Had a go at gundog training =)

and no not with daphni

the woman i work for has flatcoats, and because i had done all my jobs and she was doing training with her dog and another woman in her field, she let me use her male flat coat storm (who i absolutely adore ) he hasnt done it for two months and i didnt think he would do anything for me but it was absolutely amazing!!

he walked to heel without his lead, sat when i blew the whistle, retrieved the dummy for me, then went straight back for the second after giving me the first, and then we did a thing where i had to walk him to heel, make him sit, throw the dummy, then walk him back, call him to me, stop him halfway and then send him back for the dummy!

it was absolutely amazing and i loved every minute of it!!!

I love gundog work! (What a stupid statement for me to make! Gundogs and working/training them are my life!)

Glad you enjoyed doing it! It is always fun, and even more when someone else's dog is so willing to work for you!

I really want to get mine to a 'proper' trainer, that can help me iron out the creases, theres only so much I can do, and I just need a shove in the right direction!

ive never done it before and its harder than it looks like the whole whistle sequences and things for different commands.

i was looking at a great dane for a next dog as i want a bigger breed, however i think i may have to start browsing the gundogs and get doing that instead

It is great gundog training/working and the dogs LOVE getting to do what they do best

ps. GSPs are great I am bias but they much harder work than flatcoats I know and sometimes walk two flatcoats they are super dogs .

I am not sure if GSP's are harder to work than flatcoats - but they do work differently to each other.

There is nothing better than seeing a gundog work, even if it is only during training. The dogs are always so willing and really love what they are doing.

I didn't struggle so much with the whistle training with my 2, more the sending them off to retrieve. Misty, because she will only retrieve game, she has no interest in the socks I threw as a pup. Although, she would retrieve her 'Bambi' teddy, given to her by my old next door neighbours, so this is how she learnt to retrieve to hand and release whatever is in her mouth on command. With Blade, I struggle to send him out sometimes. He knows what he has to do, but would rather stay to heel. I think he worries that I'm going to leave him. I'm his third home and he's only 2 and half. This is why I want to visit someone that can really help me get to grips with the issues with the pair of them. I need to learn to trust them a bit more on shoots as well. I'm paranoid they are going to misbehave and get us banned from shoot days!

If you are considering a gundog breed, I started a thread a while back, as I am starting to looking into dog number 3, and am not sure if I want another lab/spaniel.
Here it is; http://www.dogsey.com/showthread.php?t=125008
Lots of different breeds mentioned!

Thats interesting I obivously haven't had a flatcoat my self so I geuss I can't really say But I always thought what I wrote in my last post.

I know they work differently, but love to know more about you dogs charaters and how hard they are to train? Sorry I know little about you, but have you had a GSP(s) or trained any? And if so what lines?

Thanks

Sophie

I would also agree that GSP's are harder to train than Flatcoats, no disrespect but how can they not be? HPR's have 3 elements to their work and therefore their training, flatcoats only need to be taught to retrieve.

I guess it depends though on how you look at it...Are we looking at it from the volume of training needed to be done or are we looking at it from the ease of training?

Yeah that last question is a good one I'd like to know more about the ease of training a flatcoat from what I've seen they seem easier than a GSP but as said in my last post I am willing to hear more about them because so far I think they a fab dogs .
But also I think flatcoats will hunt/flush game as well as retrieve is that right?? But don't think they do any in trials just retrieve in trials???

Any dog is capable of hunting/flushing, even my collies do it so I guess it depends on what you use the dog for day to day.

My ex had a GSP, retrieving wasnt her thing, hunting most definately was so trying to get her to retrieve was difficult as she just wasnt interested. Now my own dog is the opposite. He adores retrieving but I struggle to get him to knuckle down to hunting.

I just think working a HPR is most definately harder...their hunting instinct needs to be kept on top of, there are more commands to train for, they are quite headstrong and take your eye off them for a second and they are miles away as they cover ground so quickly.

But getting back to the original post, glad you enjoyed training the Flatcoat x-clo-x, it's pretty addictive and once you see a dog that is fully trained doing it's stuff (watch any of the scurries or demos at game fairs and you'll see what I mean) it's pretty mindblowing.