I find it amusing that the two trainers which cause most controversy on here are always being bigged up and getting free advertising and lots of exposure.
I went to a group training day once, the trainer spent the first few exercises doing his level best to make my 11 month old pup fail and then, when I did something a little controversial, publicly belittled me without mentioning why he thought I was doing it wrong. That is not the mark of a good pro trainer.
Another Pro trainer taught blinds by throwing memories well off to the side of the path, ,walking away then lining the dog up to go back down the path, to me that's not right as, when lining up the dog for a blind, you send the dog in as straight a line as possible i.e. you are training the dog to go where you know there's something to find. All he was doing was encouraging the dog to remember its mark. Lining the dog up may get it used t the idea that it can run off and then hunt around rather than "oh I'vebeen sent, if I run a straight line where she points I will find something' which is all a blind is.
I could go on but I won't bore you all. Just saying that not all Pro trainers are created equal and unfortunately, beginners, who know no better, can only go by how well they get on with the person, not how good that person is at successfully training dogs.
Lucylab, to get back to your original post,
your little Cocker was hunting scented ground really well before Christmas, you posted a video, just keep taking him to places he has something to hunt for, mine are the same so it may be a Cocker thing. Give them fresh ground with cover and scent and they morph into proper Cockers.
In life, it is important to know when to stop arguing with people and simply let them be wrong.
