Allez

Annie as admin · Allez

Will crosspost from working hpr forum - anyone care to add their own diary?

Ghilliegumdrop

Not me....mine is private Twisted Evil

Jan

Mugi

I am happy to jot down my wanderings Laughing

, I am training Mugi in a fairly ad hoc manner as and when he wants to 'play' so that I can learn stuff for Chase.

At the moment Chase has a fairly boring training regime, he is sit, stay, heel (ish), recall +++++, some retrieves with dummies, he will pick up off water as long as he doesn't have to move off the bottom and I am not pushing him as he loves the water but lost confidence when he fell in the Avon!! Time and lots of play splashing through water plus watching Mugi swimming strongly for a dummy is raising his interest. I am stopping Mugi swimming now though as the water is getting too cold for his old bones - he will retire to swimming in a heated hydrotherapy pool for winter as he loves swimming and it is great for his fitness.

At the end of October the three of us are attending a weeks course. Mugi will do the bulk of the work but in deference to having dogs at each end of the age spectrum I am allowed to swop them in and out throughout the day, they will get to do the exercises as appropriate to their age and ability. If neither is ready or able I will sit out the session and watch and learn from the others. The trainer works HPR's and does not allow you to push your dog beyond its understanding so I have no worries that either boy will get overwhelmed. For example - we get to work with live birds - Chase gets very excited on cold game so I think he is not ready to work with live birds yet, so he won't do those sessions!! He is at the awkward teenage stage when his brain gets into overdrive very quickly, for him self-control will possibly be the most important lesson from the week.

I will happily share our experiences, good and bad - my objective for the week is to be able to devise a training plan that I can work to in a logical manner.

Ghilliegumdrop

Hi Sue
Just out of interest, does Chase stand on the end of the lead totally deaf when you say anything to him?? Merlin is going through THAT stage and any minute now he will get my toe up his bum Exclamation

Jan

Mugi

Ghilliegumdrop

We haven't got to that stage yet but no doubt we will. it's nice to have someone with a pup the same age to compare notes Very Happy

I was sitting here typing and Merlin appeared out of the bathroom with a new tube of toothpaste in his mouth....delivered to hand no less. I have tried him with a dummy but he looks at me as if I am daft [no comments, thank you] he is just starting to carry stuff around so today is a breakthrough.
Laughing

Jan

Annie as admin · Allez and the duck

Just had a great day at training. Duck shoot last night left a wounded one they couldn't find, took Allez and 3 labs there today, labs scared it out of hiding, it dived and then they spent about 20 minutes looking for it. Allez slipped his lead, went down to the edge, found the duck and off it scuttled with him in hot pursuit, completely forgetting his fear of water. he had his teeth poised for a neck retrieve when it dived again. The look on his face was priceless! All four dogs then went onto the island to look for it, then we called them back to try again round the other side. Allez was crying "I can't swim, Mum, don't leave me over here" I walked up the track whistling like mad, and bingo there he was beside me! We went off round the lake, labs swimming round in circles looking for the duck, and three quarters way round I let him off; he went on point, I sent him in, and the duck jumped up in front of his nose, flapping like crazy - he grabbed a wing but couldn't hold it and down under the bird went yet again. We reckoned it had gone over to the island again so we sent the most experienced lab over and she found it and brought it back. Stuart fired a shot, I sent Allez, and in he went picked it and tried to make off with it. A very loud yell brought him to his senses and he came trotting over to reluctantly hand it over. Saw ther were shots in the poor thing's bum which is why it couldn't get off the water - no lift! We did one more trieve for each of the dogs and called it a day - a very good one!
Annie

Annie as admin

What a long gap Rolling Eyes

Never mind here we are again. Laughing

Have had two lessons from Bill now and will be going to the Argaty training (GSPC) on 13th July. Have concentrated on the sit to whistle for the last few days. 'If a dog sits instantly to whistle it's half trained' Well he's nearly quarter trained - he sits pretty well instantly if on the flexi or the long line except when he gets into the barley fiends near us and gets scents. I'm told there's not much game and that isn't surprising with all the dogs that go through those Open Access farms. There's quite a beer industry around here - I'm told Menstrie smells permanently of hops - hence the acres of barley fields. But it means that I may take courage and let him off soon - when I am farily sure he'll stop when whistled and come back. There are woods at the far end and rabbits in there I believe so I have to get him steady in the fields first. I tried a 30 yard seen retrieve on the track and he did pick it but he's just not interested in dummies - once and that's your lot. So I left it at that. I let him hunt throught the barley on the line - gave him a bit extra by attaching it to the flexi. The one thing I'm having real problems with just now is him wee-ing every few minutes. I move him on but it's getting to be a damned nuisance. Short of tying a knot in it I don't know what to do next. Whether it's related to him mating Belle I don't know but he seems worse than before. He gets yelled at and moved on but still he does it. Anyone else with a dog like this?
Annie

guy

Annie as admin

johnhod

We must be due for another update now Annie.

