At what stage should i currently be at?

WillowHerb · At what stage should i currently be at?

Hi there,
I have got a GWP and she has just gone 5 months old. I plan to get her to a high standard of training, possibly for trialling. As the question suggests, what things should i be concerntrating on at this age ie walking to heel, retrieving dummies etc. Any pointers would be gratefully apprecieted. Smile

windem bang

You have an interest in trialling, heelwork is never required in a trial. It is a very useful acclomplishment but many a field trial champion will not walk to heel. If you wish to you can put it onto the backburner for the moment. I still have not trained my dog to walk properly to heel , he is now 14 months.

Depending on your dogs temperament I would begin now to let it hunt for game - provided it already retrieves ! If it does already do even the most basic of retrieves with any enthusiasm then the sooner you begin hunting the better in my opinion. You have a tiny little window of two to three months before game birds start breeding and the cover grows tall and thick. You must not hunt game birds while they nest so unless you can hunt her over the next two months or so it will be many months before you can begin.

If she were mine I would train the sit to voice, whistle and hand signal and then build this in to her retrieve training. Use a variety of dummies, do not let the pup think it only retrieves things of a certain size, shape, weight, colour or texture. Do not attempt to stop/sit the dog at distance until it does it up close. Add distractions gradually as you progress with the retrieve training. To begin with there should just be you, a dog and a dummy. No other adults, no children and no other dogs present.

I.M.O. you should not work to a schedule or timetable, let the dog tell you when it is ready to do more. Don't push the dog on before it is ready but don't hold it back if it really can do more.

Bill T.

Helen

Agree with Bill. I never work to a schedule with mine. My youngest gwp has taken a long time to get to where she is, whereas her father, was working at 12 months.

I like them to be heeling as it's just easier than being dragged around. I also like them heeling off lead for when you are just working them in the field. You can't have a dog pulling you over when carrying a gun.

I do the sitting, stopping, staying; really just the basics at that age.

Helen

WillowHerb

Thanks guys for the advice, very much appreciated. Bill, you mention that i should get her hunting as early as possible. Is it really important at this age to introduce them to game birds? If so, how would i go about this. Should i let her just explore around and spook birds up?

windem bang

This may just be a personal thing but I do like to get my pups among game from an early age. I don't ask the pup for anything fancy, I just walk it in what I hope are gamey areas and let nature and the pups breeding take it from there. I don't expect a pup to penetrate nasty cover or to run wide over acres of ground. They usually begin to do these things for themselves if you have them out often enough and give them the chance to hunt. Too much game is just about as bad as too little for if there is a lot of easily found game the pup will never have to learn to pull out from you to find it.

I like to see a good pattern (my own pups' is poor) what I don't like to see is a dog that tick -tocks in front of its handler like a clockwork mouse. This can be caused by teaching it to quarter in that manner regardless of wind direction. Whenever possible pups should be hunted into the wind only allowing an occasional sidewind or tailwind hunt when the pup has taught itself to find and point game.

I like my pups to point with no help from me so I take them out with no checkcord and let them discover for themselves that a bird made nervous by too close or incautious an approach, will fly off. It may take 10 wild flushes or 110 but eventually the pup will point when it scents game.

All of this is my personal opinions, others may disagree with them, handlers tend to do what suits their circumstances. I would love to have more access to game on more open ground, I don't have either of those luxuries so I do the best I can with what is available to me. Most of the ground I hunt is very rough with lots of cover. The birds are wild bred and run or fly at the least hint of danger. This has resulted in my pup being good at finding these birds but it it has also meant his pattern is very poor for he cannot get a pattern going in that cover.

Remember not to hunt the pup until it retrieves, I've done this the wrong way around before and it led to retrieve problems. My pups enjoyed the hunting so much they were hard to interest in retrieving. If your pup does retrieve then try going 50/50 between retrieve training and hunting. Assess your pup and adjust the levels of these up or down to suit the pup.

Bill T.

countrygirl

As Bill and Helen have siad work on the basic's one thing that wasent mentioned was water, I know it is a bit chilly at moment(although Rumour was out this pm doing water work) but perhaps if your pup dosent swim you could get it out paddling with some other dogs so it gets used to water.

I had never had a wire that wouldent swim so dident worry too much with Rumour until I discovered she dident like water Evil or Very Mad

luckly it was quickly overcome and she is now a water addict.

But there are dogs out there who compete at trials and fail at the water element.

Have fun training your baby

Caz

Rhimad

Hi Willowherb

We have 7 GWP's and like Helen I start all the basics at that age, Our wires have never had to be taught to hunt, plenty of sniffing about on places where there is a little scent (not masses of scent) will soon get them hunting naturally...if your basics are in and well grounded you just encourage what the dog is doing naturally.

Remember also a GWP is still very much a baby at this age, dont push too hard, like Bill and Helen say go with what happens on a day to day basis, some will be working by 12 months others will need longer.

Good luck and enjoy.

WillowHerb

Thanks for the info folks. I've taken all your advice on board and will be putting it to good use. I'll let you all know how it goes.

Many thanks again

Jan

cressy

Hi Jan

I am new to training gundogs for the work they were bred to but I do have an 11 month old Brittany and a 11.5 yr old novice Brittany.

After working Mugi (the old guy with good working provenance) this last season I have two thoughts for my pup...... Firstly if the breeding is there the pup has far more idea than I ever will and secondly, if the breeding is there age and a timescale doesn't matter.

I am learning loads and have 2 very good dogs, I am probably holding pup back by trying not to make mistakes but everyone I have met is so helpful I will carry on learning and trying my best to realise the potential of my lads.

Have fun, enjoy and don't worry about schedules too much is the best advice I can give. My old guy may be geriatric in many definitions but he was classed as 'a pup' when he picked his first marked partridge in the field by a chap who has been working dogs longer than I have been alive!! He was impressed and I was happy and the rest will come, or not .... as long as the boys are fulfilled I am happy, if I can get an award in a FT sometime in the future I will be thrilled, if I don't I will still love my lads.

Bareve

Rowoodhill · Training a pup

I have had a couple of HPR's and made mistakes with all of them. But actually my mistakes have been taking advise without really looking at the temperament of my dog, and really understanding my dog.

My older dog was not a great hunter, but loved retrieving. I had concentrated on the retrieving from a pup. The next dog I was determined to get her out hunting when she was young. She is a stunning hunter - pointer, and quarters at great distances, and was just fantastic to watch. However, she is sooo birdy I really lost the discipline on the drop to flush, and she will often run in. I wish I had done more obedience work as a puppy with her.

I think if I had read the dogs better, I should have known which one was going to be steady and which one was going to be a demon hunter and trained for the temperament of the dog.

My current pup I am working on the heel work and steadiness and retrieving. At 6 months she stays very close to me and doesn't have any time hunting. This will be more use to me, as most of my gundog work is on driven shoots, where I pick up.

So.... don't necessarily work to a schedule, just try and assess the temperament of your dog, and work accordingly.

At what stage should i currently be at?

Training a pup