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Sunday 26 January 2014

A Labradoodle at Gundog Classes

Back in September last year Dig It advertised a series of gundog training sessions with Mike Crawford of Cheshire Canine Services and an assistant.

There will be 6 workshops covering...
  • Basic Heelwork and The Retrieve
  • Distance Control and Memory Retrieve
  • Steadiness
  • Taking Direction
  • Stop Whistle and Redirection
  • Assessment
I looked avidly at the course details and fleetingly saw images of my big fluffy labradoodle Pixie in the field, expertly retrieving and delivering items to my hand and sitting calmly by my side. The moment passed and I realised it was probably not going to happen. Pixie is a great flyballer and loves the excitement, noise and flat out sprinting of the race. How would she and I manage the steadiness and direction and I have never used a whistle with her either? However Pixie is a bright dog and loves to learn so I enquired about the course with Katie and Lydia, who both thought she would rise to the challenge. So enroll we did and off to our first class in October.

The first class was held indoors at Dig It - I was a little apprehensive as I thought we may be too inexperienced and be embarrassed by others with much higher standards. Mike introduced himself and his assistant Emma and explained the course content and objectives, and that the first session inside allowed him to assess the overall and individual standards of dogs and handlers in a safe and contained environment. I was pleased to see a wide variety of dog breeds and handlers of differing levels of competence. 

Mike Crawford, Cheshire Canine Services
Mike assessed our on lead heel work followed by our off lead handling including some sneaky drops of tasty treats to tempt our dogs away from our sides and I have to say Pixie fell for it hook line and sinker!  We quickly moved on to retrieves and how to make it so interesting for the dogs to return to handlers by getting down to their level and releasing the dummies into your hand. We were given 'homework' to continue retrieve training at home and practising heel work and stays/waits ready for session 2 a month later. Pixie loved the session and stayed focused and challenged throughout.

Sessions 2 and 3 took place out doors at the Dig It show field. I was worried that the great outdoors and abundance of bunny poo would distract Pixie and wreck her concentration for the lesson. Mike explained that he wanted to ensure that the dogs and handlers really crack the steadiness element of the course as this is the foundation stone to all the gun dog skills to come. A long line of dogs and handlers practised on lead and off lead stays/ waits, walk pasts and recalls. I was very pleased with Pixie - she demonstrated good steadiness and focus except for the time when she did an amazing low slung commando crawl to me when she should have been at a stay!! Mike addressed all training issues both on a group basis and individually so that advice was tailored to your specific requirements. Both Mike and Emma conduct on going assessments of all our training throughout and provide advice and feedback frequently during the sessions. We started exercises using retrieval items beginning with short retrieves, waits before retrieves, heel work away from the dummy then retrieve, which was all to build up foundation skills leading to more complex double dummy retrieves and blind retrieves in the following session. I really learned a lot in these sessions and Pixie responded well although she did steal Ben's dummy bag and run off with it once! 


Session 4 - the first of 2014 and I had to admit, to my shame, that I hadn't done much training with Pixie over the holiday period - but I was not alone in this so Mike concentrated on revisting our previously learned skills to ensure what issues needed to be addressed before we moved onto whistle work and double retrieves and a blind retrieve. Up to now our dogs had seen where the dummies were before retrieving although we had extended the distance over the sessions but the blind retrieve is exactly that and you have to direct your dog with arm and whistle signals to find the item.  I was very proud of Pixie for doing so well with this.

So now off to practice all our new found skills ready for the whistle work session and the much anticipated final assessment. 

~ Kathy
Pixie, doing what she does best

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