Gundog training in SE London or Kent

[clairep4]

Ali's thinking of taking Zorro (show cocker but with very strong instincts) to gundog training and trying to find courses local to us. The nearest I've found so far is in Westerham in Kent (about an hour's drive). Does anyone know of any others?

Many thanks
Claire

[Nicola]

What kind of course are you looking for Claire? Most professional gundog trainers either take dogs in for residential training or else do one on one lessons with the dogs and their owners to work on specific issues in their training.

[clairep4]

Really just a structured course to teach Zorro the basics - the one in Westerham is a Grade One course lasting 8 weeks and is aimed at beginners, so something along those lines really. We've been doing little bits of stuff with him, working on his sit-stays and getting him to find a dummy in the bushes etc. We're not looking to turn him into a serious gundog, just to have something to channel his instincts into as he's such a ball of energy and it would be nice to know how to do it properly rather than what we're doing at the moment which is basically following a book and a bit of guesswork..

[Nicola]

I don't really know of any courses like this as such but if you ever decide you want some one on one lessons with a trainer give me a shout cos I know a good guy in that area 

[clairep4]

Thanks Nicola - might just do that!

[Wendy G]

Have you tried any local Gundog Clubs as they sometimes run courses in the summer .

[anita96]

Have a look at this website http://www.felsteadgundogs.com/  look in the training section and the links there might be one in your area I am sure there is the london spaniel society.

[lyn]

def look into the london gundog society. i had a peek a couple of weeks back. not done anything about it yet tho coz jim is looking for a new job and i need to know his new working hours first. as soon as i am sure of his new hours we are going to look into it. there is a training school here in stevenage that does just what you're looking for. they do all different levels and all different types of training. they even train police and security dogs. it has come highly recomended to me. i have seen them do there normal training classes and they're fantastic. one of the trainers there was on the tv programme dog borstal.
here is the link
http://www.barkingmaddts.com/advanced.html