Cedarlily Gundogs

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Cedarlily Gundogs Taking a modern and holistic approach to working with dogs. Focusing on optimum health and comfort a

Accredited assistance dog trainer and Gundog instructor with The Gundog Club. Experience of working with Gundog breeds as pets, working dogs and working pet gundogs since 2003. Experience owning and training an HPR, retrievers and spaniels.

Cedarlily spaniels enjoying a holiday to Wales including a successful summit of Mount Snowdon!I just wish I had their en...
04/07/2025

Cedarlily spaniels enjoying a holiday to Wales including a successful summit of Mount Snowdon!

I just wish I had their endless energy!

Fantastic day yesterday for Cedarlily gundogs with students taking 20 Gundog grade assessments!!!We had everyone pass, o...
26/05/2025

Fantastic day yesterday for Cedarlily gundogs with students taking 20 Gundog grade assessments!!!
We had everyone pass, one merit and no less than 18 distinctions (with 2 of those scoring 100%) 🎉🎉🎉

I couldn’t be more proud of everyone for their effort and commitment to their dogs, the team work shone for you all ♥️♥️♥️

Thank you so much to .emily for assessing and to for her support and help through the day!
Love you both 🥰

Fantastic day yesterday for Cedarlily gundogs with students taking 20 Gundog grade assessments!!!We had everyone pass, o...
26/05/2025

Fantastic day yesterday for Cedarlily gundogs with students taking 20 Gundog grade assessments!!!
We had everyone pass, one merit and no less than 18 distinctions (with 2 of those scoring 100%) 🎉🎉🎉

I couldn’t be more proud of everyone for their effort and commitment to their dogs, the team work shone for you all ♥️♥️♥️

Thank you so much to Emily Wickham for assessing and to Tash for her support and help through the day!
Love you both 🥰
The Gundog Club

Great article explaining a little behind why I always say not to play endless games of fetch with our dogs.And add to th...
30/03/2025

Great article explaining a little behind why I always say not to play endless games of fetch with our dogs.

And add to this the impact of the braking for the ball on their joints and you have a double whammy of nope!

There is a question I get asked constantly:

“Bart, should I play fetch with my dog every day? He LOVES it!”

And my answer is always the same:
No. Especially not with working breeds like the Malinois, German Shepherd, Dutch Shepherd, or any other high-prey-drive dog, like hunting dogs, Agility dogs, etc.

This answer is often met with surprise, sometimes with resistance. I get it—your dog brings you the ball, eyes bright, body full of energy, practically begging you to throw it. It feels like bonding. It feels like exercise. It feels like the right thing to do.

But from a scientific, behavioral, and neurobiological perspective—it’s not. In fact, it may be one of the most harmful daily habits for your dog’s mental health and nervous system regulation that no one is warning you about.

Let me break it down for you in detail. This will be long, but if you have a working dog, you need to understand this.

Working dogs like the Malinois and German Shepherd were selected over generations for their intensity, persistence, and drive to engage in behaviors tied to the prey sequence: orient, stalk, chase, grab, bite, kill. In their role as police, protection, herding, or military dogs, these genetically encoded motor patterns are partially utilized—but directed toward human-defined tasks.

Fetch is an artificial mimicry of this prey sequence.
• Ball = prey
• Throwing = movement stimulus
• Chase = reinforcement
• Grab and return = closure and Reward - Reinforecment again.

Every time you throw that ball, you’re not just giving your dog “exercise.” You are triggering an evolutionary motor pattern that was designed to result in the death of prey. But here’s the twist:

The "kill bite" never comes.
There’s no closure. No end. No satisfaction, Except when he start chewing on the ball by himself, which lead to even more problems. So the dog is neurologically left in a state of arousal.

When your dog sees that ball, his brain lights up with dopamine. Anticipation, motivation, drive. When you throw it, adrenaline kicks in. It becomes a cocktail of high arousal and primal intensity.

Dopamine is not the reward chemical—it’s the pursuit chemical. It creates the urge to chase, to repeat the behavior. Adrenaline and cortisol, stress hormones, spike during the chase. Even though the dog “gets the ball,” the biological closure never really happens—because the pattern is reset, again and again, with each throw.

Now imagine doing this every single day.
The dog’s brain begins to wire itself for a constant state of high alert, constantly expecting arousal, movement, and stimulation. This is how we create chronic stress.

The autonomic nervous system has two main branches:

• Sympathetic Nervous System – “Fight, flight, chase”

• Parasympathetic Nervous System – “Rest, digest, recover”

Fetch, as a prey-driven game, stimulates the sympathetic system. The problem? Most owners never help the dog come down from that state.
There’s no decompression, no parasympathetic activation, no transition into rest.

Chronic sympathetic dominance leads to:
• Panting, pacing, inability to settle
• Destructive behaviors
• Hypervigilance
• Reactivity to movement
• Obsession with balls, toys, other dogs
• Poor sleep cycles
• Digestive issues
• A weakened immune system over time
• Behavioral burnout

In essence, we’re creating a dog who is neurologically trapped in the primal mind—always hunting, never resting.

Expectation Is a Form of Pressure!!!!!!

When fetch becomes a daily ritual, your dog begins to expect it.This is no longer “fun.” It’s a conditioned need. And when that need is not met?

Stress. Frustration. Obsession.

A dog who expects to chase every day but doesn’t get it may begin redirecting that drive elsewhere—chasing shadows, lights, children, other dogs, cars.
This is how pathological behavior patterns form.

