The date of your day on the Peg has almost arrived.
Guns and Cartridges are packed, boots and shooting clothes are ready, Keepers tip is safely in the wallet and the location is loaded into the Sat Nav with sufficient allowance to arrive in plenty of time to join in with the banter, bacon rolls and coffee. You have had a session on driven clays at the local shooting ground and all the planning required to avoid any last minute disasters to spoil your day has been checked and rechecked. You go to bed, alarm set and quietly excited that nothing has been left to chance to spoil the next day.
If you are planning to include taking your dog to sit at your peg and there are many guns who believe taking a dog shooting is integral to their enjoyment of a shoot day, then hopefully, the same meticulous planning has been undertaken to ensure he too is ready for what lies ahead.
So just what planning should be completed to avoid a shoot day dog disaster?
Hopefully, your dog will have completed a refresher course of gundog training, either at home with you but more than likely with a Trainer or as a member of a Gundog Club with access to experienced trainers.
Introducing your dog to a shoot day
One of the first requisites will be for your dog to have been carefully introduced to shot and the high tempo atmosphere of a driven shoot day. How would this be achieved I sense you ponder. Anyone seriously thinking of owning and taking their dog shooting must first introduce the dog in a planned and considered way. A young and inexperienced dog will benefit greatly if his owner allows a friend to take his stand so that he can concentrate 100% on the dog. He (and I mean the dog not the handler, although if the cap fits!!) needs to be reassured when birds are falling around, kept calm and given the impression that all is normal.
Retrieving and Recalling
Avoid letting a young inexperienced dog go after a runner, ask a Picker Up with his (or increasingly common her) dog to complete this task. Keep your own dog steady and calm and on the completion of the drive allow him just a simple straight forward retrieve. To avoid him trying to pick more than one bird or start to swap birds ensure you have strong recall compliance in place and use your recall whistle as soon as he gets a bird in his mouth. He should come to you directly avoiding any temptation to show boat with his new prized possession. Do not overdo the retrieving, it is important that he understands that not every bird down is his responsibility to go and fetch! Most guns with peg dogs are happy to retrieve the birds they themselves have shot or one or two of neighbouring pegs birds if they are dog less.
I cannot emphasise enough how important it is for a peg dog to be 100% steady to shot birds, what you do not want is a scenario where you have shot 3 or 4 good birds but a pile of 10 or more around your feet keenly retrieved by an out of control dog! Spoiling all the steadiness training that has been religiously drilled in before ever setting foot onto the shooting field.
Walking to heel and basic obedience
He should also walk nicely at heel off lead when strolling to your peg or after the drive on the way back to the guns vehicles. If you have any doubts to his obedience to walk close to you in this exciting atmosphere then think ahead, avoid setting him up to fail, place a slip lead on him.
Quite plainly, basic obedience and solid compliance in sit-stay, steadiness, whistle stop and recall are the foundation of gun dog work. If these basics are instilled 100% then they will last a working dogs lifetime. A house built on solid foundations will last a century or more, cut corners and it can soon tumble down! The same concept applies to gun dog training.
Controlling a less than well trained dog whilst covey after covey of Partridges whizz over your peg and archangel Pheasants tip their wings in mocking salute is far from ideal. Easy to imagine it spoiling your day as you wrestle with getting your eye in and keeping him under control whilst your shot to kill ratio climbs steadily in the wrong direction.
As an experienced gun dog handler, trainer and picker up, I know which guns and peg dogs I like to stand behind and admire. There is nothing quite like seeing a gun shooting well, relaxed and enjoying his sport and handling a steady well trained dog to retrieve his birds on completion of each drive.
Rewarding your dog
Finally, it is good to remember that dogs will have worked hard all day and deserve to be looked after when shooting is complete by towelling down if cold and wet, fed and watered and settled into a nice warm dry bed in the back of the car before you join the rest of the guns to debrief the day, enjoy a bite and a warming tipple.
For Gun Dog Training Equipment and impartial training advice you can contact Ian at www.workingdogcompany.co.uk or on 01462 450830.
Look out for the up and coming Skinner's Dog Food competition for Gundog Owners.
8 November 2011 by Ian Clinton, 0 comments
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