Sporting Shooter UK – August 2019

of when it’s ready for something. But when I say
take a dog along on a shoot from a young age, I’m
initially exposing it to the sundry stuff. Stuff that
will be a big deal to it if left until much later in life. I
get confident young pups out at drinks time.
Providing there are no daft boistrous dogs
knocking about, I’ll let a pup get used to the
crowd of people and other dogs. It’s allowed to
mooch about, sniff warm game, take in the smells
of blood and spent cartridges and generally get
used to the atmosphere.
Lula has also had the chance to hunt on scenty
ground during a drive. I was careful, and each
time I picked a drive that suited her, one where I
could look after her and monitor her – an area of
nice cover and free from the interference of other
dogs. This encouraged her to discover how
exciting scent is, then when she was enjoying
herself on the scent, I asked for some control in
the form of the Stop whistle or the recall. Having
achieved this to some satisfaction, I then popped
her back on the lead until next time.
Several small sessions like this with the same
desirable conforming behaviour creates a good
habitual pattern and I soon had several of these
built up and under my belt. Then came the odd
flush. Sitting her straight away and then allowing
her to come ‘back in the room’ by leaving her sat
there for 30 seconds or so, I then cast her off
again and hunted her for another minute before
finishing it there.

What about retrieving?
Well, when it comes to retrieving, I have a
minimalistic approach. Most of us would be
happy with a dog being steady to something
falling from the sky and then retrieving it quickly
on command. That’s where I left things with Lula
and she’s barely had a retrieve since the end of
the season. Yes, I’ll up the ante and start it more
in earnest, when I have the time, introducing more
complex stuff, but retrieving, for a hunting dog at
least, is where things really can be overdone. I
offer game as a retrieve from around a few
months of age... just a couple of times to see what
the dog makes of it. I should say that I don’t
believe in using cold game. Many will disagree
with me here, but I really don’t see the point of
offering something cold and smelly as a necessity
to train for the real warm and fresh thing. I choose
to go straight to fresh, warm, clean game, instead
of something half defrosted from the freezer. Lula
was given warm game at the end of several
beating days last season. I simply selected a nice
clean hen bird from the bag at the end of the day
and took her to a quiet area and kept it light and
fun. It was never a problem. I’ve always done it
that way with all my dogs and it’s usually worked.
If you’ve kept retrieving as a fun and privileged
event, then it won’t be an issue for a keen,
enthusiastic and well-bred young pup. There was
also another retrieving opportunity for Lula during
the season, where an injured jackdaw hopped

across in front of us. I sat her up and went over to

dispatch it. I then threw the ‘very fresh’ bird out,

allowing her to run in. She never thought twice

about it. A couple more throws and that was that.

The last bit of exposure Lula has had is roost

shooting. I always like to sit a dog up, out of

hunting mode and let it watch birds fall from the

sky, although there’s not so much to see falling

when I’m shooting! Again, she was happy with

being sat there, and I’d built up her exposure to

the noise of gunshot over the season, but I’d been

careful for her not to see a pheasant shot out of

the sky while she was hunting. The adrenaline

could have been too much for her and we could

have encouraged a real transgression.

I’ll be revisiting all her initial basic 2-2 training

very briefly just to check it’s all there, but I won’t

be overdoing any element. Instead, I’ll keep our

end goal firmly in our sights and I’ll let you all

know of Lula’s progress in future articles,

including her first trial this coming season, all

being well. 

GUNDOG FOCUS

PICTURES:

NICK RIDLEY

END GOALS

Remember to always

keep your end goal in

sight during training

sessions.

Don’t overdo the retrieving training

if you are aiming for a beating dog

Ryan will carefully expose a young dog to the sights

and sounds of a shoot day