Author Topic: Beating invite  (Read 4285 times)

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Offline Des

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Beating invite
« on: January 12, 2015, 04:53:28 PM »
Hi, I've been invited to go beating on a small local shoot by a relative I've not seen for years.Bonnie is also invited, she is quite well trained and obedient . I've never worked Bonnie but is walked everyday in the woods and trained to search/ find and retrieve balls.At a recent visit to Midlands game fair she was quite scared when the shots were fired while watching the gundog scurries.  Bonnie has never been shot over but is not a particularly nervous dog.Just wondering if its alittle to late to start her beating as shes 2 years old shortly . Wouldn't throw her in at the deep end would just walk her on lead thru the first drive or so.Any advice welcome, cheers Des.

Offline Pearly

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Re: Beating invite
« Reply #1 on: January 12, 2015, 05:31:52 PM »
Hi Des

I take Pearl beating, next outing for us is 21st January but this is the third year out.... And she definitely isn't gun shy, if there's a loud bang she looks up waiting for birds to fall out of the sky  :005:

Before taking her for the first time I took Pearl to a number of locations that I knew there would be gun shots such as the Game Fair,  gundog training with dummy launchers and the clay pigeon range at Doveridge.  Once I knew she was ok with guns I introduced her to the shoot...

Given Bonnie is wary of gun shots anyway I think if it was me I would decline this season (ends 31 Jan this year) and take her to a couple of gun dog classes over the summer and then make the decision for her prior to next season  :shades:  of course there's no reason why you can't go and experience the shoot now - the banter can be a lot of fun  ;)

Edited to add: beating is as much about the human as the dog, I love the whole day out but with hindsight I would have gone on my own the first couple of times before taking Pearl - to learn the etiquette and language  :lol2: flags and dogging-in have a whole new meaning now  :005:  it's also worth practising stop at distance, limited distance working and recall prior to beating.....

Enjoy!

Offline its.sme

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Re: Beating invite
« Reply #2 on: January 12, 2015, 06:47:05 PM »
Hi Des

I would be very wairy about taking a dog into a situation that they are not comfortable with, I don't have a working cocker and I have never been beating , but I do own a dog that reacted to a couple of load bangs while out walking one day, getting her used to a new sound in the correct way can make the difference of you taking Bonnie Beating in the future or possibly having a very unhappy and possibly reactive dog.

Seeing a dog at work is for me a beautiful thing and I'm sure that with the training Pearly has suggested Bonnie will be busy at work soon.


Offline Patp

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Re: Beating invite
« Reply #3 on: January 12, 2015, 07:31:14 PM »
Why not keep her on a long line and see how she goes - the guns are not always close by to the dogs when heard.?



Offline Helen

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Re: Beating invite
« Reply #4 on: January 12, 2015, 07:40:49 PM »
I would go beating but not take my dog - searching and retrieving balls is nothing like controlled flushing of pheasants or picking up and she would be more of a hindrance and a worry to you on a shoot day at the moment.

It would be great experience for you to go on the shoot and then you can make plans for her to go next year after some gundog training :D
helen & jarvis x


Offline MIN

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Re: Beating invite
« Reply #5 on: January 12, 2015, 07:40:52 PM »
we used to take Gemma to clay shoots to get her use to the noise. now any loud bang and she is looking for falling birds. as for Bonnie she is at the right age to start beating even if you wait till next season.
As it is at the end of the season I would go on my own, get known and invited back (good, regular beaters are treated like gold dust because they are hard to find), gives you opportunity to watch the other dogs letting their owners down (makes you less nervous about yours running amok (because it happens)  and to see how the shoot operates.

As its.sme says  watching a dog work is fantastic, when it is your dog working for you it is awesome





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Offline Redked

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Re: Beating invite
« Reply #6 on: January 12, 2015, 09:07:26 PM »
My opinion (as Des knows well  ;)) is that Bonnie is terrified of guns. Not just nervous, she was a total wreck at the Midland Game Fair, much to our surprise as she is not a nervy dog normally. Whilst I know that learning to work Bonnie would be great for her and something Des would love, I know that a lot of work would have to be put in before she could be around gun shots, never mind the actual training.

