Who actually works their dogs?

[wrenside]

Glad to see that it's not just Bella's vice of choice!!! She's great with pet rabbits, but there's just something so tempting about the wild ones!!! (only hopefully she'll stop the habbit soon with our training)
Totally agree with everyones comments on training dogs not to chase animals, however we all know what mischief the little thugs will get up to, usually in the most embarrasing situation possible and completely out of the blue! It's a shame that the law has been rather heavy handedly used in these situations, problems can arise with a rather black and white law structure being used to patrol situations where shades of grey and misunderstandings can easily exist and occur. Although hopefully the law will be effective in helping to protect the wildlife in the UK, I think hares are wonderful creatures (doubt Bella would ever catch one of these and she'd never hear the last of it from me if she did catch one!  )

Anyway, hope everyone elses training is going well, such beautiful weather for it too 

Mary

[Cazzie]

This is something I got into on another forum and I was actually wrong. It is not illegal to hunt rabbits as they are classed as vermin.
but you must have the land owners permission.

Other certain animals can be flushed by a dog to be shot but the dog must be under control.

 I caught a chap the other day letting his dog hunt out of control and it pegged and injured a pheasant of which he had to dispatch. What would anyone do if their dog did that and they were not compitant enough to put that bird out of it's misery or a hare or even worse a deer?  

It is a must that dogs don't chase IMO.  

[cazza]

This is something I got into on another forum and I was actually wrong. It is not illegal to hunt rabbits as they are classed as vermin.
but you must have the land owners permission.

Other certain animals can be flushed by a dog to be shot but the dog must be under control.

 I caught a chap the other day letting his dog hunt out of control and it pegged and injured a pheasant of which he had to dispatch. What would anyone do if their dog did that and they were not compitant enough to put that bird out of it's misery or a hare or even worse a deer?  

It is a must that dogs don't chase IMO.  

This is what i need to learn stopping Fern chasing certain things 

[Helen]

This is something I got into on another forum and I was actually wrong. It is not illegal to hunt rabbits as they are classed as vermin.
but you must have the land owners permission.

Other certain animals can be flushed by a dog to be shot but the dog must be under control.

 I caught a chap the other day letting his dog hunt out of control and it pegged and injured a pheasant of which he had to dispatch. What would anyone do if their dog did that and they were not compitant enough to put that bird out of it's misery or a hare or even worse a deer? 

It is a must that dogs don't chase IMO. 

This is what i need to learn stopping Fern chasing certain things 

of course, i agree with all your comments re dogs not chasing - and i do keep my dog under control (jarv pegged a cock pheasant last year - cue very peeved pheasant with a few missing tail feathers and a big dent to it's dignity - he was unharmed).  I do my best not to let him chase anything (you got me on seagulls tho, these are his exception). 

What I was trying to put across was that accidents do happen, and if your dog escapes your control and does catch a rabbit/hare/duck/pheasant/pigeon it is up then this can not be conceived as 'hunting'.

What i do find quite concerning is that in my experience  gun dog owners (even with gundogs as pets, and i include show cockers as gun dogs)  are very respectful of the wildlife around them, it is usually inexperienced pet owners that
are oblivious of their dogs chasing and hunting.

[Cazzie]

Seagulls not sure either 

Yes there is alot of respectful dog owners and thats a great thing 

Off to watch dog borstal

[Helen]

Off to watch dog borstal

aaah...there we must disagree

[cazza]

I need to look into a trainer that I have found that has rabbit and pheasant pens to help train dogs, Fern is a nightmare in chasing / flushing out  

I'm hoping that this trainer I have located is a good one and think they are, as they are recommended by another COLer  

[Cazzie]

Off to watch dog borstal

aaah...there we must disagree

Do you not like it? I get my kill at it 

[caro]

Its funny cos we bought Fern to be the lovely pet that she is although she was meant to be sold to a game keeper - we lived in a town and I remember bringing her home and saying to OH that maybe this was the start of a new lifestyle (going out in flat caps gun in hand ) and then a year later we move to the rural end of a village and by coincidence somebody (for the first time in the village ) starts rearing pheasant chicks for shooting.  She goes mad on pheasant scent, but we have to put her on a lead as she's not trained and just keeps running!  BUT since the season ended its not been such a problem and there are two or three pheasants near our garden every day, so she has now got used to them - which is good, because we don't want her upsetting the local gamekeeper do we    we would like to think she would be a good gun dog, but we are too soft to put her through the training - her sister went up to where she was conceived!? [that's the human term but can't be right for dogs is it?!] and had to sleep outdoors and stuff - she's not too bad with rabbits, but that might be cos we have one!  We put it in a run and sometimes have a job getting it to come out so we put Fern in to shooh bunny out and they start kissing !   

[Cazzie]

Caro

I am the softest person you could know. My heart melts with animals.  I have 1 fully trained gun dog and two that are being trained. 

It doesn't matter how soft you are the training is not hard its repetative and you can only get you're dogs to work for you out of love and mutual respect. 

I went years trying to find a gun dog trainer that suited me and have been to lots. I have found who I believe to be the best he is here in perthshire. He has a natural gift with dogs and uses firm but not harsh or cruel methods to train. Why not give it a go Gun dog training is superb even though you may never actually work you're dog. 

Cazzie

[*jean*]

when we take the spaniels out with the deerhounds the spaniels flush the rabbits the deerhounds catch them and the carcases feed the ferrets...I hate dead things so I leave all that to my sister and yes we are on our own land so its legal.. AND my sister has really good recall on her two older dogs should they take off after a deer she can call them off it. the pups a bit young yet but I imagine he will end up as obedient as the other two..
 my lot are too busy following a sent and dont look up but the sighthounds have the advantage there they see exactly where the rabbit is going. tho maggie has knocked henry off stride in her haste to beat him to the rabbit and the rabbit then gets away .. and leaves a very peed off henry behind..

[cazza]

I went years trying to find a gun dog trainer that suited me and have been to lots. I have found who I believe to be the best he is here in perthshire. He has a natural gift with dogs and uses firm but not harsh or cruel methods to train. Why not give it a go Gun dog training is superb even though you may never actually work you're dog. 

Cazzie

Cazzie - i will talk to you later I NEED THIS MAN of yours 

[Cob-Web]

when we take the spaniels out with the deerhounds the spaniels flush the rabbits the deerhounds catch them and the carcases feed the ferrets...I hate dead things so I leave all that to my sister and yes we are on our own land so its legal..

I think what Nicola is saying is that the law could be interpreted in such a way that makes this illegal, too Certainly, if a single spaniel chasing a rabbit could be considered illegal, then using spaniels to flush the rabbits and deerhounds to catch them to feed to the ferrets could definitely be interpreted as pre-meditation 
Land owners can be prosecuted for allwoing this to happen on their land, too 

[Cazzie]

when we take the spaniels out with the deerhounds the spaniels flush the rabbits the deerhounds catch them and the carcases feed the ferrets...I hate dead things so I leave all that to my sister and yes we are on our own land so its legal..

I think what Nicola is saying is that the law could be interpreted in such a way that makes this illegal, too Certainly, if a single spaniel chasing a rabbit could be considered illegal, then using spaniels to flush the rabbits and deerhounds to catch them to feed to the ferrets could definitely be interpreted as pre-meditation 
Land owners can be prosecuted for allwoing this to happen on their land, too 

Rabbits are vermin and the way the law is it is not illegal to hunt/chase/despatch them with a dog as long as you have the owners permission or you are the land owner. But with other species as you say its a case of proving you had no intention of hunting with you're dog, which in 99% of dog owners do not. One thing though I will mention is peoples ignorance of the damage dogs can do by hunting out of control especially in the bird nesting season & when deer have their young.

Can we change the topic back to my original post & hear any good stories on working/training etc. 

Cazzie x 

[Helen]

if you check out the working topics cazzie you will find there was a poll not so long ago.....