Boarding school

[Nicola]

That's why Alfie is on his holidays at our trainer's place just now, I dropped him off today (and miss him SO much!) Charlie's got a huge rabbit pen plus all the new poults just put out in the pheasant pens so it'll be great for Alfie.

awww, how long is he away for? Did you cry? Please tell me you cried then I won't feel so pathetic welling up at the thought of leaving mine 

Probably a couple of weeks... and yes I did! I managed to hold it together in front of Charlie then got in the car, drove down the driveway, pulled over and started wailing    I'm still a bit teary now as Cazza says... he's my boy and I miss him so much already...  I need to pull myself together 

[*jean*]

  aww poor nic..
 its like kids going off to scholl on their first day the mothers are wrecks and the kids cant wait to run off with their pals!

[Cazzie]

Its funny how we worry about them but I know from experience that 5 mins after you have left they have forgotton all about you and are concentrating on having a great time with all the other dogs. I know that Goose loves the kennels and would probably stay there if he had his way as he has a ball. The last time he went to the kennels for around 3 weeks, he was looking terrific when I picked him up  

[Jan/Billy]

No offence to those who do, I know there are big differences between working & non working owners, but it's not something I'd ever do with my dog.

Going with your dog is one thing, but leaving it to be trained by someone else is just something I'd never feel happy with  

Each to their own though  

[anita96]

I know what you mean Jan, but sometime if the dog has very high hunting drive it is sometimes better to get them trained in a pen and with a trainer so that you can take them out in 'normal dog walking situations' and not be always worried about them doing a bolt.  Mocha recall is good in the field by the river with no scent distractions but if I was to take him for a walk with the family in the woods I would have to watch him like a hawk or keep him on the lead because he would hunt and hunt and hunt into the next county given the chance.  Hopefully I will be able to get mocha off to our local trainer for some training at the end of the summer, I will miss him although I may not miss the 6.30am walks  , then next session I will be able to take him out on a shoot, heres hoping 

[Nicola]

I recognise my own limitations and whilst I think I've done a pretty good job with Alfie so far and I would love to say that I am experienced and knowledgable enough to teach him everything he needs to learn to be a working dog, I know that I'm not. There are elements which I am not as experienced and confident in training and rather than risk making a hash of it myself I'd much rather let a professional who Alfie and I both know and trust work with him and get it right first time. I would never in a miilion years leave him with someone I didn't know and who I hadn't seen 'in action' many times and had lessons with myself. Charlie is fab, he did after all also look after Rodaidh for his first 6 months!   

Also, I don't have the facilities of pheasant and rabbit pens on my doorstep either and can't really trek up to Perthshire every day for the next 2 weeks to start dogging in at 5am which makes training these things myself difficult on a purely practical level.

[cazza]

I recognise my own limitations and whilst I think I've done a pretty good job with Alfie so far and I would love to say that I am experienced and knowledgable enough to teach him everything he needs to learn to be a working dog, I know that I'm not. There are elements which I am not as experienced and confident in training and rather than risk making a hash of it myself I'd much rather let a professional who Alfie and I both know and trust work with him and get it right first time. I would never in a miilion years leave him with someone I didn't know and who I hadn't seen 'in action' many times and had lessons with myself. Charlie is fab, he did after all also look after Rodaidh for his first 6 months!   

Also, I don't have the facilities of pheasant and rabbit pens on my doorstep either and can't really trek up to Perthshire every day for the next 2 weeks to start dogging in at 5am which makes training these things myself difficult on a purely practical level.

Nic you HAVE done brilliant with Alfie    As for him being with Charlie - well what can i say he is a fab person and knows his stuff and trains with positive methods - i wouldn't hesitate leaving Fern with him at all unlike some 

[Cazzie]

I wouldnt hesitate in leaving my dogs for training either. The reason I have working dogs is to accompany me to do a job. These dogs are bred to do a job and have to be trained to a good standard and if not there is no point in having a working dog. As some people only work their dogs only a few months of the year and dont have the experience to advance their training sometimes it is a ness to get help and this includes them boarding at a training kennels to do so.

I have spend thousands on my dogs with buying them, training them, feeding them and so on so I really want my dogs to succeed in what they have been bred and bought to do. If I wanted soley a pet dog I wouldnt have bought 3 more I would have just stuck with Daisy.

