Molly's Journey General Chat

Having just read Luke's thread about Ralph i thought, you may be interested in Molly's story. Molly was the last of our 3 springers to arrive. We work for Springer Rescue and Molly crawled out of a pound in Cottam just over a year ago (the kennel people said she couldn't walk) before she even got back home we knew she wasn't going anywhere and we would be joining the exclusive FFC (Failed Fosterers club), she was estinmated at being between 8 months and a yr. We very quickly realised we wouldn't be able to curb her natural instinct to hunt, she was an escape artist of the highest quality and we would regularly lose her on to roads etc, the final straw being when she nearly caused an accident on a road, so back in November on recommendations from people we knew we decided to try Gundog training and until last week we were going once a fortnight.

At the time i started a thread on another forum, telling people about her journey, it inspired some and gave hope to more. so here it is Molly's journey, have areas and i hope you enjoy

Week 1

well we went, (thanks to everyone who recommended Mike and Ren) Had a great day and picked up some great tips, didn't let her off the lead, but Mike had her walking to heel in 2 seconds flat and responding, and then joy of joys she did it for me and Nev no bother. It was a pleasure to see her sat in a field where bunnies and Phessys go without her dancing about at the end of a lead trying to find them. We have two weeks now to practice before we go back again, needless to say all that dogs in the Preston household are on the program, just hard work walking 5 dogs individually but if we get the results i'll do

Week 2

well no2 lesson today, gets over there go in the kitchen and have a brew while we talk over the last couple of weeks, good and bad (although there hasn't really been any bad) gets to what we are going to do today after having explained that as instructed she hasn't been off her lead for 2 weeks when Mike announces well she will be today, Nev and i just looked at each other both thinking that we would end up sitting waiting for an hour for her to come back, bearing in mind the field that we do the training in as loads of bunnies and phessies through it.

Anyway we get in there show him her heel work which if i say so myself was excellent, and then he said let her off, so Nev did and what did she do come running straight for me, she then went straight to Mike and straight to Nev in turn, we had one moment where she went under the fence and across the road in to another houses garden, but Mike (having longer legs) hopped over the fence called her and she came back to him.

To say we were over the moon is an understatement, so now we start the gundog training proper, home with our homework for the next 2 weeks which is the stop lesson, watch this space because she will be working next season biggrin.gif

Week 3

well lesson three this week and its hard to believe that this is the same nut job that we took 4 weeks ago, heel work coming on a treat (not perfect by any means but soon will be) She is now coming back on the whistle and sitting to the whistle off lead , i honestly didn't think that this would be possible when we started all this, and it just shows we only needed someone to show us how to do it.

Anyway today we have worked on long recall, and changing the tone of our voices to stop her getting away, this was about 90% only two instances did she go off to investigate the chickens and really came back within seconds. some basic retrieving with the tennis ball, and staying at a reasonable distance, bearing in mind that this dog would not come anywhere near in a field 4 weeks ago she mastered this in about 5 minutes, first on lead and then off smile.gif smile.gif smile.gif smile.gif I suppose the best bit today for me was right at the end when we had her back on her lead and were talking, where was Moll sat at my side looking at me bliss to have your dog pay that much attention to you.

So whats next carry on practicing everything we've learnt so far and teach her to hold as at the moment she is not interested in dummy's at all, but i'm reliably informed that Strawberry jam on either side will do the trick laugh.gif laugh.gif

And the good news is that all this isn't in vain, got talking to a gamekeeper in the pub on the Yorkie ally rally yesterday and i am to give him a ring when we are ready to go, so as long as we keep up the work at home there is work available for the girls. biggrin.gif biggrin.gif biggrin.gif

week 4

well it was back today for lesson 4, after well and truly cocking it up over christmas by letting the little madam run, although i am assured that they all go through this, and that after a good start they all decide to stick 2 fingers up at you somewhere, and not to worry too much.

So right back to the begining we go, a good 35 minutes of basic heel work and by the end we had her back, she was being attentive and doing what she was told on the first command, and for anyone out there who thinks spaniels must run to tire them out , you want to see Moll she is flat out wacked. So homework this fortnight more heelwork, more sits and more stays and we will get there.

Oh and just to add we took Meg along as i have had problems getting her to heel, Mike bet me last time he could do it in 30 seconds, well actually it was more like 10 ohmy.gif ohmy.gif ohmy.gif ohmy.gif so we can now get to work on her as well.

Week 5

ok more hard work put in over the last fortnight and back again today for some more, i'm really enjoying this and for those of you out there in cyberland who think we aren't getting very far, i'd just like to remind you what we started with, we had a dog who couldn't walk on a lead, who criss crossed in front of you, and tried to trip you up, and a dog who was totally out of control when let off her lead, who has killed various friends chickens and ducks.

