Search found 1916 matches
- Wed May 05, 2021 7:15 am
- Forum: General Chat
- Topic: No wheels on my wagon.
- Replies: 28
- Views: 10893
Re: No wheels on my wagon.
My thanks to all of you for your good wishes. I am finding it very difficult to type due to the many painkiller drugs inside me .... I feel afloat on a sea of drugs ! :roll: I cannot focus well enough to type coherently and I am permanently tired . I did have a really good life though and I'm happy ...
- Thu Apr 22, 2021 2:50 am
- Forum: General Chat
- Topic: No wheels on my wagon.
- Replies: 28
- Views: 10893
No wheels on my wagon.
I have lost the last wheel on my wagon and the "Cherokees" have captured me. I have cancer in my lungs and on my ribcage and running down from behind one ear and well down my throat. I have been given about 2 or maybe 3 months more to live. So.....Cheerio you lot and lang may yer lums reek. Bill Tha...
- Sun Oct 18, 2020 7:11 am
- Forum: Training
- Topic: A Labrador Retriever Struggling Retrieving Birds (video) - Advice Appreciated
- Replies: 11
- Views: 4911
Re: A Labrador Retriever Struggling Retrieving Birds (video) - Advice Appreciated
O.K. .....I hope you are good at acccepting well meant criticism because that's about all I have to offer. There is absolutely nothing wrong ..........with the dog ! I found myself, as I watched the little film, wishing that someone would appear from the wings to put sticky tape over your mouth ! Th...
- Fri Oct 09, 2020 7:17 am
- Forum: Training
- Topic: Steadying a Dog On Wild Birds
- Replies: 76
- Views: 27213
Re: Steadying a Dog On Wild Birds
I do not have a whoa command yet my dogs stay steady on point. I never use an e-collar and very seldom ever use a checkcord yet my dogs do not chase. I command them in to flush birds and they still do not chase. I allow or even almost encourage them to chase every bird they find when they are still ...
- Mon Jul 27, 2020 4:23 pm
- Forum: Training
- Topic: Vive'ing la difference
- Replies: 33
- Views: 10438
Re: Vive'ing la difference
When I posted distances of 50 or 80 yards I was understating the distances ….. I'm a modest sort of person ! 8) :lol: I've seen dogs indicate game up ahead at almost incredible distances but you still have to approach that game close enough to get a shot and that is sometimes a problem with late sea...
- Mon Jul 27, 2020 7:11 am
- Forum: General Chat
- Topic: Duck Search
- Replies: 13
- Views: 5296
Re: Duck Search
That is one very persistent and determined dog ! Is that sort of training done for use in tests or trials ? There is, I'm told, a water search done in some European versatile dog tests but it is against the law to do that sort of thing in Britain.
Bill T.
Bill T.
- Sun Jul 26, 2020 8:16 pm
- Forum: Training
- Topic: Vive'ing la difference
- Replies: 33
- Views: 10438
Re: Vive'ing la difference
I liked the dogs work very much. It did what I train all of mine to do. The covey contained the adult birds and this years well grown brood and at this time of the year the grouse tend to sit tight and permit a close approach provided the approach is a careful and non noisy one. This remains the cas...
- Fri Jul 24, 2020 3:19 am
- Forum: Training
- Topic: Time swimming
- Replies: 16
- Views: 7756
Re: Time swimming
Fishvik ….Scotland is a great place to live for, in general, the summers don't get too hot and the winters don't get too cold. Very high (over 75 F.) temperatures are pretty rare here , over 80 and everyone starts talking about it being too hot . Over 90 ??? I think that time in Skye was the only ti...
- Thu Jul 23, 2020 6:25 am
- Forum: Training
- Topic: Time swimming
- Replies: 16
- Views: 7756
Re: Time swimming
Very occasionally ! :roll: :lol: I was working a dog on the island of Skye about 35 years ago when the temperature went up to 93 F. ! I was supposed to be doing a grouse count prior to the shooting season with my dogs but I wouldn't work a pointing dog in that heat …..and to be honest I could not ha...
- Fri Jul 10, 2020 4:21 am
- Forum: Training
- Topic: Bird puppy destroyed first bird.
- Replies: 5
- Views: 3988
Re: Bird puppy destroyed first bird.
