Season has started! Whos picking up or beating?

Hormonal Filly

Hormonal Filly

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Our first day is this Saturday. Boyfriend is a keeper so have been helping feed for several months now.

I'll be stood back picking up with my young spaniel.. won't do to much as hes just recovered from a torn ligament so only a few retrieves. Hes keen as anything so might keep him on a lead to be safe. Possibly have his lab with me as well, she knows her job so no worries there.

I just love working the dogs, seeing them on their toes, the noise of the birds dropping and the dogs marking them awaiting that command. They live for it. Although I love walking through the door of the pub at the end of the day for a nice warm dinner and a pint of coke (or hot chocolate when its freezing out) mmmmm

Not excited for the farrier at 7am Saturday morning before we leave.. going to be knackered. Ahhhh.

Anyone else pick up or beat? or shoot?
 
Am not doing anything this season:( but OH does a lot of shooting, is off to Yorkshire soon.
I have beaten and picked up previously, great day out.
Our Lab has decided to cut out the middle men and mouth\chew game instead, so she is relegated to being a beating dog, when OH is not away.
 
islander said:
Our Lab has decided to cut out the middle men and mouth\chew game instead, so she is relegated to being a beating dog, when OH is not away.
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Oh no, its interesting how some suddenly start doing that. How old is she? Try and find a local shoot - you might be able to go along beating. Its all a good laugh! There is a group on Facebook aimed at finding shoots for beaters and pickers up if you are looking!
 
Our Lab has a brilliant nose (she is 5 now) and should be at the peak of her working life. It seems she gets too excited, she retrieves to hand but is mouthing as she does it. She has also started to pounce on and kill game and rabbits if she can get to them in the hedges:mad: so not a reliable gundog any more unfortunately. Her dam was excellent but latterly started to mouth game too, so was retired. OH has bred and trained many Labs and says it is almost impossible to train out.
 
It’s a bit of a sad time for me as my old lab won’t come out this year - he has really deteriorated, but he is now 14. He managed a few very light duty picking up days last year as a 13yo.

I got a 5yo cocker spaniel this summer, ex-worker, but now the pheasants have been released around us it’s becoming clearer the reason for ‘ex’ 🙈. I have a feeling she will spend a fair bit of time on lead ....
 
My parents' next door neighbours have been going beating for years, and this year have asked OH if he would like to go too. I'm sure he'll love every second!
 
ihatework said:
It’s a bit of a sad time for me as my old lab won’t come out this year - he has really deteriorated, but he is now 14. He managed a few very light duty picking up days last year as a 13yo.

I got a 5yo cocker spaniel this summer, ex-worker, but now the pheasants have been released around us it’s becoming clearer the reason for ‘ex’ 🙈. I have a feeling she will spend a fair bit of time on lead ....
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Oh no.. sorry to hear that about your lab. Amazing age though!

Haha.. 'ex worker' part made me laugh.. was she from a rescue center? Often hear of gundog trainers who train a dog and it fails the standards so they give it away for rehoming. My cocker is mad.. sometimes I feel like giving agility a go and giving up on the gundog side of it but he just loves it so much!
 
I can't wait! I pick up three days a week from the end of the month until the 1st Feb. God willing and dogs staying sound. I only have two dogs that can come out regularly and Tawny usually manages to go lame and/or injure herself a couple of times through the season. OH also, very selfishly, likes to work his own dog so when he goes he nicks one.
Brandy is 11 this year and is now very badly behaved, she is a good game finder but has got very independent. She is always supposed to not come to the big days, but then Tawny goes lame and I load her up again. The worst thing is she can't jump in and out of the pick up any more so on the two shoots that I drive myself I have to lift her in and out and she is really too heavy.
 
islander said:
Our Lab has a brilliant nose (she is 5 now) and should be at the peak of her working life. It seems she gets too excited, she retrieves to hand but is mouthing as she does it. She has also started to pounce on and kill game and rabbits if she can get to them in the hedges:mad: so not a reliable gundog any more unfortunately. Her dam was excellent but latterly started to mouth game too, so was retired. OH has bred and trained many Labs and says it is almost impossible to train out.
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Pen is the same if she gets excited, I have to make sure I keep her head up as she comes towards me, she will mouth if she lowers her head. She gets better after the first day.
My brother shoots at Water Priory - does your OH go up to there?
 
ihatework said:
It’s a bit of a sad time for me as my old lab won’t come out this year - he has really deteriorated, but he is now 14. He managed a few very light duty picking up days last year as a 13yo.

I got a 5yo cocker spaniel this summer, ex-worker, but now the pheasants have been released around us it’s becoming clearer the reason for ‘ex’ 🙈. I have a feeling she will spend a fair bit of time on lead ....
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Oh go on, you can fix it. :-) (Says she who was completely overcome by the one spaniel she owned!)
 
druid said:
We are America this season, already run our first USA trial and got an award. Also been Grouse hunting in the Adirondacks
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What an amazing opportunity. How have the spaniels adapted? (Obviously pretty well if you have got an award!).
 