So today we have a dog who walks to heel beautifully on a lead, sits on the whistle and does what she is asked first time. We decided to risk it and let her off, and true to form she went....................but she came back, fair enough i was on my knees in a muddy field but who cares she came back. smile.gif smile.gif smile.gif so what we did today was to work on her heelwork off the lead (nearly) so to do this we had two leads tied together and set off walking with her on it, and then after a couple of paces dropped it, and blow me she stayed to heel, with various changes of direction, by the end she was heeling with no commands at all just following us and looking for direction. (sorry Mike if i'm giving trade secrets away)

We have also started taking Meg along, and with her we are working on getting her steady to a thrown dummy and to turn on the whistle as well as some quartering.

So all in all a good days training, i am very pleased with both my girls and can now see that eventually they will both be good enough to work, its just being pointed in the right direction and knowing how to achive it. biggrin.gif biggrin.gif biggrin.gif biggrin.gif biggrin.gif

Week 6

here is some truth in the saying "good things come to those who wait" (and put a bit of effort in)

Glad you all enjoying Molly's saga, and if it gives a little bit of hope to those of you who are struggling, or some inspiration for the ones who think they might like a go, but think its a diiferent world then thats brill. smile.gif smile.gif smile.gif

So todays tale, Nev had a really bad day with the monster yesterday, we had both had a good fortnight and the walking to heel sort of off her lead was going well, until then, to be fair the start of it wasn't Molls fault, nev was training her when another dog decided to gatecrash and off she went before he could grab the leads, and to cut a long story short he actually ended up coming home and waiting for her, he knew where she was but she was having none of it, so we were'nt expecting today to be the best of training sessions.

We were wrong!!!!!!!
We started as we do with a bit of heelwork, sits and i decided to risk it and throw a few stays in, all went to plan and she stayed where she was put even when i wasn't attached, so onwards to recall, started first with a bit on the leads between me and Nev (but Mike has found the secret weapon to get her attention ) she did go to bolt, but we got her attention and soon she was bombing between the two of us, and low and behold all that stop whistle work we had done on the lead was Paying off!!!!

So caution was thrown to the wind and off came the leads, well knock me down with a feather, we managed to keep her in the same field with us, recalling using the whistle and stopping on it as well, so a lot more practice to come in the next fortnight, just wish the nights were lighter so we could get out together, but that will come, have been warned about not seeting her back again by letting her run willy nilly so will take the advice this time, and stick to what i've been told.

Anyway on to Meg, who is also going along now, well what can i say she just seems to be a natural, and doesn't need that much direction to get her to do what we want her to do, but she has also come a long way, she is staying now while dockens are being thrown out, and will retrieve the one she is asked to retrive, we also introduced her to shot, and although startled on the first one, she didn't bolt and she didn't carry off like i expected, and by the time the second one came she wasn't that bothered.

So all in all another worth while trip and two very satisfied owners, seeing my dogs like this gives me a bigger buzz than any Booze or drugs, its such a high when they get it right. biggrin.gif biggrin.gif biggrin.gif biggrin.gif biggrin.gif biggrin.gif biggrin.gif

Until next time

Week 7

Well just back, and i know before we left, Nev said if Moll did any resemblance of quartering he would show his Ass in woolworths window and eat is hat, well the hats going down, and he'll be at woolies on Monday Morning laugh.gif laugh.gif laugh.gif laugh.gif laugh.gif .............. NOT!!!!!

So how did we do, well i think this will be a fairly short one, because we spent most of the lesson with Molly off lead,but under control she wasn't running round like a nutter, she was close to all of us all the time, and when i say close within about 10ft, which is a minor miracle in itself.

Her heelwork and stay are now Solid, and in this environment her recall is about 95% (just need to transfer this home now) so as said today we worked on a bit of quartering, alright it wasn't as close as it ought to be, but what the heck for a first attempt it wasn't bad, and we did a bit of retrieving, which moll has never been keen on outside of the house
(seems Rabbit skin dummies are the order of the day)


So i guess its more of the same for the next fortnight, its all baby steps, but steps in the right direction

Week 8

Well not a lot to say today, just more of the same, and last time wasn't a fluke, moll was off and staying close, she retrieved the rabbit skin dummy no problems, but she still won't pick up the bango birdy, she is an absolute pleasure to have off her lead at Mike's, and if i'm honest i think the thing holding her back at home now is us!!!!! so just need to go somewhere not too interesting and safe and go for it biggrin.gif biggrin.gif biggrin.gif biggrin.gif biggrin.gif biggrin.gif and as a wise man said have a bit of confidence in our dog smile.gif smile.gif smile.gif smile.gif smile.gif smile.gif Her stay is also damn near perfect if i do say so myself, in fact got told off for showing off today! tongue.gif tongue.gif tongue.gif tongue.gif tongue.gif

If you had asked me whether we would have got to this stage when we first started i would have to say that i dreamt about getting this far, but didn't really believe that it would happen,so it just shows that with time, effort and patience you can get there, so for everyone thats thinking of starting this journey go for it, you won't be dissapointed and more to the point you may well find you enjoy it, and that your dog enjoys having a purpose in life. As for us we love it to the extent that Nev's shotgun license came yesterday

Week 9

Had a strange couple of weeks with Moll since our last lesson,

what we have found is that she does really well when we go to lessons,she is great off and on her lead,her recall is spot on and the retrieving is coming along.we suspect she may have been given a hard time by her previous owner over retrieves as she will run out to fetch but then seems wary of picking up or if she does pick up she crawls back on her belly.Maybe that's why she ended up a poundie,something we'll never know.

