We know it can sometimes be overwhelming to know the ones that’ll suit you and your dog best. So, we have put this together to help make life a little easier for you!
The first thing to consider when thinking about dummies is the age and experience of your dog.
A young pup is unlikely to have the strength to carry a larger dummy even if they have the drive to, so a dummy specifically aimed at puppies is best when starting out. The firedog 80g pocket/puppy dummy is a popular choice for small puppies (spaniels and smaller labs). For slightly bigger puppies a 100g dummy may suit well. Also, due to being so lightweight these dummies are not only perfect for younger dogs but they are also easy to pop into your pocket on the go!
We have found we still use my puppy dummy now with my adult dog to boost his confidence when increasing dummy weights and they are also great for hunting practice as their small size makes for a nice challenge.
Once you have begun to establish dummy work with your dog it then comes time to move up in weight and size. The next most popular size is the 1/2lb dummy, there is a huge range of dummies in this weight! Many of us started off with a basic canvas style dummy. Again, depending on the size of the dog a 1lb dummy may also work well. Both not only offer a little more of a challenge to the dog but they are also beginning to replicate the real weight of various sized game birds that a dog may need to pick in the field.
These are also the sizes that are routinely used in scurries at game fairs and is something that is really fun to do for both you and the dog - getting them used to the feel of the dummies is important.
The most important thing to remember when progressing with your dummy training is to ensure your dog is comfortable every step of the way, picking something bigger can be a daunting task so taking it slow and keeping the criteria low is very important. As we mentioned before, using a puppy dummy alongside a larger one is a great way to keep your pup keen.
There is such a huge variety in the style of dummies on offer, starting from the basic canvas dummy that come in many different colours and sizes going all the way up to the more advanced dummies such as a pheasant pelt dummy or rabbit skin dummy. With younger dogs it is important to make sure you use a dummy style that they will enjoy retrieving. Some puppies find the basic canvas dummy quite boring because it lacks any scent and therefore by giving them a rabbit skin dummy at the correct weight, depending on the breed and what the puppy is capable of carrying, will be much more interesting for them. By making it fun it will encourage that excitement and drive for retrieving which is so important for a young pup – when starting you almost want them to be flying out for retrieves making sure it is so much fun, building the pup’s confidence. All the steadiness training can then be introduced later in their training.
With such a large range of dummies you would think there does not need to be such a variety, but they all have great uses. For example, you can get dummies in browns, greens and camouflage colours which are fantastic for older more advanced dogs who may be practising blind retrieves - it really encourages the dog to get their nose down and hunt for the dummy as they will not be able to see it. However, an advantage with the brighter colour dummies is if you have an unsure retriever then by throwing a bright coloured dummy for them, they will be able to clearly see it which will help them trust their owner, gaining confidence in being sent out or ‘back’ for retrieves. Plus, you won’t lose them if the dog doesn’t find! Another great dummy style for all dogs are the pheasant/partridge pelt dummies - they have so much scent and a completely different texture meaning the dog can get used to feathers being in their mouth which prepares them more for a shoot day. As well as them having different textures the pelt dummies come in different weights too so it can feel even more like a real bird. Another popular one with my dogs from is the rabbit skin dummies and rabbit dummy balls because they have so much scent, making them much more interesting than a plain canvas dummy. They are very easy to camouflage in long grass, fields etc meaning the dogs are able to pop their noses to the floor and hunt it up which is great. I find dogs tend to hunt for the pelt dummies and rabbit dummies purely because they have so much more scent than a canvas dummy. So, if you have a dog who is not keen on picking up a canvas dummy definitely try out the different textured ones too which are smellier. Dummies get even more exciting when you introduce the bird style ones, with wings and heads, available in a variety of weights – these are for more established dogs who are already confident in dummy work.
Although this doesn’t cover every single dummy available it hopefully will act as a starting point to help you on your way. The paws team is always on hand to help you in your choice and a gundog trainer is also invaluable when training your dog and providing advice.
Thank you for reading our Blog,
Love
Steph, Emily and Poppy xx
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Welcome back to our Paws puppy blog! It’s been a little while since our last blog, mainly due to the fact that both Saffy and Bramble were in season at the same time, meaning training went on hold for a few weeks. This was Bramble’s second season and Saffy’s first; both girls handled it fine, and not much changed other than our training routine.
I used the time that they were in season to try and focus on one thing that we needed to brush up on; something that we could easily practise in our back garden, but wouldn’t be too straining or require focus for long periods of time. For Saffy this was stopping (or attempting to stop) her from parading with dummies. With Bramble, we worked on heelwork and loose lead walking. These are still work in progress for both girls, and we will continue to work on them, even now they are both out of heat. I have a few reels on our Instagram - @thespanielgirlgang – which show snippets of how we worked on these issues, if anyone wanted to take a look.
I also got to spend a lot of one on one time with Gin whilst Bramble and Saff were in season. It was nice to be able to chill a little and enjoy some nice walks with Gin, as well as spend some time working on her reactivity. I think she really enjoyed her mama time too and we made a lot of good progress with minimising her reactions to other dogs.
Sassy Saffy
Saff finished her season first and so got to attend her first @gundogcreators day down in Essex. I really didn’t expect much from her, she’d just had a month off from training and hadn’t even turned one yet. However, I’ve taken so much away from these days with Bramble, that I knew it would be a great opportunity to see where Saffy is at and what we need to work on going forward. She was definitely more chaotic than Bramble was on her spaniel days, however, I did get some lovely stuff out of her which was a big win!
Positives from the @gundogcreator spaniel day
Things we’ve taken away from the @gundogcreators day
Following on from that, my goals with Saffy over the next few months is too really nail down our foundation work. Lately, I’ve noticed Saffy is getting really wound up and over stimulated with birds flittering about or distracted by other dogs walking past, so I want to make sure that we’re drowning all of that out. We’ll be doing all of the so called ‘basics’ such as heelwork, recall, sit stays and holds just to make sure she fully understands what’s being asked of her, and to show her that working with me can be super fun!
I would love for Saff to be out for a drive or so on our days out beating this season, but this solely depends on how much trust we can build up together. I don’t for one second think she’d be the worst dog in the world to manage whilst out beating, but I want to make sure that if I’m taking her out, she’s the best version of herself she can be at that stage, and that we’ve found a way to work well together.
I am trying to remind myself more often that Saffy has only just turned one (she had her first birthday last week!), and that whilst Bramble is an absolute superstar in the making now, she couldn’t do any of the things Saffy can do at that age. Saff is a great little girl, and I think with some back to basic focus, we can turn her into a cracking little beater.
Baby Bramble
She’ll be two in August, but Bramble will forever be the baby of the gang! I really don’t know what to say about Bramble, other than I so incredibly proud of her. I can’t believe how far we’ve come this year since starting our one to ones at Farlavale and attending the @gundogcreators days.
At the beginning of this year, Bramble wouldn’t retrieve, couldn’t hold, crept on every ‘stay’ command, didn’t understand stop whistle, and couldn’t swim to save her life. Now Bramble can not only do all of those things, but she smashes them out of the park.
Since finishing her season, I’ve done a couple of retrieve sessions with Bramble. Just this past weekend, Bramble has managed several good distance blinds, gone out for a long marked retrieve and stopped on the whistle at around 100yards out to be redirected, and brought them back with a perfect hold delivery every time.
