beating for the first time

[lemoncakes 0]

hello. i am just descovering the joys of shooting and everything that goes with it. i really dont know very much about it all. im going beating for the first time on wednesday and would be very grateful for any advice on what to expect. i have a cocker spaniel who loves to flush pheasants. but is not very good at the stop whistle. can i take her on a lead? or should i leave at home and try to train her a bit more first. she is 5 so not sure if it would be too late. thankyou look forward to learning all about this

[askiro 1]

Hi

If i was you i would leave her at home, and just beat with a stick. Believe me no gamekeeper wouldn be happy if a dog was running loose and flushing birds left right and centre.

The idea is to steadily put the birds over the guns, giving them a chance of plenty of shooting. if all the birds flush at once they will get very little shooting.

With the bitch being 5 years old, she maybe a little bit old to learn new tricks. My suggestion would be to beat without a dog for a season, and if you do enjoy it , (it can very hard work) get yourself a part trained dog ready for the following season, if you do a good job beating , you won't be short of invites onto other shoots.

regards

Rob

[buggsbunny 4]

i would say take your dog some shoots are pretty relaxed and will allow you to hunt her a little bit towards the end of the drives hey and if they dont well just keep her on the lead simple

[Dan Newcombe 58]

Leave the dog at home!

 

No offense but you dont know what is going on yourself, throw in an untrained dog in a situation where there is likely to be a lot of birds and you are asking for trouble.

 

There is nothing quite as likely to ruin a day for you (and everyone else) than a dog running wild

 

Leave the dog at home and work on the stop whistle and the recall until it is 100% and ideally the dog stops to the flush or at least ignores the flush.

 

It may (should) be ready for next season if you put the work in now to the training unless it is a total lunatic.

 

Good luck

[lemoncakes 0]

the game keeper invited me after seeing me out walking my dog. he told me off for having her off the lead. i didnt know it was a shoot and she was flushing pheasants out of the hedge. however he said she was a good little dog and asked if i wanted to come along. i didnt tell him she wasnt really trained just does it nataurly. she will pick up too and bring back to my hand. but i cant send her out or anything she just does it. hmmm. will have to have a think. can i keep her on the lead for the whole tme then. do people do that. i dont want to look silly. i plan to get a puppy in the spring and get her trained properly thanks for your help. so i need to get a stick then??

[samearl14 11]

Im retty relaxed about people bringing their dogs on our shoot. I dont want them running riot from the start of a drive but im happy for them to be let off near the end of a drive. Also remember if your dog is not 100% there is no shame in having it on a lead by your side. Its all good experience for it remember.

ATB Sam

[buggsbunny 4]

Im retty relaxed about people bringing their dogs on our shoot. I dont want them running riot from the start of a drive but im happy for them to be let off near the end of a drive. Also remember if your dog is not 100% there is no shame in having it on a lead by your side. Its all good experience for it remember.

ATB Sam

my thoughts exactly

[ferreter.al 22]

it cant hurt anything.keep it on a lead.dont pannick.just turn up and the keeper will tell you were you need to be.its not rocket science...beaters and dogs go in,birds come out.just keep the dog under control,it dosent have to be perfect,just not running riot,you will be suprised what some of the so called decent gun dogs are like.

[brothergrim 1]

A dog learns nothing being at home!!

[Rory4 267]

like been said she aint going learn anyhting at home. take her along, at my beat loads people keep there dogs on lead, some walk a few on lead which is bit struggle for them up and down wooded banks. usually keeper will give you ago at end of drive let u walk a head with dog off lead, specially as he has invited you. let us no how you get on

[Nik_B 3,790]

The op is in a similar situation to me.

 

My advice is to train yourself first so you know what is going on i.e. do as much shooting and beating as you can this season so you have a good idea what the crack is.

 

Seperately work on training you dog on the most important basics such as recall, steadyness, sit whistle etc. Get some advice and training as well if you need it, the dog is your second biggest investment after your gun.

 

In my opinion you will just end up mega stressed out if you put your dog in to a situation that it can't handle, I've taken my dog fishing and he gets really giddy as he is still very young, they day is spoiled and it was my fault not the dogs. I keep reminding myself to go slowly slowly and one day I am sure I'll be taking him shooting just not for another year at least.

 

When you can trust your dog you will enjoy the day out so much more and I don't know about you but I would be mortified if my dog ran off and caused havoc

 

ATB mate

[ow3n8321 0]

the best thing to do with that dog is take it with you and get one of the gun men to shoot it,wat a waste ov time it is for anything else.

 

many regards thanks

[captain jack sparrow 8]

thats a bit strong mate

[PatterJack 11]

If you can call it away from a scent or if it has seen birds to flush then i would let him see a bit of each drive to start with. Alot of shoots push all the birds into flushing points so i would advise keeping it on a lead if you think she might be tempted to run in at the sight of alot of pheasants in a small area.

 

When i was younger and had first got a dog i used to be very wary of letting him off during a drive. But in reality thats the only way they get experience. Let your dog off when its not going to mess a drive up and see how it goes.

[JAIJAI 0]

I was in same boat as you just kept dog on lead and let her off when new she could do no damage,we have been a few times now and she as come on really well, she was let off on every drive this week and flushed really well its in there nature dont worrie too much.