New to gundog training? Here’s where to start
If you’ve welcomed a gundog puppy into your life this year, you might be wondering what comes after the toilet training, socialisation and first walks.
If this is your first gundog breed, you might have started to notice that your retriever, spaniel or HPR is already showing its innate desire to hunt - especially in the coming months when there will be an increasing number of pheasants and partridge in the countryside.
Your gundog might also be a keen retriever. And in this case, you’re likely to have spent a few hours a day collecting your slippers, TV remote, or any other items which aren’t screwed down, from them.
If you wish to work your dog in the field, this is the time to nurture all these natural talents.
If you don’t, this is the time to build a relationship and develop a strong connection so that you can gain your gundog’s focus and keep them close and under control, even when they are tempted by wildlife scents and opportunities to chase.
It will also be important in the long term to ensure your gundog has an outlet for their natural abilities.
Instead of trying to suppress them, giving your labrador, spaniel or HPR the opportunities to hunt in a controlled way, or retrieve on cue, will prevent problems from cropping up in the future, such as bogging off on walks, chasing shadows and other small furry things, and pulling on the lead.
In this blog, we’ll explore what gundog training involves, if it’s right for you and your dog, and how you can get started with gundog training at Clicker Gundog in Worcestershire.
Is gundog training right for me?
Pet gundog owners not interested in field sports often question if gundog training is right for them and their dog.
The short answer is: if you have a gundog breed then yes, gundog training is right for you.
There is no shame in owning a gundog breed and having absolutely no desire or intention to work them on a shoot.
But there is a growing danger that more and more ‘working line’ dogs are missing out on vital opportunities to do what they were bred to do as they end up in pet homes with owners who don’t realise the importance of gundog training, even for non-working dogs.
Owners who are uninitiated to a gundog’s way of thinking and naive to their hunting prowess typically struggle to teach reliable recall and loose lead walking, or heelwork, in the presence of distractions such as wildlife and scent.
We all remember the desperate cries of Fenton’s owner as his Labrador failed to recall, choosing to chase deer through Richmond Park instead.
But on top of that, with no outlet for their innate desires to hunt, chase, and retrieve, pet gundogs are more susceptible to developing lasting and damaging behavioural problems.
Sadly, we have seen it all: resource guarding (e.g. growling when you go near their food or favourite toy), constant frustration barking, obsessive shadow or tail chasing, destructive chewing, stealing from worktops (including foods that are poisonous to dogs) and general over-arousal and over-excitement.
Even those pet gundogs participating in other activities such as scentwork, canicross, agility, and hoopers can still present owners with challenges.
While training activities engage their brains and ensure they get plenty of exercise, they still do not allow them to express their natural behaviours.
Scentwork is a passive indication, whereas hunting is active. Agility, hoopers and canicross may be physically active, but running through and over obstacles is not what these dogs were primarily bred to do, and so they can still lead to frustration-induced behavioural problems.
The best gundogs thrive, and make excellent pets, when owners combine these dog sports with gundog work and when their in-built genetic “gundog” needs are being met.
How soon can you start gundog training with a puppy?
Traditionally, it was thought that gundog training should begin when the dog had mentally matured and was around 6 to 8 months old.
Some trainers also advocate waiting until the dog’s adult teeth have come through, as painful gums can prevent dogs from wanting to pick, carry, and hold retrieve articles.
Waiting is, however, rarely beneficial for most owners. It is too easy to overlook the all-important early learning events when you tell yourself you will not start gundog training until the dog is six months old.
Owners miss out on thousands of opportunities to reward their puppies for their natural behaviours and don’t contemplate how their daily interactions with their puppies are beginning to mould their minds in the early months.
When your labrador puppy picks up a shoe for the first time, you want to praise them and encourage them into you, not snatch the shoe from their mouth.
When your vizsla puppy points on something in the hedge, investigate with them, don’t pull them away on the lead.
