Re: Five year old Brittany .. worth it trying to train?
To the OP ….. for field training, back up and think of the dog as a young pup and introduce the training just as you would for the younger dog.
Carol Cassity has a great book showing drills for training and they are marked as being for a dog just starting out, a dog in transitional training and drills for the advanced dog. This book can be found in Canada here - https://store.dakotacreekretrievers....ev_p/cc002.htm
As others have said, take the gun introduction slow …. Have always found the best way is to start at a distance and slowly decrease the distance between the gunshot and the dog BUT do this introduction with birds …. Preferably pigeons with flight feathers pulled so the dog is SO excited and bird crazy it doesn’t even hear the shots in the distance.
Re: Five year old Brittany .. worth it trying to train?
Thanks for the notes, everyone! I will do some reading
Re: Five year old Brittany .. worth it trying to train?
When my poodle was young I trained him to not be gun shy and he was ok for a few years.
Then I got a second dog who I could not train and was scared shitless of loud noises.
Slowly, my poodle took to this new dog's habits and started also being gun shy.
I could never fix this again. I didn't really try too hard either.
I had taken him on a few hunts and he would just walk passed a dead grouse and wouldn't be interested in picking it up.
I tried him with the grouse wings and such, but I was just not a skilled enough hunting dog trainer.
But he will give squirrels and rabbits a chase every time.
My conclusion was that you can teach an old dog new tricks, but you can't easily make a non-hunting line hunt.
So my poodle is now just shooting the breeze and selling dope around the block.
Re: Five year old Brittany .. worth it trying to train?
Quote:
So my poodle is now just shooting the breeze and selling dope around the block.
Well at least your poodle is earning its keep :razz:
Re: Five year old Brittany .. worth it trying to train?
Training an older dog which has had limited bird experience isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Over enthusiastic young dogs combined with over enthusiastic owners isn’t the best combination if you want to avoid bad habits.
Re: Five year old Brittany .. worth it trying to train?
Hi there, I've been into Brittany's going on 15 years, I would say if he isn't gun shy he would absolutely love to go hunting. Whats your location?
I live in the Okanagan, if you're close I'd be willing to meet up .
Re: Five year old Brittany .. worth it trying to train?
pneumann, Lower Mailnland unfortunately.