This weekend saw the last day of the summer school with a guest appearance from Peter Jones - no pressure then!
Coral was a wee superstar! I hardly needed the whistle while she was hunting, she flushed birds, stopped on shot and brought the first two partridge back to hand, presenting the second beautifully - the latter not required, just that she does it naturally! She did blink the third but in her defence it had been thrown into reeds and was deeply embedded and after trying to get it out she carried on hunting. Having said that, she stopped when told, went back and then retrieved the same bird when it was thrown into the open
After that, we had a session in the rabbit pen, where she was wonderful! She turned every time asked but to be fair didn't need the whistle much as she was following body language (no hands needed!) she stopped when asked and redirected when told.
All in, a very good end to a training course which has seen her go from a "wild as a hedgehog" dog, running off when she felt like it, blinking dummies to hunt on and ignoring the stop whistle to a fairly steady (untested with game distraction) obedient dog who actually wants to work with me!
There really is light at the end of that tunnel