Gundogs

Hi can anyone help please

i was out walking today and a man had 5 black labs, he had them trained with a whistle which was fab, he said that there trained that way as they are gundogs and thats how they get trained.

anyway i know you can take your dogs to gundog training days but was wondering if i could take mine - they are beagles but i would love them to get trained like that they were great and looked like they really enjoyed it


xx

I'm sure you could. Try contacting the gundog club, they run training courses for gundogs. You can try practicing yourself though, try starting with the recall whistle. I use three short pips on the whistle, try initially whistling when dinner is ready, before you set it down. Quick way to teach your dog that three pips on the whistle + quick run to owner= worthwhile!!

Hi

You would have to make some inquiries to local trainers/classes. If you can find classes that are strictly for fun, I don't see why they wouldn't take a Beagle on. On the other hand some serious gun-doggy trainers (with people looking to train on a more serious level, for shooting/testing/trialling) might be a bit funny about taking a non-gundog breed in for training.

I don't see why its not possible to have well trained Beagles, but obviously you have to work with a breeds natural capabilities. Working bred Labradors in particular are very biddable dogs; they practically train themselves and bend over backwards to please. Beagles I understand are a bit more independent so whether you would get the same level of attentiveness (like the dogs you saw) even with hard work is difficult to say.

It may be worth looking into, a man who lives near me has two working labs and also takes his beagle training with them... so you never know!!

ill have a go but like labrodrok says these labs were really eager to please my beagles can be stubborn great with recall but anything else its with a "do i have too" kinda look!!

i will defently try uising a whistle though see how they get on thanks xx

My partner does gundog training on a one to one basis, but we are in the North East of England.
Why not enquire on a hunting forum?

Is it the obedience of the lab gundogs you crave ?

You say you were impressed at how well trained they were and how they responded to the whistle.....

I would have thought this was more a case of general multiple dog training rather than anything to do with gundogs ?

At the end of the day - Beagles are scent hounds not Gundogs. Whilst I'm sure you could find somewhere that would do it - I would question (obedience aside) whether the specifics involved in 'gundog' training were appropriate or required....

My mini JRT is gundog trained

Our 8 month old Springer began Gundog training this month, it runs on the first Sunday of the month & is £10 for 2hrs from March through to November. It was great, we're really looking forward to the next session. It was hugely popular, but I did only see Gundog breeds there.

At the moment we're practising recall & sit to whistle, as well as retrieving & heelwork.
He's taken to the whistle work amazingly, and we've even started doing it successfully with our Dachsie's, they love it. I have some videos I will have to post!

I'm with Phil on this one. I would say you could perhaps train your beagles for the various whistle commands (recall and stop whistle probably being the only ones you need) but general gundog training perhaps wouldnt be appropriate for a beagle. I know of a person who has trained BC's as gundogs and i've seen lurchers competing in gundog scurries (doing everything on whistle commands and retrieving dummies) so it can be done. It's just the strong will and independence of a beagle which you are up against.

If my collies werent afraid of gunshot then i'd seriously train them up so I could use them beating.