Old dog and new tricks??

[Goldvale 0]

Hi, Could a 2 1/2 yr old ESS dog be trained to work or is it to old?

 

Thanks

[poacher3161 1,766]

Hi, Could a 2 1/2 yr old ESS dog be trained to work or is it to old?

 

Thanks

if its bred out of workin dogs more than likely if its a bit headstrong and realises wat its nose is for might have a few problems such as recall and hunting at a distance

[Goldvale 0]

Cheers for you reply. I'm looking to be getting a ESS for bushing. And retreiving when I get my gun license

[jazz_11 5]

my springer was 2 when i got him he is pretty headstrong but he has calmed down abit now and also i have been consistant with him and he is coming along now... the biggest problem was hunting at a distance but what i found is:

if you take all the balls away from the dog when he is inside the house when you take him out use your recall or whistle to retrieve them back and then without turning throw the ball along the floor behind you this will get the dog used to coming bak to you and not going to far ahead thats what the dog trainier did with my spaniel and i kept doing it and its worked now...

i think if you spend enough time with them especially spaniels they will soon come right..

[welshboy454 3]

I used to borrow my brothers ESS bitch but she became uncontrollable. At the end of the season I was looking for a dog for the next season and bring a pup on as otherwise I would lose my place in our syndicate shoot.I saw a Ess dog 3years old for sale and bought him- he had been a pet in a terraced house in the welsh valleys. My syndicate colleagues tut tutted he was too old . My intention was to keep him only until the pup I was going to buy was ready to work . When I got him home I looked at his pedigree to realise he had been line bred to FTCH Badgercourt Druid to the extent he was 34% Druid . I thought hmmm. The dog had never been hunting but looked biddable and stayed close when walking which after my brothers bitch was heaven. All he wanted to do was sniff lamposts not hunt. So I started hiding his food in clumps in the hedges around and took him for walks when he was ready for his food. After a few weeks of this he was quite good at hunting the hedges. I then progressed to leaving his food in clumps in the open field about 25 yards each side of a path. After a couple of weeks at that he would quarter a treat. In fact it is a pleasure to watch him doing it. He was a natural at marking a dummy . I never bought a pup .On his first day out shooting a winged pheasant came down and ran into some thick cover. On instinct I shouted "go fetch " and off he went like a flash. I then groaned to myself why did I do that as he hasn't got a hope - it was his first attempt at a proper retrieve let alone a runner . About 5 minutes later you can imagine my surprise to see him returning with a cocky swagger and the live cock pheasant in his mouth.

 

On the downside I think I should have spent more time with him practicing retrieving as although he did it initially ok he is now reluctant to deliver it to my hand but I am trying again this spring summer in a refresher course and he is now six years old.

Sorry to be long winded but yes they can be trained to my own surprise and quite honestly delight as he is great fun. All the success came from the reward of a few biscuits/titbits.

[welshboy454 3]

I used to borrow my brothers ESS bitch but she became uncontrollable. At the end of the season I was looking for a dog for the next season and bring a pup on as otherwise I would lose my place in our syndicate shoot.I saw a Ess dog 3years old for sale and bought him- he had been a pet in a terraced house in the welsh valleys. My syndicate colleagues tut tutted he was too old . My intention was to keep him only until the pup I was going to buy was ready to work . When I got him home I looked at his pedigree to realise he had been line bred to FTCH Badgercourt Druid to the extent he was 34% Druid . I thought hmmm. The dog had never been hunting but looked biddable and stayed close when walking which after my brothers bitch was heaven. All he wanted to do was sniff lamposts not hunt. So I started hiding his food in clumps in the hedges around and took him for walks when he was ready for his food. After a few weeks of this he was quite good at hunting the hedges. I then progressed to leaving his food in clumps in the open field about 25 yards each side of a path. After a couple of weeks at that he would quarter a treat. In fact it is a pleasure to watch him doing it. He was a natural at marking a dummy . I never bought a pup .On his first day out shooting a winged pheasant came down and ran into some thick cover. On instinct I shouted "go fetch " and off he went like a flash. I then groaned to myself why did I do that as he hasn't got a hope - it was his first attempt at a proper retrieve let alone a runner . About 5 minutes later you can imagine my surprise to see him returning with a cocky swagger and the live cock pheasant in his mouth.

 

On the downside I think I should have spent more time with him practicing retrieving as although he did it initially ok he is now reluctant to deliver it to my hand but I am trying again this spring summer in a refresher course and he is now six years old.

Sorry to be long winded but yes they can be trained to my own surprise and quite honestly delight as he is great fun. All the success came from the reward of a few biscuits/titbits.

[firepower 68]

I had my ESS "Bailey" from the NESSR. He was 10 months old and had SERIOUS issues. He bit the wife twice, I had to give him a biscuit for that

I made the decision to keep him as he was now my responsibilty and his other traits made up for the aggression. It had taken just over a year and he is now up to the point where I can sit him and walk off to pretty much anywhere. He comes and sits to the whistle. Retrieves, blind retrieves, quarters after a fashion (we are working on that) His only problem now is separation syndrome. If I leave the little bugger in the truck he whines and barks.

Oh and the wife loves him to pieces now.

All it will take is patience and the persistance to mould the pooch to what you want. Good luck and happy hunting

 

[hendo 1]

Well done to Welshboy454 and firepower for giving these springers another chance,

i thik you's have shown that with a little bit of time, persistance and patience, anything can be achieved.

 

Baz

[man1nvan 0]

I got an ex racer greyhound 4 years old, he now lives in a house with a cat, doesn't eat the ferret, can catch a rabbit on a lamp and doesn't p*ss in my front room anymore......anything is possible, it just might take a little bit longer than you hoped!! i am now going to try the same with my new springer from who knows what stock.....god help me.... you get out what you put in ....best of luck and enjoy the ride

[welshboy454 3]

On getting him at 3yrs old I started retrieving training -I play a game with him which involves some control and hide and seek and he loves it. I make him sit and tell him to stay- this took a while in the beginning but he got it in the end. Then I go and hide his dummy somewhere out of sight of him . Then return to him and tell him go fetch- he hunts relentlessly-sometimes going in the wrong direction but he quickly cottoned on to me whistling and pointing where he should be hunting. In fact he will now look for a signal naturally if a blind retrieve.

The dividend for this game playing came one day on the shoot when I shot a woodcock which came down in thick cover near a fellow syndicate member. In all fairness to his dog which I have to say is the best natural hunter I have seen in our shoot he sent it to fetch it as he was close by. After a couple of minutes my colleague announced it had run and could'nt be found.

By the way it was hit I thought it could not have gone far. So I brought mcnabs down and told him go fetch -he remembered the game we play and hunted relentlessly returning once with a quizzical look as if to say " are you sure it here" again I said go fetch again he hunted and this time found it tucked in under a dead branch. My colleague had a shock as he had been the most vociferous about tut tuting he was too old to train etc when I first got him .

Another colleague in the syndicate who trials his dogs will leap into the cover himself now if his dogs cannot find a shot bird rather than let mcnabs have a go which amuses me no end.