Shooting Times & Country – 07 August 2019

IN DETAIL

KEEPAHASBEENworkingandtraining

wellalongsidehisblossomingcareeras

a studdog.It isusuallyatthistimeofyear

thatI begintonoticea dropinenthusiasm

ordriveinsomeofmydogs.Withthe

weathergettinghotter,manydogs—

particularlytheolderones—canstart

togoa little‘flat’.A bagofsandcanonly

besoexcitingtoa dogthatisused to

workingontherealthing.

SoI amonlydoingone,sometimes

two,shortsessionswithhima week

atthemomentontopofcompeting

oncea fortnight.Thisseemstosuithim

andhisdrivelevelforcanvas.Hehas

a competitioncomingupandI needto

increasehishuntingenthusiasma little,

ashehasstartedtobecomea littlebored

onlyhuntingfor a bit in one area before

movingon.

Iusethedummylauncherforthis

purpose. It automatically excites him and

getshimkeener.I allowhimtopicka few

marksthatarethrownintolongergrass

andcoverso,thoughit isa marked

retrieve,hehastohuntharderforthem.

OnceI havegothisenthusiasmup

a gear,I plantsomeverysmallobjects

inthesameareawherethemarkswere

falling.Youhavetobecarefuldoingthis

thatthedogwon’tswallowwhatyouare

askingthemtopick,soI only do this with

olderreliabledogs.

Thishuntingtrainingexerciseisvery

welldemonstratedbyhandlersanddogs

competinginworkingtrials.Theyhavea

25-yardsquareboxtohuntandextremely

small items to find. For this I am using

smallflatdisksanda tinydummykeyring.

I makesuretheyarewellhiddenand all

intheareaoftheoriginalfall.

If Keepastopshuntingorattemptsto

moveon,ratherthanusingmywhistleand

directinghimbacktothearea,I say‘No’

andwalkouttohimsoheunderstands

thatisnotwhatI want.ThenI standcloser

totheareaandaskhimtohuntagain.

WhileheishuntingI useverbalpraise

toreassurehimheisdoingrightby

continuingtohuntthatarea.Slowlybut

surelyI increasethedistanceuntilI am

standingwhereI startedandheisn’t

requiringmyreassurance to continue

hunting that area.

KEEPA: HOLDING HIS ENTHUSIASM

Gundog training

“Inhotweather,someoftheolderdogs

cangoa littleflat;a bagofsandcanonly

be so exciting after the real thing”

38 • SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE

Keepais indanger

of becoming bored

EllenaSwiftis expectinga babyandwasadvised,duetothehotweather,nottodoanygundogtrainingclosetoherduedate.SoSimonTrinder

steppedintothebreachandprovidedsomeillustrationsforusinplaceofphotographs.WeatShootingTimeswishherthebestofluck.PG