Hello,

Does anyone know of any training clubs in the south east??
I would be very interested in learning about gundog training and working trials, I know nothing at all about it at the moment so I apologize in advance for the stupid questions but, at what age do you start your puppies training? Could you to go to obedience and ringcraft also, would this confuse the situation? Is a working dog more difficult to live with as a family pet?

Just curious

Debbie

Hi Debbie.
I start play training at the time I get a puppy. The simple stuff like sitting on command, coming when called and walking close to heel. I also do a little play retrieve. As the puppy starts to change teeth I stop all retrieving and don't start again until the adult teeth are through at which point I start to train more seriously. That's my timetable but really you could start at almost any time. Older dogs might take a bit longer that a puppy and might not get to quite such a high standard but you can always do something.

Yes, you can do obedience and ring craft. A lot of people do including myself. You need to watch for clashed in the commands you are using but that's about all.

I personally find living with a working gundog is no problem. After all, living with a dog that understands and obeys commands must be easier than living with one who doesn't!

Where abouts roughly in the south east are you, and what breed? Training organisations sometimes specialise in one group such as Retrievers or Spaniels and sometimes in one breed.

Regards, John

Just to add that I live with 7 working gundogs.  The pointers are the worst :-D but they're not too bad lol.  I find that it has settled down all of my dogs as they have a job to do and are usually using their brains.

Helen

Hiya Debbie,

When you ask about Working Trials, so you mean Working Trials or Working Tests? Working Trials are the equivalent of civilian police dog trials, a sort of decathlon for dogs!  Working Tests are pure gundog work- I'm sure that John will be along soon to advise on that!
If it is Working Trials that you mean, please tell me where abouts you are and perhaps I can help. I compete with my labs, in fact I've got my young dogs first trial this weekend-wish me luck!

Welcome to champdogs - please don't think that your questions are a bit silly, thats how everyone learns!

Cheers Ali :)

You could be right Ali, I thought that as Debbie was talking about Gundog work she was meaning Gundog Working Test, but she could mean Working Trials.

Don't worry Debbie, as Ali says, your questions are not silly.

Regards, John

PS. Good luck this weekend Ali :)

Hi all,

Thankyou for your replies.

I really mean't gundog trials. I have a friend that shows Pointers and have been to a few shows to watch her and to ringcraft to get a bit of practice in, as I'm a bit rusty!! I am seriously considering a weimaraner, mainly as a pet and to show but would love to learn all about the working side of things also. Im not far from Maidstone in Kent and would be happy to travel to any trials. So if you could give me details of any that would be great.
I know I have been told on many occasions that you cannot teach a puppy that you intend to show to sit but as they are a stacked breed surely it would be fine. Obviously I will use totally different commands anyway.   What do you think??

Debbie

A number of people work and show with great sucess. Obviously the more different you make things the better, but it's surprising just how easily dogs recognise the difference. Different commands, different leads, even different cloths! (Few people show in wellies! ;)  ) It all helps to let the dog know what happening.

HPR's are not really my group so I'll give it a while to see if anyone answers, if not I'll try to find out something for you. I do have a contact in that part of the country who might know something for you. I would not be surprised to hear that once you get started on gundog work you find its so much more interesting than showing, and I'm sure your dog will think so! I'll check back later to see if anyone has posted any help.

Best wishes, John

you might find this site interesting:

http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/HPRFTINFO

Helen

Hi again Debbie. I've PM'ed you some information. If you're not sure how to pick up PM's, if you look at the top of this page in the box, it says "Messages (1)". If you click on this you will see my message to you. As it contains addresses I put it in a PM rather than on here because I am not happy about putting addresses on an open board. (Unless of course they are already available on the internet)

Regards, John

Hello,

Thanks Helen and John for the link and PM , I have emailed the lady and am hoping she gets 5 minutes to reply.
I will let you know how I get on!

Debbie