What’s more, Bramble is becoming a strong little swimmer. She’ll now confidently swim out to fetch back our @pawsbrooklyn dog & field dummy, and delivers it without shaking or dropping too early! We need to work on her jumping into water from a ledge rather than wadding in via a gentle slope first, but I’m sure she’ll pick that up in no time!
Hunting is difficult to perfect at the minute with the weather being so hot and with there being very little scent around, however, we had her in the rabbit pen on her last one to one and she followed my lead so well. Bramble can be hesitant to get her nose down when she knows there’s nothing there, which is something we need to work on for tests etc. but she’s a machine when hunting for scent!
I completely and wholeheartedly trust this little girl now (obviously she’s a dog, and a young one at that so I appreciate that occasionally things aren’t always going to go to plan), but I am so incredibly excited to get her out working this season. She’s just an absolute joy to train and I have a feeling she’s going to be very special.
Until next time!
I really hope you’ve enjoyed our 7th Paws Puppy blog, and a massive thank you for your support, it means the world to us.
As always, I also want to say a massive thank you to Paws Brooklyn for this opportunity to share our training journey with you all.
Nat, Gin, Bramble and Sapphire x
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Welcome back to our Paws puppy blog! I can’t believe this is our 6th blog, it feels like only yesterday we joined the Paws Team. As always, we’ve had a busy month training and getting ready for the 23/24 season. I have to keep reminding myself that it’ll be here before I know it!
A lot has changed since our last blog, but it also feels like there a fewer ‘note worthy’ achievements or problems than there usually is on our training journey. Please forgive me if this one sends you all to sleep…
If you read our last blog, you’ll know I was really struggling with my mental health and not enjoying training at all. I talked about applying less pressure on myself as well as the girls, and this is exactly what I did! We took a couple of weeks off from training, and instead explored some beautiful new adventures which was exactly what I needed to refresh and reset. I took Bramble and Gin on a hike through the Peaks, and we had the best time. Both girls were so incredibly well behaved, and I feel like I really achieved something by doing such a long walk with them by myself. Had this been a year ago, there is no way I would have considered going anywhere like that alone with two spaniels! Sadly, Saffy was still too young to trek the 8 miles, so she stayed at grandmas and enjoyed lots of cuddles, belly rubs and snuggles.
We also had lots of magical snowy adventures. This was Saffy’s first time in the snow and its always lovely to see the snow time zoomies. In typical Sassy Saffy fashion, there’s was not a single moment of hesitation when bounding into the white stuff.
When I did start training again, I went back to basics with Bramble for a week or so, and she quickly got back on track to being an angel in training. We’re making lots of progress slowly but surely, although I’m back to feeling confident that she’ll be out working her bum off this upcoming season. Sassy Saffy has also been making good progress with her training. She’s a very hard-headed little girl, so we are taking things super slow and making sure she has something down to a tee before moving on.
Shine bright like a Sapphire
I’m not sure how else to describe Saffy recently, other than she’s been mostly unproblematic. Saff is always going to be more challenging to train than Bramble because she’s much more independent and confident on her own. However, I can’t recall any horrendous training sessions when writing this so she can’t have been much of a terror. In the same breathe, there’s been nothing spectacular either, just plain and simple gradual progress.
I’ve been doing lots of mini sessions with Saffy either at home or on a small patch of land at the bottom of our estate which is great for hunting. I’ve found keeping things short and sweet works well for her; she mentally tiers easily, especially after a little bit of hunting, but she also doesn’t get as bored so quickly when we keep to 5 or 10 minutes training.
For the most part, I’ve been working on reinforcing the bits of training that we’ve been focusing on for the last couple of months. As alluded to in the intro, Saffy is incredibly independent, and I don’t want to push her too hard before I’m confident that she’s nailed the basics. We’ve continued to work on steadiness, a lot of which involves me chucking dummies to her right, left, over the head etc. and rewarding her for a stay. I’ve seen a lot of improvement in this recently, so it’s nice to know that our consistency is paying off. I’ve continued to focus on her stop whistle, which again, I’ve seen also some improvement in. I’ve made sure I’m not setting her up to fail by only practising stop when I know she’s not too distracted to miss it.
I’ve also introduced the hunt whistle to Saffy recently and started to get her to use her nose to tire her crazy little brain out. At the minute we’re still keeping it simple and I’m working on building up her excitement/ confidence to know that there’s always something to find. As soon as she here’s my pip, her heads straight up watching me to see where the goods are at so she’s already catching on quickly. Over the next couple of weeks, I want to work on her really watching where I’m guiding her so we can start to get a bit more fluidity to her hunting and build up the trust between us both.
Finally, I’ve been working on her sit stay holds and retrieves. Saff will hold anything for days, but there’s nothing she loves more than parading around with something in her mouth (usually a blanket or my tea towel). I’ve been using our Cato place board to help with getting her to sit and hold in front of me. If she sits still, she gets lots and lots of fuss before I ask her to give me the dummy. I’ve also then had the place board out when we’ve attempted a couple of retrieves and for the most part, she comes back to park her bum on the board with no parade. I feel like the place board has helped massively with Saffy’s deliveries. She knows it’s a safe space where she gets lots of cuddles if she comes back. I’m hoping by this time next month to have phased out the board and have her come straight back to me without it.
Angel in training
Not really much to say about Bramble other than she’s an absolute superstar in the making. Bramble is smashing everything I throw her way, she’s mastered hold, following directions for retrieves, is getting stop whistle right 90% of the time and has even turned into a confident little swimmer who likes to throw herself into water to swim after ducks (she recalls back from them don’t worry).
We’re working really hard on her hunting now. We’ve done a lot of exercises where she’s been getting used to keeping her nose down, but at the same time, glancing up to watch where I’m directing her. Now is all about building up her pace as she’s a bit of a snail hunter at the minute.
I’m confident we’ll get out beating towards the end of the year, and for that, I owe a massive thanks to Farlavale gundogs for their direction and help in harnessing Bramble’s natural talents. That said, I don’t believe she’ll be ready to start entering working tests this year (or at least not up to the standard I would want her to be), but this time next year we’ll be certainly getting our names down for some novice and maybe even open tests!
Following on from this, I helped out at a novice working test this past weekend. It was my job to put out the blinds and markers when neither the handler nor dog was looking. Following behind the judges and handlers gave me a great vantage point to watch the whole test play out and I feel like I sponged up so much information. There we’re 19 handlers/dogs who entered into the test, with three placing 1st -3rd and two receiving certificates of merit.
Having never been to a test before, I wanted to see how they worked and the calibre of dogs (and handlers) that entered. Obviously, I’m no expert, but it was very interesting to see the mistakes that the handlers made, and the way each dog responded. There we’re some brilliant handles and dogs, all of which deserved their places, but there was also a good portion of the group where I questioned why they’d entered. There were some silly mistakes made under pressure, but there were also dogs who didn’t put their nose to the floor once to hunt, and dogs that ran 100 yards in the wrong direction from the marked retrieves they were sent for. It’s safe to say I came away feeling much more confident about where Bramble is in her training.
Overall though it was a great experience and a huge learning curve. I’d definitely recommend reaching out to your local gundog clubs and asking if you can volunteer if you’re thinking of entering into working tests in the future.
Princess Gin Gin
Gin doesn’t get much of a look in with these blogs and that’s partly because she’s just an absolute angel. I also don’t intend to work or test with Gin, so the gundog training we do is just for fun and a way to keep her mind busy.
