Spaniels - what comes first, hunting or handling

[WGD]

With an aspiration to trial my most recent spaniel pup I want to try and get this one right.

He's 6.5 months now and although his hunting has a way to go after some good advice from a member on here I am confident that will click in time.

I don't want it to click without any element of control though so expect I'll be concentrating a fair bit in the next wee while on steadiness and handling and limiting hunting to short bursts whilst trying not to take the zip out of the wee dog.

How do you do it? Appreciate there is no one size fits all answer, but interested in responses.

[Qest12]

You know he can hunt; but is he hunting as hard as you would like? If yes and he's starting to get a bit too confident - now would be the time to leave any hunting for a while and move onto basic obedience, steadiness, directional and retrieving exercises. Once they are well established, you can move back to hunting and incorporate the above.

Don’t be put off with moving away from hunting for a while; he won’t forget how to hunt, it comes naturally to them. It’s like with Labradors, once you know they can retrieve...with oomph, you leave it and move onto the basics.

Once the foundations are installed properly; he has the rest of his life to hunt.

[WGD]

You know he can hunt; but is he hunting as hard as you would like?

He hasn't been so I have been giving him his head a wee bit and last night the warning signs were there that it might be time to reign him in a bit.

[kevbeaumont]

just keep him in close and keep him steady mate maybe 20 min every day sitting him in middle of field walking 10 yards away for 3 min then call him in walk him to heal off the lead then sit and hold him walk 50 yards then cal him in and stop him 20 yards away for 3 min and walk up to him, try get him to sit when he hears gun shot this will help a lot when he starts working and stop him running in as he will know when a shot is off he has a job to do but wait for your command.put shot up sit him thrown dummy in open so he can see it keep him in stay and go collect it yourself then repeat but in rough and let him collect , keep it fun mate with my pups i come home looking like a mud monster rolling around on the floor praising them trying to keep it as fun as possible so they want to work for fun and to please ,

[Dummy1]

I would concentrate on getting his head down and hunting like a machine, control can come later when he is older..

[WGD]

I would concentrate on getting his head down and hunting like a machine, control can come later when he is older..

You've had too many labs I'm still trying to get the control into the oldest one... and she's 5

[Rothievale]

Work to his weaknesses....if he's a mad keen hunter, concentrate on his retrieving, if he's a mad keen retriever but doesn't hunt so well, concentrate on hunting. If he's both, be thankful!

[goshawk]

I have the same dilemma as the OP. Till now my Megan has a lot of speed, both in hunting and retrieving. I know that she is hunting too far away now and then. Her stop on the whistle is quite good, so I know that I can stop and return her. I hesitate to bring her back too much as I'm afraid she will lose her speed.
I have to add, that for me as falconer she may range a bit further than for a gun. Sometimes I see spaniels quarter almost on a penny, what's that good for? I read somesbody writing on this forum: a spaniel doesn't need a nose, it searches every piece of ground anyway. When a spaniel does that, it cannot reach any speed at all.
So the questionis: what do you want?
Just my thoughts.
Gr, Jan

[Naj]

Helen - A counsel of perfection, whatever the breed.

I always base all my training around hunting but even when I used to develop hunting/retrieving separately I still put as much time - probably more time - into perfecting the quartering as I did retrieving. Yes, all spaniels will hunt but you ideally want to ingrain an effective pattern & the best time to do this is right from the off. Stop the hunting side with a dog of this age & by the time you've perfected other things & come back to hunting again you'll likely be faced with a much more motivated dog & may well be in for a shock when you attempt to 'rein' it in. Continue with the quartering practice in synch with steadiness etc & the dog's progress develops organically with no hidden surprises.

Naj

[Springfield Pointers]

Does the dog hunt productive ground? Always good to get a young dog into varying degrees of bird contact. A fast dog should be given areas where there are a lot of birds from time to time so it can learn control and that sometimes it is better to slow down instead of over-running it's nose. Once it is starting to be more methodical and metronomic take it into areas where it has to work harder for birds. Remember, birds train bird dogs.

Any half decent dog should be able to find birds when the conditions are agreeable and the birds are in abundance, but a brilliant dogs will put a hunt together and work for you, and produce, when birds are hard to find. Only bird contact can produce a confident and useful bird dog, training drills alone are a small and initial part of the process, don't get hung up on control.