Gundog training

[leon-b]

I went to a country and game fair today which was great fun, had a go at shooting a twelve bore for my first ever time at some clays, held an eagle owl and watched lots of shows, displays etc.
Now heres the questions : I go on a pheseant shoot every season and should be getting a gun in time for the up coming season , my nan has a 2 nearly 3 year old female black labrador, it has come on every shoot so far and follows me closely wherever i go but i want to train it to flush and mainly retrieve, how do i do this
i bought a dummy today at the fair which i plan to use
leon

 

[BorderReiver]

Best bet Leon,would be to ask about and see if there are any gundog training clubs near you.The guys on the shoot would know.

 

[KAE1]

For a first timer, its easier to train the dog to hunt/flush OR retrieve, though many dogs do both. I have a few good books you can borrow. Let me know when youre next out with the canoe club and I'll bring them along.

 

[leon-b]

thanks very much, we are going to cattawade on thursday
leon

 

[leon-b]

is 3 years old to old to train for a gundog or should it be fine ?
leon

 

[KAE1]

Depends on the dog in question. If it hasnt developed a hard mouth and is obedient it should be ok for picking up (retrieving). This is the way I would go for a first time trainer and a dog of that age.
try;
http://www.eastanglianlabradorretrieverclub.co.uk/

 

[leon-b]

well its quite crazy but does drop on command (usually lol) when it plays with its toys (soft ones) it just plays with it and doesnt rip it up, does this mean it wont have developed a hard mouth ?
it follows me every shoot very closely, i need to train it to stay aswell
leon

 

[davef]

you'll find it much easier to take the dog to a training class. 3yrs old is fine to start training, you might find that it'll learn some things faster than others but the key thing in either case is time and patience. You can do it from books and videos and stuff but the training classes with help a great deal, lodas of advice and assistance. Don't worry about taking a 'newbie' dog along, we all started there an even the best trained dog will play up now and then - usually when everyone is watching! I know mine do

 

[leon-b]

well the thing is i stay at my nans house say once a week if that, so i cant train everyday, next time i go round there i am going to teach it to heel and then once its got that to sit and then to stay, once ive got her to do that i will need to teachher to retrieve, i might take her to a club for that
leon

 

[leon-b]

when teaching them to retreive i saw him shooting a starting pistol and then throwing the dummy
do you need to use a starting pistol or could i use a cap gun ?
leon

 

[Jedadiah]

Hey Leon,

just thought i'd come in from a different direction. I have a little experience with obedience training and i'm lucky enough to have a 4 1/2 yr old Lab and a 4 yr old Lab. You will probably find that retrieving is a natural tendancy for your Nan's bitch if she is taught some basic obedience. She sound's like she's good at heel work but if you want her to flush and retrieve then cover the basics before trying a 'send away'. This would probably be a basic approach to flushing, just needs a little adaptation.

When 'hard mouth' is mentioned i think it is basically referring to how hrd she grips a bird or game in her mouth. As is probably obvious, the softer, the better. If she is not 'mouthing' her toy's, this should'nt be a problem.

Again, i'm not a shooting dog specialist, but if you can go to a class for a few weeks, and cover the basics, you'll probably find that your instructor can either give some tip's or point you in the right direction. The dog's really enjoy class's and getting to know the other dog's. Mine love the obedience and agility and really work hard. Oh yes, you can teach an old dog new tricks (thought i'd get that one in before anyone else!)

 

[leon-b]

thanks mate, hopefully i will be staying at my nans this weekend
leon

 

[Labrador]

Hi Leon,
if you're taking up shooting as well you may like to look into a local wildfowling club. They often have gundog training classes throughout the summer as well as loads of advice & help for people new to shooting. This is in addition to access to all of their coastal & inland wildfowling they'll have in Suffolk. Thry the following link for further info.....
www.basc.org.uk
Cheers,

Labrador

 

[leon-b]

yes, i am thinking of taking her to obedience classes now and then a specific gundog one
leon

 

[davef]

starting pistols etc don't normally appear until fairly late into training. Usually training the dog to retrieve isn't too hard, especially when the dog can see the dummy landing......

the hard bit is getting it to sit still until you send it, easier with lab than springers... sometimes I think that the only way to get mine to stay put is by attatching her to the tow hitch of the car! ..... and then only when its in gear!!

Start with the basics and only move onto the next thing when she can do it perfectly but you also need to keep the training short and varied otherwise the dog gets bored. Try 10-20min max but several times a day when you get chance.

Where I sometimes go wrong is jumping too far ahead and moving to the next stage before the dog is ready. You then have to go back a few steps and start over.

have fun
Dave

 

[leon-b]

thanks mate i get where your coming from once i have got her to sit, stay, heel i will do a little sequence to keep testing her but keep changing it so she cant predict whats going to happen (thats bad apparently)
leon

 

[leon-b]

well KAE1 gave me loads of books , i am currently reading "the rough shootewrs dog" an old one but it seems a goodun
thanks mate
leon

 

[leon-b]

im staying round my nans tonight so i will give misty a little training session
leon