Ravensview Gundogs

18/07/2024

13/07/2024

Whip had a productive day today. A little groom, he covered a nice little redhead and then some training. He's looking alright!

Ravensview Chockystars Lasting Legacy is fully health tested. BVA clear eye cert, PLA Grade 0, Hipscored 6/4, elbows 0/0, DNA clear for prcd-PRA, FN, AMS, AON, PP

06/07/2024

These two Dash boys though. 8 weeks old tomorrow.

Ravensview Light Storm (Liver Tri) and Ravensview Bright Spark (orange raon)

24/06/2024

No one needs to be told its hotter than usual outside this week. Please just be mindful that we'll ask you to come and visit the boys for stud duties at the cooler times of the day.

The boys all know their job and most of the coverings are achieved within a very short time. Ensuring no one get stressed or exerts more energy than needed in the heat.

Alway happy to answer any questions you have about the boys. Based in Maidstone, Kent.

Our boys are bva eye tested, hipscored and dna clear.

21/06/2024

A bit of Mike appreciation..... your welcome.

Kenaiteen Cool Apollo, fully health tested.

18/06/2024

Did everyone jump on the Aldi ban wagon this week and get some of these really reasonably priced water dummies? I can confirm they even float, we had the yellow one out last night.

The blue dummy with the large loop is how they are sold.... already I've seen reports online of dogs getting legs caught in this large loop.

The green dummy has been modified by me, to be a single length of cord. This took 5 mins and is now much safer for the dogs.

18/06/2024

Little clips of Tiggy last night. 1st time out training since her season and it's safe to say she had fun blowing off those cobwebs. She might have given me heart failure when she was halfway down a rabbit hole though 😬 we'll sharpen everything back up in no time.

14/06/2024

Dash Offspring.

09/06/2024

Whip waiting nicely for his girlfriend to arrive.

Ravensview Chockystars Lasting Legacy, fully health tested, hips, elbows, bva eye scheme, pla grade 0 and dna clear for prcd-PRA, fn,AMS, pp and aon

5th generation of home breeding

14/05/2024

Post 4 (and the last one, i promise).

We've had some amazing discussions today, thankyou for interacting with my posts. Please read each others comments, everyone has raised some great points.

We all seem to be on agreement that boundaries are healthy, dogs need physical and mental stimulation, they also need down time and we need to accept that we may need help implementing all of the above if we're struggling. And let me assure you, there isn't a person that's commented on any of the 4 posts that hasn't needed help or guidance at some point in their lives. Here's just a few things that work for me. Feel free to add yours below!

A well structured puppy class is a must. It's not a running wild experience but rather a place, your dog learns to concentrate on you with the distractions of other dogs around. This can be hard for some dogs but stick with it!

Crate training is really useful in MANY ways. It's a safe place in the early days, it's a great place to sleep undisturbed, can help aid toilet training and at some point as an adult dog, after a spay or small op, it's a great recuperation place. I always give a useful crate training information sheet to new puppy owners.

Don't have a rigid routine, change things up. On the days you are ill or life is really busy, this will help them to accept change. A missed walk occasionally never killed anyone.

Teach a retrieve! I talked about everything being mine to give or take as appropriate. If you teach a puppy to retrieve to hand.... you've taught them from day one to give you an object in a fun way. The day they have something that could be harmful, you calmly call your dog and they will present said item.

Make sure you reward good behaviours! Easy to ignore the good stuff and only interact when they are being challenging. For example, If a pup has sat and offered you eye contact, make sure you bend down and reward with affection. That's a desirable trait that they freely offered.... reward them for this. It will help them make good decisions.

Set your dog up to succeed. If you are trying to train your dog and they haven't grasped the exercise, you need to accept the failure is yours. Think of a way to make things simpler for the dog to understand and then make progression step by step.

Be fun! You should be a source of play and attention.

The most important one.... its easier to get it right from the start than fix unwanted behaviours. Deal with issues as they arise.

I'll end here for fear people will stop reading 😁

14/05/2024

Post 3

Ok, I think in the previous two posts we've had a brilliant response from a range of experienced owners that understand their dogs needs and have built a relationship with their dogs. Please read through them, people have raised some excellent points that will be helpful to new owners and there is a range of different types of homes commenting too. You all earned gold stars from me and post 4 will be concentrating on this.😁

We all agree that training is continuous. An example of this is recall, you don't teach a recall and put it to bed, this is a continuous aspect of dog ownership that needs to be proofed in different locations and scenarios and reinforced for the rest of the dogs life. Self employed dogs in my mind are dogs that have stopped communicating with their owners, often very confident dogs that are used to making their own decisions through lack of leadership and boundaries. Its not OK that your dog only comes back sometimes, it's not ok if your dog bogs off to hunt and ignores you, its not ok to chase wildlife, it's really not ok that your dog growls at you. I've been thinking about this alot and wondered where the relationship was breaking down between dogs and their handlers and its becoming apparent its not a relationship breakdown in most cases, its lack of the correct relationship being built because people didn't quite understand their dogs needs or weren't capable of building healthy boundaries. My employed dog knows, that even on a fun walk where there isn't going to be formal gundog training, they need to be checking in with regular eye contact and not stray too far, they need to return instantly to their name being called and anything they find isn't such a high reward that they can't give it to me when asked. That in my mind is basic and healthy interaction.

