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We start our season at the end of October. Oak will be 17 months old. He will have had cold game and been on a training day which is a proper 50 bird shooting day.
I pick up on a shoot twice a week, with a 200 bird bag. In the past I have taken young dog along, kept on lead, and let old dog do all hard bits, letting young dog pick easier birds at end of drive. No problems. I never intended to compete so steadiness wasn't an issue.
However Oak being so good to date has got me dreaming above my station about maybe trialing him one day, and I dont want to blow all my chances of ever being able to do so by spoiling him this season. So, how I am going to deal with picking up?
I was thinking of taking Oak out on the lead on some of the quieter drives, when I only need one other dog. I would also take either Fife or Ash and they could do most of the work. Then Oak could have one retrieve at the end, and / or sweep through afterwards. The drives where I need two dogs to work hard Oak would stay in the Landrover. Some drives are so busy that I really can't be concentrating on Fife and Ash working, and on Oak too. I am likely to teach him all sorts of bad habits. Added to which one of the other picking up dogs is a real fighter, so I need to keep half an eye out for him too, and I can't just relax that my dogs are working in their areaa, in case this goldie appears from the undergrowth and rips them apart (no exaggeration :evil: ).
But my concern is that although Oak is left in the vehicle when I take the others out, that is not in a hyper exciting shoot environment. I DO NOT want him spinning arund in the vehicle, nor learning to be noisy. He has never shown any sign of doing so, but he hasn't been in such exciting situations alone before.
Has anyone any advice as to how best to deal with this?
Thanks
Katy
I pick up on a shoot twice a week, with a 200 bird bag. In the past I have taken young dog along, kept on lead, and let old dog do all hard bits, letting young dog pick easier birds at end of drive. No problems. I never intended to compete so steadiness wasn't an issue.
However Oak being so good to date has got me dreaming above my station about maybe trialing him one day, and I dont want to blow all my chances of ever being able to do so by spoiling him this season. So, how I am going to deal with picking up?
I was thinking of taking Oak out on the lead on some of the quieter drives, when I only need one other dog. I would also take either Fife or Ash and they could do most of the work. Then Oak could have one retrieve at the end, and / or sweep through afterwards. The drives where I need two dogs to work hard Oak would stay in the Landrover. Some drives are so busy that I really can't be concentrating on Fife and Ash working, and on Oak too. I am likely to teach him all sorts of bad habits. Added to which one of the other picking up dogs is a real fighter, so I need to keep half an eye out for him too, and I can't just relax that my dogs are working in their areaa, in case this goldie appears from the undergrowth and rips them apart (no exaggeration :evil: ).
But my concern is that although Oak is left in the vehicle when I take the others out, that is not in a hyper exciting shoot environment. I DO NOT want him spinning arund in the vehicle, nor learning to be noisy. He has never shown any sign of doing so, but he hasn't been in such exciting situations alone before.
Has anyone any advice as to how best to deal with this?
Thanks
Katy