young spaniel losing pace

[snipe02]

Hi all a quick question for the spaniel enthusiasts on here i have a young spaniel bitch out of holly drive theo back to a bird rowe bred bitch used for rough shooting anyway she has plentg of pace and drive and was a dream to train the thing is ive beganto work her a lot more on game the last month hunting brambles for at least an hour of two a session especially in the last 2 weeks ,, she has slowly lost her pace she will still hunt bramblesand keep a nice pattern but seems to be hunting a lot more carefully taking her time to check every piece of ground now wouldnt class her assliw but the real quick pace has dissappeared while hunting if I take her to where i usually train her she hunts it with lots of pace ,,, my question is am I giving her too mucb which is what I think myself ,,,, is she pacing herself on scent or knowing she is going to be hitting it for a while ,,, and will the pace come back into her hunting when she grows in confidence out hunting she is 16 months and wil, only be used for rough shooting /beating shes not been beating yet only on a driven duck shoot should I rest her completely for a few weeks and pick it up from there dont wAnt to sour her on brambles still a lot of growth over here would appreciate advice

[086*downey]

Same as yourself if know going to be out for a couple of hours you won't run the first 100 meters in 10 seconds. She's naturally pacing herself to do what is expected of her and last the duration nothing wrong with that. I hunt my dogs all day and they just go steady until hit game then go up the gears suits me as i don't want a dog going flat out for an hour and finished for the day.

[jeffD]

Is there game on the ground you are hunting, my cocker slows right down if we are on out normal training ground, there is very little there and she knows the ground off by heart so only speeds up when we get to bits she expects to smell scents. this is great for training with dummies but no good for hunt training I try to take her to new places as much as possible and she always picks up a couple of gears on new ground.

[snipe02]

Ye im having the opposite problem lifts the ground with no scent out of it and steadies herself on scent she doesnt go slow by any means but goes faster in training than the real thing lots of game where im hunting

[Rascal]

Ye im having the opposite problem lifts the ground with no scent out of it and steadies herself on scent she doesnt go slow by any means but goes faster in training than the real thing lots of game where im hunting

Here's my thoughts, have you steadied her too hard on game at all?

I wouldn't hunt a dog for an hour or two at a stretch, when beating you wouldn't be doing that long a session in one go.

If she dwells on scent then keep her moving but I'd hunt her less both in time and frequency two hours in brambles is a bloomin long time. I'd hunt her in different places too if you can..

Also have you shot over her yet so she has the full picture i.e. hunt, flush, sit and reward of a retrieve...Again one - two hours of hunting in bramble with no reward for it would be enough to sicken her of it I'd say...

Rascal

[Naj]

There sounds to be plenty of scent to keep the dog going, & the op admits that it hunts with good pattern & is far from being slow. I agree with Downey that this is to be expected with any dog that has been accustomed to hunting for longer periods than your more usual 20 minutes or so training spin, especially if its digging through brambles for a couple of hours. For a roughshooting/beating dog I think it a good quality. If you want more pace then cut the hunting down to 30 minutes but I like to give young dogs of this age as much hunting & game contact as I can, within reason. Brambles are tough & if you are hunting it to exhaustion then that is obviously self-defeating, as it would if the dog was not standing up to the punishing cover (smaller type springers can take a battering in heavy cover), but only the op could gauge this. I'd certainly think nothing of shooting over a spaniel of this age for a couple of hours, and as often as I could . I certainly wouldn't stop hunting altogether for a few weeks.

Naj

[James]

16 months old and hunting bramble for a couple of hours....................... no wonder it has slowed up a bit.

[snipe02]

Well id expect my spaniels to hunt brambles for at least 2 hours but agree its too long for a young dog and hard going and I have prob soured her a bit maybe shes associating going out hunting with the hardship of the brambles and easing off a bit but on the other hand shes shown she has what it takes to press on when the going is tough I just hope ive not turned her off for good im hoping, ,, im going to give the briars a miss for a week or more let her eyes and ears heal and see how she responds ill still hunt her on rabbits in lite bracken maybe once in between ,, and yes she has some rabbits and a few mallard shot over her shes been beating on a driven duck shoot and had the chance to pick a few there ,,,ive been definitely over doing the briars a for a young dog ..if shes anygood she wil, come back

[Rascal]

Maybe she's just associating hunting brambles for two hours for no reward?

Rascal

[snipe02]

Most of the time she gets a reward but now thinking ive slackened off on the reward while jumping forward with the duration in briars she could just be sore and tired not much on her