When Pippa first started The Gundog Club there was quite a bit of opposition, with people saying that it was "Not needed." and "Gimmicky." But so many people never started "at the bottom" anyway and really have no idea how little some know. Imagine living in the country and going to a shoot with your dad at 5 years old as many did, These people have been watching the dogs and listening to the chat for as long as they can remember. Now think the other side, someone born in the city and now with their first dog. These two situations are worlds apart and people in the first group have no comprehension of people in the second group.
And that was where Pippa came in. She set up The Gundog Club to try to give people an insight into the gundog world. You hear people talking what is in effect a foreign language, in a friendly group where it is easy for you to ask, "What does that mean?" without being frightened of appearing stupid. You see the instructor's dog doing things which many pet dog people did not even realise was possible for a dog to do, so their horizon is stretched. I personally feel she has done a wonderful job.
It's been the first Sunday for so many years Liz I doubt they could cope with change now! We used to do the second Tuesday evening as well, but that was so poorly supported that we dropped it.
As I said in the other thread, SEGS did a working test training day this weekend, which seemed a jolly good idea. Sadly I missed it, so I can't give a report. SEGS also do the fun day, and UGS have a fun day, and we have a number of training days with BBQ's in the south, which are all very encouraging to new and old. We are lucky around here, we have great clubs.
I would say to new people though, please don't feel you are being ignored when you turn up and don't get welcomed with open arms. It is NOT that people are ignoring you, far from it, it is much more likely that they are concentrating on their dog, who may be a young / cheeky / naughty dog. Or they are catching up with people they haven't seen for a while. I'm sure that if you go close to someone and smile at them, you will get a friendly reply. We don't all know everyone, and, from an existing member point of view, it would be most embarrassing to go up to someone you don't recognise and say" Hi Are you a new member?" only to discover that they are founder comittee members or land owners or some such dreadful faux pas!! I, for one, am DREADFUL at names, so if you get a vague smile from me, be assured I am just trying desperately to place you, and would love you to come up and say "Hi! I'm Fred, I met you at the *****, how are you?!"
I echo Johns thoughts on the Gundog Club as being a very useful way of taking the first step into the World of Khaki! Whilst I'm sure the level of training and the individual trainers 'people-skills' may vary, I have been extremely fortunate in being introduced to a trainer whom I like and respect and I would have never had had the confidence to turn up at clubs without having first tested the water through the Gundog Club scheme.
I recommend it to anyone who I meet who has a Gundog of any breed. Even if you go no further than Grade one, it's still a brilliant foundation towards having a well-behaved dog that is a pleasure to be with.
I quote John W:-
There will always be a few "Elitist" clubs around, but I think most of the trouble you encountered Steve would have been lack of knowledge of your specialist subject. It would be doubtful, particularly down here, that there would be more than the odd person with any experience of Deer tracking. All I could do would be to tell a person to do the bits they wanted and sit out the bits they did not want.
Regards, John
Thank for the reply John, I think that you are right. I suppose I'd be the pigeon fancier amongst the canary breeders. The thing is, a good solid knowledge of basic obdedience and field work is required in deer tracking to. I know many owners and tracking dogs that have very little knowledge of either. Deer trackers are few and far between in the UK, deer trackers that teach obedience and field work are even fewer.
I have found a 'one to one' trainer locally and she is working with me to bridge the gap although I'm going to have to make a list of training that Mildred will not require, whistle blown commands for one! Mildred understands hand signals and whispered commands and at distance her recall is a single note on a whistle so as not to disturb the deer that may be nearby. All commands are very quiet and all hands signals are minimal, we tend to put a dog in one position and then walk back to within seeing distance to recall it or give it further instructions. It's very exciting learning a new skill, most of my information about deer tracking comes via Denmark as they have a long and well established knowledge of such things.
Although the club I applied to wasn't very helpful I can understand why and feel that it gave me the impertus to get off my bum and do things for myself.
I have been welcomed with open arms into the Danish deer tracking fraternity, they have even offered to translate website information and news letters for me. Now that is a Club to be in and only 50 Krona a year!
They could run taster days with maybe a few tests - to show people what was involved in entering a test without the nerves and stress of an actual test.
The game conservancy tests were really good the other week. Ideal way to start - more clubs could try this approach.
Quite a few clubs run working test training days or mini tests. SEGS recently had a working test training day as did URC Bucks (morning). Some clubs run them at the end of the year UGS West Sussex and Arun and Downland (from memory) although you have to have attended a couple of training sessions.
There is another Game Conservancy Test this weekend at West Wycombe. The SEGS midsummer tests were similar and the UGS Kent & E Sussex Funday are running one on August 1st. You don't have to be a member and they are open to all dogs (nonKCreg and crosses too)
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We used to do the second Tuesday evening as well, but that was so poorly supported that we dropped it.
