Although I have already met amd worked with Luna today was all about assessing her and starting the basics of lead and a little retrieve work.
Creating the heel on loose lead is all about getting her attention and building up the length of time she will focus.
Needing and wanting are two completely different things, once you you understand that then you will truly move forward.
Working on the lead walking again today along with the patience work which she definetly needs.
Starting her off with very simple retrieves, no whistle, no commands, just marking and retrieve it.
Even before you get your dog out for the training the patience has to start
I can not express enough the importance of teaching patience in a dog. It is the key to everything especially with a dog like Luna that just loves life
If you do not become the source of the activity, you will not have the necessary focus from your dog when you need it.
You can train any dog to retrieve but without any the control then its like driving without a steering wheel, eventually you will crash.
You can train any dog in a single enviroment to a high standard, the problem arises when you take them to a new enviroment and just expect them to act the same...
3 Drills, mixed results to start with but in the end Luna nailed it.
Day 10 with Luna and she started to push back a little, it is to be expected at this stage of the training. This is temporary and we got through the little challenges she gave today and got the results we wanted in the end.
Combining both patience and controlled retrieves this drill can be easily practiced
Slightly different but very effective drill to practice your controlled retrieves
Before every session its important to establish the control through a simple patience exercise.
So what I have noticed is that Luna's drive to retrieve has dropped a little over the last few days. So by implementing a simple play session we can build that back up.
So today we have pushed more for the multiple retrieves, added to that we have started to implement some of the whistle commands by putting the dummies in rough grass so she can't see them and has to hunt for them
Although this was the perfect retrieve it all about now building the consistency of these retrieves.
Even on a day like today with the weather being so bad I could not fault Luna. We had her over at the training ground and even with all the distractions, sheep not 200yrds aways, birds all over the place she still remained steady and focused on the the job in hand. Reponded well to the directions, marking and picking each bird with speed and precision.
With the increase in the ability and want to retreive comes a little unsteadiness, so we need to build the time between the Mark and the Retrieve
Put Luna to the test today and offered her some challenging retrieves. We ultised the whistle, stop left and right and that was all good, but what was lovely to see her using the wind to guide her to the bird. You can not train that its all her natural instinct. I did not record all the retrieves we did today but needless to say we did a lot.
When it comes to training blinds you can not just rush in and expect your dog to get it straight away. There is a process to follow and this is the way I do it...
Having given Luna a few days off due to her being a the tail end of her season we were back out today. Shaping the commands (Left, Right & Back) are going well but the push back needs a little work still.
I love training long retrieves as it is a good test to see where her drive is sitting. If its low then she will not keep running and she will loose interest. If it high then she will keep running until she finds the Bird.
As Luna is going to be a working dog then its essential she is comfortable with the sound of gunshot. Today we introduced her to the Dummy Launcher.....
Training any Gundog is not just about the Hunting and Retrieving you also need to implement the socialisation and enviromental work as well.
Blinds to me are one of the hardest things to teach your dog. But if you take you time and set the right foundation and trigger the right drive then its not impossible even with a medium drive dog like Luna.
I took Luna to Harlston today to see how she would be with the woodland work, she was brillaint and I could not be any happier with her.
Making these videos on my own you don't always get to see the casting and the delivery. So today I thought I would produce one so you can see what it is I do.
Sounds like a bad 80's band doesn't but its not. Today I put Luna through her paces with the help of the Partridge Pen over at the training ground.
It is important to show the dog that not every retrieve comes from me, which is why we use remote dummy launcher to teach a dog to look for the retrieve out in front of them.
This is the last training session with Luna, she is heading back home on Monday and then the journey really begins...
After meeting Paul at puppy class that he does we decided to send our 10 month old puppy, Luna, to Paul for 5 weeks intensive gun dog training. I was nervous of sending her away for training but Paul kept in regular contact giving us updates along the way by way of videos and phone calls. Luna had no patience, no heel work and no listening ears. Paul has worked his magic. Luna now sits and stays on command, she can retrieve on command and understands all of the hand and whistle signals. Paul has treated Luna like his own dog and she has come back happy and trained. Couldn’t recommend Paul enough if you want a very well trained gun dog. Looking forward to seeing her progress and watch her do her job on the field next shooting season.
We use cookies to analyze website traffic and optimize your website experience. By accepting our use of cookies, your data will be aggregated with all other user data.