Gundog commands

carav10

Hi, I've just taken on a dog that was previously trained as a gundog. Looking to 'unlock' him so to speak and he didn't come with a list of instructions.... Where's the best reference of all the verbal commands and hand signals for gundog training as I understand they'd be reasonably common among trainers. Looking to get an understanding of how he's been trained.
Any help being pointed in the right direction appreciated.

Bogwoppit

The best option is to go back to where you got him from and get some instruction on how to handle the dog.

Guessing at commands will only cause confusion for the dog and half the training will go out the window.

carav10

Bogwoppit wrote: »

The best option is to go back to where you got him from and get some instruction on how to handle the dog.

Guessing at commands will only cause confusion for the dog and half the training will go out the window.

Fraid that's not an option or that would have been my first port of call. He's not going to be used for gundog work but as you say I don't want to confuse the dog either with whatever training I will be doing with him. More the send away and directional commands I'm wondering about. Or even to understand the scope of what he's been trained to do as a young dog. I'll find someone to talk to who trains them and do some research. Thanks for your response.

Bogwoppit

Fair enough.

I'll give you the few simple commands I am using;
Palm out to the dog and "sit" command, emphasise the s and t sounds at first so the dog picks them up quickly. Sounds more like ssssst when starting off, gradually introduce sit word.

Arm straight up and give "back" command to send the dog straight away from you.

With dog sitting beside me, get shoulder close to the dog's head and extend the arm in the direction you want it to go and give "get on" command.

With dog sitting and facing you but away from you, left or right arm extended out and "get on" command will send it left or right.

Loud "come" command will get dog to return straight back to you.

I would start simple with the dog beside you just giving the sit command. When that is working gradually extend the distance between you and the dog whilst giving the command. If the dog moves bring it back to the original spot and give command again.

With dog sitting 10 yards away all it to yo with the "come" command. Gradually increase the distance.

Teaching the left, right and back commands are a bit more complicated but you'll see the methods if you do a bit of research.

What kind of a dog is it?

Bw

carav10

Thanks a million! It's a Springer, lovely dog. I've done directional work with my other dogs alright but have very different commands but it is mostly based on arm movements, would have tried left and right verbal but quickly dropped this as it got too confusing if dog was facing away or towards me so like the one command plus arm direction, makes much more sense. Have never managed to master the send away with my other dog fully.

His Sit and Come is excellent, doesn't understand Stay which would make sense, as if you get a dog to sit, he should sit until told otherwise and shouldn't really need a stay command.

If I need to stop him as he's moving away, what would you use? Do you just use Sit? or do you use a Stop command of some sort that stops him in position whether he sits, downs or stands where he is?

Bogwoppit

I don't know anyone who uses stay, sit is sit until I tell you to move.

If he's going away, call his name first to get his attention and then give the command.

When teaching any commands I always call the dog's name first to get their attention focused on me.

To get the away command, use the dummy with the dog placed directly on the line between you and the dummy. Start off in a straight laneway or along a straight fence and gradually increase the distance up to a couple of hundred yards, also vary the distance between you and the dog up to and over 100 yards. Actually those distances are for training labs for retrieving so I don't think they'd be suitable for a springer. Maybe keep it to a maximum of 100 yards to the dummy.

carav10

Makes sense. A mistake I made with my other dogs until I thought about it and realised why bother having a Sit and a Stay, doesn't make sense.

That's good to know about distances he's been probably trained to as I'll be encouraging him to range farther than the 100m.

So the only other two I'm wondering about are a 'Stop' in place command and something like a 'Free' command (as in 'free to be a dog again - finished work')
Thanks for your input, it's given me a useful insight on where to start. Obviously the commands might be different but I doubt it'll be by much.

deeksofdoom

Was the dog whistle trained?

Why would you want your dog ranging out beyond 100 yards? If your with a dog in a public place or on farmland thats out 100yards ahead of you its most certainly going to look like its out of control, you'll end up getting yourself in trouble.

The best thing you could do is just let the dog get used to you and experiment and see what works for you.

The most important thing for you to remember is to be consistent with your commands, if you tell the dog to sit it has to sit. Don't give the dog a command if you think its going to disobey you, your better off just letting it do its own thing.

Bogwoppit

carav10 wrote: »

Makes sense. A mistake I made with my other dogs until I thought about it and realised why bother having a Sit and a Stay, doesn't make sense.

That's good to know about distances he's been probably trained to as I'll be encouraging him to range farther than the 100m.

So the only other two I'm wondering about are a 'Stop' in place command "SIT" and something like a 'Free' command "Okay" (as in 'free to be a dog again - finished work')
Thanks for your input, it's given me a useful insight on where to start. Obviously the commands might be different but I doubt it'll be by much.

These are what work for me, as mentioned below though, if the dog is whistle trained there will also be equivalent whistle commands which could be anything!
They can be retrained over time though.

deeksofdoom wrote: »

Why would you want your dog ranging out beyond 100 yards? If your with a dog in a public place or on farmland thats out 100yards ahead of you its most certainly going to look like its out of control, you'll end up getting yourself in trouble.

There are situations where a dog needs to work out to and beyond 100 yards, I've had my lab out over 200 yards before, it's great fun!

The rest is all good advice though.