Gundog training Monty the Labrador, Preston, Lancashire.

Monty the Labrador didn’t have the best start in life. After only a few weeks of owning Monty he contracted a illness that nearly killed him. Thankfully with all love and care he received form his owners he’s enjoying a full active life.

Montys training programme has been slow due to the excessive weight loss he incurred. That hasn’t stopped him providing us with a rollercoaster of gundog training lessons. Today’s lesson was certainly one of them with him showing a lack of keenness to use his noise to find retrieves. During the lesson I worked on many techniques in different terrains until finally the penny dropped. In the open with a little rough cover he was ignoring the need to find the dummy if he couldn’t find it within a few seconds. I then decided to use a small wooded area which lead to a field. The ground was andulating, rough and hard going, for a young puppy it was challenging but it was like we’d changed the engine. He went out like a rocker, bashed through the cover and retrieves the dummies with keenness.

Training your dogs isn’t as simple as reading a book or watching videos it’s about managing your dogs characteristics and expectation. More importantly it’s about keeping calm and working with your dog to achieve the end game. Far to many people would have got annoyed which would have only turn Monty off for the whole of the lesson.

Posted: November 24, 2016