Personally I would not give such a young pup a live bird to play with. You had nothing to fall back on when things went wrong. I would not give anymore game to the pup unless the game was fit and able to fly away fast. Not sure what you were trying to achieve by using a live bird in that way ? If it...
- Sun Jun 28, 2020 2:41 am
- Forum: Training
- Topic: Feather Aversion
- Replies: 4
- Views: 3400
Re: Feather Aversion
I don't know enough about force fetch to talk about it. I would go a different route to get the dog over the possible aversion to feathers. I don't think the bitch has an aversion to them …..she just isn't used to them. I would use pheasant or duck wings separated from the bird at the joint and tie ...
- Sat Jun 27, 2020 4:12 am
- Forum: Training
- Topic: How to teach "turning"?
- Replies: 44
- Views: 23391
Re: How to teach "turning"?
An "HPR" is what we call the "versatiles." H - Hunt ….P -Point ….R- Retrieve. So yes, an HPR is a retriever but what that has to do with the video I don't know. I am not criticising the dog work at all . I am only questioning in what way it represents anything new ? If it is new to you then I am ple...
- Fri Jun 26, 2020 8:11 am
- Forum: Training
- Topic: How to teach "turning"?
- Replies: 44
- Views: 23391
Re: How to teach "turning"?
I have no complaints about the dog in Mr. Higgin's video. It worked fine and showed it is "linked" to it's owner. I am pretty sure that any of my HPR's would have worked in a very similar manner on flattish ground with minimal cover such as the ground in the video. I would probably not have needed t...
- Wed Jun 24, 2020 6:57 pm
- Forum: Training
- Topic: Fetching issue
- Replies: 13
- Views: 7143
Re: Fetching issue
Stop using any bumper your pup does not want to pick up. Try, just to get things started, rolling up one of your old and nice and smelly woolen socks and toss that a short distance ….then walk away at speed while calling the pup in a friendly, happy tone of voice. Not many pups can resist an old sme...
- Wed Jun 24, 2020 6:46 pm
- Forum: Training
- Topic: How to teach "turning"?
- Replies: 44
- Views: 23391
Re: How to teach "turning"?
I do as Higgins says he does and always have done. I thought everyone ,to some extent, trained dogs to quarter using body language ….but it only works if cover is sparse enough for you and the dog to see each other -- and if the dog happens to look in your direction with some regularity . For those ...
- Wed Jun 17, 2020 4:49 am
- Forum: Training
- Topic: Boykin rebelling
- Replies: 7
- Views: 4982
Re: Boykin rebelling
I have never used putting a dog back into the kennel as a form of correction. I am not sure that a dog can make the link between what it did "wrong" and being returned to the kennel ? I don't use F.F. either but I know that it does work if correctly done. Personally I just use "fun" as a motive for ...
- Mon Jun 08, 2020 4:34 am
- Forum: Training
- Topic: VIDEO: Choosing to Share Her Prey
- Replies: 43
- Views: 23820
Re: VIDEO: Choosing to Share Her Prey
Hi Robert, not even in my youth did I have a hippy hair style ! I was a "rocker" not a "mod" or a hippy. I had no interest in flower power ….though some of the hippy ladies did interest me a lot ! :lol: How are you keeping ? Are you as bored with this lock down thing as I am ? The only fun I have ha...
- Sun Jun 07, 2020 3:44 am
- Forum: Training
- Topic: VIDEO: Choosing to Share Her Prey
- Replies: 43
- Views: 23820
Re: VIDEO: Choosing to Share Her Prey
Hi average guy. I am not nearly "techie" enough to take that old tape and somehow transfer it onto a disc and then post that onto U TUBE. The two training videos were the idea of a gsp man called Ian Sayers. We were good friends and he lived just 8 miles from me so he got himself a fairly cheap came...
- Fri Jun 05, 2020 5:15 am
- Forum: Training
- Topic: VIDEO: Choosing to Share Her Prey
- Replies: 43
- Views: 23820
Re: VIDEO: Choosing to Share Her Prey
I'm bored stiff just sitting about the place so I took another look at "Average Guys" photographs. Robert (Polmaise) is right, the scenery is just like we have here. I can be in fields like those within 5 minutes of leaving my house. I have very easy access to miles of "public land" that contains va...
