I hope you don't mind me putting up a little video clip from training Murffi this morning. Just a little seen retrieve over a very short distance with a stop whistle on the out run. Not a lab as you can see, but a little working cocker. He is the dog who came to me as a rehome and with absolutely no interest in retrieving anything. So I clicker trained the retrieve and it has worked really well. He does mouth the dummy a little in this clip but I am not too bothered about that. I have never seen any indication that he is hard mouthed. After the long shooting season working on the real thing I am happy that he is still willing to retrieve dummies! This morning his reward was a slice of hot dog ;D http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpLwdxpiJew
Re: Murffi retrieving David, I haven't got very far yet in terms of distance and also retrieving from heavy cover. Just when we got going last year it was the start of the shooting season and Murffi was my number one beating dog, so very little time for retrieving training. But for a dog who had once shown absolutely no desire to retrieve i am very pleased with what he has learnt so far. His outrun is fast and so is his return, plus he has a very clean pick up and a lovely to hand delivery. So all the basics are there. Lots of training in the next few months and who knows maybe one day he will be able to do some of the fancy stuff my springers like to do.
Re: Murffi retrieving So, that's why the wheels didn't come off then, all that hard work. The harder I work the luckier I get, or so the saying goes. Lovely little pocket rocket, well done Murffi (and Heidrun too ) It's a lovely demo, I must show it to Hebe to remind her what she's supposed to do, independent little so'n'so.
Re: Murffi retrieving Thanks guys, glad you enjoyed the video. Murffi is what is described as a 'hot' little spaniel. I have to keep him very tight and totally on the whistle and I have to engage with him every moment he is working. If I give him an inch he will take a mile. But he is also very exciting to watch and to handle.
Re: Murffi retrieving Here are a couple of photos from last season showing Murffi in his 'natural habitat'. I work on a small walked up shoot with my friends and Murffi came out a few times when I accompanied a walking gun. Hopefully he will be doing a lot more of this next season.
Re: Murffi retrieving Looks glorious. Lovely photos. No rain or mud? The shoot Lady and I work on is mainly all friends and aquaintances too. Makes for some lovely days out. We will be working hard on the basics this spring and summer. I think by the time her legs are better from the ops she will have forgotten everything anyway so we'll have to do a bit of refresher work.
Re: Murffi retrieving When you follow a walking gun does Murffi flush and retrieve the birds? Lovely photos, he's a busy little dog isn't he
Re: Murffi retrieving Yes, he hunts in front of the gun and myself, flushes and if it is an easy straight forward retrieve I'll send him for that. I tend to take one of my springer girls with me, they are far more experienced than Murffi, so for a more complex retrieve I'll send a springer. It has taken me ages to build Murffi's confidence with regards to retrieving so I am very careful not to knock his confidence by asking him to retrieve in difficult situations
