quartering

[MUDDYBOOTS]

Hi what do you do if you are trying to teach your dog to quarter and it bogs of on sent and ignores your commands to come back.

I joined a local gundog club a good few Weeks ago now and Benson has been doing OK in the  puppy classes and today he progressed to the intermediate class.Anyway I was a bit late for the first lesson and when I got there they were about to do some quartering practice.We lined up with our dogs on lead and started walking forwards in a line and one by one the instructor asked us to take the leads off our dogs and get them to hunt along the line and pay particular attention to the patches of ready type grass.
I was half expecting Benson to bog off so when it was our turn I asked the instructor what I should do if he did this and he told me to get out after him,scruff him and bring him back.HIMM not to sure about that.

As it happens it did not come to this as Benson did quite well,he pulled forward a few times but turned back on line when I double pipped him but the instructor suggested I give him a bit more freedom to hunt and not be in such a hurry to give him direction,keep my hands in my pockets.

I enjoyed the class but just wondered what I would have done if Benson had ran off because I don't really want to be scruffing him.So what do you do if your dog bogs off.

[spanielcrazy]

You go get him, put him back on lead and bring him back. As many times as necessary  You need to be watching him the whole time, when you see the body language that he is about to bog off, or he has started already, give a sharp, loud "ah ah" or "ack" or some other sound that shows he's off the mark. Sometimes that is enough to bring him back to business, otherwise, go get him, leash him and bring him back.

Has he learned "hup" or sit? Sometimes you can stop him and resend him with a "hup", depends on where in his training he is

[MUDDYBOOTS]

Thank you,at todays class a couple of springers ran off and there handlers were encouraged to carry them back  ,but surely bringing him back on his lead will have the same result.Benson will sit on the whistle,will stay when you tell him, is quite steady and has a good recall,however once he builds up momentum on scenty ground,his nose turns on and his ears turn off .

I do enjoy being a member of this club and they have shooting trips/training days once a month or so were some members will shoot and others go to work there dogs.

[Sarah1985]

Its a shame that they use such harsh treatments. Dragging the dog back in mild compared to the club near me. Spaniel owners were encouraged to pick up their dogs by their ears if they ignored their owners  , if the dog started to jump from the owners advances electric shock collars were recomended. Hence why I gave up on gun dog training despte always intending to try my dogs at working. I really hit home when a dog darted from its owner and ended up at my feet. The instructor asked me to hold onto him so I bent down to hold his collar and the poor thing was so frightened it flinched. Now it could have been how I bent down that spooked him but thats when I realised I didnt want my dogs being like that.

It might be worth practicing this outside of class so that you limit the chances of him ignoring you. Practice his attention to name so that you can always get his attention. You can practice on walks. Wait till hes got a good scent and his face is firmly pressed on the ground, then say his name. If his head pops up and looks at you click (if you click) and toss him a reward and allow him to go back to sniffing. If he ignores you go get him and take him away from the smell (you dont want him being rewarded for ignoring you). Build up where you practice to get more and more interesting smells so that you avoid your cries falling on deaf ears

Might also be worth speaking to the instructor privately about your views on the harsher treatment and explain that you dont want to be doing that to your dog. It might avoid a confrontation later if Benson does let you down and your asked to do something you dont agree with. If he understands how you feel (some do and the harsher treatments to keep their members happy as they want fast results) then he may give you kinder alternatives.

Alternatively see if theres any other good local classes you can take a look at....

[Nicola]

I agree with Spanielcrazy, if it even looks like your dog might take off you have to get after them and get them back straight away. I don't scruff mine and I don't tend to put them on lead, I would walk them back at heel, but either way is fine (lead or off, not scruffing). Ideally you don't give the dog the chance to bog off, you need to watch them like a hawk for the signs that they may be about to go so you can pre-empt it. If he starts looking too interested in heading in one direction you can stop whistle him and send him back in the opposite direction. Before I started hunting on even vaguely interesting ground I'd want to be absolutely certain of the dog's stop and turn whistle commands, these must be rock solid, you want to set them up for the best chance of success.

I agree with the 'hands in your pockets' thing. When the dog is hunting you don't want them to be looking at you, they need to be keeping an ear out for the whistle but ideally you want to interfere as little as possible and trust them to get on with their job so be unobtrusive and give as few commands as you can. At the beginning when I'm teaching a pup to quarter I use hand signals when I'm turning at the end of the beat (as I walk the pattern with the pup to begin with) but once they're past this stage I want the dog to look at the ground ahead, not at me. I hand signal if I need to send them out for something but otherwise I let them get on with hunting. You still need to give Benson the turn whistle and watch him for signs that he's going too far but that's really all you need to do, as he gets into it he should get into his natural hunting pattern.

[Black Red + Yellow]

Agree with Nicola - exactly the same type of training we've done with our boys.

Our trainer has always said if you don't like running....don't let your dog get too far away

[milly]

And don't give up on gundog training, any trainer that tells handlers to pick a dog up by the ears should be picked up by his and the handlers should find a new trainer asap.