- Fri Jun 05, 2020 3:36 am
- Forum: Training
- Topic: VIDEO: Choosing to Share Her Prey
- Replies: 43
- Views: 23820
Re: VIDEO: Choosing to Share Her Prey
Yes Average Guy …. a nice clean and tidy delivery. Must admit that I used to let my own dogs slip back a bit from a really good "present." They'd stand while delivering and a few of them , especially my favourite dog, my cocker spaniel "Charlie" used to do a little "it's mine" dance as he gave me bi...
- Thu Jun 04, 2020 8:05 am
- Forum: Training
- Topic: VIDEO: Choosing to Share Her Prey
- Replies: 43
- Views: 23820
Re: VIDEO: Choosing to Share Her Prey
If I moved house to the USA and wanted to train and work and possibly field trial gundogs then just about the first thing I'd buy would be an e-collar. From what I've read I'd need to use it if I wanted to win in your retriever tests and trials. I don't need one here because our trials are very diff...
- Wed Jun 03, 2020 4:10 am
- Forum: Training
- Topic: VIDEO: Choosing to Share Her Prey
- Replies: 43
- Views: 23820
Re: VIDEO: Choosing to Share Her Prey
I can only agree with the above post …. I do not know what "big country" is in the sense you mean but I have considerable experience of working pointing dogs on and over Scotland's hills and moors. It is still very possible or even very likely , to walk for hours over the hills .and never see anyone...
- Tue Jun 02, 2020 4:56 am
- Forum: Training
- Topic: VIDEO: Choosing to Share Her Prey
- Replies: 43
- Views: 23820
Re: VIDEO: Choosing to Share Her Prey
What I mainly noticed in that video is how much junk the poor dog is lugging around with it. In my opinion if a dog really needs to drag check cords around and wear electronic gadgetery around it's neck then something in the dogs basic training has been skimped on or missed out completely. Plus …..t...
- Wed Apr 29, 2020 7:38 am
- Forum: Training
- Topic: Hard-mouth AFTER Trained
- Replies: 5
- Views: 4055
Re: Hard-mouth AFTER Trained
Did the dog's owner give you any clue as to what caused the first known instance of hard mouth ? Without that knowledge we are all just guessing and could prescribe the wrong treatment …..if there is one ! Personally, I have never known a truly hard mouthed dog that was successfully and permanently ...
- Thu Apr 23, 2020 4:46 am
- Forum: General Chat
- Topic: Genetics vs. Training
- Replies: 44
- Views: 18039
Re: Genetics vs. Training
Genetics versus Training - - - - - There should be no such thing. Sensible folk buy pups likely to have the genes for the things they want …...and then they complement those good genes with good training.
Bill T.
Bill T.
- Mon Apr 20, 2020 4:29 am
- Forum: Training
- Topic: Strange behaviour on point
- Replies: 42
- Views: 18671
Re: Strange behaviour on point
Another problem is the false points that has emerged, where she points the spot the birds newly flew away from. Is this something which is rectible? False points ….strictly speaking these are points on nothing at all or on , perhaps, ancient scents not necessarily of game. . They can be caused by h...
- Mon Apr 20, 2020 3:57 am
- Forum: Training
- Topic: A little help with "hold"
- Replies: 31
- Views: 13664
Re: A little help with
I agree Gonehuntin'. FF has it's place, but as others like Trekmoor and Polmaise will concur, it's not the only way. There are many thousands of gundogs here in Britain and none of them that I know of were F.F.'d .....and yet they still retrieve. It makes me wonder why you lads bother to do it ! :l...
- Fri Apr 17, 2020 3:46 am
- Forum: Training
- Topic: A little help with "hold"
- Replies: 31
- Views: 13664
Re: A little help with
I realise none of the following is going to help the O.P. much but, as Sharon suggested, I've got a bad dose of cabin fever and need to do something …..even if it is only pointing out the obvious. I never have any trouble with the retrieving of my older pups and dogs because the "trouble" was dealt ...
- Wed Apr 01, 2020 6:51 am
- Forum: Training
- Topic: Strange behaviour on point
- Replies: 42
- Views: 18671
Re: Strange behaviour on point
Well ……….. I am shocked to read that I've been doing it all wrong for all these years ! :lol: I train every pup I get on wild birds right from the start and I certainly don't have control over either the pup or the situation. Yes the O.P. made a mistake. He, in some way, made his pup feel "wrong" wh...
