Top 5 spaniel trainers in th uk

[Miesque]

Buying a dog already trained doesn't seem right to me. I thought training a dog to work with you was the point

Depends on the person - a friend just bought a fully trained Springer, he travels and works mad hours and had no time to train up a pup but wanted to continue shooting over his own dog. He lost his previous dog to cancer in the summer

[ips]

Fare enough reason I spose

[westcountry]

Mr Openshaw obviously number one,had a group training session with him and it was so obvious as to why he is so consistently a championship contender.
I have trained with other A panel judges and I really recomend Graham West and Nick Gregory.
Obviously there are so many more great trainers but I can only comment on the ones that I have actually trained with.

What was it about Mr openshaw that you found so "obvious"
Genuine question

His ability to weigh up a dgs nature in such a short space of time and his ability to have dogs he had never seen before working for him and in minutes

[westcountry]

Not all the top trialing handlers train their own dogs, so you're looking at 2 different things here. The top trainers, then the top handlers. Now some will overlap but not all.
You will find that a lot of people will give various variations on this!

Very true indeed.

[Bamburi]

The question in itself, is obscure. There is no fixed answer. Those who think there is, and want to measure it somehow, do not understand the pursuit.

great answer

[trekmoor]

I agree which is why I gave a nonsense answer back at the start of the thread. In terms of trials won Opie easily comes out on top but there's more to training spaniels than trials can easily cover.

Wullie

[dean123]

Hi I have heard good things about Roy ellershaw, has anyone been training with him, if so what was he like? Thanks

[Dawnrazor]

It's an interesting question, there's a big difference in best trainer and best handler and most trials won, also, who you have trained with or seen training, for me, as I've said, Charlie Peel, Chris Thurston-Woulnogh, Pete Barker, Andy Platt and John Laming.
Chris Thurston-Woulnogh has trained and made up 13/14 Ftch over 35 + years, Spaniels from all types of breeding, tough ones hard ones and soft ones all while working 12 hour shifts managing a mine, in an area with little or no Rabbits and limited game supply.
Some names mentioned are professional trainers with large rabbit pens in thier back gardens and access to the best rabbiting the country has to offer and virtually unlimited game supply, they should be turning out with good dogs!!!

[James]

It's an interesting question, there's a big difference in best trainer and best handler and most trials won, also, who you have trained with or seen training, for me, as I've said, Charlie Peel, Chris Thurston-Woulnogh, Pete Barker, Andy Platt and John Laming.
Chris Thurston-Woulnogh has trained and made up 13/14 Ftch over 35 + years, Spaniels from all types of breeding, tough ones hard ones and soft ones all while working 12 hour shifts managing a mine, in an area with little or no Rabbits and limited game supply.
Some names mentioned are professional trainers with large rabbit pens in thier back gardens and access to the best rabbiting the country has to offer and virtually unlimited game supply, they should be turning out with good dogs!!!

You learn something new everyday that's for sure, I ran under Chris (and steve bates) in my very first open Springer trial run by the meon. He was very good to me as it goes and helped settle the nerves. I ended up coming away with com, that bitch ran in 16 open (after winning a novice second time out) and took 13 awards from them the best being 2nd sadly. I just couldn't get her over the line. That bitch was given to Ian who runs this forum to go and live with the family and enjoy life in the beating line.

[bird]

Hi I have heard good things about Roy ellershaw, has anyone been training with him, if so what was he like? Thanks

Roy has trained the first Clumber to win an AV Novice trial in around 130 years. As a Clumber owner I've had the pleasure of watching him handle a couple of Clumbers at live game training days and he's been very kind and generous with his advice to me and other Clumber owners. I'm one of those strange types that likes to use food and other rewards first and foremost so he trains very differently to that. Much of what he said though was applicable regardless of your method of training.

He's a gent in my opinion