Annie as admin

Nope, he's gone backwards. So interested in my duck pen that he ignores me completely. Going to two days of training HWVA run, with Andy Cullen this weekend, so will report back after that.

johnhod

Any tips or tricks worth noting from your session with Andy and the HWVA?

Annie as admin

Yes, buy a gun, get rid of teh Brits, then buy a Cocker Twisted Evil

Annie as admin

Seriously, Andy is a really superb trainer. He managed to get me and Allez back on track again. We didn't quite get Al in the water as unfortunately the easy access lake was being fished on so we only had the deep water steep sided one and although Allez was absolutely desperate to go after the Bango dummies, he couldn't force himself to get his feet off the bottom. Next time we are there Andy hopes to do a lead-in exercise with him. Andy also said not to worry too much about Allez blanking dummies to go off hunting as he was watching me all the time and just hunting in an arc. I couldn't see that myself so it was good to know. Allez did retrieve a few of the more difficult dummies, so Andy said we just need to find the 'switch' that gets them to go from hunting mode to retrieving mode and back again. He gave me some tips for stops to whistle (he already stops to shot) and looking at me - he sits to whistle most of the time but doesn't look at me. He and some of the others suggested starving him for a day or so, then stopping him close enough that I could throw food over his head and therefore get him used to looking for the food coming. I've tried it at home and it works. I even got his attention away from the ducks this morning.
Annie

doganjo

Well here we are again - having another go. I think Al realises now that I'm not the soft touch I used to be. When he rushes out to the duck pen I just let him go now and walk or run in the opposite direction and call 'this way' and he comes!!! We had a sadness this morning - when I went to let the birds out this morning Daffy was moving her head from side to side and round in a circle and was wobbly on her legs - one eye was slightly closed - do ducks get strokes I wonder because that was what it seemed like to me. Anyway, I went to let the outside dogs out and when I came back she was in the water and ........ drowned! Crying or Very sad

So guess what - her life was not in vain! She became a very useful tool. Allez was sent from the front door on a blind and brought her straight back, and all four dogs retrieved her from bushes, from across the stream and from in the water - it isn't deep just now so Allez is a little wary whereas when it is in spate and full to the bank he just steps off and swims. Strange dog Rolling Eyes

Unfortunately my outside freezer hasn't been cleaned out and fired up as yet so had to dispose of poor Daffy afterwards. Couldn't take the chance of feeding her to them in case she was ill.
Tomorrow we are meeting my friends Eoin and Enid who had Ceilidh the 3 legged wonder dog to try Allez out on a real estate with pheasants and partridge to see what he will do. His future in gundog work will probably be based on whether he finds game or not, and on his response to my commands. Should be very interesting. I will report back, wish us luck Wink

sallie

Don't give up on him - its two steps forward and one step back. As long as he doesn't mouth the bird, or try to tear it up, everything else will be a positive experience. God, with all that new surroundings and scents to take in, he might lose his head slightly, so be prepared and have fun and a good long walk.

doganjo

I have given Eoin and Enid the link to this forum so I will have to try to describe our afternoon yesterday. Perhaps Eoin put it far better than I ever could - he said Allez was like a wee kid in a sweetie shop. And I might add he was trying to grab every sweetie jar off the counter Oh boy, did he have a ball! Rolling Eyes

When we first arrived the weather didn't look promising with a light smattering of rain, but there was a decent breeze. We took Al into the first field behind some houses and worked him up the left hand hedge to the corner - or rather he ran up the hedge scattering pheasants to the four winds. Rolling Eyes

Just at that point, Eoin handed me one of their walkie talkies and realisation suddenly dawned that he thought my dog might not come back. Embarassed

I didn't know the estate at all so had not been perturbed when he disappeared to the other side of the hedge and carried on hunting up the next field edges. After all 300 yards is nothing for a Brittany. Embarassed

It was only later Eoin told me where he could have gone and how far he could have travelled. (I then had visions of him paying a visit to the Kings and Queens of Scotland entombed in Dunfermline Abbey) I whistled recall a couple of times - well maybe a few more than a couple, but then just as Eoin was showing me how to use the walkie talkie he reappeared - with the usual Brittany look that said 'where were you Mum, I've been waiting for you to keep up' Eoin asked if he would go into the hedging where he was told to search closer and I suggested putting him on a line to keep better control. I sat Allez beside Eoin and trekked back across the field to the cars for the line - "my thin yellow plastic heart-attack-preventer" Rolling Eyes

When I returned Eoin said Al hadn't taken his eyes off me - pity he couldn't do that when I blow the stop whistle. Twisted Evil

