Puppy training isn’t confined to 10- or 15-minute formal sessions – everything you do will condition the little dog’s mind. Follow Howard’s advice to ensure you instil the right behaviour
Handling an obedient gundog in the shooting field is one of life’s great pleasures. Obedience and a willingness to do as he’s asked will be essential if your dog is to enhance the time that we spend with him. So you’re going to have to put the effort and time into training the dog, ensuring that any time you spend with him ingrains habits and behaviours that you want.
Handlers should understand that even the most dedicated and consistent dog trainers will only spend around half an hour a day engaging the dog in formal training. So ensuring that the other 23½ hours are well planned will have a considerable influence on the development and outcome of your dog.
Here at Mullenscote, our young puppies are raised and nurtured indoors from when they arrive at eight weeks until they are at least six months old when they move out into the kennels. For us, a purpose-bought dog crate is an essential part of being able to manage the fragile, energetic, biting, piddling and pooing bundle of joy.
Teaching your puppy how to happily and quietly spend time away from you in a safe, secure and warm crate will be one of the most important elements of early puppy training that you do.
Crate training
First, you must ensure the puppy is comfortable with spending time in the crate. This can be achieved quickly if you do things correctly. New puppy owners: expect a sleepless night or two.
Denne historien er fra February 2018-utgaven av Sporting Shooter.
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Denne historien er fra February 2018-utgaven av Sporting Shooter.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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RSPB gives mixed message on shooting
Having recently attended the RSPB’s virtual AGM, Conor O’Gorman discusses the outcome of the charity’s year-long review of game bird shooting
Causeway for concern
Alan Jarrett’s renewed interest in reading takes him down memory lane to an offshore island duck flight that very nearly ended in disaster
Through a purple patch
The Garrows Estate is taking a conservation-focused approach to restoring the wildlife populations and biodiversity on the Scottish heather moorland.
When the wheels fall off
Losing form on a day’s shooting can be infuriating, especially if you’ve been shooting like a god up to that point. Simon O’Leary looks at some common causes and how to remedy them
Beaches, books & bad behaviour!
The annual Kay family vacation to Northumberland offers a chance to give the cockers a blast on the beach – although they don’t always shower themselves in glory, as Ryan Kay recalls...
Using the Stop whistle
Now you’ve instilled the basics, it’s time to up the ante with some more tricky distance work. Howard Kirby explains how to take the core Stop whistle command to the next level
The humble teal
They may be tiny, but as far as Rupert Butler is concerned, the appeal of this little duck is huge. He recalls some of his most memorable nights in pursuit of these aerial acrobats
Fab all-rounder
Mike is impressed with the Fabarm Elos B2 Field Notte, which offers great value for money, is suited to fieldwork or clays and is future-proofed for use with steel in all choke constrictions
CALL OF THE WILD
Dom Holtam reconnects with one of the purest forms of shotgun shooting as he walks-up woodcock over pointing dogs in the Scottish Highlands
A yen for the Fens
Tony Jackson recounts a memorable duck flight over an area of Fenland in Norfolk with his friend and author, the late Alan Savory