Recently though, I will shamefully admit that I’ve neglected Gin’s gundog training a little. Consequently, the princess who can do no wrong has turned into a feral little monster! Unsurprisingly she’s occasionally been seeking out her own fun and chasing scents across the farmers fields or nature reserves. So the long line came out again, but I’ve also made sure to spend some more one to one time with her so that we can do some fun bits of training.
Gin can and will retrieve anything. She can do memories the length a retriever can achieve, she’ll carry any weight I throw at her and she’ll deliver to hand with the most adorable smile on her face and waggiest tail. But by gosh does she work herself up when the dummies come out! I’ve been doing some short sessions with her, focusing on trying to calm her down when the dummy gets thrown. Over the past few days, I’ve actually been able to line her up without clinging to her collar to prevent her from bolting straight out, which is massive progress for us!
Moreover, I’ve been teaching Gin a proper ‘hold’ as well. She knows to deliver to hand, but I’ve never actually taught her to sit and hold something until I’ve asked her to release. She’s picked this up super quick at home so I can’t wait to get out and test her in the real world – everybody needs some Gin hold content in their lives!
Until next time!
I really hope you’ve enjoyed our 6th Paws Puppy blog, and a massive thank you for your support, it means the world to us. If you’ve followed us from the start thank you for sticking with us and following our journey. If your new here and this is the first blog you’ve read, welcome to our training journey, and we hope to see you next time!
As always, I also want to say a massive thank you to Paws Brooklyn for this opportunity to share our training journey with you all.
Until next time,
Nat, Gin, Bramble and Sapphire x
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Paws Puppy Blog Part 5
Welcome back to our Paws puppy blog! We’re a little bit later than usual this month with the blog, but life has been hectic and it feels like neither me or the girls have stopped to breathe for the past 5 weeks. Yet again, our training journey has been a complete whirlwind, and its hard to believe that what I’m about to discuss below follows on chronologically from the last blog!
To say the tables have turned would be an understatement. Saffy went from being the training golden child so to speak, to the one I’m struggling with the most. Bramble on the other hand went from being the difficult one, to being an absolute angel, although I have to admit we’re heading down a slow decline on the basics again. Gin is an angel, always has been and always will be – although I have found that her reactivity has gotten so much worse lately… I’ve not touched upon this before on our blogs, but let me know if you would like me to!
However, before we move on, I do want to touch upon the fact that (whilst I am incredibly proud of everything that we have achieved this past month), I have found our training journey incredibly hard recently. I’ve had a tough time personally with work and life in general which has impacted our training sessions in a negative way. I’ve been in a bad mood or sad more often than not, and admittedly, we’ve had less quality training than I would have liked. I’ve been inconsistent with praise and rewards which in turn means that, despite all our success recently, our basics are slipping. So, even though the rest of the blog is quite positive overall, I just wanted to be transparent and let you all know that It’s not always as great as it seems… but that’s ok!
I’m taking the pressure off training for the foreseeable until I feel like I’m in a happier place to start enjoying sessions again. We’ll be doing more mini sessions at home and less outdoorsy sessions. We’ll train less frequently and instead, enjoy more adventures together. This past weekend, I dedicated Sunday as a relaxing day with absolutely no expectations. I took all three girls out together for both a morning and afternoon walk and did a mini training session in the garden with Saffy & Bramble at lunch. Other than that, we just relaxed on the sofa all day having cuddles and it was BLISS.
My only goal for the year was to get one of the girls out working this 23/24 season, and I still hope we can achieve that. But I’ve realised that as much as I would love to make that happen, it’s not worth ruining my relationship with the girls by constantly applying the pressure with training and always expecting more. I need to remind myself more often that they are still very young and are all doing amazing! We will get there when the time is right, and need to enjoy the journey instead of rushing to get there.
Anyway, enough of the woe is me, lets get into it!
The Sassiest of Saffy’s –
This little girl is the reason why you NEED to research any breed before you buy a pup! She’s a firecracker, super Sassy, crazy intelligent and way too independent. Saffy needs a job to do, that much is clear to me!
You may remember from our last blog, that I was planning on taking Saffy to the @gundogcreators spaniel training day – plot twist, I ended up taking Baby Bramble. Very quickly after writing the last blog, Saffy’s engagement started to dwindle, and I even thought she was showing signs of coming into season (although this still hasn’t happened yet). I’d been toying with the idea of not taking her for about a week before I made the decision to take Bramble instead. I just knew that I would always be worrying about Saffy dis-engaging with me if I took her and concerned that we wouldn’t get the most out of the day. I knew that for all her struggles, Bramble would at least be 100% engaged with me.
Not wanting to let her engagement slip any further, I booked Saffy in for a one to one at Farlavale so I could get some professional help with reining her back in and progressing with our training. We had a really fun, insightful session and Saffy adored Ryan! She’ll be going regularly like Bramble does now - I plan to alternate who I take going forward.
We focused on two things during our one to one and both exercises are intended to help build on our engagement.
We are booked onto the @girlswithgundogs spaniel training day in a few weeks’ time which is being held at Farlavale. I’m tempted to take Saffy this time and see how she gets on, but I’ll make a decision closer to the time.
Baby B
What a difference a month can make guys! Again, you may remember from our last blog that we we’re really struggling with our hold training. Well, all I can say now is – SMASHED THAT. I’m not sure what small miracle work was at play but the little girl who would spit out 2 meters in front of me or not even pick anything at all, can now hold every single dummy we own including the Firedog duck dummy, a 1lb canvas, and even our pheasant pelt wrap! I don’t want to bore you all to death with a line by line of how we achieved this, but I have put up several step-by-step reels on our Insta page if you wanted to see our progress.
We did manage to fix our retrieving as well for few weeks and I was getting beautiful deliveries with a sit hold and release to hand on cue, but sadly we’re back to playing keep away. This is frustrating because we’d managed to get to the stage where we we’re doing directional lefts rights and backs which is miles ahead of where I thought we would be. I’m hoping to touch upon this more in our next blog when I’ve figured out what’s happened to revert to old habits here.
I’ve also had some amazing success with her stop whistle recently as well. We’ve used a method that @thespanieldiaries had posted a week or so ago with a food bowl, and honestly, it’s felt like the only method we’ve tried where it’s really just clicked for her. Sophie has posted some great reels on this so if you’re struggling with teaching stop, I definitely recommend checking out her videos! I’d say 9/10 we’re getting an instant stop and the only reason we’re failing the other 1 attempt is because Bramble is the greediest girlie in the world and I’ve tried to stop her too close to the bowl. Obviously, in the future I’d expect to solidify her stop so that she stops close to the bowl despite the temptation, but for now I’m really happy with what we’ve achieved.
Having said this, I have found that Bramble’s basics have really been slipping recently. She’s shuffling or creeping on sit stays again, sometimes occasionally ignoring recall (She’s never ignored recall in the past!) and her loose lead walking became horrendous. I feel I may have been pushing her way too far recently and jumping back to the intro, I feel like she’s taken the brunt of my bad mood. For the past few days, we’ve stopped most of the retrieve/hunting work and instead gone back to mini sessions where we focus on basic bits of training. I’ve found these sessions much more enjoyable, so we’ll keep doing these until we’ve reinforced all of those good habits again!