Anyway off we went along the hedge and he pointed fairly quickly, and pushed out a hen pheasant. We moved out into the park Allez had covered earlier not expecting to find anything but right at the top he went on point again, fortunately missing the hare that got up from under our feet and quietly loped off on it's own errands.
Let me stop here and tell you that I probably have my rose tinted specs and blinkers on and I hope Enid or Eoin will perhaps post a more accurate edition when they return from their deer stalking trip. Talking of deer ....... when we let Allez off a little further down the lane and into a huge stubble field he pointed another hen pheasant at the entrance sending her completely in the wrong direction for Eoin to get a shot in, then took off to the right heading for a large natural pond (due to the recent and continual heavy rain down here). In the distance we suddenly saw a cloud of ducks - Hmm, Eoin said 'that's about 11 mallards there, pity we weren't closer' He is very mild mannered is Eoin - lesser mortals would have been bringing up the question of my dog's parentage by this time. Anyway, mallards away, out of the woods bolts a roe deer (well I think it was, I didn't have my field glasses with me Rolling Eyes

) with a little brown dog not very far behind it, disappearing into a huge thicket and into the next field where we had earlier seen a number of birds feeding. So the positive way of looking at things is he hadn't chased the deer very far. I was getting a little annoyed with him now though so I whistled again and turned to see him belting up from the very bottom of the park towards us with a silly grin on his face. Back he went on the line and Eoin suggested we try the reeds beside the pond to see if he could pick up scent of any snipe, which his Granny had been very capable of doing apparently. He hunted well again but nothing appeared except a couple more pheasants which ran ahead of us. To finish the afternoon which felt like a day and a half to me but was only a couple of hours, Eoin set a couple of shots off at a short distance, and Allez watched the angle of the gun and looked for the fall. So positive thoughts were - he can hunt, use the wind, point when there are small numbers or singletons, obeys turn, stop, and recall commands on a line, is steady to shot, and marks the line of fall, and didn't totally bog off. Negatives are he hunts for himself not for or with me, adn doesn't respond to whistle where there is hunting to do. But given he had never been in a situation like this before with so much game I felt he was reasonably responsive and I have something to work on. He can't have been too bad as Eoin has offered to take us back on the Estate again when they come back. I feel I might be able to get somewhere with him now since previous situations for us have been more contrived. In defence of my dog the place was seething with WILD pheasants adn ducks, and in defence of Eoin's shooting skills the fields were strewn with fallen corn and the birds were crop full so couldn't fly high. I can't thank Eoin enough for taking us in hand . I might have more success with my trainers from now on. (Bill, if you are still lurking and reading this I have put in place a dominance strategy Wink

) And hopefully Enid can come with us next time when her heel has healed (sorry for the Pun, Enid Laughing

)

Breac's Paw · Allez's Field Day

I am so glad you both enjoyed your afternoon down on the farm. As you will gather from the timing of this epistle, Enid and I are grounded at present, not wishing to test the aerodynamic qualities of our caravan too rigorously.

For his first time in such an unrestricted environment, with so many temptations around, I thought the boy done good. Of course, I have really very little experience of these matters but that won't stop me giving my opinion! director

. These hunting dogs seem to have a surprising number of innate hunting responses (eg identifying pricked birds, getting excited at first sight of a gun, responding to shot by running in even when nothing has been hit!), but some of them are initially general and need to be specialised.
So they naturally respond to game scent, as they run about head in the air, by going on point or at least investigating the undergrowth further. If you stop and think about it, what the dog is doing is astounding Shocked

. From that great mass of smells that is assailing their olfactories (sheep, fox, vole, crow, not to mention soil and plants), they instinctively sort out game scent. All we have to do is clue them in to which of the smells on their special list actually matter to us, or rather to the hunting team that you and the dog make up.
Until Allez has had the thrill of pointing, flushing and then retrieving a pheasant/snipe/hare etc, he won't hunt quite as diligently as he will later. Ditto seeing you as a companion in the hunt. That's where we should go next, I guess.

As to Allez's perambulations - there is nothing quite like that feeling you have when your Brittany (or GWP) first disappears without trace on a walk. pale

. Ceilidh taught us how to deal with this - be patient (she's only doing her job), KISS (don't go taking some fancy new route without telling the dog), and don't waste your breath (she is well out of earshot and she knows where you are, unless you ignored the previous lesson, in which case she knows where she expects you to be). Did I mention being VERY patient - she will come back. Learn to watch birds, count ants, admire the trees coming into leaf. Don't be angry with her when she returns ogre

- welcome her and give her a treat (and give yourself something stronger when you get home). We found this problem (if that it be - you have to expect it with these dogs and if that doesn't suit you, then they are not for you) was much worse in areas which she knew well - in unfamiliar surroundings she stuck much closer to us. I digress, but you can see that 5 mins or so out of sight is not unexpected to me; indeed, I would have been surprised if he had not gone walkabout a bit (hence the radios - a good investment for those involved in occasional dog-searches).

However.....that's not quite what we need in a working dog, I suppose. He should work fairly close to us (a couple of day's walk is bit excessive) so that when he goes on point we can actually see him and get to him in at most a few minutes, he should hold his point until told to go in, and after the flush should wait for further instructions or drop to shot. As for picking up, well, Ceil's opinion was that you got a Lab to do that sort of menial stuff unless it was beyond their meagre capabilities! Of course you know all this - I'm just clarifying it for myself! On which tack....The yellow line's function I well appreciate (for keeping the dog on the same farm, or rather working close to you; for keeping your blood pressure at a healthy level; etc) but we will need to distinguish between what we would expect of a Springer (which does not go on point and will flush what it finds, so must be kept close to allow a shot) and a HPR (which should hold it's point until the gun is in a position to take a shot, and can therefore be allowed to work much further away - but not THAT much, Allez!). Walking before running comes to mind....

