Hi again!

If you can remember i have two labs one yellow and the younger black, i have posted a few topics of which you have been very helpful!

I have decided to train the younger black lab for gun dog work and hopefully field trials etc as he has a lot better temperament for the job!

My question is that he is still young (7 mths), very loyal and obedient however he has a nervous nature, if he is in small spaces with me he crouches down untill i praise him etc, when we are approaching other dogs when he is off lead he jumps about and barks untill he says hello and passes! Also something that is nothing like my elder dog, when i am walking him off lead and tell him to ' get on ' ie run(!) he doesnt leave my side unless i throw something for him.

My concern is that when he is introduced into the shooting field he wont take well to gunshot and or other dogs on the shoot. Is it something that will get better with age and confidence or do i have a nervous dog?!

Thanks again

Mark

You raise 3 points Mark.

A lot of working dogs can be very focused on their owner. Anna for example would give the appearance of being nervy but I can leave her for 10 minutes or a quarter of an hour sitting off lead out of sight in a strange place while I put some dummies out for blind retrieves which rather puts the lie to the nerves thing! She is just rather a one person dog. This is not a bad thing. As a dog learns exactly what is expected of him you can literally see the confidence grow!

Introduction to shot is not something to allow without prior thought. It’s something you plan! If you’ve not got one, have a look at www.turnerrichards.co.uk. Get a Starting Pistol, 22 rather than the .38 and some Short Blanks. (Short blanks have less explosive than long blanks so are better to start with. Send someone well away from her while she’s otherwise distracted, (At meal time or while you are playing with her) to fire the gun (once only!) The object is that it is just background noise. I go right down the bottom of my garden (Which is quite long) to start. On the occasions when I have not been able to get that far away I have put my hand into my game bag in order to muffle the noise. Only ever have the gun fired in the early stages when he is otherwise amused and as long as he shows no distress gradually, over a period of time, bring it closer. Don’t be tempted, however well it appears to be going, to rush the training. Getting a dog use to gunfire is easy, getting a dog made gun nervous over it is not easy! I often work my puppy class fairly close to where the advanced dogs are working so distant gunfire is a natural occurrence.

Barking is something you must get to grips with. Any noise on the part of the dog is an eliminating fault in a field trial! Criticising guns who miss is one of Anna’s faults and the reason she will never be a good Field Trials dog even though she has had her successes in gundog working tests. This is where a gundog training club is so useful because you are able to work in company with other dogs. It also gives you a marker to measure your dog against, something to aim at.

Best wishes, John

Mark, you say that you have decided to try and train your lab for gundog work, but then list a number of issues, that don't bode well for an aspiring gundog. He's still young, but I'm not sure that a dog that appears outwardly nervious and clingy, barking and leaping about in the company of other (strange) dogs,together with your reservations about gun shot (which I assume you have based on previous experience with the dog), will necessarily cut-it in the field.

Obviously you have only told us about the 'negative' things, and not the positives that lead you to believe he could have good potential. And also, don't forget he is still very young, and things may well improve with age if handled correctly. You've still got plenty of time to see how he shapes up, so don't panic, as time is on your side. Many people don't start any real training untill maybe 9 or 12 months, really depends on the dog.

My advice would be to not comfort him when he's nervious, just carry on regardless and ignore any such behaviour. Keep him on the lead when around other dogs so you can control his behaviour and maintain his attention on you, and try to keep the training up-beat to get him a bit more excited about getting away from you. Because at the end of the day you need a confident dog, whether you're there or not.

A question for you though, does he get much time away from you, and is he happy to be on his own? As too much time spent with some dogs tends to make them dependant and clingy.

Dave,

Many thanks for your reply i am always keen to hear from people who are familiar with gun dog training and or have working dogs themselves.

Yes the points i raised were the negatives, i should have explained the barking and the jumping up more. He only does this when he is with our other dog but ignores other peoples dogs when he is on his own with me.

I know what you mean about a dog being more clingy as we got him at 5 1/2 months old from a lady who had kept him with 15 other working dogs! We therefore found that he took very well to the attention obviously as she hadnt shown any sort of affection towards him during his time with her.

He does cry a lot when i take the other dog away from him when i am doing some training but he is fine with my other half and other people so i dont think it is something i need to worry about. What i would say is i can ask him to stay and he will be steady enough for me to walk away from him around the corner without him moving a cm!

He is still quite young, although he learns very very quickly he isnt always steady but at the moment i am just trying to sow the seads. He can however be recalled on the whistle and he will also stop and sit on the whistle from a distance whether he is going for a retrieve or is just playing around with our other dog! Likewise walking to heel on or off the lead isnt a problem.

With regard to sending him away from me he will do so with delight if i throw a dummy or such like for him to retrieve or when i send our other dog away, but when there is nothing for him to get, that is when he will just stay by my side.

This i think is a good progression and i dont think i will be able to start any really serious training with him untill he is a bit older as i dont think he is steady enough just yet!

But i appreciate your reply and your suggestions about the nervous nature, i will try ignoring him and see what happens.

Kind regards

Mark

Getting a dog to leave your side to retrieve a "Blind" retrieve is all a matter of confidence on the part of your dog. Confidence in you and confidence in the fact that if you are sending him then there WILL be something there. Never ever allow a young dog to fail on a blind even if it means quietly slipping another dummy in front of the puppy so that he stumbles onto it. Use the wind, Arrange the early blind retrieves so that any draft is blowing directly from the dummy to your dog. That way he only has to run down the scent cone to find the dummy.

Gradually make things harder as the pup becomes more confident. It is all a matter of slowly stretching the puppy’s abilities.

Best wishes, John

Shouldn't worry too much Mark. There's plenty of people that can't get their dogs to stay near them, and they keep running off, so it could be worse.

Just keep him keen with all that exciting stuff, ignore the nervy bit, and don't forget to concentrate on what he's not good at, not what he can do. Give him a few successes though.

As you've not had him long, it will take a time to settle down anyway, so you have probably only really got to the end of that settling-in period.