does he recall to the whistle (or even to voice for a start as its easy to introduce the whistle), if so your next step is to teach him the stop whistle.

Try and find out if there are any Gundog Clubs in your area (bound to be one!) and give the secretary a ring, they are usually very helpful and welcome new members - go along to a training session (all going on this time of year) and see what you think.

There are loads of good books and videos around too.

Good luck

 

[Spudlet]

He recalls to the whistle 90% of the time - the rest of the time it's a bit slow but I do get him back eventually!

When he does put birds up, most of the time he stops dead on his own when the bird flies, which I thought was the right thing to do but have no clue on how to train this or whether it was actually right or not...

Will have to make some phone calls and do some googling, it's just tricky with not knowing his history - I don't know if he's done this before or if he's too set in his ways...

 

[Ravenwood]

Thats really good that he stops when he flushes birds

I bet it will be easy to train him to the stop whistle then