Now we've had the initiation on the ground, we can focus on particular aspects each time we go out. Enid, Breac and I are all looking forward to it! grommit

doganjo

I mislaid a dog show today! Embarassed

Not my fault, not Tomtom's fault! Rolling Eyes

Blame Multimap. Rolling Eyes

Got on my way in plenty of time, plugged streets close to venue into TomTom according to Multimap. (schedule didn't give a post code, only directions, what use is that for people on their own) Got hopelessly lost, no idea at all where I was till I saw the Scott Monument. Wrong streets given by Multimap, wrong side of Edinburgh, then when I tried to plug in the local area of Niddrie, it didn't recognise that, so I phoned Liz and said go ahead without me, I'm going home! She got BOB with the pup, he beat Sherry. Well done, Oz!
AArrgh!
Don't think I should try Ireland - I'd probably end up in France

However the day was not lost, in fact we turned it around quite successfully! I plugged Kincardine into TT - he knows where THAT is Wink

, Slowly we began to crawl out of Edinburgh from Princes Street, 3 point turns on three occasions as we came to road blocks, nightmare!!!! then I started to recognise where I was, found the Bridge signs, crossed over the Forth, through Rosyth, then saw the Devilla Forest sign and knew I was on home ground. Pulled into the car park - quick cup of coffee and a Kitkat, got Al out of the cage and set off round the Forest. Fortunately, I'd taken the whistle with me, and some treats. He hunted well either side of the wide track, turned when asked, stopped when asked, recalled when asked - every time! Said nice hellos to people and other dogs without mauling them. Got a treat on every recall. He was in really thick brambly stuff too, snuffling around in the undergrowth. I know there isn't much game in there but he went on point about half way round, so I got as close as I could - but still about 20 yards from him. Deep breath and 'get in'; in he went and stopped on the whistle - just as a squirrel leapt up the trunk of a tree about ten feet in front of him. Probably lucky it was a squirrel he probably realises he can't catch them when they go vertical Wink

. Hunted him on again but nothing more found. We went back to the car and home, well pleased with our impromptu training session. It was a lovely afternoon by now, sun was out so I called the little girls round to the front half acre and let them all hunt about, point at the ducks and chickens, called them to me every so often, stopped them mid flight, while I cut down all the rampant suckers on the old neglected rose bushes, and the brambles running through the big shrubbery area at the end. Now have stab wounds all over my hands, face and back but three happy little Brit Bags now back inside. Just for the heck of it I threw a few fluffy paint rollers around the back garden and sent Allez out for them, all brought back right to hand. So the moral of the story is don't believe Multimap and phone for a post code before travelling with Satnav! Oh, and don't forget the coffee and biscuits.
Annie

doganjo

Donald just tried Multimap and got the same response as I did - it would appear it sent me to the geographical centre of Edinburgh because it didn't know where the Jack Kane Centre is. So be aware it is not infallible.

Anyway, I have been remiss (and rather busy with hospital appointments, craft groups, choir practice, dog walking, birthday card making, birthday present shopping etc etc etc) and must now tell you all about Allez's second visit to Logie Estate with Eoin and Enid, and their two dogs as of last week - Breac the lab, and now Molly, a rescue Springer. She is an absolute sweetie, and from her reaction to getting off the lead (all fingers and toes crossed that she would come back) she is most definitely of a working rather than a show strain (by looks as well I might add). She is very pretty too. I thought Allez would be more interested in her than the birds but I misjudged him Rolling Eyes