When your spaniel puppy starts hunting on a scent near your feet, sneak something out for them to find something right by you, don’t keep walking and expect them to follow you.
This means that gundog training needs to start when you bring your retriever, spaniel or HPR puppy home at eight weeks old.
The early stages of training should concentrate on building a solid bond between you, the handler, and your puppy, fostering trust and understanding.
Once you have nailed this, you can start to look at the basic gundog cues you will need to turn your puppy into a well-rounded pet gundog that’s also ready for beating, picking up, sitting on the peg, or rough shooting, whatever your goals are.
It should be noted that gundog training methods have changed drastically over the last few years. While the old-school approach is mainly unsuitable for puppies, modern, positive reinforcement and clicker-based methods can be used to train gundogs of all ages.
Here at Clicker Gundog, we only use ethical, choice-based training methods. These methods focus on paying our gundogs for the behaviours we want and adapting our training approach if they are making mistakes, instead of punishing or correcting them until they get it right.
What behaviours to train your gundog first
Before we look at what you need to teach your gundog puppy, let’s briefly explore the jobs they have been bred for.
Retrievers are bred to be steady next to their handler while the game is shot. They are then sent to pick the game and bring it back quickly and cleanly so that it can be prepared and cooked for the table.
Spaniels are bred to hunt for birds in cover before flushing them for the Gun to shoot. If a retriever isn’t present, it will also be required to pick the birds and bring them back.
Hunting Pointing Retrievers (HPRs) are bred to hunt on extensive open grounds like moorlands and will point at the birds to show the Gun its location. The Gun can then move closer before the HPR flushes the bird for the Gun to shoot. If needed, they will retrieve the bird and deliver it to hand.
Now that we know what gundogs are bred to do, we can examine the basic behaviours they’ll need to work successfully in the field and be fulfilled and happy pets.
Focus in the environment
One of the biggest challenges gundog owners face is competing for their gundog’s attention when the dog’s instincts to hunt, chase and retrieve are so strong. Whether it’s fresh wildlife scent, rabbit pooh, a rustle in the hedge, or watching a bird taking flight, it can seem like a constant battle to even get your gundog to focus on you, let alone respond to your cues.
Focus in the environment is one of the very first things we help gundog owners to achieve, as with consistency, you can gradually shift the balance so that connecting with you and taking your cues become more meaningful and valuable to your gundog than whatever else is going on around them.
Come/Recall
Teaching your gundog to return promptly when called is a vital cue for everyone’s safety. In gundog training, recall is ‘proofed’ around lots of exciting distractions and paired with very high-value rewards, which means that your gundog will learn that it pays to return to you even if there are scents, other dogs or wildlife around.
Heel
No one wants a dog that drags them about on the daily walk. Pet or working, if a gundog is walking next to your leg in the heel position, by the laws of physics, they cannot be simultaneously pulling on the lead.
Self-control aka steadiness
Gundogs need to be steady and not run in on retrieves or when the hunting line has stopped for safety reasons. Teaching steadiness also helps them self-manage their impulsive desires and can stop unwanted behaviours like suddenly lunging on the lead, stealing food, or running after a squirrel they’ve just spotted.
Stop whistle
We need to teach our hunting gundogs to stop to flush, and our retrievers need to stop to look at us for directions if they cannot locate a dummy or bird. For pet gundogs, the stop whistle, like the recall, is a safety feature. It’s an emergency stop that might prevent them from jumping a barbed wire fence or jetting off to greet a reactive looking dog on a lead.
Retrieve / Delivery to hand
We harness natural retrieving instincts by teaching our gundogs to fetch and return items gently and efficiently. This is of paramount importance when working to guarantee that all game ends up on the table as part of a nutritious meal.
For non-working gundogs, being taught to retrieve on cue can reduce their need to “retrieve” an array of household items. Even if they persist in picking things up, if you have taught them to deliver to hand, instead of carrying your expensive shoes off to their bed to ‘kill’ and ‘consume’ them, they should learn that it is more valuable to share their treasure with you.
