springer

bigfoot 1

hi lads , have 16 month old springer have her trained to the whistle,rev land and water fur & feather only one thing wrong she goes that little bit to far ahead . she will stop with one tooth of the whistle . but 5 mins later she will do the same again . any advice many thanks.....................:cool:

daithi55

ya may tooth the whistle every 5 minutes lol
only messing theres some good dog men on here im sure one of them will no what to do
welcome to the shooting section by the way

deeksofdoom

Just keep her close with the stop whistle thats what its for.

snipe02

you just need to be consistant at this stage keep an eye on her and and be a step ahead she will learn to stay with you. if she goes too far, you stop ,call her back and put her back in at your feet she will get it. 16 months is still very young dont use the whistle too much i snap my fingers or mutter steady and only use the whistle if these are ignored.. if you leave your gun at home and get a friend to shoot you will be able to give her all your attention anyhow its a good thing she is pulling on... if she wasnt anygood she wouldnt be doin that.... consistancy ...in a few weeks she will be stopping and waiting for ya to come on because she will have learned that is what you want keep her within 20 yards of ya just my 2 cents worth could be completely off the mark best of luck with her..

bigfoot 1

first of all thanks for the warm welcome, its great to finally find a site that the people have passion about rough shooting:)... A big thanks to all the lads advice , snipe02 it may be only 2 cents worth to you, but means a hell of a lot to me , thanks again for your advice :D:D

blackstairsboy

Because she is a young dog you will have to really keep on top of her this season. If you have to call her every few mins then that is what you will have to do. Also you will have to be very disciplined in that if you call her and she ignores you then puts up a pheasant do not shoot. If you do shoot the pheasant she is rewarded for ignoring you. If I was you I would look at this season with that dog as a big training session and then next season you will see your hard work coming to fruition.

Ronnie Beck

I have the same issue with mine. Shes only nine months and I feel i'm badgering her with the whistle too. Everytime I recall her, just as she gets to about six foot away, I send her off to the side into a bit of cover that looks interesting. Hopefully she should get the idea soon enough. I find it depends on the ground, cover and wind too.

I'm gonna try bringing her out with a friends dog that hunts very tight to see if it speeds up her learning.

Shoot2kill

I find that your much better off trying to knock any bad habits out of them while there on there own. For instance, if she's trailing out too far from you and you bring her out with other springers they can often get competitive and push each other out further and further.

Springers is all we hunt and I've trained them all the same way. Bring a young dog out into the middle of a field and once their gone out too far just give one call and turn on your heels in the opposite direction. The dog should come bulleting back past you in the same direction your going, keep repeating this 3/4 times at a time and eventually I find the penny drops.

Then I find (depending on the dog) I have to repeat the process in beside ditches/cover. Its worked well for me and I've 3 bitches out together most of the time and they range 40/50 yards out, this depends on the cover and of course what their on. (Fur/Feather) Hope this helps.

bigfoot 1

thanks lads for all the advice ,its my first springer bitch . its great to get advice from experience people like your self . As the old saying goes knowledge is power............ thanks again keep it coming;););)

42gram

Anyone selling a trained springer bitch?

highduck

Shoot2kill wrote: »

I find that your much better off trying to knock any bad habits out of them while there on there own. For instance, if she's trailing out too far from you and you bring her out with other springers they can often get competitive and push each other out further and further.

Springers is all we hunt and I've trained them all the same way. Bring a young dog out into the middle of a field and once their gone out too far just give one call and turn on your heels in the opposite direction. The dog should come bulleting back past you in the same direction your going, keep repeating this 3/4 times at a time and eventually I find the penny drops.

Then I find (depending on the dog) I have to repeat the process in beside ditches/cover. Its worked well for me and I've 3 bitches out together most of the time and they range 40/50 yards out, this depends on the cover and of course what their on. (Fur/Feather) Hope this helps.

Good advice above-This will be the season that makes your dog.I always hunt my young springers tight to me for their first season,(no more than 10-15 yards left and right.It sounds too close for the rough shooting dog but I have found that if a young dog starts to blow birds out of range that it is very hard to get them back.Their drive grows with every find.If for the first season they get the bulk of birds flushed close they will put the whole jigsaw together better and work with you.They learn hunt-flush-shot-fetch.(great fun)In the first season you build up the partnership.If a young dog puts birds up at 40 yards this year it will be 50/60 next year and a lot of birds will be missed(hunt-flush-shot_nothing-still fun for the dog but no fun for you) and wounded.If you insist that the dog hunts within 15 yards this season,even if she takes a pull next season and goes to 25/30 yards your flushes will be well within range and you will end up with more birds in the bag and more fun.

good luck.HD

bigfoot 1

Thanks for all the advice.....

bigfoot 1

thanks lads for all the advice. Was out all last week she put up 3 hens & 2 cocks at about 30 t 40 yards, did not shoot at them because i did not want her to think it was alright to do this at this distance .i am trying my best to keep her at 15 t 20 yards. I think the penny is starting to drop.Was out sunday gone working good at 15 yard or so in a ditch when she put up a cock .bang down the red fellow went { AS THIS IS HER FIRST SEASON I WAS THINKING WILL SHE PICK IT UP OR WILL SHE PICK IT UP AND RUN OFF INTO THE NEXT COUNTY , MY HEART WAS IN MY MOUTH } She looked at me i said fetch and off she went ,picked it up and bring it back to a sit position . I was over moon so i said i call it a day. On the way back to the car she starsed to work a ditch hard up another went . bang down he went too . Off she went again . What a great day one i wont forget.......... will put up pic.

bigfoot 1

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charlie10

that springer has a real proud look about him:D

highduck

bigfoot 1 wrote: »

thanks lads for all the advice. Was out all last week she put up 3 hens & 2 cocks at about 30 t 40 yards, did not shoot at them because i did not want her to think it was alright to do this at this distance .i am trying my best to keep her at 15 t 20 yards. I think the penny is starting to drop.Was out sunday gone working good at 15 yard or so in a ditch when she put up a cock .bang down the red fellow went { AS THIS IS HER FIRST SEASON I WAS THINKING WILL SHE PICK IT UP OR WILL SHE PICK IT UP AND RUN OFF INTO THE NEXT COUNTY , MY HEART WAS IN MY MOUTH } She looked at me i said fetch and off she went ,picked it up and bring it back to a sit position . I was over moon so i said i call it a day. On the way back to the car she starsed to work a ditch hard up another went . bang down he went too . Off she went again . What a great day one i wont forget.......... will put up piqc.

Well done bigfoot.the most important thing to remember with any dog is that they learn by association.she went home that night lay in the kennel and put all the pieces of the jigsaw together.you have done great.keep going the same way and you will a great shooting partner for years to come.