Eoin had no idea how Molly was with the gun, so he tested her on the starter first and with no reaction, came closer and closer, still no reaction so decided to carry on round the estate and try her with the gun at a distance. First run was on a line, me and Allez along the right hand side of the first field, Enid and Molly along the left, working towards the corner with Eoin in the middle with Breac and the gun. Allez was much more controlled, and went in where told, but found nothing. We were working into a cheek breeze and he kept trying to go out into the field to quarter it as he is used to doing. Molly was on a long cord but was pulling poor Enid so we got in their 4 x 4 and drove up a bumpy track to an area they don't usually shoot over, passing a large brood of pheasants on the way. This time Allez and I had to work down the left hand side and Enid walked right down to the bottom edge and worked up and across. Eoin was at the ready with the gun again, and was sure there had been a bird gone into the brush at our side but we found nothing again, with Allez again trying to work the field as well as the boundaries. Molly had been let off lead and was hunting the area thoroughly and reasonably close to my mind although I don’t think Enid thought that – she did look a little perturbed. I could see from my vantage point that she was never further away than about 40 yards . She found nothing there either, so Eoin suggested sending her in the side where we had just been (to prove that Allez missed the bird, I rather think!), she found nothing either, so Breac was sent along next – and guess what – a bird flew out. I reckon it had crept in behind us when we were all down at the bottom of the field discussing the matter, after hiding in the reeds right down in the ditch. Eoin suggested we let the dogs all off together for a run – Hmm, my little lad took that as a “right we haven’t checked the corner so I’ll just do that now” Five minutes later, on the third whistle recall, back he comes, and set off across the field to the top, across the drive and into the next field, but turned and came back quite quickly on recall. We decided to have a go at that field and off we went to the top so we could come into the wind. As we got there Allez indicated something ahead of us and a big cock pheasant sauntered out of the hedge and started walking across the field about 25 feet ahead of us – Allez went straight into coule. He was on a line so I let him follow for a short time then whistle sat him. If I’d let him off the bird would have risen and although Eoin could have got a shot at it I couldn't take the risk of Allez chasing the bird. So we let it go on its merry way. Eoin in the meantime spotted and shot a squirrel, but even that didn’t get it up on the wing. A few yards further on Allez went into the hedge and on a classic point, back lowered, muscles tense, paw up. I sent him in, up got a hen pheasant, (in the wrong direction) in went Allez and slammed against his collar, I whistled and he sat! He couldn’t do much else mind you as there was quite a thicket in front of him. I was pleased with that though. Molly in the meantime had decided to go a bit farther afield on a hunting mission so when she returned we headed back to the car – and a muddy puddle for her to lie in to cool off. I have a mini video of that (having forgotten to take one of Allez previously) so will post that tomorrow.
Eoin invited us to their shoot on Saturday but I will be at Gundog Breeds, so we will go to the following one in a fornights time – giving me a bit longer to steady him up a bit more.
All in all a very good day.

Mugi

Sounds as though things are coming together Annie.

doganjo

Our very first ever Shoot day last Saturday. I kept Allez on a long line so as not to spoil the first few moments of the day as he would probably have pushed up every bird, rabbit, deer and hare on the estate. The Estate owner's son, Jonathan, who runs the estate albeit it at a distance as he doesn't live there most of the time, told me they have about 500 acres, but didn't put any birds down, only feeders - set out and maintained by Eoin as gamekeeper. So the birds were all wild apart from a few visitors from the adjoining estate which is something like 4 or 5 times larger in proportion. A river divides the two and this turned out to be a good hiding place for a number of birds.
I treated this as very much a control exercise. Allez pointed a number of birds, they were a bit skittish so no lengthy points, flushed on command but because of the line and some very thick undergrowth I managed to restrain him from chasing. By the end of the day no restraint was required. One hen landed about 10 yards from us but it was flapping wildly so he was reluctant to pick it, but as soon as I despatched it that was Ok and he carried it around for a couple of minutes till I found someone to hand it to. Enid said she was quite impressed with his hunting (he wanted to cover the open fields as well as the hedgerows and we know there was nothing there as they were flat as pancakes and only a few little low tufts of stubble left), as I was managing to bring him in on the whistle to hunt the hedges. Enid's comment to me today was "I thought we all did well as beaters on Saturday and the dogs behaved very well. No-one disgraced themselves - quite the opposite in fact. I look forward to the day we can trust the dogs to run free so that they can do their work unfettered - they'll be great!"
He was watching the guns a lot when we were waiting for the start of each drive, should I stop him doing that - he seems to know the birds come down because of the men and the guns. As soon as we started off he concentrated on hunting so I guess it's all right. Rolling Eyes

We had 12 drives in all, 5 guns plus Jonathan had an occasional shot, 20 pheasants and a hare in the bag, with delicious flapjacks and gingerbread at lunchtime washed down with various beverages including a very palatable slow gin. As Jonathan's wife is expecting their second baby next month he won't be coming up again this season so Eoin, Enid and I have the place to ourselves. Hopefully, this will bring Al's training on much quicker now as he will be actually shot over on a regular basis. He may suddenly see the light as to why I am there with him Rolling Eyes

with a bit of luck Wink

doganjo · The boy dun good!

The boy dun good!

Well, QUITE good………………………. Yes, we DO need a lot more control but at least I now know that he can do the whole HPR bit!

