Puppy Training

[tasha]

Can I ask what people do with their puppy training to prepare them for the hunting field and tests??

As I have two on the go at the moment I am looking for tips and input. Both pups are 14 weeks now and at the moment we are doing exposure to game, basic socialising and swimming, obedience basics of sit, down, stay and recall with a little fun retrieve.

[tasha]

As an update to the post that I made on the one by Peter about congratulations and content this is what I have been up to with my puppies over the last month.

Swimming lessons:

To date we have done both swimming lessons in the sea in part of the harbour at Shoreham on the south coast of the UK it has a lovely beach that is sheltered has two good entrances on both pebbles and on sand so that they can get used to different surfaces under their feet. All the pups are swimming at the moment and are happy to enter the water. We have also taken them to an Aquatherapy pool near Heathfield in Kent. We had alot of fun with the pups wearing both ear protectors and dog lifejackets. Have to say George was not impressed with his outfit:


George, the height of swimming fashion ;D I've loaded up a couple of the videos

s106.photobucket.com/albums/m269/tasha_2006_09/?action=view¤t=BluSwimming1.flv - Blu (Ernie) First swim
s106.photobucket.com/albums/m269/tasha_2006_09/?action=view¤t=BlusFirstSwim.flv - Blu first swim
s106.photobucket.com/albums/m269/tasha_2006_09/?action=view¤t=DieselFirstSwim.flv - Diesel First Hydrotherapy swim

Charley with her favorite toy after her little retrieve, she was far more interested in the cheese that was sitting on the side though ;D

Charleys first swim doesn't she look lovely
s106.photobucket.com/albums/m269/tasha_2006_09/?action=view¤t=Charleyswim.flv

Lizzie's first swim - Lizzie is not one of my litter she belongs to Emma who we met at the fun day from a litter a couple of weeks older than mine, she does lack a little confidence.
s106.photobucket.com/albums/m269/tasha_2006_09/?action=view¤t=Lizziesfirstswim.flv

Then today we spent the day doing sheep training, we had six sheep in a pen and one by one the puppies were taken in whilst the sheep were being run around the pen none of them were that interested in them which was good but they got plenty of 'leave' told to them with a correction when they paid attention to the sheep.

We carried on the lesson with a short hunting lesson with one of the adults on heather which was lovely all the pups (6 in all) following closely where the adult bitch went, they had a quick paddle in one of the water holes. I have some pictures as soon as I have them I'll add them to the site.

We are still working on our obedience and recall to whistle with a little retrieve. This week they also had their first hide and seek game on deer legs and heads, its funny to see their little noses go up snuffling like little pigs when they smell the deer scent.

[tasha]

have to say a little disappointed that there were no replies...

[kags]

Great photos of your pupsters swimming. Looks like they are having great fun and being exposed ot lots of things. Excellent.

[tasha]

Thanks Kags for replying your a sweetheart!!

I was hoping that I would get some good tips about the Hunting side of the Weimaraner as we have so many wonderful people on here that all work and hunt their dogs. So far I have done the exposure training in the whelping crate have access to shot deer, duck, pheasant etc which is lovely but things are very different in Europe compared to how we work and hunt our dogs in the UK, where everything is very much driven organised days rather than rough although of course we do have a little of that too.

It would be nice now that the pups have started their passports and will soon be able to travel to Europe to organise some training classes for them so that they can attempt some of the European tests which I am absolutely fascinated by it was with this in mind that I posted this thread.

Honestly any tips and ideas would be wonderful, trial and error is the name of the game at this stage and there isn't much that I wouldn't do or distance I am prepared to go for an education.

[weimaranermama]

Oh Tasha, it's nice to see them in the water. On this pic you see a son of Foster named Sam. He is 9 weeks old here and likes so much to swim.

[tasha]

haha! he looks like he's having a great time! Marjolein came to England recently and we had a jolly to Bewl Water they had their first paddle, got a bit wet but had a great time it was lovely to see, they were fascinated by her Daan's long hair.

We've taken them up on the forest with their older half sister and it was lovely I'll see if I can post a picture, we'd just done a sheep training day which was very productive and something to build on. Our local forest has longhorn cattle and sheep free ranging so being able to ignor them is important as they do have a habit of turning up in the middle of training haha!

[marjolein]

I'll catch you on msn Tash re the puppy training!

[kags]

Awww what a sweety swimming there Tasha. Sorry nothing to offer but there really is bog all to do with dogs here, given the heat, the fact dogs are universally disliked. We try to get out to the desert weather permitting but no agility or anything like that as there simply isn't the space and it is too hot 9 months out of the year. Still I think despite all that the dogs live full and active lives, just have to be a bit more innovative about how that takes place. I love seeing all the photos of these lucky dogs doing all these exciting things, have to hide them from my two though!

[Kobie]

Nice pics everyone !
Its lovely if your pups are young in the summer to learn them swimm, but do somebody have a alternative for the winter
(except for waiting till better weather ;D ;D)

[shekeik]

Ok any ideas on how to get your dog in the water without scaring them from it for good? I took my girl down to the lake and was hoping she would be as excited as I was but no actually it was totally the opposite she sat way back from the water and cried!!

