As lifelong hobby of springer spaniels, shooting & beating was nothing more than strong leads, loud voices and a dog whistle that did nothing more than annoy everybody in the beating line, Gundog training wasn't heard of back then.
After the passing of our sixteen year old springer Meg a vacancy became available for another dog and after a freak moment of madness we became the bewildered owners of a Cocker..! (Yes a COCKER) what the hell have we done..?
We had no idea that this irritating bungle of joy was about to take over our life and take us on an unexpected journey.
The moments of mental madness, the late night trip to the emergency vets after eating a whole fruit cake, table surfing someone’s pub lunch, numerous dog beds shredded as we worked through his separation anxiety and many many more cocker traits, finally realising I would never again wear a pair of matching socks:- I need help with this thing..!
I would and have many times recommend Lindsay for Gundog Training, it’s seldom you come across someone as devoted, dedicated and passionate about what she does, she has the uncanny ability to read a dog and assess a handler and adjust the training requirements accordingly, a special talent.
Working through the gundog graded training there comes a point you realise you are on this amazing journey with this once annoying fur ball that now is your best friend, how far can we take this..?
We opted to test ourselves with the graded assessments to see if this partnership could still work
Under the pressure of being judged and also the added pressure of not letting Lindsay down, there have been a few white knuckle moments but we have managed the scrape through to Grade four to-date.
What’s next..? Always looking for the next challenge, Baxter was two years old by now and with the start of the shooting season looming this is what the breed is for this is what we have been training for this would be his first season in the field.
All he has learnt can be put to good use..!
“I always remember one of the first questioned Lindsay asked me, what do you want to achieve from this training” which my reply was I wanted a gundog to sit and stay at the peg while I was shooting, something I’ve never been able to achieve in the past”
As the shooting season starts we get the opportunity to test our ability further with the chance of a “Working Gundog certificate” (WGC) this assessment is to provide credible proof that a handler and dog are a competent partnership, now this sounds a bit serious but we wanted to push the boundaries a little so let’s give it a go, the (WGC) is run over two assessment days a month apart the first days assessment went very well it was organised by a lovely team at Vale and West Gundogs, Baxter was in his element he was on fire new ground new scents, I was a nervous reck but he was loving it and all went well we got through to the final assessment day.
The final day and we opted to be assessed on both Hunting and Retrieving, are we pushing our luck..? Again the day was brilliant and Baxter was on fire although a bit too exited at times but by the end of the day we had done it we had achieved the (WGC) what an amazing feeling.
We’re loving our training days and working towards grade five and going to try our hand at Gundog working tests over the summer period.
So what next..? Am I holding this dog back..? Sometimes I feel his capabilities are far beyond mine as a handler but then I have a reality check, No..! he’s our family pet lets not push it, we are here to enjoy this journey and so grateful of our progress so far, yes we go shooting and love to work Baxter and enjoy the training element of that.
The fun is to be continued...
