Beginners gundog group tonight.
Great to see the progress made last week.
Thanks to Ruby’s owners for sending us this video from last weeks lesson.
This Clay with is owner @coach_ivan_1 . We bred Clay and he is just over 7 months old. He is doing really well. As well as obedience training, they are working on memory retrieves, marking and this week we introduced the concept of multiple retrieves and directional hand signals. Very proud of these guys! #gundogtraining #gundogtrainer #gundog #obedience #obediencetraining #thrapston #thrapstonbusiness #oundle #oundlebusiness #huntingdon
A short video of Matt having a little ‘’play’ with Willow, a lovely springer puppy who came for a recent lesson (along with big brother Chester - a regular trainee).
Willow is such a responsive little pup. Here Matt shows how he works on eye contact, attention, sitting at a small distance etc in this case with a puppy he has never met before. #gundogtraining #gundogtrainer #gundog #gundogpuppy #gundogpuppytraining #thrapston #thrapstonbusiness #oundle #oundlebusiness #huntingdon
Smokey the Flatcoated Retriever came for his twice weekly gundog lesson.
He’s got a lot of drive and enthusiasm!! #gundogtrainer #gundog #gundogtraining #workingdogs #flatcoatedretriever #thrapston #thrapstonbusiness #oundle #oundlebusiness #huntingdonshire
Smokey the Flatcoated Retriever came for his twice weekly gundog lesson.
Matt loves his drive and enthusiasm, he slowed the video down to see it properly!!
The spaniels, Fly and Weasel finding a tennis ball that was lost earlier on in the day! #gundogtrainers #gundogtraining #gundogs #gundogsofinstagram #gundogtrainer #thrapston #thrapstonbusiness #oundle #oundlebusiness #northamptonshire #mattagerpetandgundogtraining
This is 13 week old Pepper and her owner Sam.
Pepper is one of the pups from our recent litter.
Sam trained his other lab (Eva) through our puppy and obedience classes. It’s fantastic to see how he is using the techniques with his new puppy, and just how well she is responding.
The video shows Pepper in an unfamiliar location (a local park) learning to focus on Sam, walking in the correct position.
Getting (and most importantly retaining) this focus is the key to developing a well trained adult.
Many puppy owners mistakenly get into the trap of thinking that ‘socialising’ a puppy means making friends with every single random human or dog, rather than creating this contact and trying to maintain it with real world distractions.
Well done Sam and Pepper! 👏
If you would like a 1-2-1 with Matt, please contact him directly but if would like to join our next Puppy Foundation Course or our Obedience Training Group, please follow this link: https://rachelsdogfieldsolohireandclasses.as.me/
A quick run before we get to the fete!!
Beginners Gundog Classes starting on Saturday 18th February, 10am - 11am for 6 weeks at PE28 5LU.
Aimed at people that want to work their dogs or want a new hobby for their dogs.
Please press the link for more information, to book and pay.
If you have any questions, drop us a message.
https://rachelshappyhounds-field.as.me/Beginnersgundogsaturday
This video is of Storm and Piper. Nice and steady watching a drive, perfectly steady, no lead’s required!
Beginners Gundog Classes starting on Saturday 18th February, 10am - 11am for 6 weeks at PE28 5LU.
Aimed at people that want to work their dogs or want a new hobby for their dogs.
Please press the link for more information, to book and pay.
If you have any questions, drop us a message.
https://rachelshappyhounds-field.as.me/Beginnersgundogsaturday
This video is of our pup Sharpe who is 8 months old training in some local woods, training classes will not be in these woods but it shows you what can be achieved!
A bit of group work with Storm, Wren, Brooke and Piper today. 👌
Last night I saw the end of my Junior class.
These guys also attended my Puppy Foundation Course.
Four of the Puppy class carried on with their training and progressed to Juniors. (Teddy the Labrador and his lovely owner couldn’t make the last session sadly)
This is a video of their last session. Loose lead walking, sit and stay, recall and off lead heeling all with the distraction of the other owners and pups!
They have all achieved so much. Very proud of them all👏⭐️
Great to hear they all want to continue with their training. A couple would like to go to Matts Beginner Gundog and the others will be joining Matts next Obedience Class.
I had such a lovely text from one of the class last night which made me smile 😁
“Hello Rachel thank you so much for the two puppy courses it is so good I have recommended you to so many. I like your style and attitude a “bloody brilliant” is like a Paul Hollywood hand shake on bake off!
I will definitely book onto the obedience course and please can I book a 1-2-1 session for Ivy my 3yr old Westie
Thanks again
Claire and Bertie xx”
A great weekend of classes and 1-2-1’s for myself and Matt.
I have quite a few photos to put on here but to begin with I’d like to share this video that has been sent to me.
This is Eva 5.5 months who attended my Puppy Foundation course and is now attending my Advanced Puppy Course!
Her owners are working so hard with her and it shows!
Well done guys 👊
Puppy retrieving
A short clip of a puppy retrieve. We use this method from 8 weeks through to the point when we start to steady the puppy (which wont be for a few months).
We use a soft toy at this stage that the puppy can easily carry and want to keep hold of.
Hold the puppy and throw the toy. Wait for the puppy to stop wriggling then say your 'fetch' word (we use the puppies name) and let go of the puppy.
As soon as the puppy picks up the toy give loads of verbal encouragement to come back to you.
When the puppy gets back to you dont rush to take the toy, just gently stroke the puppy encouraging its head to be in a nice present position. After a short while then gently take the toy trying to avoid a tug of war.
Repeat 3 or 4 times - stopping well before the puppy gets bored.
Troubleshooting -
Once the puppy starts teething they may lack enthusiasm or drop the toy. Give them a few weeks off.
If the puppy runs off with the toy, try and use a corridor or restricted space. Additionally do plenty of work on recalls without a retrieve.
Dont rush to take the toy - that will encourage the pup to avoid you with the toy.
Dont try and steady the puppy until it has sufficient drive and enthusiasm retrieving a variety of items in different locations. Also dont steady until you have a reliable delivery.
Be careful of using treats to lure the dog back with the toy as it encourages them to drop the toy. This can be overcome but needs a bit of skill in the timing of the reward.
If the puppy lacks enthusiasm for the toy you may need to let them chase a little and or try a different article.
The most frequent problems with retrieving with dogs that come for lessons are;
- Running off with the retrieve
- Dropping the retrieve on the way in
- Lack of enthusiasm
- Unsteady - my preference is to fix any of the first three before trying to get the dog steady.