 So, if beating is something that we could EVENTUALLY take part in, how would we even begin to get her used to guns? I personally think that putting her through something that scares her is just not worth it but if people think it would benefit her and before we even consider gun dog training, how do we find out if her aversion to guns is something we can cure? Does anyone have experiences of gun shy dogs who have overcome this or know if they even can?




Offline Pearly

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Re: Beating invite
« Reply #7 on: January 12, 2015, 09:38:26 PM »
My opinion (as Des knows well  ;)) is that Bonnie is terrified of guns. Not just nervous, she was a total wreck at the Midland Game Fair, much to our surprise as she is not a nervy dog normally. Whilst I know that learning to work Bonnie would be great for her and something Des would love, I know that a lot of work would have to be put in before she could be around gun shots, never mind the actual training.

 So, if beating is something that we could EVENTUALLY take part in, how would we even begin to get her used to guns? I personally think that putting her through something that scares her is just not worth it but if people think it would benefit her and before we even consider gun dog training, how do we find out if her aversion to guns is something we can cure? Does anyone have experiences of gun shy dogs who have overcome this or know if they even can?

Kerry the game fair can be overwhelming for dogs with scents, noise, people not to mention lots of other dogs all these things plus the very loud dummy launcher on the pond may have contributed to her being anxious....

The only way to know, safely, would be to attend a gun dog trainer and let them evaluate her - I've heard good things about Dukeries, not sure how far they are from you?

http://www.dukeriesgundogclub.co.uk/


Offline Nicola

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Re: Beating invite
« Reply #8 on: January 13, 2015, 03:54:19 PM »
I would go beating but not take my dog - searching and retrieving balls is nothing like controlled flushing of pheasants or picking up and she would be more of a hindrance and a worry to you on a shoot day at the moment.

It would be great experience for you to go on the shoot and then you can make plans for her to go next year after some gundog training :D

I agree with this. An untrained/unprepared dog isn't ideal at a shoot anyway, and if she's afraid of gunfire enough to have been a nervous wreck at the game fair then a shoot is probably the worst possible place you could take her, she'd be totally overwhelmed. Unfortunately if a dog is genuinely gunshy then they're unlikely to totally overcome it, but I would agree with the suggestion of taking her to a good, positive gundog trainer who can assess her for you. I've worked with a few dogs like this and it's always possible to do desensitisation/counter-conditioning work, but it's a very slow and gradual process. Even with that though a really gunshy dog is still likely to be flooded if you take them to shoots where there are shotguns going off in constant volleys at close proximity.

You don't need a dog to go beating though, actually most of the beaters at the various shoots I go to with Ro and Caoimhe don't bring dogs. At the biggest formal driven shoot there are only maybe 10 people out of 20-30 regular beaters who work their dogs, all of which had to be pre-approved by the gamekeeper. Even at the smaller shoots usually only 5 or 6 beaters out of maybe 12-15 bring dogs; if everyone did there would be far too many and unless they were all impeccably trained it would be chaos. It's obviously wonderful to train and work your dog but even without one it's still a great day out.
Nicola, Tilly, Rodaidh and Caoimhe x



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Offline Redked

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Re: Beating invite
« Reply #9 on: January 13, 2015, 08:08:09 PM »
Thanks for replies. I personally don't think it is worth putting Bonnie through any type of gun dog training if she will never be able to use those skills on a shoot due to being frightened. However, Des has always been interested in shooting and maybe trying beating (minus Bonnie) could be the start of something. If he liked it enough, we could think of having Bonnie assessed and see what the outcome is. Something to think about, thank you.

Offline MIN

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Re: Beating invite
« Reply #10 on: January 13, 2015, 09:22:50 PM »
best thing we ever got introduced into
 having Gemma is a bonus.
Run free and fly high my beautiful Gemma
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