There will be many times in the life of a retriever, when he has to search for game that he has not seen fall. Sometimes this will be as part of an unstructured ‘sweeping up’ process. At other … [Read more...]
Rachael’s journey: picking up game
It is time to take the plunge, and get Rachael picking up game. She probably won’t be picking up on the shoot until after Christmas, her role until then will be to observe. But I want her to … [Read more...]
Casting and Lining
Casting and lining are about choosing the direction in which you want your dog to travel. They are the ‘steering’ component of directional control The difference between them lies in the … [Read more...]
Marking and marked retrieves
A marked retrieve is one the dog has seen fall. Marking, is the act of accurately memorising the location at which the falling object reached the ground. Marking ability is an important … [Read more...]
Rachael, ‘carnage’, and some final preparations
We are nearly ready for the season! Our first shoot is coming up very soon. Yesterday we finished putting out the last of the gunstand markers. We couldn’t do this any earlier as we had to wait for … [Read more...]
Stop whistle 3: whistle stop at a distance
Training a long distance whistle stop is a very satisfying experience. We began in Part One by teaching the dog to sit to a whistle cue at a very basic level. There were no distractions, and … [Read more...]
Stop whistle training with Rachael: first steps
There are many different ways to teach the stop whistle. And not a little controversy about which methods are best! This article contains a video of the first steps in my preferred method. It … [Read more...]
Stop whistle 2: whistle sit on the move
The Stop Whistle so far: In our previous stop whistle article, we looked at teaching the dog the meaning of the whistle. I described how to teach a dog to sit to the whistle, whilst at your side, … [Read more...]
Stop whistle 1: whistle sit at heel
[wp_ad_camp_2]In our introduction to the stop whistle, we talked about the potentially negative nature of the stop whistle command. We also looked at different ways of rewarding the dog when he … [Read more...]
Rachael’s Journey: Joining in
Yesterday I made a start at integrating Rachael into my group of dogs for our outdoor training sessions. Up until now, she has been trained and exercised separately from the other dogs. Rachael … [Read more...]