Last but not least, I want to briefly discuss how amazing the @gundogcreators spaniel day was and how incredibly proud I was of Bramble. In some ways it was a tough day, Bramble struggled with being on the lead and got way too over stimulated by being in a group environment - settling and loose lead walking in more exciting places is something we’re focusing a lot on over the next few weeks. That said, we had some incredible wins! Bramble did so much better than I expected in all of the activities, especially considering that she’d not done most of it before. She did well at the hunting, delivered beautifully, paddled in for a water retrieve (if you’ve seen my stories you’ll know she’s not a strong swimmer) and even retrieved her first cold game! I honestly had the most amazing time and met the most amazing people. I would fully recommend signing up to one of the training days to anyone who has been thinking about attending or wanting some group training experience. Hester and Rosie were incredible, I learnt so much and will be back again for the next spaniel day they host (Sassy Saffy might even get her turn next time!).
Photo credit to @blackgrousemedia and @gundog creators
Until next time!
I really hope you’ve enjoyed our 5th Paws Puppy blog, and a massive thank you for your support, it means the world to us. If you’ve followed us from the start thank you for sticking with us and following our journey. If your new here and this is the first blog you’ve read, welcome to our training journey, and we hope to see you next time!
As always, I also want to say a massive thank you to Paws Brooklyn for this opportunity to share our training journey with you all.
Until next time,
Nat, Gin, Bramble and Sapphire x
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Welcome back to our Paws puppy blog! Saffy is now 8 months and is turning into a gigantic, beautiful little lady. So much has happened over the past few weeks, and I have dedicated almost every second of my free time of training both Saffy and Bramble, not to mention throwing in lots of fun training sessions for Gin! It’s been tough, but so incredibly rewarding to see all of our hard work start to come together and pay off.
We’ve hit so many first-time milestones since our last blog, although I’m extremely conscious of pushing Saffy too hard too fast. I want to make sure we’re getting quality over quantity with our training, and I’ve had to reign myself in from getting too excited when I’ve tested her boundaries. A few of the things we’ve tried these past few weeks have been to test the waters to see where we’re at with Saffy’s training and what we need to work on going forward. She’s been an absolute superstar and I’m over the moon with how her training is progressing, but we still have a lot to do before she’s ready to get out working!
I’m also incredibly proud of how Bramble is progressing with her training. As I’m writing this now, we’ve just returned from our third one to one at Faralvale and I’m seeing some amazing improvements. There are still a few bad habits that we’re slowly but surely picking away at, but since starting our sessions, I feel 100% confident that she’ll be an incredible little worker one day! For anyone who is struggling with their training, I fully recommend finding a gundog trainer to help. I only wish I’d contacted Farlavale months ago instead of battling to train Bramble all by myself.
What a superstar
We’re still focusing on the basics, heelwork, sit stays, loose lead – I don’t think there will ever be a time when we fully stop working on these bits - but it’s just the same stuff that we’ve covered in the past few blogs, so I won’t bore you with the details again! Instead, I’ll talk about the massive successes we’ve had recently and what I hope to keep working on going forward.
It seems that the techniques I discussed in our last blog on piecing together small sections of a successful retrieve are starting to work. Over the past few days, we’ve been achieving sit, hold deliveries which I am ecstatic about! Saffy has always delivered to hand, but I’ve never really asked for her to sit and wait or present the dummy to me. Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve started practising a more formal ‘hold’ and ‘give’ using our Paws Brooklyn rabbit ball. A rabbit ball is way more interesting that a canvas dummy and light enough for her to hold comfortably. We practised in the kitchen at first, both sat on the floor together with lots of fuss and cuddles when she held onto it and gave me it when she was asked. We’ve then progressed into the garden where I asked her to retrieve the dummy and bring it back to me. We do have a mini spaniel victory parade at the moment where she doesn’t bring it straight back, but we’re working on this as part of our engagement work. When she does come back, I’ve been scratching her bum with praise, asking for ‘hold’ and then asking for a sit making sure my hands are up high to encourage her to sit and hold her head high. Now that I know she can do this, I’ll be making sure to ask for this formal type of delivery more often to hopefully encourage this as habitual behaviour!
I also want to quickly discuss the new things I’ve tried with Saffy recently which were really to put our training to the test and see what areas we need to improve on. Firstly, I braved trying out our Paws Brooklyn Dummy launcher last week – Saffy was on the lead and about 200 yards away from me. We only shot it once, but the goal was to see how she reacted to the shot sound – she was steady to shot and not phased at all, however, she did want to go after the dummy as soon as it landed so steadiness is high on our priority list for the next few weeks! The launcher is a serious piece of training kit and I posted a more comprehensive overview of our first launcher experience on my grid (@thespanielgirlgang) if you want to know a bit more out how it went and how I prepared for using it. I won’t be using this very often with her just yet as she is still very young and I don’t want her to become gun shy, but it was a great learning experience.
Secondly, we tried our Paws Brooklyn Pheasant pelt wrap for the first time in the garden this weekend – not only did she pick it up like an absolute pro, but she also offered a sit stay delivery as well. As you can imagine, I was over the moon! I don’t want to use the pelt too much whilst we’re still working on our sit, hold, present retrieves because I don’t want to over-stimulate her, but I will slowly start to increase how often we use it over the next couple of months.
A superstar… most of the time
Whilst Saffy is a superstar most of the time, there are still things I know I really need to work on with her. I booked a virtual one to one with Tenderleigh training, (which along with the launcher, we so gratefully won as part of the Paws Brooklyn giveaway) where we discussed her engagement, steadiness and stop whistle progress, all off which I’ve noticed slipping recently. Lydia was amazing, and we got so much out of just 1 hour. I fully recommend booking a virtual session with her if you’re not local! I now have a plan in place to work on each of these over the next few weeks, and hopefully I’ll have good news stories on each of these for our next blog!
My main focal points with Saffy for the next month or so are:
Engagement – Engagement as a whole – This is almost an umbrella to the below issues we’re having. My homework is to make ‘me’ more exciting than everything else, and yes this does involve me looking like an absolute clown jumping up and down in our public parks, but it’s all about mum being fun!
Stop whistle – Saffy knows what this is, I KNOW she does (although we are still working on the full ‘sit’ your bum on the ground portion). She just picks and chooses when she wants to listen to the stop whistle! Whilst we work on her engagement, I will only be doing a handful of stops each week and making sure there is no room for failure – my goal in now quality over quantity!
Steadiness – If Saff has listened to my ‘Stay’ cue, she’s as steady as a rock and will typically not move a muscle unless released (I do want to note that we need to do more duration work on this because I suspect she would get bored of waiting after a while!). However, on occasion, she’s been ignoring my ‘Stays’ and running in for dummies before I’ve asked her to go for it. My aim to prevent these early release’s by controlling the situation – eg. popping her on a lead until she understands that stay means stay in every instance.
Exciting times ahead
As I mentioned in the intro, I’m making a conscious effort not to push Saffy too hard and fast. I will continue to occasionally test her boundaries with new bits of training as I don’t want our sessions to become stagnant or boring. However, I want to prioritise solidifying the bits we’ve already learnt, over introducing more new training elements. I am extremely excited to see how Saffy progresses over the next month. She’s an extremely intelligent little girl and I hope that we can share more positive progress with you next time!