Hunting
We can teach our hunting dogs to put their noses down and follow scent on cue while staying close to us. This is used for finding and flushing game.
While this doesn’t seem useful for pet gundog owners, the games and exercises used to teach our dogs this skill can help them to learn that hunting with us, and listening to us while hunting, is much more rewarding than going self-employed and becoming deaf to our calls.
There is no correct order of what to teach first when teaching the basics. However, if you really want to prioritise and only teach them one thing, make sure it is a reliable recall!
You must work on all of these behaviours with your puppy. Provided that you start with easy criteria and build behaviours up gradually, you should make good progress across the board simultaneously.
How much training should you be doing with a gundog puppy?
Gundogs, particularly those from working lines, are known for being “busy” and having lots of energy.
If you’re a first-time gundog owner, you might be shocked at how challenging it can be to get your puppy to settle at home.
You’ve probably heard the saying “a tired dog is a good dog”, but it’s really important that we don’t overexert our gundog puppies to ensure their joints develop properly and prevent health issues later in life.
If you have a particularly active puppy who is into everything at home and struggles to relax, it’s easy to assume that running around, burning off energy, is going to be good for them. But this sort of high impact exercise is not the answer.
The best way to tire your gundog puppy out is to get it to use its brain, and this can be done most effectively with moderate and low impact training.
When it comes to training at home, keep the session short and often. You will be surprised at how much you can achieve in little 5 minute blocks of clicker training every time you boil the kettle and make a cup of tea.
You can do as many sessions as you want, but ensure your dog is keen and willing. Puppies have short attention spans, which you want to capture. Always stop before they get bored.
Can you start gundog training if your dog is no longer a puppy?
Basic gundog behaviours are, in many ways, just general obedience skills, approached from a gundog’s mindset.
Unless you’ve done no training at all, once your dog is out of puppyhood, it’s likely that it has started to learn and understand the basic cues needed, such as recall, sit and stay (for steadiness), and heelwork, or at least not pulling on the lead.
This means it is a relatively easy transition to breed-specific gundog skills such as hunting and retrieving.
They might have some ingrained undesirable habits, such as dropping items at your feet instead of putting them in your hand, and it might take extra time and patience to help them learn new responses to cues and working in the natural environment.
However, consistent, patient, and clear communication like clicker training can overcome all of this. With the right mindset and techniques, an older gundog can become just as proficient in the field as one trained from puppyhood.
Ready to start gundog training?
If you’re new to gundog training and are ready to get started on your gundog training journey today, we run a range of classes for puppies, beginners and pet gundogs at the Clicker Gundog Training Centre in Charlton, near Evesham, Worcestershire.
If you are looking for weekend group sessions, our Puppy, Beginner and Pet Gundog training classes are held on Sunday per month, giving you plenty of time to practice what you have learned in between classes. The sessions are 3 hours long, so there is plenty covered.
These classes are suitable for dogs of all ages and all breeds of gundog, plus any crossbreeds or other breeds that have a desire for retrieving and hunting. We cover all the behaviours you need to have a happy, fulfilled pet gundog and an excellent foundation to progress further should you want to continue the hobby or work your dog on a shoot.
There are also breaks for the dogs during which handlers can talk through other training issues they may be having. This is not limited to gundog work and can include common puppy and pet dog training problems.
For more information and to book a class, click here.
If you would prefer to train on weekday evenings, we hold several weekly classes.
Our Gundog Puppy evening classes, led by Leanne, are suitable for puppies aged from 12 weeks to 6 months old, who have had their vaccinations. These classes are held on Wednesday evenings from 6pm to 8pm and to get the most from this course, you will need to attend all classes, typically arranged in 4- or 6-week blocks. For more information, click here.
For those getting started with dogs over 6 months old, our Beginner Gundog evening classes, also led by Leanne, are also held in 4-week blocks on Wednesday evenings from 6pm to 8pm. For more information, click here.