After two days and nights of torrential rain when I was concerned that my kennels might get flooded it was a very pleasant surprise to see a beautiful sunny day stretching before me as I drove the few miles to the estate, with the tempting Ochil Hills behind me (I could once have climbed them with ease but now – age and lack of fitness have overtaken the desire to get to the top – just because). We met the keeper at the gates and drove round to the back of the house to park the cars. There is a large area of laurels at the front of the house where the birds tend to congregate to roost, so we set off in the opposite direction, walked to the last field before the river with pheasants taking off in front of us as we walked. I let Allez off downwind to stretch his legs expecting him to turn and go straight into the middle of the field where the pheasants had lifted.. At first he seemed to turn to hunt into the wind then he took off like the proverbial bat and disappeared in the direction of the laurels. That HAD to be a memory exercise from the shoot a few weeks ago. How else could he have known that section was there? I doubt if he would have scented pheasants from that distance. We carried on along the edge of the field with Annie whistling recall all the while, to all intents and purposes apparently in vain. Into the next field via the most enormous muddy puddle we went and forward about 30 yards, still whistling, still no sign of the intrepid wanderer, when suddenly we saw in the distance a lovely doe break cover and head for the trees – with a little brown dog about 30 yards behind her. I gave up whistling and we just waited. He wasn't going to catch THAT one! It felt like an hour, gave one more whistle, then ………….. there he was hurtling towards us tongue lolling. That was only 5 minutes you know, said the keeper, and I’ll bet he was having a whale of a time with all those scents in the Laurels! Maybe but I need him to respond quicker. The rest of the morning flew past with me trudging through ploughed fields after my boy, (my boots gathering mud as we went – 2 days of rain tells its toll) but on the line now to try to put some control in place. Lots of pheasants pointed and put up and a couple more deer but the birds were all flying across the river so it wasn’t possible to get any shots in. We watched away a couple of hares too, one of which Allez was desperate to go after. Thank goodness I had a tight hold of the line!!! A doe with two kids went flying across ahead of us too, again with Allez watching but steady on the line.
Time was wearing on so we turned and headed down a dividing hedge, gun one side, me and Allez the other, and about 30 yards in we had our reward. A perfect one foot lifted point, held for about 30 seconds, told to get in, flushed and stopped, gun shot, bird down about 100 yards into the next field, dog stands stock still, given the ‘back fetch’ and off he went. I thought he hesitated a little but apparently the bird went down in a big muddy puddle so he was just ‘re-arranging’. “Come on, then” I called and in he came, through the hedge, across the plough, head up and bird dropped into my welcoming hand! Why, oh, why did I not get the phone out to record all this – does anyone else get so excited seeing their dog doing what it’s supposed to?
Well, we hunted on a bit more, getting more bogged down, but nothing more found so we found some puddles with solid ground at the bottom to wash the wellies and called it a day and we headed for home. This is where he is now – at my feet in the study, flat out – happily tired like Mum! Wink

Click to see full size image

barbara

Congratulations Annie & Allez, it must feel great to have done the whole thing Very Happy

guy

great fun - isn't it

doganjo

Trouble is I haven't found the 'off' switch yet! Wink

True to his name he 'goes' but I need to find out how to do the 'stop' or at least the 'slow down' lol

johnhod

doganjo

I think I'll rename him - maybe 'ici' or 'arrête' or maybe just 'ralentir' Mind you none of them have the same ring as ALLEZ yelled at the pitch of my voice with a growl thrown in for good measure! Rolling Eyes

Lin Dyke

Sorry to be a day behind but well done you two cheers

Cissi

Well done Anne and Allez Very Happy

Now you know why its so incredible exiting . Is it anything who is more beautiful to look at than your dog pointing. Then we can talk about adrenalin kick Laughing

I would belive that to learn him slow down a bit, is to after every point and the "episode" is finished , really calm him down, I usually take a break for about 5-10 minuts with young dogs. I am also sure this experience will do that he feels and understand what's happening :
Working with and for you.
When the dog understand that he will start to keep an eye on you and hunt with you.
So that process has started now, I am sure .
That he went over to the area you where last, don't need to be what he remembered. They can smell a bird who has been on the place for a while on several hundreds of meters. Even more if the wind and everything is correct.
When they do that it really shows how good they smell. I have smelled at forexample grouse many times but cant find that they smell so much and the dogs smells theme on a very long distance.
I am in fact happy that I doesn't smell that good and what they smell is the fart of the grouse. Laughing

See you soon Very Happy

Cecilie

doganjo

I have been thinking about him b'ing off and the difference in him when he is on a line, even if I am not holding the end of it he is still calmer. I wondered if gradually shortening the line might work so that he eventaully stays calmer and slows up with only about a few inches attached of the line. It is a very lightweight yellow plastic lien that you use in whirlies.

Cissi

That is the thing with using a line. They learn it very fast Wink

Therefor the line shall be only a extra help in case that the young dog get tempted. Its best to relay on that the "ground work" with "coming in on call " is quite good. Then using the line for example every third time or start without it and put it on if he behaves bad . But you can maybe try to have one short and one long and then switch on theme.
Now I belive you hunt a bit different from us and call theme in a lot more . Because we usually work theme on larger areas they can use a long time to cover it. I usually call theme in every 20-30 minutes for a short break and new orders. Younger dogs every 10-20 minutes. Then they know they have to come, since if not they are getting picked up by me and they don't want that Laughing

