Sunday, October 23, 2011

Guest Trainer

I was invited yesterday to be the guest trainer for the Asburnham Gundog Group down in Battle. A most interesting experience - four half hour sessions one each of puppy, novice, intermediate and advanced. About 8 to ten dogs in each class. so it was a bit difficult to 'do' things that they could each have a go at - particularly as part of each session was introducing them to the Brittany which very few had ever seen before. Fresco spent a bored two hours thethered to a game bag watching other dogs. I thought it would be, and think it was good for him.

In the end I talked them all through my ideas about body language, praise, calming and did the focus exercise of walking around the dog slowly. With the advanced group I managed to run over by half an hour as we did use of the wind and how and when to blow the whistle - much amusement was generated when I explained about catching them with the ear leather up to reduce the incidence of selective hearing. I had been invited by Tania Stapley a retriever breeder and trainer of many years and a KCAI(WG Ad) (Kennel Club Accredited Instructor Working Gundogs, Advanced) so I was pleased to get positive feedback.

I had taken the boys with me - partly to ease the pressure at home and partly to have 'demonstration dogs' in the end I did not use either as demos as I felt the audience did not really want to know what i could do with mine they wanted to do stuff with theirs also I was half concerned Fresco would zoom off to play with any likely candidates as he is not used to having many dogs around. After the sessions i let him off and to my surprise he did not zoom off like a loon having been on a leash for two hours but worked the ground and wind quite nicely shoeing no intention of going after any other dog. My biggest problem was to keep him out of a rather green looking pond on our way back to the car!

The afternoon was spent putting feed out for the birds and some more watering points. In the last wood Fresco either got spooked or decided to go off for a bit of self hunting whilst I took a phone call- it was very much at dusk and the birds were going up to roost very noisily, however he did not recall to his whistle so I began to suspect he had gone off in search of his new 'friend' who lives just below the wood. As i had a small trailer on the back of the car and was parked in a deep dip the only way out was out through a very tortuous woodland path. My sense of humour was further affected when on finally getting out into the open the car got stuck in soft mud and without its four wheel drive (recently removed for engineering reasons). However whilst on the phone to my son seeking a tow who should turn up from behind me, hardly out of breath ??