Despite everything she has learned when we get her back home she seems to revert back to mad spaniel mode and is happy running round like a loon although never going too far and at least she comes back rather than us having to go hunting for her.

So today's lesson was re-inforcing the basics and some quartering which went pretty well and the next lesson will be at our place in an attempt to show her that training is training wherever we do it.

Meg on the other hand had a brilliant day,some basic stuff to start with and then onto some sighted retrieves which she really seems to enjoy,and by the end of the session she was doing 50- 60 yard retrieves.Her whistle work is coming on a treat ,so really pleased and a good day had by all.

and in between

Not really training but thought i would post on this thread anyway.

We've been up to Cyn's today and as we do when we go up there we took the girls to the beach, i can honestly say that Molly was off her Lead and under Control the whole time we were there, never did she run too far, and every time we blew that whistle she came back, a pip on the stop whistle and she was sat, i even manged to stop her chasing seagulls and Nev did some sit stays with her while the other two were running around (the ultimate distraction for Moll) I am so so proud of my girl today, and have some good news to report to Mike when we see him tomorrow biggrin.gif biggrin.gif

Week 10

Update, with bango and other things Moll hasn't had a lesson for a month, so amyway change of plan, On friday Mike came here and we had the lesson on our own turf so to speak, and it was rip roaring success, started with some heel work (every seesion starts with heelwork just to calm her down) and then we let her off, we were all expecting her to do one and blow me it never happened, she stayed really close, came back on the whistle stopped on the whistle and even did abit of quatering, in between we kept bringing her back in and putting her back on her lead and letting her go again biggrin.gif biggrin.gif biggrin.gif biggrin.gif We even managed a bit of retrieving, something that Moll has never been keen on ohmy.gif biggrin.gif biggrin.gif biggrin.gif

So more of this, at the moment its a two man job, Nev and i tried it today, and although she didn't stay as close as friday, we didn't feel out of control and managed some good recalls and releases, and never once did we think we were going to loose her.

Its been a long hard slog to get this far, but enjoyable and the feeling when you get results is fantastic, so we will keep going and i will look forward to posting photos of her on her first shoot smile.gif smile.gif smile.gif smile.gif smile.gif smile.gif

Week 11

So, not posted for a while as have been a bit busy, but we are back on track with Molls training so first a brief update.

The past couple of lessons have been a bit strange,Moll has got the heel work and recall sussed and will do this quite naturally in the training field, which is great ,except she did'nt seem to want to do anything else .

So after the last lesson mike told us to take her home and forget about training for a couple of weeks ,just to let her have her head,so to speak.

So today we went back and went into a different field which was overgrown with nettles and long grass and full of rabbits,so plenty of scent for her to pick up.We had a brilliant session of quartering just using voice commands and body language rather than whistle which she seemed to really enjoy.

so homework is controlled hunting/quartering within a set range,turning on command and just putting in the odd retrieve to make things interesting.

really feel like we are getting somewhere with her now and can't wait for the next lesson

Week 12

well today was a very happy day, with a little bit of Sadness chucked in, would just like to publicly thank Mike (and Ren cos she makes a great cup of tea) for all the work you have put in training me and Nev over the last 6 months Moll was always a natural but we just needed to know how to channel it, and to the people who recommended them (you know who you are). Its been a long journey, more often than not 1 step forward and 4 back, but we've enjoyed it even when i've been close to tears with the monster, and as a boon we've made some good friends along the way biggrin.gif biggrin.gif

We have come a long way, and today we were told we didn't need to come back for anymore training, as Molly just needs a bit of fine tuning before going shooting when the season starts, to say we are please is an understatement, we had a dog who you never saw on a walk, who wouldn't come back for love nor money, and who regularly disappeared for hrs at a time.

We now have a dog that comes back everytime on the whistle, will hunt at close range IN CONTROL, whose heel work aint bad (for a spaniel), is used to guns, whose retrieving is getting better slowly.

So armed with our training notes we just need to brush up and then she is ready to go.

So look out for the next installment of Molly Working Gun dog, which should come at the end of august, because thats when Mike has invited us shooting for rabbits.

I hope you've all enjoyed this and it has helped some of you have a little bit of faith in yourselves as to what can be achieved