Author Topic: Is it too late  (Read 3307 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline winewood

  • Donator
  • Hero Member
  • *
  • Posts: 539
  • Gender: Female
  • Now in Italy
Is it too late
« on: January 22, 2007, 04:26:42 AM »
I have 2 show cockers, (there are no working cockers here in Australia), I really wanted to try field trials here, never trained a gun dog before have no real idea of what I'm doing. Joined the Gundog club, found out they don't hold spaniel trials here, and would have to compete against the labs and larger breeds in retrieving trials. You can imagine the looks I got when I first arrived and got my two out of the car. With a little help ::) after asking many questions was guided into trying gun dog working tests first before attempting field work. I'm happy to do this we still need lots of work as this requires a soft dummy, my thoughts are that she is two now, and has never had a bird in her mouth (was shown a dead pigeon at last training day which she sniffed at and walked off, he backed away thought is smelled bad and wouldn't go near it)  :005: As the weekend was so hot 41c let the dogs in the pool for a swim, she is a natural, thinks she is a duck puts her whole face in and gets the ball. Worked out how to sit on the step and wait for me to throw the ball then dive or throw herself in and swim the length, then come back wanting me to throw again.
He wasn't as motivated as her and I think his back legs get tired or something but every now and then his back end sinks and needs to be reminded to keep his back end moving or you sink  :lol: He is only 14months and a very quiet boy.
Will I have trouble getting her to pick up a bird later on? Was I just fobbed off by the gundog club because I don't have a lab or GSP, or Vizla.
Owned and trained by two mad cockers

Offline Krisdt

  • Site Member
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 696
  • Gender: Female
Re: Is it too late
« Reply #1 on: January 22, 2007, 09:21:35 AM »
I have a working type dog, but I would prob say with a lot of training any dog can learn  so why not give it a go then at least you tried!

Offline spanielcrazy

  • Site Member
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 4446
Re: Is it too late
« Reply #2 on: January 22, 2007, 04:38:05 PM »
I think Crackers was 3 or 4 years old and had stopped showing in conformation before I started her on birds. She was absolutley mad for birds which was a big help! So, no, it's never too late!

You can buy  wings--pigeon, pheasent--from gundog catalogs to get them used to them, you can also tie the wings to a dummy for your retrieve work. (Be sure to make it a fun "game" to get them interested)

They need to be in good shape for hunting or trials so need lots of excercise. Swimming is really demanding so your boy needs to do short swims to start--don't throw the ball so far.

Keep going if it's something you and your dogs enjoy!
The madhouse: Michelle, Joy, Jordie, Gizmo, Bracken, Jewel

"My darlings,I love you more than life itself, but you're all ****ing mad!"  Ozzy Osbourne


Offline Nicola

  • Moderator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 16455
  • Gender: Female
  • FTCh Caoimhe
Re: Is it too late
« Reply #3 on: January 22, 2007, 09:45:49 PM »
Definitely never too late! I do agree that your dogs need to be fit to work but even if they never reach trial standard then you will still have a lot of fun along the way  :D 
Nicola, Tilly, Rodaidh and Caoimhe x



http://www.flickr.com/photos/30049807@N08/

Offline winewood

  • Donator
  • Hero Member
  • *
  • Posts: 539
  • Gender: Female
  • Now in Italy
Re: Is it too late
« Reply #4 on: January 24, 2007, 07:01:08 AM »
Yea! Yea! Don't laugh but the pointer and setter club have let us join their club. They actually hold classes once a month, which is more than the gundog club hold (1 per year) we are associate members. The Cocker club here is really only show people,and that just about covers all the field type clubs there is. English Springer club don't have anyone involved in field work and all other spaniels here are to few in numbers. You can't say I didn't try everything,  :005: I laughed and said well with their tails they look like miniature setters. What do you think ,Indi is a blue, English Setter, Kody is black so lets say a very dark Gorden Setter Ha Ha. Lets hope we don't make fools of ourselves we just want to have fun and let them try to do what they were breed for. Thanks for replys it's given me hope now the weather has to cool down before we can attend our first class. Will let you know how we go.
Owned and trained by two mad cockers

Offline crazyspaniels

  • Site Member
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1386
Re: Is it too late
« Reply #5 on: January 24, 2007, 02:21:50 PM »
my friend trained her bullmastiff to do some HPR work, he had to locate an object, he didn't point but would look at her and back at the object etc, she did it as a challenge so if a bullmastiff can be a setter then so can a cocker :D

Freya and Cockers Bilbo and Dobbie, not forgetting the Springers Willow and Paddy

Offline spanielcrazy

  • Site Member
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 4446
Re: Is it too late
« Reply #6 on: January 24, 2007, 04:10:54 PM »
This club, Victoria Gundog Club is showing on their website a field trial for Spaniels coming up in August, might be worth checking out, apparently there are working Spaniels in Australia  ;) :shades:

http://home.vicnet.net.au/~gundog/sub_pages/field_work.html
The madhouse: Michelle, Joy, Jordie, Gizmo, Bracken, Jewel

"My darlings,I love you more than life itself, but you're all ****ing mad!"  Ozzy Osbourne


Offline Tasha

  • Site Member
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1564
Re: Is it too late
« Reply #7 on: January 24, 2007, 04:30:04 PM »
I'd say the same although it is harder with a show bred dog that has been shown (and not because of its lines ::) but because of the training)  Bonnie is a show bred dog through and through but she works fabulously now after a lot of hard work and alot of idiots poo pooing my idea to work her.  You do have to do a few things differently because your constantly encouraging a dog to hunt rather than it doing it by itself so needing to rein it in as you would with most working dogs.

Start off with the easy stuff, like basic obedience and whistle commands, once you've got those down move on to dummy retrieves (short distance, long distance, seen and blinds) then water (if they don't already) and then move onto birds once they are used to the dummies.  If you start off with wings on your dummies and scent (I used birds blood but you can get bottles of fake scent off the internet) then go on to cold game (basically frozen intact game birds - no chewing!!!) then defrosted game in a pair of tights, then fresh (but cold game) and finally warm shot game. 

You can start with the noise aversion pretty much straight away.  If you know someone with a gun or a starter pistol get them to set it off at a good DISTANCE away from you (do it one at a time with leads on), lots of praise and lots of sweeties to start off with and then slowly bring it closer until the gun can be fired with them sitting next to you.  You can go to a clay ground for extra practise which will also get them used to gun fire.

Good luck!!!! And well done you for having a go  :shades: :shades: