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Archive for the 'Training' Category

Well done Boys!

Monday, June 15th, 2015

Hi Amanda and Phillip,

I hope you are well and getting some opportunity to enjoy the better weather finally…. We have been busy attending some working tests this spring. Looks like the many hours of training have finally paid off. Both boys did really well at a test day of the South West Golden Retriever Club.

Fallowfen Tinker (left) won the Special Puppy and Fallowfen Olympic Rings won Novice Dog Novice Handler.

Let’s see what is coming next….

Best wishes

Christine & the boys

Sweep – 8 month old blue roan working cocker spaniel.

Saturday, May 23rd, 2015

6 month old blue roan working cocker spaniel dog.

Tuesday, March 31st, 2015

This is sweep our blue roan working cocker spaniel.
We are hoping for him to become a working gun dog, and at this time is showing all the right signs!
If all goes well in his training and health screening Sweep will also be standing at stud.

Cilla – English springer spaniel cross.

Friday, February 13th, 2015

Cilla is just over 12 months and hoping be become a detection dog.

Group dog training sessions.

Friday, February 14th, 2014

As the shooting season comes to a close I’m sure there’s many of you that want to start to rectify any issues that may have crept into your dogs during shooting season.

Or on the other hand you want to start to put training in place into any younger dogs coming through for the next shooting season which will be here before we know it.

If you would like dates for our group training sessions please feel free to email ourselves and we will be happy to provide the coming dates.





Lead training with Heidi our black Labrador retriever puppy 6 days on.

Thursday, June 13th, 2013

We have been walking Heidi for the last 6 days to build here confidence on the lead. Heidi is now more fluent on the lead but is still getting use to the pressure of being led.

Lead training.

Tuesday, June 11th, 2013

Please remember whilst watching this video that this is the very first time this puppy has been on a lead.

In this video we are with Heidi our black Labrador bitch puppy I want to show you  that she hasn’t had anything done with herself on the lead.

I have so many people say to me that they have watched many gun dog dvd’s and the dog work is fantastic but they never show the dog before the training and how to overcome any issues that may arise.

Dogs are no different to humans in lots of ways, in how they move or react to pressure. If you were walking down a dark alley and someone reached out, grabbed you and tried to pull you towards them your instant reaction would be to pull away. That’s exactly what this little puppy is doing on the lead.

Heidi can feel the pressure pulling her in a direction she doesn’t want to go, so she pulls away or plays dead! This also works in another way, if you a walking a dog on a lead and your lead is tight your dog will continue to pull, if the lead becomes slack with no tension your dog will then walk without pulling.

As time goes on what we want from our puppy is to move away from the pressure the lead is causing, so if you were walking and your dog stops to sniff as you continue to walk the lead will become tight, as the lead become’s tight your dog should want to get away from this pressure so should react by quicken their pace to correct their heel position.

I will continue this for a few days then update you with her progress.

First steps to a successful retriever.

Thursday, June 6th, 2013

In this video I’m training Willow our black Labrador bitch puppy to begin to sit for a thrown tennis ball and a thrown puppy dummy.

As you will see the sit and eye contact come straight away and this has built up from her expecting to sit as an activation for her food.

There are 2 videos for Willow as we were running out of video space so had to do a second to recap what you should be looking to do and expect from your young puppies.

What i am hoping to do with these videos is to show you how to over come everyday issues when starting out, issues that we never really see in our everyday gundog demo’s and dvd’s.

Things do go wrong and dogs need to be molded in different ways.

My advice to everyone is don’t rush, take your time, these pups are coming up to 15 weeks old and I’m only just starting to throw retrieves for them and start lead training. There’s no point putting lots of pressure on a puppy that’s not old enough to take it!

Willow play retrieving.

Recap for training.

Response from Dogs for the Disabled.

Sunday, May 19th, 2013

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

Letter from Dogs for the disabled

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fallowfen’s annual fun day – working test!

Thursday, May 16th, 2013

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.

 

 

 

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