Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2009 8:18 pm Post subject: how many dogs til you got it 'right'?
How many dogs did you have before getting to a stage where you think you know what you're doing... with regards to training and succeeding at competitions etc
Or did you do well with your first dog and go onwards and upwards from there.
My first dog Coal... made lots of mistakes but he is now progressing really well and i'm dead proud of him
Finn... at least i knew where i was aiming but i'm still learnt lots. and i've made errors along the way but learnt from them.
Its difficult at the moment as they are both at the same stage with their training but at the same time its great to see the differences in their progress with each new challlenge/exercise.
so how about you lot....
____________ Sam, Coal & Finn
It�s never too late to be what you might have been
All photographs remain copyrighted to me with al
My first lab was a star she was so easy and so perfect everyone loved her and I miss her so much my second lab I love her to bits but I feel I have let her down big style I tried to train her so much esp with her recalls but I was fighting a loosing battle it came to a peak when she went missing for two hours I was i pieces that I had somehow let her down and that she would not come back and did not knoe what to do. So I got proffessional help dog training wise and fingers crossed we will get there.
My third lab just like my first lol so I really dont know if im getting better or worse
My first own (so not owned by parents and loved by me!) labrador, Molly, I only gundog trained and picked up with so technically she wasn't brilliant. She hunted but she didn't handle particularly except to be able to push her back. And we didn't compete. The next two Penny and Dylan ran in working tests. Penny never to any great level, she got a COM in a Novice Dog Novice Handler and a 4th in a Puppy test but that was it (and if I'm not mistaken 13 years ago the standard wasn't what it is now being honest!)
Dylan however was a dog then (so technically my own third dog) I had going well who won a couple of tests, a NDNH (in 1997) and two veteran tests in his life and had novice awards and ran twice, not covering himself with shame or glory, in field trials.
So technically three.....
Di
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The boys!
Read: Wylanbriar Dog Blog on the website: Updated! 1st February 12´!
I am not sure if you mean Gundog competition success or just competition success.
My first (own) dog was my Weimaraner dog Callan and I had success with him in Obedience competitions and at the lower levels of Working Trials. It just took a bit longer because I had to learn how to train him. My second Weimaraner bitch had success in the Show Ring, top level Working Trials, and as I just started Gundog Training when she was 8 she was placed in a HPR Gundog Working Test.
There is no reason that you can't have competition success with your first dog, it will just take a little longer to put it all together and an awful lot of determination on the handlers part.
Becs that is certainly the case in most instances (not your case in particular ), and it is why up to know I have shyed away from starting up classes here.
I can see so much potential in the dogs, but it is much much harder getting the handlers to take on board what you are telling them, and trying to ensure they do their homework.
I really hate seeing all the potential in the dogs wasted!
My first dog came 4 years ago and it was a great match straight away. I was really careful in the beginning (looking back too careful) but we managed to win the first working test we entered. Since then I had a few 3rd and 4th places in novice tests. She competed in open once (with my brother) which was not a big succes, however I wanted to compete with her in open myself this season as I think she may get very close to the awards. I have entered in a few trials, but as she is too hot we get thrown out before we even get started. However, she is an absolutely wonderful picking up dog and has given an eyewipe to a number of FTCH's already when out in the field. My only regret with her was unwillingly allowing her to get too hot. It is built in, but I think with better training the first few months it would have been more than manageable.
My second dog is going fine as well now at 2 years. I got a 4th in a puppy test (I'm not a WT kind of person so I don't enter one if I don't have to) and we have put in our registration for a few trials for the coming season and we hope to be able to get a few runs.
I never believed it would go this fine nor this quick, but I think I managed to get a good eye for reading (my) dogs. I hope to have a dog really competing at open trial level this season and with the dog I will now run I have the feeling I have a good chance of succeeding in doing so.
I'll probably know in a few months time.
woo hoo third dog the charm... now will someone work on my husband!
I echo.... first dog... massive steep learning curve, second dog... ok got some knowledge lets push on further. But its that further next again step that is the hard part!!!!!
I predict I'll be 4th or 5th dog before I get the hang of things. I hope I always learn something new from my dogs. They have taught me so much already
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interesting reading.
Question for those who have succeeded with their first dogs - did you have previous experience with dogs, with training or with the shooting gundog world prior to getting the first dog?
Coal is my first dog. Family didn't have dogs as i was growing up and my only experience being some years working in a kennel whilst at college. Coal was my first intro to dog ownership let alone training him. And prior to him and coming on this forum i.d never heard of gundog tests etc. So i'm pretty chuffed with how far we've come
just need to convince OH that i might need a third or mayb a fourth in years to come
____________ Sam, Coal & Finn
It�s never too late to be what you might have been
All photographs remain copyrighted to me with al
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