So the most important is to get your leadership manifested and I think you are close to that.
And as I said in the other , now he knows what he is doing . He has experienced now that its not only finding birds and a bang Smile

now he experienced that he got this bird for you . So I belive you will experience that he will work more consciously. Now he only needs more experience . When I work young dogs I try to let theme run of some of the high energy they have at the beginning . So I let theme go , take theme in , let theme go , take theme in. Give directions and so on for about 15 -20 minutes and work theme with sit and go . And they get well rewarded .This is also good because you get their attention and refresh the obedients. And I always stops when its some positive situation. So if they have had a really good work, but I had really thought being out 30 minutes more , I rather stop there.
One other thing is that a male is of course "young" on good and bad longer than a bitch . So often they need some more work and more obidient training .
I am positive he is on the right track now and he will end up as a good hunting dog. And get trial prizes. Very Happy

Then smal Allez`s will run in the forrests and mountains of Norway and Sweden Laughing

Cecilie

doganjo

Allez's stop is coming along quite nicely - we were at the Dam yesterday and he was sorely tempted to go after the 'sitting ducks' - I was concerned about him going on the ice as he had already gone in the water then turned to the side into ice, and realised he had to break it to get back to land. Anyway, he was running full tilt towards the water again and I blew hard - down went the bum instantly. I give credit for this to him realising he would get really cold again rather than obedience, but hey, who cares! It was even colder today out with the girls - see Freckles Frolics and Belle's Blunders tomorrow as I'm off to bed now.

It's a bit cold in there

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I can see dem dooks but you blew stop so i did.

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But MUM..... I want those ducks!

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sallie

What a clever dog to stop when the dooks were so close - well done to Allez, you've done an awful lot of training with him these last few months.

Scenery.... just wish i was there to take it all in.

doganjo

Well, I wasn't so successful this morning! Some stupid bozo, namely me, had forgotten to shut the ducks in last night and let the three Brittanys out into the front garden. As usual Allez went to the gate but it was open so he went in there. Had I realised the ducks had already gone out I'd have saved myself and the poor ducks an awful lot of anguish as I could have shut Allez in there and only had the girls to contend with. All three dived into the stream after a different duck. Allez caught a female and toddled off upstream to stop Freckles and Belle getting it. The girls were downstream catching the drake and another female. I whistled Allez to sit, which he did, duck still in moutth. Grabbed Freckles and got her duck off her, put it in the pen and shoved her through to the back garden. Allez is still sitting there in the water with female duck in mouth. Next Belle had dropped the drake as it was too heavy for her - he had got away into the stream so I grabbed her and had to take both her and Freckles to individual runs as they had started to argue over whose duck was whose. When I came back Allez had dropped the female - she was just sitting on the bank quacking loudly and he now had the drake which I had previously noticed had a leg hanging a bit funny and some blood on its back. Being too heavy for Belle she had held it a bit tight. Anyway got the other female in the pen and went for Allez. Whistled the recall and back he came with Jack dangling either side of his mouth. I thought he had had it but when I went to take him he started to sqawk indignantly and flapped his wings. Allez dropped him into my welcomong hands and sat again on command. I dropped the poor drake over the fence and heeled Allez to the back garden. I put fresh straw in the duckshed, squirted savlon cream onto the drake's back and the female's nose, used cotton buds and elastoplast for a splint for Jack's leg. Threw in some food and filled their water bowls and left them. Going to meet Sarah for lunch now so will check them on my return. Needed another shower, a change of clothing and I don't think my shoes will ever recover from the thick squelchy mud, nor my hair from the torrential rain. At least I know Al will definitely retrieve a runner, recall with it and present it to hand!
BA

sallie

Well done, you had control over them and they had live game. It could have been a lot worse for the ducks, but they only got a few bruises. Well done to Freckles, Belle and Allez... Allez especially, game to hand ... well done Very Happy

doganjo

The girls all seem fine, eating and drinking plus all three laid eggs. - outside in the sunshine instead of inside on the straw. Where else would you want a duckling to hatch? Jack's leg isn't any better - have taken splint off as it had slipped anyway - need to rethink that. It's not good him lying in the cold wet mud on his chest. But all four seem to be more or else unscathed by the whole incident. If Allez had been on his own it wouldn't have happened as he would have stopped either on teh whistle or when I yelled at him (I THINK!!! Rolling Eyes

) , but the girls aren't so well trained and the excitement of the chase and competition got into all of them. Might try Allez at Gartmorn dam this afternoon to see if he will now go into the loch after the ducks there. It might have got him swimming! They'll be Ok - they can get away and so long as I stay away from the feeding area it's fine. Oh the joys of keeping mixed species!
BA

Lin Dyke

Annie, your post had me laughing out loud

Hope Jack's leg makes a full recovery.

doganjo

Alls well again. Jack is up on his feet and both his graze and the little girl's one have healed nicely - thanks to Savlon!