Also as I live with a full time Gamekeeper we need well trained dogs to work throughout the year. I think it is comendable that anyone would want to advance their dog just like a child going on to learn at school and furthering their education at Uni. I dont know anyone who would not want an extremely well trained dog that could perform the tasks they have been bred to do. It makes me extremely proud to see my dogs out and about working/playing and being able to control them in a lot of different ways. 

[Luvly]

How much do you pay for your training I imagen its quite alot .

[Cob-Web]

Is it possible to obtain this kind training in a weekly/daily class environment, or even a residential arrangement in which you go along with your dog for intensive training, like some obedience schools?   

Although I fully understand the need to have access to live game for training, and the fact that working dogs need expert training which some owners don't have the skills to deliver, it seems a shame that the only way of training up a good gundog is to send it away from the home environment to be trained by someone else, especially if the dog has two roles; working dog and pet

[Cazzie]

How much do you pay for your training I imagen its quite alot .

It can vary. Individual lessons with a Pro trainer which includes you and your dog and are just over an hour cost around £25. Boarding a dog for training can cost from £75 per week. It is like anything in life if you want the best output you must have the best input  

[Luvly]

 

[Cazzie]

Is it possible to obtain this kind training in a weekly/daily class environment, or even a residential arrangement in which you go along with your dog for intensive training, like some obedience schools?   

Although I fully understand the need to have access to live game for training, and the fact that working dogs need expert training which some owners don't have the skills to deliver, it seems a shame that the only way of training up a good gundog is to send it away from the home environment to be trained by someone else, especially if the dog has two roles; working dog and pet

Dogs as you know do not think like us humans, it is also sometimes us that ruins a good dog due to lack of experience. It is possible to train your dogs in a class enviroment and at home, I have done it with 2 labs but some breeds especailly cockers are a totally different ball game and if not trained in the correct way it can ruin a potentially good dog. While the dog is away for training they are focused 100% on what they are doing and are taken out of the home enviroment away from loads of other distractions. It is not possible in some cases to have the dog focused all the time. In a kennel enviroment the dogs have a sharper outlook and pay attention more as less time is spent molley coddling them throughout the day. Not all gundogs are sent away for training, some are really far too intelligent for inexperienced handlers to bring on and need an expert to divert that intelligence into doing what they should be doing correctly.

It would be a different story if most of us had 30 years of training working cockers and I know with sweepie being my first and learning lots myself, I will certainly be able to train my next one better (with guidence from a Pro). I have stopped treating/thinking of my dogs like babies as their loyalties dont always lie 100% with you, as long as they are fed, and have other doggie/human company they dont even bat an eyelid.

[supaspaniel]

Is it possible to obtain this kind training in a weekly/daily class environment, or even a residential arrangement in which you go along with your dog for intensive training, like some obedience schools?   

Although I fully understand the need to have access to live game for training, and the fact that working dogs need expert training which some owners don't have the skills to deliver, it seems a shame that the only way of training up a good gundog is to send it away from the home environment to be trained by someone else, especially if the dog has two roles; working dog and pet

I think some trainers do...although dont know about the residential bit, I think you'd have to live near the trainer.
Matt sent Dash away to be trained...and it was hard for him I had bought Ted for Matt 8 years ago and unfortunately Matt didn't do a very good job of training him, so Ted could never go on the shoot days and was only used for dogging in..which he loved, so Ted was happy ...but because of that Matt wanted Dash trained and it paid off...Dash is a great working cocker.
i suppose you could say that Matt should stick with labs whom are easier to train, but I got him into cockers and he loves them as much as me...well almost..Dash used to sleep with Matt until me and my groovy gang moved in with him
Matt is supposed to be getting another cocker pup in the next few months and I think he may be training this one himself now that he has more experience with having worked Dash

[Coco]

Just wanted to say, thanks for this thread, it as been really helpfull. You've all managed to articulate both sides of the argument that in my head I couldn't get past " But, I want her at home with meeeeeee" 

Right now the OH wants to send Wherry to school but I'm not too keen on the idea for a number of reasons, not least missing her. After reading this, a lot of my worries have been answered but the two remaining reasons are:-
I think she will come back a different dog; like some of her cheekiness and playfullness will go and she'll come back a working 'machine' 
They say if the dog is trained by a man, she will only listen to a man and vice versa. She will be trained by a man, I am not a man!

Anyone have any advice in relation to those two concerns? Thanks