Shooting Times & Country – 17 July 2019

SPORTING ANSWERS

86 • SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE

Toregaina dog’sconfidence

forjumping,gobacktobasics

andstartwitha lowobstacle

that it can clear with ease

Jump training gundogs

GUNDOG TRAINING

MyyoungLabradorhada

badexperiencewitha fence

a fewweeksago— heaccidentally

followedanolderdogoversome

sheepwireandgotsnaggedup.

I feelguiltyaboutit and,while

hewasn’tinjuredhewasvery

stressedandit’smadehimnervous

aboutgoingoverobstacles. Do you

haveanyadvice?

Somedogsarenaturaljumpers

andothersarelessconfident.It’s

notadvisabletoallowa younggundog

tojumpuntilat least 12 monthsold,to

avoidstressonthedevelopinglimbs.

It’salsoimportanttopreventover-

confidentyoungdogsattempting

tocleara fencewhenthey don’t

havethetechnique.

I amstrictaboutjumping.I don’t

wanta youngstertofeelunder

pressure about it, and when they do

mastertheartit becomesoneofthe

mostenjoyablepartsoftheirwork.

I suggestsettingupa lowobstacle

thatthedogwillbeabletonegotiate

withease.If heis stillreluctantyou

willhavetopersevereandgetonthe

oppositesidetocoaxhimoverasbest

youcan— withouta dummyat this

stage.Seeinganotherdoghopping

backandforwardsovera verylow

fencemayboosthisconfidencebut

youmustnotforcehim.Youwill

havetobepatientandrestorehis

confidence,andmayhavetoconstruct

a seriesofsimpleobstaclessothathe

cangraduallyincreasehisskills.

Intheinitialstagesofjumptraining

Iusea lowpost-and-railfencethat

takeslittleefforttoclear(under2ft

high)butis solidenoughtogivethe

doga footingtoclamberoverat the

start.It givesa clearlineaboutthe

heightandis lowenoughtogivethe

dogtheconfidenceit needstoclear

it with a simple retrieve.JH

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If youdelvebackintothehistoryof

ourspanielsit won’tbelongbefore

youcomeacrossa breedknownas

thewaterspaniel.AccordingtoTaplin,

writinginhisbookSportingDictionary

andRuralRepository(1803),“there

arefourdifferentkindsofdogspassing

underthis[spaniel]denomination—

thelargeWaterSpaniel,anda smaller

kindofthesamesort.OflandSpaniels

therearetwokindsalso...”

It’sdifficulttofinda good

descriptionofa waterspaniel,forit

seemsthatthereweremanydifferent

types,somewithcurlycoats,others

lookingmorelikeEnglishspringers.

There’sanundatedprintofa water

spanielreproducedinTheSporting

Spaniel(1920)thatshowsa distinctly

springer-like,thoughpossibly

somewhatcurly,spaniel,running-in to

retrievea fallingdrakemallard.

Distincttypesofwaterspaniel

evolvedindifferentareas.According

tothehistorians,themoderngolden

retrieverhasTweedwater spaniel

bloodinitsgenes.

Thewaterspaniellargely

disappearedintheearlyyearsof

the19thcentury,thoughinIrelandthe

SouthernIrishwaterspanielsurvived,

whileanotherdistinctvariety,the

NorthernIrishwaterspaniel—saidto

benearlyidenticaltotheEnglish water

spaniel — became extinct.

BRITAIN’S LOST BREE

SERIESNEW

THE WATER SPANIEL