One thing I am particularly looking forward to is our mini holiday down to Oxfordshire for the @gundogcreators spaniel training day! I managed to secure the last spot for Saffy on the training day and I can’t wait to meet some our insta friends there (including some of our fellow Paws team members!). It will be interesting to see how Saffy performs in a group environment, as when she’s around her sisters, her ears seem to magically turn off…Similar to the dummy launcher and the pelt, my goal is to see how well she performs and observe what we really need to focus on going forwards. I’ll update you all on how we get on in the next blog!
Just a Baby
Even though she’s now 16 months old, Bramble will always be the baby of the girl gang. She’s very young at heart and knows she can get away with pushing her luck occasionally. We’re on our third one to one now and already I can see a huge improvement with her training progress; it’s early stages but I can already tell that booking her in with an experienced gundog trainer is the best thing I could have possibly done for her (and me for that matter).
Her sit stays have dramatically improved, and creeping is now at a minimum. I’d argue its more of a fidget now with the occasional creep, but this is something we will continue to work on day in day out! My homework from today’s lesson is to try and be more relaxed posture wise when I’ve asked for the stay. She responded much better to this than if I kept my hand up in a forceful wait signal.
Up until this afternoon, I was feeling a bit deflated with her stop whistle progress, however, after a change to my whistle pip and a few new exercises, we were achieving un-assisted stops which has fully restored my confidence! Like Saffy, this is high up on my priority list to work on with Bramble.
Since our last session, we’ve also been working on retrieving. Let’s just say this is a work in progress and probably the most difficult problem that we need to un-pick. To summarise the issues, Bramble seems to think that retrieving is a game- she either runs around in circles if she does pick something up, drops in 3 feet in front of me, or shakes it about like a game of tug. We have a few new methods to try with this and we have made some progress, but I’ll focus on this more in the next blog if we see any further improvements! One positive from today with retrieving was that Bramble had her first go at fresh game and she DIND’T try to eat it, a massive win for us haha.
Finally, we’re working on some new hunting techniques with Bramble. She’s an absolute natural at the bits we’ve tried so far, and I feel there’s not really much to teach her at this stage, it’s more about teaching myself not to trip over my own two feet and guide her correctly! It’s been so refreshing to watch her try something new and succeed at it rather than unpick bad habits I’d taught her previously.
Until next time!
I really hope you’ve enjoyed our 4th Paws Puppy blog, and a massive thank you for your support, it means the world to us. If you’ve followed us from the start thank you for sticking with us and following our journey. If your new here and this is the first blog you’ve read, welcome to our training journey, and we hope to see you next time!
As always, I also want to say a massive thank you to Paws Brooklyn for this opportunity to share our training journey with you all.
Until next time,
Nat, Gin, Bramble and Sapphire x
]]>Sassy Saffy is back!
Welcome back to our Paws Puppy blog! I can’t believe that it’s only been 4 weeks since our last blog because I feel we’ve achieved so much since Saffy’s little teenage tantrum relapse. Don’t get me wrong, we still have a long way to go on our training journey and it’s not all been sunshine and rainbows, but overall, I’m over the moon at the progress we’ve made this past month.
Since our last blog, we’ve finished our mini pet gundog course and Saffy is back to off lead walks. I’m quite proud to say that she’s an incredibly well-behaved little girl on our solo walks (joint walks with her sisters is another beast I need to tackle) and we’ve had several people comment on how good she is! Going back to basics is the best thing I’ve ever done for Saffy’s training, and I can’t believe how much we’ve managed to achieve because of this.
We’ve still had a few walks where I’ve come away feeling super deflated and as though we’ve not achieved anything, but as I write this now and look back on the past 4 weeks, the positives most definitely outweigh the negatives.
In this blog, I’m going to detail what I’ve been focusing with Saffy recently and what my next steps are in her training journey. I’ll also add a little in about her big sister (big but little sister since Saffy has shot up recently and towers over poor B!) Bramble’s training as well – I hope that’s ok!
Just a good girl
I’ve still been focusing heavily on basics with Saffy because I don’t want to rush into the more complicated bits of gundog training until I’m confident she’s nailed the foundation work. If you read our last blog, I’m sure you’ll remember I was having difficulty with her engaging and doing pretty much anything I asked. However, after a few weeks of stripping everything back – lead only walks, multiple mini sessions at home and in the garden – a switch just flicked, and I got my clever little Sassy Saffy back!
Something we’ve been working hard on is off lead heelwork. Out of my three girls, Saffy is by far the best at this – she walks in line with my feet, checks in with eye contact and, for the most part, only releases when I tell her to. We’ve practised heel position a lot at home which I feel has massively helped with this. Using treats I lured her into the correct position on my left, marked it when it was right and gave her a chunk of pate. I then kept giving her treats whilst she sat in the correct position until I was ready to release her with ‘ok’. This has helped to teach her that she should only stop heeling on the release word. We then progressed to taking a few steps, treat, more steps release etc. We practise short stints of heelwork on every walk, and I’m slowly building up the distance I ask for everyday to help solidify against distractions in the real world.
I’ve also been focusing on a few small components required to piece together a successful retrieve. Firstly, we’ve practised different ways in which she approaches me when I recall her. The way that I stand lets her know exactly how I want her to sit when she comes back to me. For example, my left leg out in front and back slightly bent, means come and sit right in front of me, head up high and as close as possible. This is how I will want her to deliver dummies and game. If I stand straight with my arm out to my left, this means come and sit in heel position. Moreover, I will sometimes ask for a retrieve recall let’s call it (the first recall mentioned above), and quick run around the back on my legs to sit in heel position (essentially putting the two pieces of the puzzle together). To do this, I take a treat in both hands, swing my right around the back of my shins, when she follows, grab her attention with the treat in my left hand and ask for a sit. It’s a bit fumbly and awkward at first, but gets easier the more you practise.
On top of this, we have done a little bit of casting and dummy retrieves, although I’ve kept these bits on the lighter side since I don’t want to push too hard and fastand want to nail the bits mentioned above first. On the retrieves I have tried though, I can already tell that the different pieces we have been working on are coming together nicely. Again, this is all foundation work that I’m hoping will knit perfectly together when we start moving onto more complex training.
Side note – I’m mainly using our rabbit dummies or Bramble’s 0.5lb canvas for the bits of retrieving I do with Saffy, but above is my little super star carrying a full 1lb canvas that we won as part of our amazing Paws Brooklyn giveaway!
We’ve still been continuing with other bits such as stop whistle, sit stays, eye contact, loose lead, all of which I’m really happy with our progress on too. I haven’t introduced any new methods for these, just continuing with the bits I’ve discussed in the previous blogs to help reinforce our cues and ensure we don’t lapse on the basics again!
Sister Strolls
Just a quick note to confirm that all of the above (apart from standard recall) goes straight out of the window and Saffy’s ears turn off when she’s with her sisters. If she’s not following Gin just a little too far, then she’s jumping on Bramble’s back or handing from her ears – she has zero interest in being a good girl on joint walks!
This is something I’m on working on with her, but for now we’re keeping it to super short joint sessions at home as we would achieve absolutely nothing if I tried training them all together on walks!
I had a lot of accounts message me on insta when I posted a story about this a few weeks ago, all saying that joint training is something they really struggled with for a long time (thank you all again for yourmessages of support and advice). It’s not going to be a quick fix and I would much rather continue to work on our basic training individually until it’s ingrained in Saff, before pushing duo training sessions and potentially messing up all of our hard work!
