Taking a line and not quartering

[Mcb]

Can anyone explain how to fix a hot spaniel who takes a line rather than quartering?

[Judy]

Moved this topic into a more appropriate forum - you might get more replies here.

[newf]

Can anyone explain how to fix a hot spaniel who takes a line rather than quartering?

If you have trained the turn whistle then it’s a matter of encouraging the pup to follow your body and arm direction. In the beginning, you also travel the beat.

[CockerCanuck]

Its been my experience that spaniels usually have a strong instinct to quarter but sometimes it needs some encouragement. If he were mine I would take him to some fairly uniform cover. Grass a foot or so high would be ideal. For this you don't want too many interesting pockets which will encourage him to break pattern to investigate. Then walk him directly into the wind and encourage him to hunt. In this situation most dogs will naturally quarter. Keep the mood happy and light as you walk behind him. Every so often toss out a dummy or ball as he is reaching the limit of his quarter. Throw it so that he keeps going out to the side to get it. Make sure to do this on both sides. As Newf has suggested zig zagging yourself can help but keep progressing into the wind.

In difficult cases two helpers walking 15-20 yards to each side of you can by voice or ball encourage the pup to go back and forth in front of you. Quartering into the wind is the most effective way a dog can search a piece of ground. If he is really out there looking for stuff it does not take long for it to become natural.

[Naj]

Sounds like we’re beyond the puppy stage and onto a dog that’s experienced enough to know what reward is to be found after following a line. I’d be working on the turn whistle on ground where there is a smattering of game but not in high densities. Then gradually introduce more game distraction as the dog becomes reliable on the turn.

Naj

[Nickheref]

I have recently had a similar issue, not dogs hunting the line of a pheasant but winding them well ahead under certain circumstances and pulling forward to flush them, sometimes quite considerable distances in the right conditions and although not hundreds of yards ahead enough to make a shot impossible in woodland, often the dog was out of sight in thick cover and I was unsure of their position for a couple of seconds which is enough for a fast moving dog to be well ahead, I need them to understand that they are working with me not just finding game. I went back to stubbles where the dog could see me at all times and I could be sure the turn whistle was understood and complied with trying to teach the distance I require them to hunt in relation to me. Then back into areas with light game as suggested, I suspect the problem for a lot of people on organised shoots is finding areas that have just enough game but not too much. This seems to have done the trick.
It is tricky as you have to make the dog understand that its job is not simply to find game but to do so in a manner that works with the handler, otherwise you have a great gamefinding unguided missile, (well guided purely by its nose ).

[Naj]

This is why the pointing breeds make for a more effective shooting dog. They aren’t restricted by the limitations of keeping within effective shotgun range. And by this time in the season a good 60% of my successful shots on pheasant come from my Vizsla lining moving birds until they are able to hold them on point.

In America they place great importance in a spaniel working the line of a moving bird, what they term as a ‘runner’. The handler stops the dog each each time it reaches the limits of gunshot until they catch up and send it on its way again, repeating this until the dog and handler catch up with the bird a force a flush for the gun. Not much good in a beating dog but an effective hunting strategy when game is in short supply.

Naj

[Nickheref]

In America they place great importance in a spaniel working the line of a moving bird, what they term as a ‘runner’. The handler stops the dog each each time it reaches the limits of gunshot until they catch up and send it on its way again, repeating this until the dog and handler catch up with the bird a force a flush for the gun. Not much good in a beating dog but an effective hunting strategy when game is in short supply.

Naj

I stop the dog and recall it to teach it not to hunt the line of an unshot bird, it might work if you have plenty of space in USA but on a lot of my ground in dear old blighty we wouldn't catch up with it before it had gone onto someone else's land or through a hedge it would take me 5 minutes to get through and be long gone!

[Suirway]

Hi, When incouraging your dog to quarter should you let the dog see the ball or dummy being thrown out to the side of the handler or is this a no no.

[Nickheref]

I don't use balls to encourage a dog to quarter but I suspect any reasonably intelligent dog would pretty quickly stop quartering and wait, if it saw the ball/dummy in your hand and wanted it, for you to do something with it. In the early stages when they get most of the retrieves thrown that is what mine do if they are hunting and see my hand go into the dummy bag.
Others who use balls more than I do may disagree but to my mind if you are getting the dog to run to a seen thrown dummy or ball, you are simply doing a series of retrieves and without any steadiness not encouraging the dog to hunt.