Enjoy the great indoors

Is it possible to train a gundog without leaving the house? Ellena Swift thinks you can achieve a lot — including unloading a washing machine

-  Ellena Swift

We are living in unprecedented times. The situation with COVID-19, and the resultant social distancing and isolation, is stressful for the vast majority of us. But how is it affecting our canine friends? Some may actually be enjoying having their owners around all the time, particularly if they are used to being left during the day. But the lack of opportunity to get out and about may mean others are feeling the strain.

Usually at this time of year, my dogs would be getting into the swing of the working test season, with competitions most weeks and training in between. I would have also been training in as many different places around the country as possible. But with trips and tests postponed, if not canceled, it is a very different story. So what can I do with them?

I am fortunate in that, because my husband is a farmer and gamekeeper, I have several paddocks and fields just outside my front door, with no public right of way. This means I can still stretch my dogs physically as well as mentally without breaching the Government’s guidelines.

“I’m not sure how clean the clothes were, but at least Nala was content”

Most people do not have that option and in more normal times rely on footpaths, parks, gundog clubs, and land owned by others as places to train their dogs. Now we are in lockdown, their dogs’ activity and exercise has simply ceased, with little hope of returning any time soon. So how can we keep our dogs occupied?

Many gundog trainers are using social media to try to keep clients and their dogs entertained, posting challenges and training drills. These are fantastic for those who have access to a good-sized garden and are not self-isolating or shielding, but for this article I am going to focus on what we can do indoors.