Free Hunting......... advice please

[fumar2]

From various books I have read there have been comments about not allowing free hunting from what I can gather free hunting is nose down sniffing about??? Now Gretel our 12 week old cocker will go in the garden and sniff around and on walks will also try and sniff around is this really that unacceptable and is this what "free hunting" is referring to and if so how would you go about stopping it.  I fully understand the start as you mean to go on policy with being fairly strict even with a young pup but surely they should be allowed to be pup's! and in a compromise with my missus, although I hope to use her for a bit of working/beating, she is also a family pet so a little spoilt....... so any sort of guidance/advice would be most appreciated 

[Nicola]

You can let her sniff around, it would be hard to stop a Cocker doing that Free hunting is when the dog pleases itself and goes off following its nose willy nilly, doing its own thing and ignoring you. At 12 weeks old I would very much still be letting her be a puppy and would just be working on building up a bond with her and getting her used to focussing on you by making yourself interesting to her which means lots of running around with her, play, games and praise. All I would look out for is her going too far from you at this stage, if you're training a dog to work you do have to limit their freedom somewhat but it doesn't mean that they get none at all. You want to keep her within a reasonable distance and work to keep her attention on you so she doesn't start to get into the habit of looking for her own entertainment.

[milly]

This is from the gundog club - http://www.thegundogclub.co.uk/Reference/breeds/spaniels/troublewithspringers_2.htm
It refers to springers but the principles the same in cockers.
It'll give you and idea why free hunting is a problem.
I agree with Nicola, at 12 weeks enjoy the pup, let it experience different smells and textures but keep yourself the light of its life. Your pups exploring it's surroundings and that's natural and important.

[supergirl]

This is a problem I have with Lexi my little rescue cocker (14 months), who had very limited training and as a consquence of her increased confidence does the same, going some fair distances - thankfully she always comes looking for us when she realises that she is on her own, so we have never lost her, just had to wait for a bit.  She is now walked on a long line (which she hates), so I have an uphill challenge to undo the bad. 

I think I would play lots of games with lots of treats with your pup when you're out on walks, so that you're the focus of her attention and looks to you for her entertainment.  Also there is a video by Top Barks on walking with attention which is fantastic, whereby you click and treat everytime the dog checks in with you - its made a huge difference helping to keep Roly's attention.

http://www.cockersonline.co.uk/discuss/index.php?topic=62638.0

[fumar2]

Thanks for that. All good stuff there...............