Dog trainers

Spunk84

i have a springer pup im looking trained further down the line. Any good trainers around? also what age would suggest to send a dog down?

greenpeter

What age is the pup?
I would advise to try trainingyour self.
The pup will grow up with you so will look to impress your not a stranger.
I have seen great dogs come back from training but then it falls apart because the owner didn't understand what way the dog was trained.
I'm not saying its a bad idea just be careful of what to expect.
If you have time you could do some classes with the pup and a trainer just get some guidance.

DavyDee

Springer arent the hardest gundog to train, not that I'm saying its easy done but i work 5-6 days a week and still find the time, 5-10 mins most days when im training the dog and every now and again when im satisfied the dog knows what i want it to do. There are loads of very good dvds out there on training them. You should have a look at afew of them and ask other lads who have them what they do and make up your own mind how you want to train the dog to suit you.

IceMaiden

Pups are best left to develop & socialise at home first, to experience sights, sounds, scents & interaction with a variety of people & animals etc.
They develop at different speeds depending on the individual, some basic home play-training/obedience would be a good step no matter if you carry on & train up to maturity or send the youngster away eventually.
Most dogs are average shooting dogs occasionally one is above that but very often its impossible to tell until the dogs mature with some experience under it.

Many dog problems are unfortunately more realistically dog-owner problems & if a dog is sent away for training the owner should also receive some instructions/ & training on how to handle the newly trained dog, unfortunately on a number of occasions a dog will be sent away for training, the fees are paid & then at some agreed stage the owner receives the trained dog back , but has little idea as to how to get the same out of the dog as the trainer demonstrated.
It is only part of a solution to send away the dog ,close to it being finished & returned home in many situations the owner would be wise to go & receive some tuition on how to instruct/handle the trained dog for at least a couple of sessions. To just spend out & send a dog away expecting it to behave the same for an owner after a few weeks/months training is hoping for a lot. If the owner doesn’t also put in some time himself before taking the dog home.

Many dogs that are sent into training spend some time learning what a owner could have done during its early months, recall, heel work, careful introduction to the sounds & car/dog box travelling.
A mature but intelligent dog can most times be trained or re-trained but a very young immature dog can be very limited into what or how much it can actually learn until time passes by.
A good trainer should happily talk to you about your pups attitude/development before you send it away & if for any reason he feels its not ready for the task then both of you should happily accept the fact & keep it at home for a few more weeks/months so that it will be mentally physically ready for when it is taken into training.

Some of it would depend on what is eventually required for the eventual tasks, wildfowling, rough shooting, beating, picking-up driven shooting field trialling etc, .
To try assessing a pup is not a mile away from children ,they are individuals developing at various speeds with occasional problems along the way, so if a pup of around 7-9months is doing some small tasks at home then its obvious mentally its learning & developing, however its still immature & raw material for developing into a suitable dogs. Ideally an owner needs to trust & get along with his trainer & a trainer needs not only to asses the dog but also the dogs owner.

Birdnuts

The best way to train a young dog for any purpose I find is to expose him/her to a trained older dog in the field. I know this assumes one has acess to a trained dog on a regular basis but the way I go about it is that I always have at least 3 dogs on the go ie. 1 in training/juvenile and 2 well trained older dogs of divergent ages:)

muckyprawn

I sent my first gun dog to a highly reputable trainer. Gave him 500 cash up front for the month. Rang him every monday morning for the month and all he was saying is that the dog was showing no interest....which I thought he was!!! When I went to collect the dog from him he had him him in the back of the van...and to say the dog went ape ****e when he went to take him out is an understatement. The dog was never the same when I got him back. He did no training at all and I assume he kicked the ****e outta the dog judging from the reaction. I could never get the dog back on a lead or anything...I think that the "trainer" thought I was a bit naive as I told him it was my first proper gun dog and he took advantage of that. I ended up getting rid of the dog in the end and I got another dog.

When the dog was showing plenty of interest I brought her to a different trainer who took her for a week. I had a great conversation with him and he thought ME alot...he gave me a programme which I stuck to and then dog has came on leaps and bounds. I don't think I could ask a lot more from her to be honest.

So all in all I believe training a dog yourself is the best option....but get the best advice you can and don't send them to a certain trainer in co. meath!

jap gt

im half thinking of taking my pup somewhere to get basic obedience, its me needs training more than the dog but i would like to make a good job out of her,i dont want to send her away to be trained, i want to take her somewhere that will show me aswell, just trying to find someone in cork

cavan shooter

There are some excellent books out their for training springers that take it stage by stage by stage.

Your better of doing it yourself 10 mins per day:)

homerhop

muckyprawn wrote: »

I sent my first gun dog to a highly reputable trainer. Gave him 500 cash up front for the month. Rang him every monday morning for the month and all he was saying is that the dog was showing no interest....which I thought he was!!! When I went to collect the dog from him he had him him in the back of the van...and to say the dog went ape ****e when he went to take him out is an understatement. The dog was never the same when I got him back. He did no training at all and I assume he kicked the ****e outta the dog judging from the reaction. I could never get the dog back on a lead or anything...I think that the "trainer" thought I was a bit naive as I told him it was my first proper gun dog and he took advantage of that. I ended up getting rid of the dog in the end and I got another dog.

When the dog was showing plenty of interest I brought her to a different trainer who took her for a week. I had a great conversation with him and he thought ME alot...he gave me a programme which I stuck to and then dog has came on leaps and bounds. I don't think I could ask a lot more from her to be honest.

So all in all I believe training a dog yourself is the best option....but get the best advice you can and don't send them to a certain trainer in co. meath!

Friend of mine had the same experience with the same guy i reckon, the dog was showing great potential and was sent to him just to polish up some aspects, came back not worth a stocking of ****e.

I have always trained my own dogs and find its the time you put into them, and I find they still keep a lot of their giddyness until they are about 2 years old. I think a lot of the problems lads have is basic patience. Work with the dog and you will find in the long run you will know traits the dog has and it will also pick up on how you work and command it.