Picked up Tigs about a week ago now and had a demo of her training on the day. She has her nose to the ground more now, which is what I wanted and she is lightening fast. Her general obedience had dropped off in the two weeks, but within 2 days I had it back.
Took her hunting at the weekend and she flushed two rabbits and stopped immediately on the whistle (unlike my terrier who caught one!!) and I am really pleased with her and David who trained her for two weeks.
I would like to make one point about training or not training your own dog.
Tigs is now 21 months old and from 9 weeks I have trained her. I trained her to sit and recall to whistle hand and voice. I have taught her directional retrieves, blind and seen. I have trained her to retrieve through and over water, to managed obstacles, under and over. She has been taught to stay, with me in sight and out of sight. I have trained her to gun shot which took patience and dedicated every day for 4 months and continues. She has been taught to ignore retrieves flying all around her and other dogs working and running about. She walks to heel on and off lead. She has been trained to watch me all the time and the best part of all this is that she loves and looks forward to every minute.
HOWEVER, the one thing that I have no access to is live game. She went away for two weeks specifically to introduce her to live game, to learn to recognise the scent and what to do once she encounters this. This is an invaluable lesson for a dog which you would like to take beating and picking up. She will never forget those two weeks and she had the time of her life. Since she has been back, her hunting has picked up a pace, her eyes shine and she quivers with anticipation. Why would anyone deny their dog this opportunity just because they "want to train the dog themselves" The acknowledgement that someone else can provide their dog with something that they can't is the starting point and that takes time to understand and accept.
I am glad I was able to give her this opportunity and I would reccommend it to anyone.