Sealpin Gundogs

I hope you’ve all had a great weekend. After a busy week working with client’s dogs picking up on shoots, yesterday some of our favourites had some fun. Volley, Tartan and Diva doing their thing from the peg in some stunning Scottish hills.

We hosted our final training day of 2024 with the Country Girls UK yesterday. What a brilliant team with lovely dogs! I laughed at the last clip as we tried to get the dogs to pose after a long day of training 🤣

We had an awesome day’s shooting in Northumberland last week. We enjoyed great company and some awesome pheasants. It was Volley’s first day on the peg and, with Diva setting a good example, she was brilliant. Keen but steady.

This is one of my favourite training exercises to improve handling at distance on the stop whistle. Firstly, I suggest thinking of the whistle command as a ‘help’ whistle rather than a ‘stop’ whistle. What self respecting gundog wants to stop when they’re out on a retrieve? Unless they learn that stopping is going to help them to find the retrieve more quickly. Set up a blind retrieve, or two, before getting your dog out. Then throw a clump of grass or equivalent down as a distraction. This works because the grass has your hand scent on it, just like the dummies, but there’s nothing for them to retrieve. Let them hunt on that scent and time your stop whistle so that you intervene right when they’re needing helping, wanting a retrieve.Dogs can often be reluctant to stop on the whistle but this exercise helps to avoid that, because they learn quickly that listening to you leads them to the retrieve despite them thinking it was somewhere else. Consider the wind when practicing this, so they don’t scent the dummy too soon, and be warned that some dogs (particularly cocker spaniels) are smart enough to work out what you’re doing after a couple of goes. Music: -14℃Musician: EnjoyMusicSite: https://enjoymusic.ai

Starring Percy, a twelve week old Labrador Retriever puppy and Ivy, Sealpin’s littlest assistant trainer. Here are a three little tips that you might find useful with puppies and older dogs, too. 1. Recall: if I can encourage puppy owners into doing one thing, it’s this - recall your puppy lots and lots and especially when you don’t need to. If you just call them back when it’s time to go inside, finish playing, take something off them or put the lead on, then being recalled can quite quickly have negative connotations for them. To establish and maintain a keen, polite recall then call your puppy (or adult dog) to you many times for just a quick stroke and check in with you for every one time that you call them back for one of the reasons above. This can make a huge difference in your training because a good, willing recall is the basis of all training. 2. On the lead: we’re lucky on the farm here that we don’t have to have the dogs on the lead very often, but it’s worth getting right. Again, like with recall, practice this when you don’t need to. If the only time your dog is on a lead is when out on a walk, this makes it difficult to teach them to do it nicely. Going for a walk is their most stimulating, exciting time of the day and you’re competing with the scents and distractions of the world. So, also do plenty of practice like I’m doing here, walking up and down the driveway, in the garden, or even in the house, so that they’re more receptive to learning good lead work. And, remember, they aren’t born with any natural ability to walk on the lead even though we expect all dogs to do it nicely. Therefore, the onus is on us to teach them properly and it’s easier to do this with less other stimulations. 3. ⁠Retrieving: think of retrieving as simply recalling with something in their mouth. Establish good recall habits, as discussed above, and then introducing a tennis ball is easier. Use your body language and v

All of the Sealpin dogs love a few good gallops about throughout the day. This keeps them entertained, content, clean in the kennel and, importantly, ready for training. #training #dogwalks #labradors #cockerspaniels #springerspaniels

We had an awesome, record breaking day on the grouse today on a beautiful estate in the lovely windswept Scottish Borders. There were more of these amazing, wild birds than was expected and the Sealpin team were kept very busy. We had four grouse debutants in the picking up pack and there was lots of learning. They all did brilliantly and are now snoring their heads off in the kennels. They had a @csj_dogfood breakfast and travelled in usual @transk9_gb style and comfort #grouse #training #gundog Music: TuesdayMusician: Sascha EndeSite: https://filmmusic.io/song/2992-tuesdayLicense: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode

Group training in the Scottish rain with three Labrador Retrievers, three Cocker Spaniels and two Springer Spaniels. When I was younger I would follow my Grandpa, Edward Martin, working his dogs. Group work always impressed me the most, how on earth did he get them all to wait their turn like that? It’s a question of patience, practice and the dogs understanding that their own name is the command they’re waiting for. Featuring Magnum, Samburu, Diva, Tartan, Kite, Boycie, Volley and Keira. Music: SunnyMusician: @iksonmusic

A brilliant, engaging way to teach your dog heelwork using memory retrieves. Starring Dragon, one of our homebred Labrador Retrievers. Some of you may know Dragon from the Royal Highland Show , P in the Park Events and our other demonstrations this summer. Heelwork is vital to any breed of dog, but it can boring to teach for both of you. If your dog likes retrieving, try this exercise and feel to start with the lead on until you’re confident to try it without. Music: FarewellMusician: Ilya TruhanovSite: https://icons8.com/music/

P.O.V. training session with Keira, she’s a superstar. I bought a harness for recording with my phone and had some fun with it. Of you guys like this and find it useful, let me know and I’ll make more videos like this. This simple training routine incorporates steadiness, memory, hunting and retrieving. I use this exercise and variations of it a lot. #gundogs #training #dogs #spaniel

We’d love to see you at P in the Park this Saturday and Sunday at Cousland, just south of Edinburgh.

Helping one of our lovely trainees learn to be steady around other dogs in the spring sun today ☀️