I know a few people with gun dogs, that go shooting. I am not keen on such things so have never taken much of an interest in it. The people I know speak highly of their dogs abilities and I know, do not use aids such as ESC. I flicked through a Shooting Mag the other day and there was a full two page advert for a company promoting such aids. I just wondered if it is common in that field for such aids to be used, or is it a new thing
No its not that common these days, its just as lazy way of training as it is in any other discipline, its getting easier these days to find positive reward based trainers. That said there is still the element who will stick a collar on a dog to stop it running in, or give their dog a wack, there was a guy on our shoot last year with 3 cockers that set off chasing he got to them and wacked them with his beating stick, at which point the gamekeeper gave him a rollicking for hitting his dogs, he never came back. There is nothing nicer than seeing a dog do what its bred to do, because it wants to do it for its owner and enjoys it, not because its scared of its owner. Thankfully the old school is dying out............ slowly, but it is
Hiya I have friends who work their dogs and they assure me that when the dogs are in the field working they do not see aids like that being used. BUT That does not mean that they are not used in training dogs in private. Tango is a rescue. She was a working gun dog, always kennelled. Bought to work and owned by a gamekeeper. When she came to us, she did not understand what to do on a 'walk' nor did she have a recall... I suspect (strongly) that a ESC has been used on her. Why? The hair on her neck (and the skin) is/was (as it is now thankfully less apparent)totally different to the hair elsewhere, it was thin and wiry in two places, the same two places where the contacts would have been. It was suggested to me that perhaps she had been tied up and that is why the hair is different...but no, it is in two distinct places, her skin is also thicker there. People who saw it at it's worst agree (and infact suggested) the difference in coat and skin was down to the use of an ecollar I am fairly convinced, because of the difference in hair and because of some of her other 'issues' that a shock collar has been used on her when she was working. (When she worked as I think she has been left in a kennel a lot). So...has she come to me as a well trained, obedient dog with exceptional recall and retrieve????? Ummm........no. She has come to me as a dog that had shut down and did not want to think. Sorry I've gone on. Suffice to say officially not a lot of people use these in the field...but I suspect that a fair amount of people use them to 'train' (and work) their dogs in private. I cannot write what I think of it.:twisted:
I have not had a huge amount to do with Gundog work till we got the boys (who have now gone to new homes BTW ). We visited the local gundog trainer for Cornwall Gundog association. He was a great guy, really helpful - but quite heavy handed - not nasty, but a bit over firm when his dog broke a sit. Not sure what Mums did - but my 8 month old (reward trained dog) was doing rock solid sits (while dummies were being thrown).
I think there is still alot of old school thinking to gundog training, such as using barbed wire wrapped around a fur lined dummy to stop a hard mouth etc but trainers are starting to change the way they do things because of the movement towards positive and reward based training. Alot of what is required of a gundog goes against everything it's instinct is telling it to do (such as a sit to a flush instead of chasing) so a hell of alot of hard work has to be put in to get a dog that is worthwhile on a shoot. ESC etc are just a lazy, quick fix idea which in turn causes other problems. Using an ecollar for habits such as running in may stop the dog wanting to hunt or retrieve altogether and then you've ruined a dog. Flynn's trainer thankfully doesnt use such methods and is a brilliant guy but i'm sure he knows of people who do.
