Cocker running in

Koro

I have a one year old Cocker which I'm hoping to have ready for next season. He has all the basic training. Walks to heel, retrieving to hand, dropping/returning to whistle and hand signal. About a two weeks ago he pegged a mixy rabbit (on a beach of all places) and yesterday he had a chase of another rabbit.
I need to steady him up but I don't have access to a rabbit pen and my gun club don't release birds so walking next to a release pen isn't an option .
Any ideas on how I can put temptation his way in a controlled manner so that I can correct him or any other ideas to steady him up?

snipe02

where abouts are you

TriggerPL

You need to go back to basic , get a dummy in a yard , sit the dog and throw the dummy about 4 feet from him , pic the dummy up ur self , and throw it again and pick it up again , and after the third or forth time send the dog . Show him that ur the boss and he only goes when you say , ya can do this with rabbits or birds either .

dicky82

if you have an enclosed back garden you could use it as a rabbit pen to steady the dog.

deeksofdoom

Your dog needs to be taught the stop command and more importantly the recall.

I'll bet whe he was chasing that rabbit you were calling his name and he was ignoring you, never give a dog a command when you know he's not going to obey you. So the next time he chases a rabbit leave him off.

You need to go back to basics. We're not going to sort your problem here, you need to go to some dog obedience classes to get some decent basics into the dog and yourself, be consistent don't leave him away with anything.

TriggerPL

deeksofdoom wrote: »

So the next time he chases a rabbit leave him off.

.

dont let it get that far you should take him off all game till you are sure you can stop and recall him , more important that when ya have him sitting that he doesnt break

Koro

He's steady on dummies I've landed them on his nose by accident a few time. It was time to stop dipping my toes in the water and jump in. As for putting a rabbit in the back my misses would freak out.
I don't know if any of you have read Joe Irvine's " Training Spaniels". He mentions putting a fur dummy bungee cord. You the work the dog towards it and release it when the dog reaches it. It sounds a bit gammy but desperate times. I'll have dig out the book again and maybe give it a try. Anybody ever try this?

cubbyleader

My Springer is the same I think it's the fact that she doesn't link flushing game with getting a retrieve I don't know how to fix it

snipe02

if the dog is still only a year old maybe your bringing him on at your pace and not his as some lads have said back to basics get him steady to a thrown dummy as in thrown in front of him when hes hunting, a tennis ball is great because it will roll in front of him maybe hes just not ready to move forward.. about the joe irving pully thing i thought about using this before because i had the same prob but instead tied a rabbit skin to a fishing line and had my buddy whip it away into long grass when the dog got to it then firing a shot and throwing a retrieve in the other direction when the dog drops, a bit mental i know but this way i was ready and knew when the dog was near it and down his neck before he could do anything plus i live in town , one other thing was down the hand ball alley on sat with my young lad and had the springer sitting in the ally while we were playing it was some test of steadyness because the ball was rolling past her nose and she had to sit there and only retrieve it when it went over the wall ya could always get a rabbit and put it in an alley and release it when your done not that id do that myself but if your stuck..