- Wed Mar 04, 2020 3:22 am
- Forum: Training
- Topic: Should i let me Brittany actually play with and catch a live bird
- Replies: 13
- Views: 7670
Re: Should i let me Brittany actually play with and catch a live bird
I am a Brittany fan but I have never found it either necessary or a "good idea" to deliberately permit a puppy to maul a live bird. My brits were all keen, fast hunters , good pointers and very good retrievers of dead or of winged game. I just took my time and let things develop "naturally" during t...
Re: Behavior
I will be brutally honest ! (for the sake of the dog) and all other dogs . That's not like him ! :lol: :lol: :lol: Robert (Polmaise) gave good advice here. I too think you should visit a reputable trainer and it needn't be a gundog trainer. A half decent obedience hall trainer should be able to hel...
- Wed Mar 04, 2020 3:05 am
- Forum: Training
- Topic: VIDEO: Flush/Stop on Cue, Steady to Wing, Shot, Fall, and Retrieve
- Replies: 2
- Views: 3292
Re: VIDEO: Flush/Stop on Cue, Steady to Wing, Shot, Fall, and Retrieve
Hi Brad, I suggest you move house to Britain immediately ! :D The video showed what we require from a dog hoping to win a Novice field trial . The dog held it's point until commanded to flush and it was steady to flush and shot and fall of game. It retrieved on command but I did notice it's return w...
- Sat Jan 18, 2020 4:14 am
- Forum: General Chat
- Topic: Stop It !
- Replies: 11
- Views: 5640
Re: Stop It !
I agree, a dog, is a dog, is a dog. Some dogs are more equal than others however !
Bill T.
Bill T.
- Sun Jan 12, 2020 5:13 am
- Forum: Training
- Topic: Steady to flush- question
- Replies: 35
- Views: 14904
Re: Steady to flush- question
You won't heed my reply ...... You will herald the notes of comfort. "Never , ever , ever Steal the Point" .....The dog will flush when you want the point . I apologize I do not follow this. Mind explaining? I think what Polmaise is meaning is that you are seen by the dog as being competition for t...
- Mon Dec 30, 2019 8:58 am
- Forum: Training
- Topic: Pointing .
- Replies: 2
- Views: 2717
Re: Pointing .
Hi Robert, my spawn of the devil " Charlie Yabugger" the cocker spaniel points pheasants and will also back other dogs on a bird. I encouraged him to point on rabbits when he was about 12 months old …..coz it was the only way I could get near enough to him to stop him chasing them ! :oops: This beha...
- Mon Dec 30, 2019 8:43 am
- Forum: Training
- Topic: Tips for teaching fetch or retrieve?
- Replies: 18
- Views: 10276
Re: Tips for teaching fetch or retrieve?
Sometimes ,the game perceived by the pup (any breed) ends when the chase has finished ? Similar to the situation described with the frisbee. Yes ! That's it in a oner ! A retrieve is , for many pups, a whole collection of behaviours of which some will need to be encouraged/taught. Your pup does the...
- Fri Dec 20, 2019 4:11 am
- Forum: Training
- Topic: Training / hunting question - missed shots
- Replies: 16
- Views: 7985
Re: Training / hunting question - missed shots
I've trained quite a number of the versatile breeds and a few pointers and setters. I have also trained spaniels and labs …..it does not really matter what breed a gundog is, they can all be trained to be steady to flush, to shot and to fall of game...……..and the missed shots can be very valuable tr...
- Wed Dec 11, 2019 3:01 am
- Forum: General Chat
- Topic: Trekmoor/Bill/Wullie
- Replies: 12
- Views: 6393
Re: Trekmoor/Bill/Wullie
Thanks folks. I was taken into hospital with pneumonia but during CT scanning, dark areas on my lungs and a tumour in one of them was discovered. It doesn't look good but I am hoping for the best.
Bill T.
Bill T.
- Wed Dec 11, 2019 2:56 am
- Forum: General Chat
- Topic: Whats with the hooping and hollaring in field trials??
- Replies: 39
- Views: 17452
Re: Whats with the hooping and hollaring in field trials??
I asked the same question on here about 10 years ago after seeing a video of a field trial in the U.S. . I now understand ( I think ?) why this is done but I don't like the idea at all. I think I spent too long competing in British pointing dog trials in which a handler who yodelled at his dog would...
- Sat Nov 23, 2019 5:08 am
- Forum: Training
- Topic: hunting too fast
- Replies: 37
- Views: 21975
Re: hunting too fast
I liked that pic and what is suggested in it !
