Hi All, Has anyone been on a training course/holiday at all? I wondered about doing a week with Riley before I head back to work or maybe in the summer.
Re: Anyone been on a training 'holiday'? I have been on a couple of training holidays, Barbara. I also help my friends who are gundog trainers and often have people and their dogs staying for training. What are you interested in and what area do you have in mind?
Re: Anyone been on a training 'holiday'? I don't mind travelling, we're in Winchester. It will either have to be in school holidays so Ben can look after lizzie or I'll have to get my parents along so will need a bit of planning I'd like to get back on track with some retrieving and general obedience with other dogs around as Riley's biggest distraction is other dogs as he loves to play. I still aspire to take him to a real shoot one day but I'm in no rush as baby, husband and job(soonish) all take up a lot of time!
Re: Anyone been on a training 'holiday'? I should add we're very much novices, some sit/stays, recall, early retrieves. No directional work and not too much distance involved in anything we've dome so far.
Re: Anyone been on a training 'holiday'? Steve and Coshy Kimberley of Kimberley Gundogs in Winkleigh Devon offer training weekends for all breeds and levels. I have been to a couple myself and can thoroughly recommend it. Steve is a fabulous trainer and has super facilities to train on. Plus Coshy's cooking is to die for. ;D Or you could go a little bit further west and rent one of my friends' self catering cottages. They are John and Debbie Zurick of Sedgehurst Clumbers. You could bring the whole family and have a holiday on Exmoor plus some tailor made training for you and your dog.
Re: Anyone been on a training 'holiday'? You will be amazed how much progress a young dog can make over just one weekend of intensive training. How old is Riley now?
Re: Anyone been on a training 'holiday'? Those both sound great as my parents are just outside Saltash so I'm sure we could work something out on the babysitting front Riley will be two late in May so not that young but having a baby did put his training on hold somewhat
Re: Anyone been on a training 'holiday'? I have also been on Steve Kimberley's training weekend training and can thoroughly recommend it and Coshy's cooking is very Cordon Bleu. I also went on Philipa Williams gundog holiday in mid Wales, rather expensive but very good, have a look on "Dogs for Life'. Stacia
Re: Anyone been on a training 'holiday'? So we're booked in with Steve on 6/7 April, very excited I've also realised that 'novice' in gundog training terms doesn't mean anything close to beginner : as Coshy kindly pointed me to the beginner class rather than the novice and I asked a friend about it and she said she'd made a similar mistake with her well trained dog and found the novice training class full of field trial aspirants - scary!!!
Re: Anyone been on a training 'holiday'? Sounds brilliant Barbara , looking forward to a full report when you get back
Re: Anyone been on a training 'holiday'? Barbara, I think you will really enjoy it. Coshy and Steve are great fun and you will learn loads. Say hello from me.
Re: Anyone been on a training 'holiday'? Wonderful weekend, Riley asleep and me definitely on for an early night! Great food, buckets of tea and relaxed, informative training. We had a real mixed bag of dogs, 2 labs, a springer and a variety of HPRs which was fascinating. This did add some complexity with different commands and some variations on exercises to allow everyone to do the things important for their breed. New things for me were the 'back' command, some different options for training a stop and some long distance memory retrieves. I never thought Riley would retrieve a dummy 80 metres away in a wood round two 90 degree corners and across a stream but he was brilliant! ;D The best things were the confidence Steve gives you to try things and the tips on what to do if it doesn't quite work out. I think I find it hard to correct Riley without being concerned about damaging what we've already established. Already trying to work out how and when I can go back ;D
Re: Anyone been on a training 'holiday'? So very pleased that you enjoyed it, both of you Its really great to hear of positive training like this and support too , lovely news
Re: Anyone been on a training 'holiday'? Oh and we laughed a lot There was loads of other stuff, it was a full two days, if anyone wants more detail on the content happy to write some more!
Re: Anyone been on a training 'holiday'? Oh yes please Barbara , I was waiting for you to come back before daring to make an enquiry for me and Sam , sorry for using you as a tester
Re: Anyone been on a training 'holiday'? Barbara, I am so pleased you enjoyed the weekend. I knew you would. I have been to several training events with Steve and Coshy and I learnt so much! ;D
Re: Anyone been on a training 'holiday'? I'm quite sure the content varies somewhat depending on the dogs and people attending but here's an overview of our weekend..... Heelwork on and off lead Sit/stop whistle straight line seen and memory retrieves in a corridor including using the back command Retrieving over jumps Memory retrieves in the wood not in a straight line Left and right commands Next stage stop whistle 80-100 metre straight line memory retrieves in the woods (for the labs, the others were hunting in this session) This is the bare bones of what we did and doesn't convey Steve's skill in building up the exercises on each other and discussing the detail and alternatives. There was a lot of talk about trials and judging which was less relevant for us but it did make me reduce my 'noise' level working with Riley and be much more clear about what I wanted from him which in turn helped us both be more successful.
Re: Anyone been on a training 'holiday'? We were on a beginners course, Riley was the oldest at two and the youngest dog was 5 1/2 months but age wasn't really important. The level the dogs were at wasn't too disparate but Steve just encouraged everyone to establish one level before moving on so if for example your Heelwork on the lead still needed work you'd do the exercise twice onlead while others did it once on and once off lead. It was a very pleasant learning experience without competitiveness (mostly )
Re: Anyone been on a training 'holiday'? Sounds like you and Riley had a great time on your training holiday, well done to both of you. I am so very envious xx