But the drama continued yesterday. Freckles decided chasing ducks was such good fun that when Allez, Belle and I were otherwise occupied at the top of the garden speaking to neighbours she smashed her way through a corrugated barrier into the hen run and we were alerted by Jamie squawking at her while she tried to corner KamiKaze(the one that jumps the 4 foot fence) behind the shed. Jamie was about to fly at her talons extended when I arrived at the gate and I yelled at him. Thank goodness for a Cockerel that listens to Mummy!
What Freckles hadn't realised was that although the gap between the fence and the shed was hen sized it wasn't Brittany bum sized so she stuck half way in with about 6 inches between KK and the Brittany jaws. I dragged her out squealing (like a stuck pig?) sat her on the wall, twisted her ears and pushed my face right into hers yelling STAY!!!!! and left her there while I checked the hens and looked for any eggs in the nest. Then I heeled her back out and secured the barrier with extra strong stakes (Yes, vampires came to mind! Twisted Evil

)

But it wasn't over as you can see below - having put the girls back in their runs I turned to see Allez on point. Aha - blackbird again thought I, then looked to where he was pointing " Look, Mum, hens!" I was a good ten seconds further away from him than he was from the hens which had decided to push down the puppy run panels and check out the grass. So distance control had to be brought into play. I blew the stop whistle and he sat. Praise be! He's getting good at this. I then heeled him, put him into the conservatory and the next task took some 35 minutes. Do you think it is easy to get 6 ex battery hens to go back in a cage. I can tell you that is the LAST place they want to go! I had just driven 4 hours to and from Liz's house (another thread) and had a meeting at 7 so really didn't need this. They had already been fed so no amount of grain or pellets would get them in there. I resorted to a bean net and a big stick and threw them in the run one at a time. Question now is - who'll do a swap with me - three brittanys for an elephant.
Wink

Allez and the hens

sallie

Nice control - he's doing good. Monz would have been more like a fox Twisted Evil

johnhod

If you can do that with Fred, when he arrives, I'll be well impressed.

doganjo

What breed is Fred - Weimaraner?

johnhod

doganjo

Oh NOOOOOO!!!! Not another one! One of them in my house is enough Wink

johnhod

Jan doesn't take any messing from him, but he's independent minded enough to be a Brittany

What a thought, a Brittany's mind in a body that size Shocked

doganjo

Fred is lovely, and Hester got on fine with him - with her muzzle on!

Now, I'm re -hi-jacking Allez's diary!

Went to our new-found training ground this afternoon to find the track gate was locked so had to do a 25 point turn in the track to face out, then took the little lad out through the pedestrian gate (it's a Public Footpath to the Dam).

This was to be a sit, turn, and recall enforcement exercise so kept him on the long line so I didn't have to run after him. However, he was very good and apart from a slight hesitation on one turn, and one whistle sit, he did good. A bit of tripe for each recall seems to help a great deal. But he STILL isn't looking round at me every time on the sits. Don't know what I can do about that except stand there and wait fro quarter of an hour then praise madly when and if he does turn round - no-one goes there so OK to do that. He stopped a couple of times voluntarily when we hear phezzies calling not too far away, so I know now that there are some up there.

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Next it was getting to know the enemy time! Rolling Eyes

so we went over to Jane's Rylands for a wee look. I think Allez's words might have been "Don't come any closer, girls, I really don't fancy teddy bears"

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He looked but made no comment -

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So far so good, next we went to see the ponies - again not a word even when Bramble tried to eat our hair.

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Gray was almost too much to cope with so at that point Allez did a runner - back to the car!

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Training session not yet over, I asked him to recall once more, jump in teh carcage, and he got his treat. Happy with that. Laughing

sallie

Glad you both finished on a positive... thats the most important part of training... sometimes we even finish on a whistle to sit, basic i know, but something he does without thinking Wink

doganjo

We had a REALLY GOOD positive tonight. Here I was typing away on the computer keyboard, Allez lying sound asleep at my feet, when Whoosh - he jumps up and rushes over to the shelving unit and goes on point. Out of the corner of my eye I had just felt, rather than actually see, something flash across the room, so I had a shrewd guess that one of my wonderful cats had brought in a gift for me. Sure enough when I moved the bottom shelves there was another flash of light brown, followed by the same Whoosh from Allez Rolling Eyes

Back on point he was, so I edged the shelf out again and said 'get in', he dove forward, then disappeared out the door and along to the spare room. At first I thought, 'what a wimp, he's run away from a mouse', but then I saw the tell tale tiny bit of foot hanging from his gob. 'NO NO NO, don't let that bloody thing loose in the bedroom, I'll never find it!' I screamed at him, then remembered I had the whistle round my neck. I ran away from him and through to the utility room, blew recall and there he was in front of me, one mouse still in his gob and still very much alive! Rolling Eyes

(I could see the feet moving) I gingerly took a hold of the foot, said DEAD, mouth opened and one squiggly thing very nearly escaped again. Opened the outside door, despatched the thing and dumped it in the nearest wheely bin to the door (without looking to see what colour it was - the bin I mean, not the mouse, we do a lot of recycling up here) Wink

Praised my wonderful mouse catching doggy woggy and went to find that damned cat to give it an earful! I think I'll lock the cat flap tonight! Laughing

Allez

Allez and the duck

Allez's Field Day

Don't blame the Satnav .....................................

The boy dun good!