Stealing the show
Whilst technically not a puppy anymore at 14 months, Bramble is just a baby so she’s getting a little bit of limelight too! The reason I wanted to discuss Bramble’s training a little is to show the stark contrast between the two girls and how one thing might work for one but not for another… Bramble’s training has been super focused recently. She’s an amazing little cocker with an incredible amount of potential and seriously strong working lines. Sadly, as my gundog guineapig so to speak, I made a lot of mistakes with Bramble’s training which has resulted in me unpicking months of bad habits. I also find that Bramble doesn’t learn in the same ways the I’ve taught both Saffy and Gin which means I’m trying to find new methods to help her understand what I’m asking. I’ve recently signed up Bramble to individual gundog lessons with the accredited trainers who own her sire! We had our first lesson 2 weeks ago, where we stripped it right back and focused mainly on where I was going wrong and how to rectify that. Our key points to focus on the next were:
I’m really hoping our one to one gundog lessons can help me find ways to teach Bramble and turn her into an incredible little beater! If you guys don’t mind some of Saffy’s attention being stolen, I’ll keep you updated on how I’m getting on with Baby Bramble’s training in the next blog too.
Until next time!
I really hope you’ve enjoyed our 3rd Paws Puppy blog, and a massive thank you for your support, it means the world to us.
As always, I also want to say a massive thank you to Paws Brooklyn for this opportunity to share our training journey with you all.
I hope you all have an amazing Christmas, and that Santa Paws spoils your fur babies.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
Until 2023,
Nat, Gin, Bramble and Sapphire x
All photo credits to @thespanielgirlgang
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Where to start!
Welcome back to our Paws Puppy blog! I’ve been debating on how to document Saffy’s training journey since our last blog because if I followed a chronological process, then I’d possibly be giving a false sense of where we’re at now. A doggy insta account once reminded me that training isn’t linear, and so I’ve decided our blog isn’t going to be either! We’ll jump back and forth to compare where we we’re there, vs. where we are now and where we hope to be this time next month.
We actually started off so well, I thought I’d hit the jackpot (my first mistake, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is!). Saffy was engaged, crazy steady, eager to learn and just an overall super star. My second mistake was by-passing some of the basics in training and focusing too much on the more complicated (fun) parts of gundog training. Gin was 2 years old before I started really delving into gundog training, and Bramble was 6 months. Saffy was 2 months old, and I regret prioritising some things over others.
My third mistaken is a bit of a paradox because I’m not actually sure I would have done much different if I had the opportunity to rewind. For about 12/13 weeks old, Saffy was enjoying off lead privileges (once we we’re hitting 99% of our verbal and whistle recall cues – DO NOT LET YOU DOG OFF LEAD IF YOU HAVE NOT TRAINED RECALL) in our local parks and fields. On one hand, I don’t regret this because it’s a prime time to build on your foundations for recall whilst the big wide world is more scary than exciting, and the pup wants to stay close by. Both Gin and Bramble were off lead from early ages for this very reason. On the other hand, Saffy is the most independent puppy I’ve ever known, and I think giving her so much off lead time, combined with mistakes number 1 and 2, may have helped to nurture her natural curiosity a little too early than I had anticipated…
Figure 1 - Photo credit @pawsbehindthelens
Where we are at now
Over the past couple of months, I’ve learnt hard and fast, that whilst Sassy Saffy loves me very much (I get an endless amount of puppy kisses, cuddles and snuggles everyday), she doesn’t find me very fun at all. It’s been a hard pill to swallow because (not to toot my own horn), but Gin and Bramble worship the ground I walk on, so I was not expecting to have to bid for Saffy’s undivided attention.
When out on walks, it became very apparent that Saffy was no longer engaging with me at all, and constantly sought out more fun things to do. When I asked her to heel, she would do so for about 0.5 seconds then wander off. When I asked her to retrieve, she would do so, but then run off in the opposite direction with the dummy. When I asked her to sit, she would look at me, and make a conscious decision to point blank ignore me (I swear to could see the cogs going in her head). The only thing that stayed consistent was her recall (thankfully!), which I think is probably because we did so much foundation work so early on. This brings me back to my paradoxical mistake number 3; her recall has stayed consistently good, but the off-lead privileges also introduced her to a world of excitement and things that were much more fun that her mama… It’s a hard one to wrap my head around. If anyone has any thoughts on this, then I am more than open to advise!
After one particularly bad day where even her loose lead walking went to pot - she had never pulled on the lead a day in her life until this point - I decided it was time to rewind our training journey back to the very basics and start again! Whilst this was incredibly disheartening, I think the teenage tantrum phase happens more than you’d think, and many novice gundog trainers (maybe even the more experienced ones), need to take a few steps back every now and then to be able to continue taking steps forward. We live in a world where everybody wants to share their successes and the things going well in their life, which is lovely to see 99% of the time. But sadly, it also means that when the negatives do hit, it can feel quite isolating or like you’re failing. These blogs are all about keeping it real and letting anyone else who’s also struggling with their training know that you’re not alone.
Figure 2 - Photo credit @thespanielgirlgang
I wasted no time in booking Saffy onto a mini beginner’s pet gundog course and rewinding all of her training back to basics. For the first week, I stopped walks all together and instead did lots of mini training sessions in the garden where we worked on reinforcing, sit, stay and engagement. I’ve since built it up to lead only walks where we focus heavily on loose lead, as well as continuing the at home sessions for other basic bits.
We’ve also attended 2 out of the three sessions of our gundog course, which I’ve found massively beneficial. The lessons do still focus on the basics of gundog training, but it’s been really insightful to have someone demonstrate new ways to reinforce the simpler techniques, as well as helping me improve as a handler so that Saffy can better understand what I’m asking of her.
For sit, I simply just repeated all of the steps that I had mentioned in the previous blog and reintroduced verbal, hand and whistle sits, slowly building up the distance and duration. To help her understand that sit (whichever cue it may be) means sit where you are and not come to me to do so, I’ve been keeping Saffy on the lead and had someone hold the lead (or tied to a door handle) whilst I move about and pip my whistle. This has helped to stamp out any creeping on a stop whistle/sit cue. Additionally, after seeing how well @thespanieldiaries cocker, Ginger has picked up the stop whistle using a ball, I’ve also been slowly introducing playing games of fetch with Saffy and asking for a sit before rewarding her with it. I taught Gin using this method as well, but I guess it didn’t occur to me to use this with the others as neither Saffy nor Bramble are as ball obsessed as Gin is! However, Saffy is slowly seeing more and more value in playing fetch with a ball, so I’m hoping to see more progress with this over the next few weeks.
I’d spent very little time working on engagement with Saffy previously and I believe this is one of the key reasons why our other techniques seemed to be falling apart. We’ve kept our engagement lessons simple and have been practising a lot of eye contact as well as ‘touch’. Currently, Saffy now holds eye contact for approx 5-6 seconds before she gets rewarded. I’ve found that the clicker works well for us in this scenario to mark her eye contact, letting her know that the treat is coming her way. Touch is something she’s picking up quite quickly, and this seems to be helping with her focus and concentration on me. I can already see massive progress when we practise other bits just from working on these simple engagement techniques; Saffy is much more focused and barley takes her eyes off me now.
