Pennie's heel and retrieve. Training

Hope it's alright to put this here. Apologies for the jamas!

Very nice heel work and good retrieve. Just a couple of things I do a little bit differently with my pups when they are at that age. I keep the dog on the lead when i throw the dummy and I also blow the whistle just to reinforce the sit. I know you want to build drive but at the same time I wouldn't want to set the dog up to fail by putting her in a sit which she most likely will break if she is not yet steady to thrown dummies. But that's just my way of training, there are many, many other ways ....

.... oh yeah, and I never ever train in my jimjams

Nice, loved the heelwork!!!

Coming along well for a pupster. Hmmm, not sure about the PJ's though!

Coming along nicely!

she's so clever!

I wouldn't worry about the PJs, i often ride in mine, and once in some 'peas on earth' (google it) pj bums i ran out of petrol on my way back from dropping my mum off at the airport.... that was a brilliant trip to BP!

I meant to whistle the sit. It's just remembering..

Meh, my neighbours can't see me and they were comfortable

Thank you She was showing off her retrieve in class tonight. Linda the trainer was showing them how to teach the dogs to give and then waved at me to show them a proper retrieve. She has so much faith, I only said I wanted to try a bit, I was a bit nervous she wouldn't do it with that bl**dy Westie yapping it's damn head off! But she did.

Thank you - beats your jammies!

Thank you

I used to walk to the shop in my PJ's

haha i was standing in the queue with loads of people in suits!!! must buy electric car haha

I don't get all the fuss. I could if I was in a black lace babydoll, but Pj's

How is her hunting coming on? I know she is half springer.

See I don't really know how to teach her hunting. I am on a gundog forum but I don't really understand it. I can't really afford a trainer. Although I may stop the obedience to do some - but they're all so far away! But she is better than her brother - I didn't really rein him in so his hunting is brill.. but it's never near me. Pennie stays within about 10 feet of me at all times so she should be easier.

You have to remember Louie was my first gundog and I made a lot of cock-ups with him. I'm still learning.

What are you intending to do with your dogs? Are you doing gundog training for fun or do you want to work the dogs? If you want to go beating or rough shooting then it is essential that the dogs are working very close to you. Just a few yards either side of you and no more than a yard or two in front of you.

Bit of both really. The plan is that my friend gets a permission to shoot and then my dogs will be there to pick up for him. I'd like to do some wildfowling with my boy. But mainly it's for fun. But they are from working lines so it would be a waste.

Get permission to shoot as in rough shooting on someone's land? Then you will need a dog working within range, no good having a dog ranging far and wide and putting up game that is out of range for the gun.
The trouble is that one of your dogs has already learnt to hunt a fair distance away from you, if you let your pup run with him out on walks she will soon pick up the same habit.

Actually I thought that, took her out on her own yesterday and she stayed fairly close. She stays close anyway. Besides there are only a few walks where he can range out quite far safely. Our regular walks he can't do that because it's not safe. He will stay close..

If you tell me what it is you don't understand I might be able to explain it to you. Do you roughly know what sort of distance from yourself you are aiming to work the dog at? I personally keep my dogs very, very close during training sessions because once they get on to game they will naturally range out a little bit further. But if you start off by letting them range too wide and too far ahead of you then you will have a massive problem reigning it in later on.
Tennis balls close around your feet in long grass for your dog to find is a good way to start.

Thats the way I've been shown to do it. But I need some tennis balls I'll give it a shot when I get some though

Ah the wonders of tennis balls lol glad its not just me who uses them!

You need dogs like mine who emerge from the strangest of places with a tennis ball in their mouth which they have found. It's surprising where people fling the things, seems i'm not the only one with a really crap aim when I throw!