When it comes to introducing a young dog to the shooting field for the first time, especially beating, many try to make that introduction a gradual one, with the intention of perhaps missing out the early part of the season and curtailing any real exposure till later on when there are fewer birds about on the shoot. A couple of days out for the pup at the tail end, and then the long wait until next season. The thing is, it sometimes feels like the wrong way round; not particularly helpful as far as training a dog is concerned. I mean, surely it’d be easier if there were somehow fewer birds at the start of the main season and the pheasant population gradually increased as the season went along. That way you could slowly build up the exposure and training, with your dog gaining enough experience to deal with the increase in game as both its experiences and game influx simultaneously increase.
Unfortunately, the start of the season on many shoots hails a different reality for a handler desperate to start working his young dog – a bundle of often docile young adult birds walking around in front of his keen spaniel as the birds try to decide if flying will be a good thing or not! The only choice is to wait until later in the season when there are fewer tempting birds parading around. And just when things are going well and progressing nicely, the season ends, along with many training opportunities.
The most common failure I see is a dog that did well from the little taste of the beating line it had in January then being thrown in the deep end come the following October. The owner somehow forgets how different in terms of game population the respective months are, and the dog’s mind is often blown because it remembers the excitement of a handful of pheasants it flushed during the last few January beating days. Only now it knows what it’s looking for!
Introductions
この記事は Sporting Shooter の March 2020 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
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この記事は Sporting Shooter の March 2020 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
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