Quartering

[Greyghost]

Well done Mig. What a lovely reward for all your hard effort. When I'm back from my camping weekend I'm going to study this topic in detail.

I need to read it right through properly too. I'll make it a sticky for now as it is a useful thread.

[Snicklefritz]

Well done, Mig! It's a great feeling when the lights come on

[heidrun]

Well done, Mig! I'm pleased to hear that Inde is getting the hang of it

Heidrun

[Mig]

Reckon it was me that needed the training Heidrun. And I'm making my walks training sessions now much more than unstructured stroll.

Mig

[col]

Looking back now if i get another dog then things will be done differently.
Contender was saying his cocker quarters naturaly, lucky or natural? i dont know but would hedge my bets on the latter.

Now when Archie was young and still very dependendant he would trot around sniffing the ground infront of me, now if i turned he turned ,i could walk a perfect patern up a field an he followed just in front. As he got a little braver he would venture a little further but still work a nice little pattern always keeping an eye on me. Not a whistle to be heard and he would happily do it.
So what do i go and do, start giving him long retreives and ne never quartered the sme again, it had to be forced with the whistle.

Would be interested to hear if anyone else had the same experience, should we hold back on retreiving for a while until quartering becomes totaly natural ?

[Polmaise]

should we hold back on retreiving for a while until quartering becomes totaly natural ?

YES!

[Judy]

Do you always take you dog out training for its exercise or do you go for walks too? I seem to remember one of Pippa's comments on the old forum was in relation to walking the dog versus training in relation to quartering. I believe she suggested that walking encouraged your dog to take the straight line, ie up the path rather than its natural instinct which is to quarter. If that is the case give up going for walks for a while! Maybe also do retrieve training as a separate exercise at a different time? I do the two separately but, to be honest, the quartering is just for fun as I have no intention of beating or rough shooting with my spanners, much too much like hard work!
My baby cocker was a natural quarterer but running with the others put paid to that.

Judy

PS Contender is a she!

[Andrew]

Theres lots of pages so if its already been mentioned sorry. But i think when you walk a dog yes you do take a straight line, is it idleness on our part, or is it due to the terrain? When you teach a dog to quarter you should quarter with it. so quite simply your are sending the dog out, walking with it as normal, then changing direction recalling and casting out again on the move.
I know thats put it in its simplistic form, but once the dog has been taught the stop, recall and direction, everything else should follow on.
Thats my theory and I'm sticking with it

[Judy]

So just walking up a path un-teaches the dog to quarter, I if you see what I mean? In other words lots of spaniels quarter naturally but by taking them out as pups and wandering the paths with them we are teaching a straight line rather than encouraging the pup to continue to quarter? If thats true then one should stop simple walking exercise until the dog has a good pattern established 'on command'.
I know Popps is less able at quartering than she was as a pup because she has been allowed to run with the Flatties. At least she goes out long distances with confidence for her retrieves!

Judy

[Snicklefritz]

I wonder if the disagreement might be due to one simple thing...a walk should be a walk. There's no such thing as a 'training' walk IMHO. A 'training' walk is trainging! Dogs are wonderful at recognizing context. Make the context clear and then don't muddle it up. If your training...TRAIN. If you're walking, WALK and leave the dog alone, and ony enforce staying by your side and sitting when you stop.

As for retrieves...I don't think quartering and retrieving are mutually exclusive. In both cases, you are relying on the dogs natural abilities - as opposed to a 'blind' retrieve where your are asking the dog to ignore his natural ability and work with you as a team, up to the very last few feet or yards.

But, neither is related to taking a walk.

My 2cents, no matter how vague or obtuse.