I'm not here to tell you dogs can't be on your furniture or be spoilt with toys if thats your wish BUT and it's a big but, can you take those toys from them? Can you ask your dog to get off of your sofa with no issues? That's the important bit in this and not just one person giving commands but everyone in your household? Everything is yours to give or take away as is appropriate. To me, that's healthy.

This is an open discussion, please carry on contributing.

Phot credit Karena Sunley-Jones

14/05/2024

Post 2

I'm the 1st to say that these sweet angelic dogs in the wrong hands can quickly become horrors. And by wrong hands, I mean homes where dogs are humanised and not given clear boundaries and training.

We know that Cockers are an active breed that need to learn to settle, in previous posts I've talked about the kennels being a quiet and boring space, where most cockers will sleep and rest a large portion of the day, (this can be achieved in a home but needs to be thought out and planned, if you live in a busy household).This is in turn has to be balanced by training sessions which utilises their brain as well as being physical. With gundog training specifically, we ask the dogs to hunt but they stop on command, they retrieve to hand and are taught to be steady and not chase, which is impulse control.

But the subtle clue here is, the dog is working for their reward and is seeking and enjoying praise. Paired with space and rest. And noting that training aids are not toys they play with all day, they are the humans possessions that the dog gets to enjoy. So basically everything is mine but I'm allowing my dog to enjoy them with me, because I'm a fun handler that my dog wants to please. That sounds quite simple doesn't it?

So I'm summising it's the right training, it's boundaries and environment. So moving forward how can we communicate the above In a way people really listen and understand boundaries are not punishment? In a way where we don't create a divide between working homes vs pet homes? In post 3, we'll look at what an employed dog looks like vs a self employed one.

13/05/2024

Post 1

On alot of the Cocker Spaniel pages on Facebook at the moment, there seems to be a big divide between pet homes and working homes. The pet homes feel like the working homes posts are derogatory towards pet homes and the working homes are frustrated towards the problems that pet homes are having.... you still with me?

The biggest cause for concern is aggressive behaviours and resource guarding behaviours which as a generalisation seem prevalent in pet homes. Alot of us that work our spaniels are scratching our heads because we don't see these behaviours in the same lines or in the kennel and day to day life. So whats the difference? Is it training, environment, an attitude or all of these?

What's everyone's thoughts? I'll post my thoughts tomorrow.

01/05/2024

My Gem and her niece Brandi at the beach this week.

20/04/2024

More bluebells with Tiggy. Lots of steadiness training, while she posed😅

Tiggy is settling in very well with our pack and very much wants to please me. Every time we train, its clear she's remembered previous corrections and is keen to get it right.

12/04/2024

Thankyou Nithvalley Gundogs for entrusting us with the beautiful Tiggy, (Nithvalley Icena). She will be a real asset to the team.

08/04/2024

Whip and Dash out in the bluebells today. We were actually training.... we just looked good doing it.😁

Love these boys.

22/03/2024

Some pics from Whip's most recent litter, put to a visiting Dash Daughter. 2 chocolate roan and tans and a chocolate and tan girl in the litter.

Whip has developed into an all round nice dog, he has been pretty natural to train, passes on his stamp and is throwing all colours and patterns. I'm made up with him.

Ravensview Chockystars Lasting Legacy is fully health tested.

11/03/2024

Dash (Kellandbrook Warrior of Ravensview-fully health tested) has been busy. He sired a beautiful litter, put to a visiting girl, born just before the weekend (see pic below). And was put to a visiting girl we bred at the weekend. Its always lovely to see girls back.

06/03/2024

Can all my friends competing at crufts hit me with your schedule/times. I'd like to see as many of you as I can.x I'll be there Friday and Saturday. X

27/02/2024

🎉GOOD NEWS 🎉

All 4 of the boys are now clear for AON (not just Mike). This will make all 4 boys FULLY health tested and great options for anyone on the assured breeders scheme.

26/02/2024

A visiting girl, put to Hook, just had a litter of 7 over the weekend. Beautiful

23/02/2024

How about a little game of follow back Friday for small businesses? Here's my daughters page.

Please add your link to your page or business in the comments of this post only and we can all help each other out. 😘

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100085143170863

Equine

17/02/2024

This little beauty came back for a repeat mating with Mike today. The owner informed me that 2 of the previous litter are with the Brazilian Federal Police. Hopefully I'll get pictures of them in their uniforms soon.

How cool is that?!

13/02/2024

Chelsea and Mike

11/02/2024

Dash and Purdey. All clean, meeting people thst want to be on their waiting list today.

10/02/2024

That's better Purdey.... Nice and clean.

02/02/2024

Apparently it's brown dog day today. So here's Dash, aging like fine wine.

Kellandbrook warrior of ravensview, fully health tested