possibility of working her

[ips]

as most of you know I never had any intention of working eze however a friend of mine who is involved with a small game shoot asked me if I fancied working her as they are always short of dogs. Obviously I told him she was not trained in that way and that I had never intended to work her but he didn't seem to concerned and said bring her along. So got me thinking as to if I should and if so how would I need to alter my training or has the boat now sailed given the fact that she is now 16 mths. She is not gunshy as she has spent all year with me at major clay shoots so that's one aspect ticked off. She will hunt all day and will obey arm commands her recall and stop is generally good unless heavy scent, she will retrieve and delivers to hand, not 100% steady but its coming on very well.
So what does everyone think I should do, stay as planned with pet gundog or at least try and work her. I would of course visit the shoot with her as a spectator a few times to get used to the environment and I suppose ideally I would need a mentor.
Any thoughts ??

[trekmoor]

I'd go for it. I'd make an effort to ensure she stopped to whistle even halfway out to a retrieve and then I'd take her with no further preliminaries. You will probably find that the other dogs at the shoot are NOT as well trained as your's is ! You will see for yourself during the day which aspects of her work need more training from you.

Others on here may have other ideas however, I always was inclined to go at things like a bull at a gate !

Go for it......suck it and see.

Wullie

[Stihl 090]

Sounds like she's more trained than most dogs on shoots anyway!!

[ips]

Well that's encouraging . Are you joking or are many dogs on shoots not actually that well trained ? I would have thought that only dogs that were fully reliable would even be considered ?

Ps
Wullie, exactly how I go through life, however I prefer to call it learn as you go along.

[westcountry]

Go for it ips. I took a 7 year old last season that had had no training at all and she loved it and was far better behaved than most of the dogs there.
Think Trekmoor says it all really go along and see what you need to work on.

[ips]

Cheers west country.
I must say I am really surprised to hear that these dogs are not all 100% dependable. My concern would be that she became totally excited by it all and did her own thing or is that to some extent the nature of the beast.

Ps
Am I confusing reliable superstar FT dog with normal every day working dog as far as how well trained and dependable they are.

[trekmoor]

Well that's encouraging . Are you joking or are many dogs on shoots not actually that well trained ? I would have thought that only dogs that were fully reliable would even be considered ?

Ps

Nope, I was not joking, dog work on the average shoot is to nowhere near field trial standards .....to put it mildly !

Wullie

[ips]

Mr trekmoor
My edit to Ps the above and your post crossed. So I am wrongly assuming that All gundogs' FT or other are all brilliant. Maybe my eze is better than I think and maybe my expectations of her and me have been too high.

[Springfield Pointers]

Game exposure for dogs is always a positive thing. It takes them forward in leaps and bounds. Just keep control, bad habits creep in before you can say "heel up".

[trekmoor]

P.S. it may help you if you think of gundog work at shoots as something like a pub football team match compared to a professional footie team match. The same basic skills are there but those skills are present to a lesser degree .....also "fouls and penalties" will be far more plentiful at shoots than at trials.
Many people are capable of doing well as pub football players but few people ever do really well as professional players and yet the pub players probably enjoy the games they play just as much.

Go for it, just do it and I think you will be pleasantly surprised by how much you will enjoy it. Your dog is almost a dead certainty to go a bit out of control at times but it will be in good company with the other dogs when it does !

We will all expect a blow by blow account of how your first day at a shoot went . Everybody and every dog makes mistakes , don't worry too much about them before they happen and not too much about them afterwards either.
Shoots are there to be enjoyed , if you don't enjoy it you don't have to go again. Get in there and fill yer boots !

Wullie