Author Topic: Cocker novice trial  (Read 3121 times)

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Offline Pearly

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Cocker novice trial
« on: January 29, 2016, 06:40:24 PM »
Yesterday I had the privilege of being invited to help at the first Shropshire Gundog Society, Novice, cocker field trial.

It was an amazing experience.  The ground was perfect for cockers, less kind to us humans with contact pheasant available this late in the season!  All the handlers were inspirational to watch with dogs that were performing to a standard that you just know how much time and effort has gone into their training.

I was delighted that a friend who stepped in at the last minute to 'infill' came away with a Commended but equally delighted that the trial was won by Smokey1!

Serious food for thought - the A Judge runs training classes which Coral and I have been attending; he was very encouraging about her ability but I think there was an implied message in there about mine  :lol:

Does anyone on here have any experience of trialling and have some pearls of wisdom you could share, please?


Offline Emilyoliver

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Re: Cocker novice trial
« Reply #1 on: January 30, 2016, 10:04:40 AM »
Hi pearly, I don't have experience of trialing even though my dog is trained to trial standard. I've never entered one as without game he lacks pace. He's not a 'hunt a car park at breakneck speed' kind of dog that's needed for trialing successfully. From what I've learned from trialers, they shoot over their dogs 2/3 times a week which keeps them keen and sets up likely trialing scenarios. If ŷou can't do this I personally feel you will be at a disadvantage in a trial as the dogs will lack experience. The only other way to get live game experience is at training days but at £80-£100/ day this becomes prohibitive cost wise. Plus most are during shooting season which leaves a big gap during summer unless you have access to rabbit ground. I think trialing is really for the professionals, the wealthy and retired as the time and expense required makes it very difficult to succeed as a 'hobby handler' even with a talented dog (and that's another chapter all of its own!) My philosophy is to train to the highest standard and that way have a dog that is a pleasure to work. Anything else will be a bonus. Hood luck with your plans. Most important part is enjoying your dogs.
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Offline Pearly

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Re: Cocker novice trial
« Reply #2 on: January 30, 2016, 10:56:42 AM »
Really appreciate your post, thank you.  Time is the biggest challenge for me - Coral is a hunter first and generally at very high speed, to the extent that I've been told (so many times by so many people) to reduce her protein level to try to bring her down a notch.

Watching John with the winning dog was like watching Coral hunting - I suppose it's because of that I'm thinking that I should at least try to get her to the standard to enter a working test, potentially field trial, if nothing else to show that I've done the best I can for her (given she was 'gifted' to me via a rescue).  I have no aspirations to win - just to be recognised at the right level.  Plus the training will give us both a purpose / goal over the summer.

Coral and I have attended a number of training days already and thoroughly enjoyed them - the last being with Adrian Slater who is inspirational.  He's running a course this summer that we are booked on to - assuming the black exorcet has stopped being a teenager 😉

I'm very lucky in that OH is a part time gamekeeper so have ready access to a lot of land, rabbits and pheasant pen for steadiness but will opt to get back to trainer a bit closer to home to use his pen for the first couple of times - mostly so I understand what it's all about!

Pearl has no prey drive (well didn't until the last shoot of the season for us- at lunch she blanked in the next drive on her own......lucky it went that way, needless to say she was put away for the afternoon) so has been very easy to train.  Coral on the other hand is on a long line and apparently deaf although can hear the opening of a box of natural instinct from 3 rooms away!  :lol:


Offline Emilyoliver

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Re: Cocker novice trial
« Reply #3 on: January 30, 2016, 04:20:46 PM »
Sounds like fun  :D. My youngster is a hunting machine and well fast enough for trialling, but unfortunately squeaks so won't be trialling. I'll aim to do a few tests just as a yardstick. They're good fun and not serious stuff like trials, and a good place to start and learn as the judges are usually more than happy to give tips and discuss your dog/handling. Cheap training days! If you are aiming to trial, make sure you go to spaniel trainers (not labs), and those who trial themselves and are experienced. it's very easy to get the wrong advice that will result in issues later. There are lots of 'expert' gundog trainers out there who aren't able to spot a problem early and know how to resolve it. Things like exposure to game - when, how much - differ for each dog and will need very careful handling. From personal experience, it's easy to get really keen on the idea of trialling. I did, however have since learned how much I don't know! There's so much to learn about dog handling, dog behaviour, game behaviour, wind direction, methods, etc. triallers make it look so simple, but there are years (decades) of experience shooting over and working dogs, literally 100s of dogs behind the good run at a trial. Not to say newcomers can't do well, though - and a great goal. I got so caught up in producing the perfect trial prospect dog, I forgot to enjoy him. I was told twice this season to enter a trial as on game (and having worked a full season last year and this) he is now stylish and has pace.  He is just a bit unreliable as loses pace where game is scarce. So I will never trial him - it's too stressful and too much pressure on Pip. Instead I have had the very best time learning from him working, and others - all the while being hugely proud of what we've achieved. Yesterday we ended the perfect season on a walked up day with 4 guns from our shoot - as special invited guest as they wanted to watch my dog work  :luv:. Hope that didn't sound like a sermon - wasn't meant to! Just a bit about my experiences. Good luck with your summer training - am hoping to make a tiny bit of progress with my pup aka 'the black peril'  :005:
Michelle, Emily and Ollie

Offline Helen

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Re: Cocker novice trial
« Reply #4 on: January 30, 2016, 08:37:03 PM »
Frankly with what I've seen and heard about trialling over the last few years and the back biting in the field trial crowd (and back handers) it means a lot of good dogs and triallers never ever get the recognition they deserve.  Judges certainly 'favour' certain triallers and that is fairly obvious.

It seems very much like if you're in with the right crowd you'll be fine.

It's a shame to see very good trial names give up because of it  :-\



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