Morning All I Have An Ess

[camokev64 36]

I started my first ess bitch at 10 months thinking she was fully trained and put her In F/T tests and found that she still had areas that needed finishing and kepted her back till she was 18 months old and did a little picking up till she was over 2yrs old. From this I have found that theres no need to rush them till her 100% in everyway or it will cause problem or you look like a div infront of the keeper if your dogs running in on the drives. If your not shore about your ess Lab I would take her to a pro trainer for a couple of lessons, theres a good couple up your way.

 

michael

 

Not that i am a massive fan of tests,but they are a good medium to use,to judge how your training in that dog is going....I use the tests myself now and again to do just that ..this year i entered a Lab i had been training for 2 years in his first novice test and he won...Now i knew the dog had been ticking all the boxes through his training,and believe me,i will definitely never enter a dog if i don`t think it will have a chance of winning..So that gave me an indication that the dog was ready for formal walked up game training days,to progress him to the next step and see his gears move up on the real thing...But one thing we all have to be when training, is to be realistic and use common sense..

 

Stick in..

[RubyTex 1,957]

 

Hi Lab,

 

And i am a predominant Lab man myself...The reason for my findings is that i find that the Spaniel breed has a very fast knack of grasping it`s training structure from an early age...some thing that i have not noticed with the Labs..for example this year, i trained a Cocker and her entry age on a formal field trial training day was 10 months ( she was ready for it ).She sat on flush/shot,sat quietly/steady while the Labs where sent for the retrieves and walked to heal when switched with another spaniel when being given a breather.

But that is not to say that i have not known Labs being entered at an early age ( many years ago,if my memory serves me right a Lab made the Championships at 14 months ) ,but the breed more dictates a later age more often than not.

I even had the good fortune to compete in a trial were Grouse were shot over pointers and setters,my observations where interesting...

 

One thing i ain`t is a master of dog training.I write on here not to be clever but to try and help other lads to avoid the pitfalls that i have experienced.I`ve worked various breeds of dogs for 35 years,always learning along the way,and whole heartedly have never read a gundog book.

I just love to see the different breeds excell in their own fields..

 

Regards..

Your quite entitled to your opinion mate......as i read it lots of stuff you write i wholeheartedly agree with. I'm not into the trialling stuff myself, i pick up and beat with my dogs and as you know the dogs are worlds apart in there chosen fields.

Ive never read a gundog book either, flicked through the odd one but i tend to do my own thing as well as listening to others who have done a good bit. Ive been very lucky with the first dog i have ever properly owned myself.......not so lucky with my pups but its my doing and not theres. I'm sure i'll still be learning 35 years down the road as well...

 

 

Just a ginge and his pot lickers