It's been 2 and a half months since I finished my summer gundog holidays and started more regular 1-2-1 classes, with the most basic of aims - to see what would happen with my Wocker, Hattie, and my, affectionately nicknamed, Shocker, Willis. I've started seeing a local spaniel trainer fairly regularly, and an A panel judge once a month. Both offer me different insights (and both are slowly warming to Willis and his ... idiosyncrasies
)
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What I am finally starting to realise is that those funny looks Hattie used to give me when we were walking or playing ball or listening to the distant gunshot noise of local shoots ... those looks were looks of enthusiasm. I think if I'd have known more about gundog training when I got her, I would have known that she would be a super little dog who could achieve all sorts. As it was, I didn't, but it didn't matter because she grew up as an obedient, well-behaved pet who is now willing to give anything a go. And now that she is older we're learning lots together
Over the past weeks Hattie has gone from tennis ball spitter to proper little novice gundog. She passed her Grade 1 Gundog Club certificate with 79 out of 80 marks - one mark dropped because she dropped the 1lb dummy on her first retrieve. I was pleased as punch - if that assessor had known what she was like with deliveries just a few weeks before I'm not sure he would have believed it. She'll take her Grade 2 test in a few weeks. I know the field tests by the Gundog Club aren't everyone's cup of tea, but the format really works for me. I grew up taking music graded tests like this where each grade got slightly more complicated in a steady, progressive kind of way. I've read lots of articles about why the tests are not optimal (according to some) because spaniels need to be able to hunt above anything else, but to be honest we're not it to be the next great FTCHs, we're in this to learn about something we didn't know anything about 6 months ago.
Over the past few weeks Hattie has started to become more confident at hunting. She's progressed from following me side-to-side with a look of utter bewilderment to hunting for various toys in some rather nasty brambles and rose bushes. We've reached a stage now where she will go off and hunt herself and I use the turn whistle when she gets a bit rangey. I realise that there should be more control over the pattern, but for a dog who didn't really hunt at all 4 weeks ago I am told by my Spaniel Man that she is doing pretty well
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After mastering the basics of casting her out to hunt, we got started on the stop whistle. This has not come without its challenges. Because the first stage was to get her stop and acknowledge the whistle I had to start with her next to me. So, naturally, when I started to use the whistle when she was anything more than 5ft away she figured it meant "come back in and sit down near mum". I couldn't figure out how to positively reinforce the fact that sitting a little way off was what I wanted. It took about 3 or 4 weeks (and a huge argument with my trainer) for the correct behaviour to start happening. The problem was she thought being told to sit all that way away was a punishment. However, when we progressed to "stop + dummy + wait = retrieve" she began to realise what the deal was and she is far happier now to stop away from me. Result.
Last night after a few weeks of successful stopping, my trainer introduced the starter pistol. Well, Hattie thinks that this is quite possibly the best game ever. Over the summer I made a colossal faux pas when the dummy launcher was introduced. I mistook Hattie's excitement at the noise for fear. Someone gave the advice to take Hattie away from the noise of the shot and throw her ball for her after the gunshot so that she associated the noise with her ball. I'm pretty sure you can see where this is going ...
Naturally, when Hattie heard the starter pistol go off last night followed by a dummy, she flew out faster than she ever does for a retrieve. The only problem was I hadn't told her to go. This happened some 3 times. I figured the best thing to do was put the lead back on and make her sit, because the stop whistle was doing Sweet Fanny Adams at this point (obviously more work to do there!). So the homework for the next few weeks is party poppers/cap guns + a dummy + stop whistle while she is on the lead. She absolutely loves to retrieve so Spaniel Man says there should be no problem in making her sit and watch some dummies land and not let her have any of them for a week or so.
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(Thanks to Max Furnandiz for this lovely picture of Hattie on one of our training holidays)
Having been thoroughly grumpy and hot at our first lesson with Tony Brazier, Willis redeemed himself on our next lesson. His retrieves were lovely and enthusiastic and he even started following a pheasant scent at one point (thankfully not during a retrieve!). Things will take longer with Willis because sometimes his three quarters of show cocker over take his brain entirely, but I am so pleased with him because, if nothing else, these different activities are making him a lot easier to handle in general. The extra mental stimulation seems to pause the Shocker tendencies for a while and I see beautiful things from my Handsome Hybrid.
Willis will hopefully take his Grade 2 Test in the New Year. He finally realised this weekend that if he follows directional commands to one specific dummy he gets super duper praise, whereas if he picks up everything he doesn't. This has been a loooooong battle that I think we might finally be starting to win.
Being slightly younger, and much more independent than Hattie, Willis has taken to the stop whistle a lot faster. However, he still occasionally flips me the bird and buggers off to talk to other dogs instead of stopping, so there is more work to be done there (much like Hattie and the gunshot association). But it is all a learning curve that we are trying to master together so I don't mind that it is taking time.
Although Willis' hunting instincts are not very strong, one thing that he is really excelling at is retrieving. He'll go out for seens, memories, blinds, in the water, over ditches, in thick cover ... he's very confident that he will find something if he goes in the direction that I tell him to. And his delivery is brilliant. I think I learned from experience with Hattie that letting him carry things around the house and then gently take them away with a command (mine is "thank you", we're a very polite pairing
) works better than trying to make them distinguish between what they are allowed to pick up and carry around and what they aren't - I was on a hiding to nowhere with that set up.
Possibly the most positive thing has been Spaniel Man warming to Willis after all but dismissing him completely on our first lesson. We're now working (slowly) towards doing the Working Gundog Certificate. It won't make him a gundog, but it will give us a goal and sense of purpose which seems to be working pretty well so far.
Having two dogs that are really very different is giving me lots of cause for thought. I'm learning things from both of them and should I ever get another gundog pup (which I know I will, the question will be what flavour!) I will have a much better grasp of the things I should be doing in the early training.
I consider myself so incredibly lucky to have my two. We might not be future FTCH pairings but we're learning and enjoying this experience together and I'm thoroughly excited for every new step that we make
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we'll see!!
