ips does beating

[Ian Lawrence]

'A Dog will love you far more than you love yourself '

I know of a well known shooter for whom this is far from being true. :sarcastic:

No dog could love him as much as he loves himself!  

If you understand this, then you know who he is too.  :training:

 

[Salopian]

Ian,

 Am I allowed 25,000 guesses?????

 

[ips]

short vid of eze, sorry about audio it was very windy.

 

[ips]

Day 2

Torrential rain but not as windy or cold as it was two weeks ago, called it a day after third drive as apart from eze being very wet, shivering and looking generally miserable she was holding her front leg up, cant see any cut or anything stuck between toes so I assume she may have slightly sprained it or something. Seems ok now but she still keeps licking at it so something bothering her.
Anyway during the three drives we did she didn't put a foot wrong. Recall, stop and turns to whistle were bang on. A few shooters and beaters did not show presumably due to weather so we only had five dogs, I was offered a shoot on the fourth drive but politely declined as I was a bit worried about eze.
First drive like last time birds were scarce but she worked very well staying close and looking for instruction. Second drive I was sent up a hedge line 90degrees to the wood joining it at the end presumably (I think) to keep the birds from coming out the wrong side but to be honest I was given little instruction as to the plan and as I was on my own I didn't want to do too much in case I did something wrong so I pretty much just hung around with eze on lead. The other beaters incl the boss man said all was well so I may not have had much input but didn't ruin the drive. About twenty phessies bagged on this drive, everyone was very pleased with it.
Third drive I was instructed to join the boss man and his cocker in some thick tall grass too the side of the wood eze flushed a phessie and either stopped of her own accord or stopped very quickly to my whistle, it was difficult to tell anyway she effectively stopped to flush (ish) and did not chase (incidentally I did witness another dog chase a flushed bird full length of a field) boss man then asked me to accompany him along a stream into a sort of gorge, I didn't question it but it turned out we were looking for a couple of pricked birds, he must have thought we were better than we are and god knows what would have happened if she had got to it but it was too late by the time I realised what we were doing we were making our way along a very precarious bank. Luckily his dog got the birds so no problem. Oh there were no rabbits found by eze so no bog offs. An enjoyable if not a wet and difficult morning and a shame I missed the last two drives but I could not risk working eze on a potentially injured paw, no one expected me too and thanked me for coming. One bloke with a couple of obviously good dogs said to me and I quote " good little dog yours isn't she" so she did very well again in fact its fare to say she was even better than day one. She asleep next to me on sofa warming up now, oh and I am resting my back as that gorge bit knackered me.
The end

 

[ips]

update

whatever was bothering her with her leg/paw its not troubling her today. She is however bothering me as she is having one of her days were she appears to have taken some speed. Three mile walk / hunt didn't tire her, one hour mid afternoon training doing many long blind retrieves didn't tire her, thirty mins playing with ball in lounge didn't tire her. If she hasn't calmed down by seven oclock my boot up her backside will tire her.

 

[westley]

Could not quite work out where her injury was but do not forget that nettles do NOT die off in winter and can still cause irritation if a dog is 'nettled', especially around their feet. They usually recover by later the same or certainly the next day. If stung they will normally keep licking the infected area, so it does give you a clue. Well done, I am proud of you (and the dog !), I feel sure that you both will come to enjoy it all the more as the dog 'learns the ropes' so to speak.

P.S. Remember that those 2 'good dogs' were not always that, it takes experience to get there !

 

[ips]

keith

you may be right I never thought about that, no idea what she did but something was bothering her and as a responsible dog handler I did not think it was right to take her out again, I am after all an unpaid volunteer so no obligation.

anyway as I say she is fine now oh and asleep so size 9 up her ass was not required....... Yet.

thanks for kind comments I am proud of her too.

 

[ips]

very short vid of eze hunting

 

[Finners]

What an utterly delightful little Girl she is.

 

[ips]

Thanks finners. :smile:

 

[ips]

what a diva.



"Boo"

 

[Ian Lawrence]

Nice slippers. Christmas present?

Beautiful little dog too. :smile:

 

[ips]

ha, no there me old ones mate BUT I did get not one but two pairs for Xmas...

 

[ips]

Day 3

slight wind but no rain however the ground obviously very wet and muddy. My mate beating with his sprocker today so we met at usual place.

eze was no better or no worse than previous shoots as far as the occasional deafness to recall or stop goes , its fair to say at times she was self employed but she remained close and frequently checked in. She was more compliant on the first and last drive for some reason. I got the impression that she said to herself look I know what to do and I know better than you were the birds are so let me get on with it (if I am right I don't know how much slack to give her) she certainly did because she flushed many of them and worked some thick cover that many of the bigger dogs could not get into. There were as many compliant times as not and during these she took commands well. We saw four dear and one hare which I am sure she saw or scented but luckily did not chase neither did she chase any flushed birds.

If I can get a more reliable recall and stop and if steadiness continues to improve the way it is then I think I will have a very good gundog, ( but what do I know) the shoot members thanked me for attending and I received a brace, Mrs ips is doing pheasant something for new years eve.

so a good day was had and all things considered eze did as well as can be expected having been trained by a total novice and probably not very well either but were learning together and I know what I need to work on. (I think)

The end.

 

[Ian Lawrence]

The end.

Don't make that "The End" Ips. That's just the start of a beautiful journey. You have another month on the real thing, then all the way until October to work on the things you've identified, until you can get back out for real again next season. You'll soon find it's the most fun you can have with your clothes on, and equally as satisfying (when it goes well) as some of the things you can do with your clothes off!

Keep going with the updates through the year if you can.  :smile:

 

[Salopian]

Ian,

 It sounds to me as though you now have a very good dog.

A dog that can be seen to be thinking , seen to be working cover and not going too far forward , then coming back to the recall is all any of us would wish for .

I am so pleased for you both , who seem to be getting equal pleasure from your days out.

 

[ips]

thank you Ian, I have three sat to go then as you say I will work on the areas i know need working on. Will keep the updates coming.

peter

many thanks didn't look on it like that, she definitely knows more than I do. I do need a better recall and stop that's fir sure.

 

[ips]

just had a thought, what about a specific gundog section on the forum. There are quite a few experienced handlers on here that I know of (salop, dark side, David, Ian Lawrence) and prob many more, who could all share knowledge and numpties like me can write about our experiences good or bad and ask stupid questions ?????

anyone think its a good idea ?

 

[Ian Lawrence]

Ian,

 It sounds to me as though you now have a very good dog.

A dog that can be seen to be thinking , seen to be working cover and not going too far forward , then coming back to the recall is all any of us would wish for .

I am so pleased for you both , who seem to be getting equal pleasure from your days out.

Edit : Oooooops! Sorry. You aimed that at the other Ian.

 

[ips]

question for the experienced handlers.

can you over use the recall whistle to a degree that the dog becomes imune / less responsive to it because that's the impression I am getting from mine. If so would a change of whistle command help to re learn recall ?