Life after lockdown

The COVID-19 crisis may have strengthened the bond between you and your dogs, writes Ellena Swift, but now’s the time to plan ahead

- Ellena Swift

This has been an unusual time for all of us in pretty much every aspect of our lives and dog training is no exception. In some ways lockdown has helped in that people now have more time to spend with their dogs. However, given that most were unable to leave their homes and take their dogs anywhere, much of the training people normally do has been seriously curtailed.

I am lucky in that I have plenty of ground to continue training on, but even I have to admit that the repetitive nature of what I’ve been able to do has led to me and my pack becoming a little flat. Normally, at this time of year, I would be travelling up and down the country spending time with lots of different people who have access to varied ground, which keeps me and the dogs fresh. But this, of course, hasn’t been possible until very recently.

Fortunately, through all of this the gundog community has been able to rely on other trainers’ expertise, utilising the power of social media. Trainers have been uploading training videos, challenges and tutorials, and some gundog clubs have put on online working tests for retrievers, spaniels and HPRs. These have been a breath of fresh air for all of us desperate to get out and about but they aren’t quite the same. Finally, in the past few weeks, we have been able to travel a little again. Granted group training is still not going ahead yet but slowly grounds are opening their doors for one to ones.

My previous article focused on our own knowledge as handlers. Now restrictions have been eased, I truly hope everyone is using their time with their dogs to put theory into practice.