To improve her steadiness and stay, I invested in a place board. I’d been debating whether to get one for a long time (some people argue they are invaluable, others tend to not see much point in them), however, it’s one of the best purchases I’ve made. She knows that the board is a happy place where, if she responds correctly to cues such as ‘stay’, she gets lots of treats and praise. One of the great tips I have learnt from our recent gundog lessons is to practise whenever the opportunity arises during your everyday life. For example, every time I take a quick break from work to make a drink, I pop the board down on the kitchen floor, ask Saffy to sit/stay and release her when I’m done. I cannot tell you how much I’ve noticed an improvement in her steadiness just by simply getting her to stay in a natural environment when I’m moving around from the kettle to the fridge or the biscuit cupboard etc. I’ve also found the board incredibly using for improving her retrieves as well, but I’ll cover that more in the next blog!
Figure3 - Photo credit @thespanielgirlgang
Where we hope to be next time
Whilst returning to basics with Saffy was particularly disheartening as I know she has incredible potential, it’s the best thing I have done for her and our training journey. I’m already over the moon with the progress we have made over the past few weeks, and will continue to develop all of our skills using the three Ds (distance, duration, distraction) to ensure that we have everything nailed down.
Something I’ve had to remind myself of a lot these past few weeks is that our training is a marathon, not a sprint. I am in no rush to get the girls out working, and so need to use our time wisely to ensure that we’re getting things right and making sure they stay right.
Hopefully by this time next month, we’ll be moving on to re-learning some of the other bits we’ve started to slip up on like off lead heelwork and retrieving without victory laps. Saffy may also be enjoying off lead walks again with lots of engagement games!
Figure 4 - Photo credit @thespanielgirlgang
Until next time!
I really hope you’ve enjoyed our 2nd edition of our Paws Puppy blog, and a massive thank you for your support, it means the world to us.
As always, I also want to say a massive thank you to Paws Brooklyn for this opportunity to share our training journey with you all.
If there’s anything in particular you’d like us to cover, in the next blog, then please leave a comment down below 😊
Until next time,
Nat, Gin, Bramble and Sapphire x
Figure 5 - Photo credit @thespanielgirlgang
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What’s in my training bag and why…
With so many shapes, sizes and colours of dummies out there, what do I choose to keep in my training kit and why do I rate it?
On my gundog classes and 1-2-1s, I bring a variety of Paws@brooklyn dummies and equipment for handlers to try so that they can see which their dog needs or perhaps prefers.
Let’s start with younger dogs, the three options I carry for younger dogs are from lightest to heaviest.
The puppy dummy, this is a small dummy filled with wadding and is almost weightless. This is the first thing we try for any puppy under 6 months of age. This is easy for pups to carry and is a great confidence builder when we are doing some easy informal retrieves.
For larger or older puppies, I will either use my D&F Original clone snipe dummy or my 3 piece dummy. My preference is usually towards the 3-piece dummy as it is nice and light but will also encourage the puppy to get a nice middle hold whilst retrieving. As they may pick this up from either end then realise it is easier to carry it properly. I would only use a weighted dummy on a very confident pup or younger dog to ensure they get success in those first few retrieves.
The snipe dummy is also ideal as it is lightweight and very easy to carry at 100g. This dummy is designed to have a level of camouflage as it is a feathered pattern. However, I find for young dogs in training its more about gaining confidence rather than having them hunt for the item. I keep puppy retrieves very small and simple so it is unlikely that colour or pattern will have an effect at this stage.
In between this stage and the next I tend to only use very light items if we are training for a better delivery.
For dogs that are confident with retrieves and need something to test them a little more I will usually use my set of ½ canvas dummies. This is just to add an element of weight, as if the dog will be picking up in the field depending on the game, they can be very heavy. It’s important to add weight slowly to training so as not to knock your dog’s confidence.
For older dogs looking to increase the weight, we would then move onto 1lb (500g) dummies, I like the Firedog dummies as they float on water. I use these dummies to prepare Thorn for some test days we attend, where I knew the dummies would be 1lb in weight. I also use these for water retrieves as they are big enough to not get lost but also easy to move in the water.
If your dog is yet to pick game or is inexperienced and often picks by a foot, wing or head the Firedog Flying Duck Dummy is for you. I am really impressed with the quality of this dummy and it’s great for teaching a good body hold to your dog. The long chord also allows for a nice far throw.
Once you have your dog picking the right part of the bird it’s then a good idea to move onto some fur or feather. I carry around 4 rabbit balls and a cock pheasant pelt that I will attach to either the half or pound dummies. Proper introduction to feather and fur is essential so make sure you have a good gentle and generalised hold first.
In total the contents of my training bag are as follows…
With this combination of equipment, I always have the right dummy for the occasion.
Let us know your favourite dummy in the comments. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask either myself or paws@brooklyn.
Thank you,
Lydia and Thorn
Tenderleigh Dog Training
All products are available via paws@brooklyn website x
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Love the Paws Team xx
Paws Puppy Blog – Edition 1
A sassy introduction to Saffy
Having two working cockers already (aged 3 and 10 months), I wasn’t planning on getting another puppy for quite some time. But when my breeder posted a photo of a little white Sprocker pup with a black eye patch and two-toned ear, well I guess that’s why I’m now trying to train 3 spaniels as novice gundogs!
Figure 1- Photo credit @thespanielgirlgang
Saffy is the most confident & independent pup I’ve ever met. She’s incredibly clever, and is a mastermind at causing mischief; to sum up, she’s a typical working spaniel with a large sprinkle of sass!
My first piece of advice if you’re looking into getting a working spaniel pup (especially one with working lineage), research the breed and seriously evaluate whether you have the time & energy to dedicate to walking and training them. Yes, spaniels are very cute and generally fun, friendly, lovable dogs, however, they are also super intelligent and active dogs that need a lot of mental stimulation as well as a good exercise regime. It’s a massive commitment to look after a working dog and ensure that their needs are met, but also a very rewarding experience.
Whilst each dog has their own unique personality that you have to cater to, for the most part, I knew exactly what I was getting into and how much work I was going to need to put into Saffy’s training. Even if you aren’t planning on working your pup, I would 100 percent recommend looking into gundog training materials to help structure your training and help nurture their natural instincts. I’ll list a few of the resources that I have found helpful at the end of this blog as places to start, and of course, point you in the direction of Paws Brooklyn for all of your gundog supply needs!
Ultimately, whilst I joked about seeing Saffy’s eye patch and then impulsively bringing her home, I knew that I had the time and dedication to train her, even as a novice myself. I hope I haven’t scared anyone looking into getting a spaniel pup off; I just hope to be able to help prepare any first-time working breed owners a little, in a way I was never prepared for my eldest spaniel, Gin!
A week in the life of Saffy
Saffy was 2 months old when I brought her home. As with any pup, it’s a massive change moving to their forever home and leaving behind their littermates who have no understanding of doggy etiquette! For the first 4 days or so, I did very little training with Saffy, and instead let her get used to her new surroundings and new big sisters. This obviously doesn’t include toilet training – as soon as she did her business on the lawn, she got a chunk of chicken and lots of praise!
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Aside from this, the only other training I did with Saffy during her first few days was crate training.