Clodagh said:
I pick up three days a week from the end of the month until the 1st Feb.
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Wow... 3 days a week! Do you take holiday for it? I'd love to do that, and was offered to pick up on a commercial shoot locally (and paid £45 a day!) but my spaniel injured himself so thought i'd give it a miss. It was a week day and was planing on taking that day off every week.

islander said:
Our Lab has a brilliant nose (she is 5 now) and should be at the peak of her working life. It seems she gets too excited, she retrieves to hand but is mouthing as she does it. She has also started to pounce on and kill game and rabbits if she can get to them in the hedges:mad: so not a reliable gundog any more unfortunately. Her dam was excellent but latterly started to mouth game too, so was retired. OH has bred and trained many Labs and says it is almost impossible to train out.
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I was talking to my OH about this last night and our lab actually occasionally does this.. shes 6 now and we find after the first drive shes much better. Its definitely got worse as shes got older and I'm sure its related to the fact shes done 5 seasons now and has had a lot of runners!

rosemary28 said:
He is really looking forward to it. He wanted to go last year but previous job meant he was working every time they went out!
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Do post some photos.. sounds amazing. Maybe we should have a thread related to working dogs and photos from our days!

druid said:
We are America this season, already run our first USA trial and got an award. Also been Grouse hunting in the Adirondacks
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America.. wow! Are USA trials ran any differently? Sounds amazing.. can't imagine it was simple getting the dogs over there!
 
ForbiddenHorse said:
Wow... 3 days a week! Do you take holiday for it? I'd love to do that, and was offered to pick up on a commercial shoot locally (and paid £45 a day!) but my spaniel injured himself so thought i'd give it a miss. It was a week day and was planing on taking that day off every week.
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Yes, I use most of my annual leave. I get quite a lot anyway, and take it day by day. In summer I am super flexible so my boss repays the favour in winter! He is in line for a promotion, I hope my new one is as nice to me. :-) . I also swap shifts where I can, it is a bit of a juggling act.
 
maisie06 said:
Hopefully getting the young Cocker out at the end of the month, I have also picked up a springer pup!!
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Oh thats exciting.. good luck with the cocker!
Mine is either amazing or a sh*t.. yesterday he was hunting some land and done so so well. I thought all the birds had gone, but he flushed one partridge and banggg he was gone. Hes only 2, so makes mistakes but goh hes a stubborn hard bugger. The worst thing was he done it in front of my boyfriend whos a keeper and the 2 other keepers at his shoot.. oops.
 
ForbiddenHorse said:
Oh thats exciting.. good luck with the cocker!
Mine is either amazing or a sh*t.. yesterday he was hunting some land and done so so well. I thought all the birds had gone, but he flushed one partridge and banggg he was gone. Hes only 2, so makes mistakes but goh hes a stubborn hard bugger. The worst thing was he done it in front of my boyfriend whos a keeper and the 2 other keepers at his shoot.. oops.
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One thing you can be sure of - when you are completely out of sight your dog will perform retrieve of the decade (or flush) and will be totally perfect. The size of the crime is always proportional to the number of people watching.:D.
 
Clodagh said:
One thing you can be sure of - when you are completely out of sight your dog will perform retrieve of the decade (or flush) and will be totally perfect. The size of the crime is always proportional to the number of people watching.:D.
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Oh for sure.. he seems to put on a show! He was doing SO SO well before hand too when no one was watching, I was kicking myself for not calling him in and finishing that moment before but had no idea a partridge was hidden on open land. He has a thing for partridge, not sure if its the noise they make as they fly.. but hes worse for those than anything else.
I hope by the end of this season hes improved and he isn't known for being the little ginger prat! :p
 
I'm a bit late to this thread but just had to tell you how proud I am of The Yellow Peril who did her first official working day yesterday, beating. I was very nervous because she is only two and a half years old, and was only introduced to the gun 15 months ago. She has gone from a gun shy trembling dog to a confident competent pet working dog. She was, according to OH, bl**dy brilliant. She didn't run through, didn't get silly, came to heel each time she was called, sat quietly at the end of the 4 drives and had as much energy at the end of the day as at the beginning. She covered 16 miles and never put a paw wrong. She also picked up duck, partridge and pheasant that fell out of reach of the pickers up (at least that's how I understand it). She has been invited back. I am SO proud of her. 😍💞
 
Well done the Peril! Ffee came a and
Stiff Knees said:
I'm a bit late to this thread but just had to tell you how proud I am of The Yellow Peril who did her first official working day yesterday, beating. I was very nervous because she is only two and a half years old, and was only introduced to the gun 15 months ago. She has gone from a gun shy trembling dog to a confident competent pet working dog. She was, according to OH, bl**dy brilliant. She didn't run through, didn't get silly, came to heel each time she was called, sat quietly at the end of the 4 drives and had as much energy at the end of the day as at the beginning. She covered 16 miles and never put a paw wrong. She also picked up duck, partridge and pheasant that fell out of reach of the pickers up (at least that's how I understand it). She has been invited back. I am SO proud of her. 😍💞
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What a good girl. Ffee went to her first day last Saturday, just two drives a long way from the guns, and she was lovely, interested and yet calm.
 
Can’t but help think it’s ironic that we have this thread about shooting and dogs next to the fireworks should be banned one !
 
Peril was very gun shy when she first came to us but she overcame her fear very quickly and is now not the slightest bit concerned. She is such a lovely little bitch, so eager to please and getting wiser every day. We're really very lucky to have her. She is our Jake's ears now his hearing has gone and they love each other to bits. Peril is working again tomorrow, a shorter day than the last, and again on Tuesday. She showed no ill effects after her exertions on Wednesday but a usual day for her is around 13 miles so I didn't expect her to be stiff or sore, but was a bit worried about her feet taking a battering as a lot of the day was spent in partially felled forestry. She loves to work and was praised for her fitness and attitude. 🐾😍
 
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bonny said:
Can’t but help think it’s ironic that we have this thread about shooting and dogs next to the fireworks should be banned one !
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We have a friend whose gundog is terrified of fireworks. Seems he knows the difference. Ours never bat an eyelid at either now, but took time to get to that stage. Once Peril realised that picking up was great fun she switched off from the gunshot and focussed on the bird. She doesn't react at all to fireworks.
 
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