Bill T.
Bill T.
- Wed Nov 20, 2019 8:47 am
- Forum: Training
- Topic: hunting too fast
- Replies: 37
- Views: 21975
Re: hunting too fast
Bill, thought your first-ever pointing dog was a Spinone left behind by the Roman Legions and poached from one of your Sassenach buddies? MG Nope, my first ever pointing dog was a vizsla bitch that a certain English lord wanted trained as a Labrador - - - as a "peg dog." I got the peg dog bit right...
- Tue Nov 19, 2019 6:14 am
- Forum: Training
- Topic: hunting too fast
- Replies: 37
- Views: 21975
Re: hunting too fast
What are you gentlemen talking about? :) They are blethering about a legend of Scotland - Robert the Bruce and his lesson learnt from a spider, all mixed up with a tiny bit of gundog stuff and an old fashioned Scottish word or two. I got the gist of it but I am not surprised by the non comprehensio...
- Mon Nov 18, 2019 8:12 am
- Forum: Training
- Topic: hunting too fast
- Replies: 37
- Views: 21975
Re: hunting too fast
Mmmmmm ??? I'm not at all sure on the question of human scent on caged birds. I've had one dog, a Brittany, that despised smelling human hand scent on a caged bird. She would point the bird but then almost immediately charge the cage, jump on top of it, carefully position herself …..and then pee all...
- Sun Nov 17, 2019 5:34 am
- Forum: Training
- Topic: hunting too fast
- Replies: 37
- Views: 21975
Re: hunting too fast
I'm not really sure I should be contributing to this thread, pointing dog work in Britain does differ a bit from that done in America. However just in case this may help I'll post it in anyway. My first ever pointing dog was a Brittany and she was the result of a mating between an American brit and ...
- Fri Nov 15, 2019 9:04 am
- Forum: Training
- Topic: So you think you know dogs?
- Replies: 14
- Views: 6922
Re: So you think you know dogs?
About 40 years back I went to see a lab pup with a view to buying her for field trial work. Her breeder was totally honest about why she was the only unsold pup in the litter. She'd already been seen and rejected by a few keen trailers. She was rejected because they felt she was an escapologist ….sh...
- Wed Nov 13, 2019 6:19 am
- Forum: Training
- Topic: So you think you know dogs?
- Replies: 14
- Views: 6922
Re: So you think you know dogs?
I've got one but it's not as good as your story. I was training a pointer (English) for a friend and she wanted her to retrieve as well as hunt and point...in Britain pointers are seldom worked as retrievers. The training in all aspects of her work was going well and she liked to retrieve …..usually...
- Mon Oct 28, 2019 8:32 am
- Forum: Training
- Topic: Starting Them Early
- Replies: 10
- Views: 6211
Re: Starting Them Early
That photograph made me smile. It reminded me of my first ever pointing breed pup, a Brittany. She was eight weeks old and when I brought her home from the breeder and put her down on our kitchen floor, our budgie flew down and landed right on her nose ! The tiny little pup immediately went on point...
- Thu Oct 24, 2019 5:50 am
- Forum: General Chat
- Topic: New Member and gun dog owner
- Replies: 9
- Views: 6092
Re: New Member and gun dog owner
Welcome to the forum.
I've had a few GSP's …. a terrific breed for a man who likes to hunt. I am sure your pup will do well for you and give you a lot of pleasure.
Bill T.
I've had a few GSP's …. a terrific breed for a man who likes to hunt. I am sure your pup will do well for you and give you a lot of pleasure.
Bill T.
- Thu Oct 17, 2019 4:47 am
- Forum: Training
- Topic: FF or wait?
- Replies: 62
- Views: 46233
Re: FF or wait?
Auch yer heed Trechy! I dunna ken yer drivel. How's that Bill or do you more often get "Oor Wullie"? It wasn't bad but "Auch yer heed" is meaningless and also has incorrect spelling . The word "Auch" should be "och" and the word "heed" should be "heid." - - - - As in ," Och ! Awa ind bile yer heid ...
- Wed Oct 16, 2019 7:21 am
- Forum: Training
- Topic: FF or wait?
- Replies: 62
- Views: 46233
Re: FF or wait?
It's definitely "humour" …. you lot cannae spell tae save yersels' !!
Bill T.
Bill T.