[tasha]

best thing really is to get in yourself, I am not a confident swimmer myself so I tend to paddle in the shallows or wear waders which seems to help. The swimming lessons in the hydrotherapy pool are a good idea they help build confidence although I am not convinced about the buoyancy aids as I am not sure that they will help or hinder. Both the pups swim nicely in the water but the aids did cause them to become a little unbalanced and they splashed alot more than without them.

This week we have been doing socialising and livestock exposure, crowd noise and farm machinery, noise distractions including distance gunfire. We attended the Edenbridge & Oxted Agricultural Fair which is aimed at the farming community and has events such as terrier racing, hounds, hawks (which the pups were fascinated by), ferrets, general livestock such as sheep, alpacas, cattle, pigs (again the pups noses went up and the sniffing and quivvering began which was amusing to see), there was a marching brass band (loads of men in kilts and fluffy pompom hats...) tractors with a display team lots of exciting smells and sounds for them to experience. Was a lovely day. George did make one of the band blush when he said hello as only a dog can when he decided to investigate what was inside the kilt...ho hum made me laugh!

[calla]

Hi Tasha,
I haven´t been in this forum for a little while. But I am always curious what you are doing with your young dogs. 1st swimming lessons in the pool - never even thought of this !!! I still do it the old fashioned way - on a lake. What I like about a pool is, that you don´r depend on the time of year. My pups are usually born in December. If I would have access to a pool, I would start my pups very early (2-3 months).But what is the deal with the life jacket ? I agree with you Tasha, I also think it hinders the pups more than it benefits. This time of year is just great for swimming training outdoors !
I wish you a lot of luck with your wonderful pups. And I hope to meet up with you on your next trip to Germany !
Nadja

[tasha]

I arranged for a group of my puppy owners to come along to the swimming lessons mainly because although most are going to training swimming is not covered and I think its an important lifeskill, it is also a chance for me to see them all again.

The little lifejackets are mandatory at the place that I went to for their safety which is fair enough to a point but outside of the pool we've also been doing lessons in Shoreham Harbour which is a saltwater inlet to the main sea so still has the tide but its beach is on a nice level with stones and a soft sand entrance ideal for giving them a good start into both a solid and soft entrance. The great thing is that even with the weather on the opposite beach blowing its worst the harbour is still gentle so not too frightening for the pups. I usually walk them in and then encourage them to swim to shore.

This week our obedience training started with a new trainer the obedience side of things is alot stricter than our normal classes which is a good thing with regard to heel work and game is used rather than just dummies so will be interesting to see what the outcome will be.

They had their second rabies jab for their passports this week so another couple of weeks and the blood tests will be done and shortly after we will be able to start our jollies, the first probably being to Holland to see their sire whose currently on a jolly to Rome.

This morning we had a nice training opportunity with the end result being the guts of a deer that had been shot and gralloched, the pups were able to follow the path of the deer a short distance and then had a small prize of a little deer remains. Its lovely to see them suddenly all get very excited and watch as they followed mum noses to the ground and then air scenting with the tails waggling around as they sniffed along the path the deer had taken to where it had finally dropped and been dealt with. They managed to find a rabbit and a shrew after that haha! a lovely walk on a very wet day definitely worth the jolly out.

[marjolein]

Cool Tash. Hope the rabies titre is good and that we'll see them soon!

[Sylvia]

Nice too read about your puppy training Tasha

[tasha]

Well today is the first duck day of the season on one of our shoots so hopefully should have something to start their hunt training with... Bonnies been excited all morning she knows whats happening when I start getting out my kit.

Am a little worried as most of the guns on this one are new to shooting and this is their first day so hopefully they will follow the strict rules we have on shooting below a set angle.

[tasha]

todays shoot was very interesting and a bit scary as one of the guns was shooting very low right over my head... needless to say he was given a few lessons on shooting in the field when there is a picker up behind you. The day went very well, a good bag not big but enough to keep everyone happy. I came away with four ducks for training and a moorhen that got in the path of one of the new guns. Bonnie worked her socks off today as we were a few people short on the day, being a weekday most people aren't available.

I'm going to go out to the field across the road it has birds on the ground so lots of scent and good height grass as its not been cut is hardly used by locals so I pretty much have the field to myself and will place the ducks out at random spaces, give it about an hour and then see how the pups do at finding them. Last time I tried this they did very well and once they found the first bird actively sought the second out.

[marjolein]

Can't wait to start again!!!

[tasha]

its so much fun isn't it, Bonnie's been swapped from doing the beating line to doing more of the picking up because the resident lab and the normal picker up basically don't do the job, its happy to pick ones in the open but point blank refuses to do anything else especially if there is so much of a hint of a bramble or rose bush in the way.... water is another of its not so happy places where as Bonnie now loves the water and actively hunts on it for injured birds.

The duck days are always a little exciting because you just don't know if you'll actually get any duck on the day, they have a choice of several lakes over quite a wide area of ground so there are no guarantees.

The pups loved the duck hunting this morning, took them out individually did a drag to get some scent on the ground and although they didn't go right onto it straight away (its pouring with rain here at the moment) the second time around they followed the track quite well, they weren't so sure about bringing the duck back to me especially George who loves his prize and wanted to carry it but they are learning to drop and have nice gentle mouths at the moment.

To be honest I can't wait for their first season, I'm going to take them behind the shoot at the end of this year so they get used to everything that goes on and then 2009 should be there first season out, dont think I'll take them all out together but I have 6 days a week hunting available so ca rotate them to get twice a week each which is more than adequate when you add training in is well.