Hi
My GSP can quarter quite well but insists on turning towards me before changing direction.  I am being told at the gundog training club that he should turn away from me, but noone can tell me how to correct this.  Can anyone advise how to train this?  Would teaching spins on the clicker help? I currently have one short pip on the whistle as the cue to watch me and change direction, which is indicated by an arm signal. 

Is there any particular reason why the dog should turn away rather than towards....is it just so that he doesn't cover the same ground or is there something more profound behind it?

Thanks

Gunner,

I'm more familiar with spaniels than HPRs, but basically the dog should be turning into the wind. So if the wind is blowing in your face, the dog should turn away from you. If the wind is coming from behind then the dog should quarter back towards you and thus turn in your direction.

You're correct in suggesting that this keeps the dog hunting fresh ground and represents the most efficient hunting pattern, minimising 'double hunting' ground and also minimising the amount of game that could be missed on the beat. I would guess that this is even more important with HPRs and pointers/setters than spaniels as they are covering more ground when hunting than a spaniel should.

I could envisage using a clicker to teach a turn, but not sure how you could use it to get the dog to choose to turn into the wind at each turn as the correct direction would depend on the prevailing wind and the side of the beat that the dog was turning. eg if your hunting with the wind in your face, the dog turns right at the left hand extent of the beat and vice-versa. Also, your dog needs to be in full hunting mode rather than looking for a reward for a correct turn.

If the dog is not hunting extremely quickly you could possibly stop the dog (by whistle) when it looks like its going to turn the wrong way, and then direct it in the correct direction. However, this is not something that you'd want to over-do as you'll make the hunting 'sticky'.

Another option could be to quarter the dog on a long line, but that does really depend just how powerfully the dog is running.

A lot will depend on how much natural hunting ability your dog has, and how much experience that it aquires. As your dog gets more experienced, it should develop a more natural hunting pattern and turn correctly. However, if you are trying to put a pattern into a dog with little hunting drive on boring ground then the habit could be harder to break.

Another thought is that possibly you could 'seed' the ground with dummies that the dog hasnt seen planted(assuming he is a keen retriever) and try and arrange it so that at the turning point, if the dog turns the correct way it is likely to wind the dummy, whereas if it turns incorrectly then it will miss the dummy/ball. Thus the dog may start to work out that by turning into the wind he is more likely to find retrieves during his hunting. This is not a method that I have ever tried, but occurred to me as I was typing.

One thing to keep in mind is what you want to use the dog for. If you want to compete in field trials, then a correct hunting pattern is very important. If you just want a nice shooting companion, then as long as he is keeping within range, responding to your whistle and pleasing you with his work then the niceties of a perfect pattern are far less important.

Thanks Havoc - a very comprehensive answer!  :-)  Guess I've just got hung up on this a bit as I've being going to a club that does a fair bit of field trial work....needless to say we're the comedy turn at the moment!

Cheers