Many people use fetch as a shortcut for physical exercise.

But movement is not the same as regulation.
Throwing a ball 100 times does not tire out a working dog—it wires him tighter.

What these dogs need is:
• Cognitive engagement
• Problem solving
• Relationship-based training
• Impulse control and on/off switches
• Scentwork or tracking to satisfy the nose-brain connection
• Regulated physical outlets like structured walks, swimming, tug with rules, or balanced sport work
• Recovery time in a calm environment

But What About Drive Fulfillment? Don’t They Need an Outlet?

Yes, and here’s the nuance:

Drive should be fulfilled strategically, not passively or impulsively. This is where real training philosophy comes in.

Instead of free-for-all ball throwing, I recommend:
• Tug with rules of out, impulse control, and handler engagement

• Controlled prey play with a flirt pole, used sparingly

• Engagement-based drive work with clear start and stop signals

• Training sessions that integrate drive, control, and reward

• Activities like search games, mantrailing, or protection sport with balance

• Working on “down in drive” — the ability to switch from arousal to rest

This builds a thinking dog, not a reactive one. The Bottom Line: Just Because He Loves It Doesn’t Mean It’s Good for Him

Your Malinois, German Shepherd, Dutchie, or other working dog may love the ball. He may bring it to you with joy. But the question is not what he likes—it’s what he needs.

A child may love candy every day, but a good parent knows better. As a trainer, handler, and caretaker, it’s your responsibility to think long term.
You’re not raising a dog for this moment. You’re developing a life companion, a regulated athlete, a resilient thinker.

So no—I don’t recommend playing ball every day.
Because every throw is a reinforcement of the primal mind.

And the primal mind, unchecked, cannot be reasoned with. It cannot self-regulate. It becomes a slave to its own instincts.

Train your dog to engage with you, not just the object. Teach arousal with control, play with purpose, and rest with confidence.

Your dog deserves better than obsession.He deserves balance. He deserves you—not just the ball.


Bart De Gols

04/01/2025

The different skills of a cocker out beating and the importance of teaching them to be super steady around flushing birds….and able to stay close at heel when needed….and sit quietly for long periods of time!

Such an amazing thing to be out working them, makes all the training and effort into that worthwhile ♥️🐾

Dogs had a great day working today - you can tell by the happy tails ♥️☺️🐾
14/12/2024

Dogs had a great day working today - you can tell by the happy tails ♥️☺️🐾

Wonderful evening yesterday at  Christmas member club meal / party / awards night.  Was so lovely to chat to wonderful p...
07/12/2024

Wonderful evening yesterday at Christmas member club meal / party / awards night. Was so lovely to chat to wonderful people and it was hosted so well with an amazing venue and great food from
Thank you to everyone who made it the night it was ♥️🎄🎉

Today Loki (Cedarlily Moonlit Mischief) followed in the footsteps of his mum (Verstone Seaclaid Brygid at Cedarlily) in ...
23/11/2024

Today Loki (Cedarlily Moonlit Mischief) followed in the footsteps of his mum (Verstone Seaclaid Brygid at Cedarlily) in gaining his Kennel Club Working Gundog Certiticate on Game (in both hunting and retrieving).

It means an assessor has observed him beating - seeing that he stays close and focused on the handler, covers the ground well and remains steady to flush & shot with minimal handling.
It also means he was seen to be steady to shot and fall in a picking up line without excessive handling, has excellent game finding abilities and can retrieve game to hand without any damage to the bird.
Overall he has been deemed to be an asset to a shoot.

Couldn’t have been prouder of him - worked his socks off today for me regardless off the wet and windy conditions!
🎉🐾

Thank you Helen Phillips Clicker Gundog training centre for hosting today and to our assessor Lynsey Moss, the guns, helpers, fellow dog handlers and game keeper Chris. We were well looked after with great grounds and great food ♥️

Some great cuddles recently with Loki pups ♥️I am very puppy broody - not sure much beats the innocence and joy (and sme...
04/11/2024

Some great cuddles recently with Loki pups ♥️
I am very puppy broody - not sure much beats the innocence and joy (and smell) of cute little puppies 🥰🐾

It’s been a minute since I posted (I am pre social media savvy generation apologies)!But had to put this on the Cedarlil...
24/10/2024

It’s been a minute since I posted (I am pre social media savvy generation apologies)!
But had to put this on the Cedarlily grid….George went with me on a training today accompanied by our good friend and Nala of fame ♥️🐾
George has been slow to show much drive - lovely calm great natured boy, pretty steadily naturally but a bit too laid back for much work so far….but today we let him catch him groove and he smashed it 💪💥
Keen, speedy (for him), lovely confident clear returns and wonderful deliveries - couldn’t be happier and more proud!
And Nala smashed it too! Super successful and enjoyable day - thanks you to for being fabulous hosts and support 🥰♥️🐾

Lovely day assessing the fabulous Abigail with her dog Duke.  13 years old and handled like a champ!Huge congratulations...
02/09/2024

Lovely day assessing the fabulous Abigail with her dog Duke. 13 years old and handled like a champ!
Huge congratulations for a fabulous distinction 🎉♥️

Thanks to our  these guys have no issues recovering from a soggy hike in the Chiltern’s ♥️🐾🐶
07/07/2024

Thanks to our these guys have no issues recovering from a soggy hike in the Chiltern’s ♥️🐾🐶

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