Crate training was one of my main priorities to work on with Saffy. The crate should be a safe, comfortable space which your pup can relax and settle in. If used correctly, the crate can the most helpful tool at your disposal. It comes in very handy when you’re wanting to get a nice relaxing bath that your pup decides they want to share with you… Sadly, I did not persist with crate training Gin and Bramble, but I definitely wish I had! Seeing the way Saffy immediately settles down in it after one of her little devil episodes, or even how Gin has started to take herself off to bed in Saffy’s crate for a lunch time nap, or when the fireworks start, makes me confident that the crate is an amazing tool when used correctly. It was something I was determined to continue with this time around.
Blankets, a comfy dog bed and a crate cover are a great way to make the crate a safe space for your pup. Feeding meals, treats, chews or lick mats in the crate is also a nice way to make it a happy place for your puppy to go to as they associate the crate with lots of yummy food, and let’s be honest, there’s nothing negative about treats when you’re a greedy little puppy! The crate should not be somewhere that your pup is scared of, but instead somewhere they feel secure (something I learnt after using it incorrectly with Gin and her toilet training!)
The main things I’ve found the crate helps with are;
Aside from this, I focused a lot of my attention during Saffy’s first week on integrating her with my two older cockers, Gin & Bramble. It was important that I made the transition into a trio girl gang as smooth as possible for all of the dogs. Adding a tiny baby Saffy to the mix was a big culture shock for us all, but something I over came quickly by making sure the older girls still got plenty of my attention, and ensuring they had their own space when they needed it.
Figure 2 - Photo credit @thespanielgirlgang
8 days and counting
As soon as Saffy’s first week came to a close, we jumped straight into basic training. Puppies are so impressionable, so it was important to me that I made the most of that and started training Saffy as early as possible. From my experience, training not only helps the pup to develop into a well behaved and mannered dog, but it is also a great way to tire out their busy little minds! Saffy is much less of an overtired monster if we’ve done a few short training sessions throughout the day.
I had a handful of things on my basics training list that I wanted to prioritise. This isn’t to say that the other bits of basic puppy and gundog training aren’t important to me, but you can’t teach everything at once, so having two or three things to focus on at one time helped me to structure Saffy’s training and not overwhelm myself or her! I’d argue that trying to teach everything all together was one of the biggest mistakes I made when I started training my youngest Cocker, Bramble. Now I’m having to unpick all of the bad habits I taught her through rushing her training programme.
Sit
Sit is probably the first thing anyone teaches their pup, and if you bought from a great breeder, they may have already started to lay the groundwork for you. Teaching sit is pretty easy and there are many methods out there to do so, but there are a few tips I’ve found helpful along the way of my training journey. Firstly, mark the sit (or any ‘trick’) either with a word like ‘Yes’ ‘Good’, or alternately a clicker if you’re wanting to train with this tool. This tells the pup that they have done something good, and that a treat or reward is on its way. Another thing I’ve found useful is to train sit on a wide range of different surfaces like the carpet, tiles, the grass, the pavement etc. In my experience, spaniels, whilst typically being water babies, have an odd dislike to sitting their bum down on wet grass!
Once we had the verbal sit nailed down, I immediately started to teach Saffy sit with a hand signal and a pip on the whistle. I repeated all of the steps that I used with a verbal sit, but instead used the new hand single or whistle cues. I’ve found that this has really helped create a good foundation for our stop whistle training which I’ll cover in a later edition.
Figure 3 - Photo credit @thespanielgirlgang
Recall
The next basic training task on my list was Recall; I can’t express enough how important recall is to me. We are fortunate to live around some very beautiful, open spaces, and I want the girls to be able to enjoy their walks off lead, but I definitely wouldn’t let them off if I wasn’t confident that they would come back when called for. The best thing I ever taught all of my girls was to recall to three pips of my ACME whistle (PawsBrooklyn stock a gorgeous range of ACME whistles and lanyards!). They get a high value reward, such as Pate chunks when they return to make sure they are enthusiastic about recalling back to me, and they know they are getting a fair trade of yummy treats for stopping their search of good sniffs!
Saffy is an incredibly confident and independent little puppy, so it is imperative to me that she has a solid recall to prevent her from getting hurt, wandering too far and getting lost, or approaching other dogs without permission. One important thing I always try to remember when starting recall training is that dogs do not automatically know what three or five pips of your whistle means. You have to teach them your recall tone by enticing them to come to you with lots of yummy food so that they can associate the whistle tone with recalling towards you.
I’ve found that long lines are a great tool to help practise recall when you’re not confident that your dog will come straight back to you. I have a 10m Biothane long line that I actually use with my eldest cocker Gin around this time of year. As soon as the 12th of August come around, it’s like a switch flicks, and she becomes obsessed with game scent on the ground. Once her nose turns on, her ears turn off and she will follow the scent, returning at her leisure once she’s done. Now, If I know we’re going on a walk with a lot of scent on the ground, she’ll be on the long line so that I have a lot more control over where she’s wandering off too and can prevent her from following her nose to the other side of the field. I constantly practise recall with all of the girls and its something I am continuously working on to perfect.
A handy recall tip I’ve learnt over the past year is that, teaching recall and allowing your puppy the freedom of being off lead or on a long line) is much easier if you start ASAP. All of my girls have had off lead privileges since they were 12 weeks old; at this age, puppies are still wary of the big wide world, and won’t yet be confident at straying too far away from your side. This is a prime time to start teaching recall and I would recommend making the most of this opportunity to teach recall whenever it is safe to do so!
There are so many other basic training elements that I feel are so important (Stay, leave it, down…) and all are things that I have taught Saffy as soon as she was old enough. I hope to delve in deeper to more of our training journey in future blogs!
Figure 4 - Photo credit @pawsbrooklyn
Figure 5 - Photo credit @thespanielgirlgang
Until next time!
I really hope you’ve enjoyed reading about the training journey of Sassy Saffy and her big sisters! I am most definitely a novice gun dog trainer and always aim to be as transparent as possible when I’ve messed up a training technique (I will take 100% of the responsibility for miscommunication between me and the girls). I’m studying the gundog world along with my pups, and love that I can document the lessons I’ve learnt along the way on the Paws puppy blog. We hope to cover a lot more in future blogs about our training journey, including both the ups and downs, the successes and the lows, and some more of the mischief that little sassy Saffy causes!
A massive thank you to Paws Brooklyn for giving us the opportunity to share our novice girl gang journey with you all.
Until next time,
Nat, Gin, Bramble and Sapphire x
Figure 6 - Photo credit @thespanielgirlgang
Gundog Resources
Please note that these resources are materials or sources that I have found helpful for my own gundog training journey. Each trainer’s journey is completely different, and these are only recommendations based on my personal experiences.
Instagram – as crazy as it sounds, everything I have learnt about gundog training has been from following gundog accounts on insta, or from the resources that those accounts have recommended. Creating our dog account was the best thing I ever did for my girls! I have met so many wonderful people, found loads of amazing small businesses and learnt so much that I was completely oblivious to prior to starting our insta journey
Nick Ridleys Youtube series – Percy’s progress – a series of videos of Nick training his cocker Percy from a 12 week old pup trough to adulthood
Force free gundog training – Jo Laurens – A book which provides a great overview of the main elements in gundog training using modern force free methods
Total Recall – Pippa Mattinson - A book which helps to develop your recall skills with separate activities for training a puppy, and training an adult dog
Gundog training classes – There are lots of gundog trainers across the country which provide either 1 to 1 or group gun dog training classes.
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