29/04/2025
If you are in a training session, or a working test, or any other scenario where you’re handling your dog, and you can recognise that you’re under pressure, then something you can do immediately is pause and take a breath.
Slowing down can help you approach the situation with a clearer, calmer mindset, and sometimes that’s all you need to ensure you don’t send your dog too soon or blow your recall whistle instead of your hunt there whistle.
Outside of the situation, there are a few things we can do to reduce the mental burden in general that can have an overall positive impact on your training and dog’s performance.
Have some flipping fun
Firstly, it’s important to remember that gundog training should be fun, and unless there’s a serious behaviour problem, nothing about it is life or death. The don’t take things too seriously mindset will help you approach training as an opportunity to simply enjoy time with your dog, without thinking about any of the tests or shoot days you’ve got coming up.
Keep sessions short
Stop trying to build Rome in a day and try to plan short, more focused training. Not every session has to fix or monumentally improve one of your dog’s behaviours and I’ve found that with my dogs, keeping training sessions to under 10 minutes and focusing on specific tasks works best.
Focus on more than one dog
If you have more than one dog, spread the focus across all of them and don’t pin all your gundog goals on one. This prevents you from feeling like everything is riding on their performance and gives you more options. So if one dog is having an off day, or you’re not in the right frame of mind to teach new behaviours, then you can switch dogs. This also prevents you from getting too bogged down by one dog’s mistakes or setbacks, which can increase stress levels for you both.
Take up a new hobby
If you only have one dog, or find that you still put pressure on multiple dogs, consider taking up another hobby or practising some self-care that will get your mind off the gundog training and address your own well-being. A week off altogether will not result in a dog that’s forgotten how to do everything, but it might create a reset that you need to see some progress.
Make sure you’re in a supportive group
Often overlooked is making sure that the people you train make you feel a ease. If you find yourself in a group that doesn’t align with your values or training style, it can add unnecessary stress. I remember feeling intimidated when I joined a group that I knew used harsher methods. My dog, Grace, was slow to run out, even on marked retrieves, which was very unusual for her. She was clearly picking up on my stress and the pressure I was feeling in that environment just wasn’t conducive to good training.
Sometimes, the pressure of trying to meet a trainer’s expectations or using methods you don’t agree with can cause more harm than good. In these situations, it’s important to recognise when the pressure is coming from the trainer and the group, not just your own worries, and to seek out a more supportive learning environment.
Don’t always hide in your comfort zone
That said, sometimes you do need a little bit of pressure in the short term so that you can build confidence through experience. Confidence doesn’t come instantly and you can’t expect to be confident in something you’ve never done before either. Instead, focus on gaining experience training on different grounds, with different trainers who will broaden your knowledge and give you the tools to handle new situations.
With more experience, you’ll build a stronger foundation of confidence, and when you encounter challenges, you’ll feel better equipped to handle them. The more you step outside your comfort zone, the more you'll learn, and even when things don’t go perfectly, the experience will help you grow.
It’s important to remember that taking the pressure off doesn’t mean you won’t reach your goals, it just might take a little longer. You have a lifetime with your dog, so don’t rush things.
Competitions and deadlines are not the be-all and end-all and you can still achieve great things when your dog is older. Enjoy the gundog training journey with your dog and focus on your time and relationship with them, not just the end result.
Want to learn more about how your mindset and emotions might impact your gundog training? Head to https://www.completelygundogs.co.uk/blog/are-your-emotions-derailing-your-gundog-goals
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