We received this letter this week for dogs for the disabled thanking all of you for your raffle prizes and donations.

Dogs for the disabled also have open mornings for visitors to have a look around their head training facilities in Oxfordshire to see how the training is first implemented.

Booking is required due to limited numbers. The following dates are still available

8th June, 7th September, 19th October and 7th December. Please contact Lydia Martin for more information on 01295 759811 lydia.martin@dogsforthedisabled.org

On 11th May we had our annual fun day come working test.

This day is to give handlers an opportunity to work towards something with their dogs and to test both the handlers and dogs ability in test conditions.

We started the day at 11 o’clock when i was joined by our 2 judges John Hilton and Barney Hall. John being a spaniel man and Barney a Labrador man so thought this would be a good combination. I choose John and Barney for 2 main reason’s they both work their own dogs to a good level picking up all season but more importantly I  knew they would be fair on each handler without being to harsh in there scoring.

I set the tesst earlier in the week. The tests consisted of 4 individual test.

Test 1 was a timed memory retrieve between two sets of straw bales. I done this test first to settle the handlers down and to give the dogs a chance to have a quick burst run to get rid of any edge or tension they were picking up off  there handlers.

Test 2 was a marked retrieve followed by a blind retrieve. Puppies which were dogs under 18 months of age were allowed to pick these in which ever order however the adults had to watch the marked retrieve then retrieve the blind retrieve first.

Test 3 was a double mark once again the puppies which were dogs under 18 months of age were allowed to pick these in which ever order however the adults had to watch both marked retrieve’s then pick the dummy which was thrown first.

Test 4 was a marked retrieve followed by a distraction, which was a bolting rabbit! Which is a dummy on a piece of elastic. The puppies then had to leave the distraction and pick the marked dummy. Once a gain a little harder for the adult, there were to marked retrieves then the bolting rabbit. The handler then had to send their dog past the distraction ant the first dummy to retrieve the dummy behind the first two distractions.

Both handlers and dogs had an eventful day whilst trying to avoid the rain, but when the sun did show up it made the day more pleasurable.

After all four tests were complete we stopped for lunch.

Whilst everybody enjoyed the hog roast i added up the score’s and made our cut for the final.

5 adults made the cut for the Adult  final and 3 puppies made the cut for the puppy final.

The test we set for the adults was a blind retrieve over a jump followed by a duck call then a marked retrieve from the dummy launcher. Then duck call and marked retrieve came first then the handler set there dogs up to retrieve the blind retrieve from the jump first.

The puppy test was very similar, we didn’t use any shot due to the age of the dogs so they had a thrown dummy and a blind retrieve over a jump.

We had 25 entries 15 adults and 10 puppies.

3 golden retrievers

1 Cocker spaniel

1 Nova Scotia duck tolling retriever.

5 English springer spaniels

and 15 Labradors.

Results.

Adults.

1st Ella with her black Labrador Gin

2nd Paul with his golden retriever Seth

3rd “T” with her black Labrador Lillie.

Puppies.

1st Kieran with his English springer spaniel Arwen.

2nd Mark with his black Labrador Jetta

3rd Robert with his yellow Labrador Miester

Fastest retrieve also went to  “T” with her black Labrador Lillie with a winning time of 14.13 seconds.

Steadiest dog also went to  Ella with her black Labrador Gin.

Top handler went to Natalie with her black Labrador Floss.

I just want to thank everyone for there hard work in setting up the day and all the donations for the raffle and desserts.

Thank you to quest gundogs for donating raffles prizes for our dogs for the disabled raffle.

These are the follow up videos five days on from the first videos of the 2 black labrador sisters starting out there life as working gundogs.

As you will see in these videos the labradors have become alot more focused on myself and what is needed to activate there food being given to them.

Written and shared from Steve Turner.

Having owned a Brittany hpr dog for the last 4 yrs. i have found that their hunting instinct is very high and recall and retrieving can be very problematic if not dealt with in early training and the control kept on top off, so its always best to go to a professional gundog trainer to keep on top of these things, they are also more difficult as they are asked to do a lot more than a lab or a normal spaniel.

So here we are at Fallowfen Training kennels for the day with our four Brittany’s Sam, Pop, Remi and Gizmo, we arrived around 10.15 for a 10.30 start, Andy Kate and Adam have not been here before. Phillip came out and greeted us, had a chat on what we wanted from the day and put everyone at ease. We then took the dogs for a small walk as they had been traveling from up from Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Derbyshire and Warwickshire. Phillip then started us with some heel work to settle the dogs giving an explanation on why this was done, he also used one of our dogs as a demonstration on correct lead control, from that we went onto incorporating the stop whistle and the need for the stop whistle. We then moved onto a few seen retrieves, one dog started off well retrieving then lost interest, Phillip stepped in and helped the handler to correct and encourage the dog back onto the retrieve all in a relaxed manner. We then moved onto the importance of the sit and stay even with distraction’s how to correct if the dog moved and when to praise the dog. At around 12 noon we went for lunch.

After lunch we  then went down to the rabbit pen most had not been in a rabbit pen before and one dog has had a bad experience in a rabbit pen with another trainer so we were all a little apprehensive, Andy took the plunge first with Remi ( who had a bad experience in the past) Andy walked with Remi around the pen on the lead, Andy lost his nerve a little again Phillip stepped in to help out within 15 minutes Phillip had Remi sat off the lead!! Andy’s words were i am amazed to which we all laughed!. We all had a go in the pen and all the dogs sat off lead with the help from candy the jack Russell flushing rabbits for them, to see this really made the day for us and we had not finished. We then went to use the jump with the exception of Sam, none of the dogs had done this before, but with guidance from Phillip all the dogs achieved it. We then finished the day on simple memory retrieves to which ended the day on a good note!. We then went for coffee and a chat and was joined by Amanda, Phil’s wife before leaving for home, i had a one to one with Phillip and i go to his group session but the other three had never been before.

Since arriving home i have e mails thanking me for organising the day with Phillip and how knowledgeable and friendly he is and his wife Amanda are for taking the trouble to join us making a very enjoyable day, as a group we will be back again. If you want one to one or a group of friends wanting a great day training then Fallowfen gundogs is the place to go, thanks Phillip and Amanda.

Regards from Steve,Kate,Andy and Adam with the Brittany’s.

This video is to try and show how we introduce our puppies into training.

We don’t start until the puppies are 9 – 10 weeks of age. Up till this point all we do is shake their food bowl to encourage them to be very excited around feeding time.

When we are ready to start we are looking at gaining eye contact from a young age, if a dog isn’t looking at you how do you know they are listening. We also Don’t give them any command to sit,. When you first do this you shake the bowl to gain there interest then when they are interested you stand still no words no movement. They will lose interest and continue to move, this is normal.

When they loose interest you shake the bowl again to regain interest. Eventually your puppy will put there bum on the floor for a split second you then put their food down with praise “Good girl or boy”. Within days you will go to feed them and there bum will be glued to the floor and there eye’s will not leave you.

This is the first test or your patience as a owner – handler. This could take up to 10 minutes the first time you do it depending on your dog and surroundings. But done right could give you a lifetime of good eye contact.