Fieldwork

[marjolein]

Yesterday we started again, after a short holiday for both me and the dogs.
We went to our usual fields and Mowgli was amazing. She took the whole field, which was +/- 200 mtr's wide. Pretty good for a Weim. But, she always does this when there's no game around. So off we went to the next field. That was not as spectacular as the first field, but she did great. After a while she suddenly turned round and pointed. First a woodcock flew away and after a new attack of Mowgli, a pheasant took of. Great!!!!
Daan did great too, although I did notice some problems with her. We've been hunting all season and she's pretty keen on hare now. And that's not allowed for fieldwork. But she didn't took off after the hare, that jumped up just in front of her. Although I'm not trialling this spring, I'm not dissapointed at all!!!

[Irena]

Wow. To me, all this sounds amazing and also complete mystery at the moment. I can`t type much right now as I`m not feeling too well, but when I can, I`ll have to ask some questions. Thanks a lot, and I`ll be back into this section when I can.

[Alkemist]

Does anyone know if there are any differences in the way we work our dogs in the UK versus Europe. Someone recently passed a comment to me about dogs being worked differently on the continent and they didn't explain. Now I'm left curious .

Thanks

Nina and Jensen

[marjolein]

Yes, there is a significant difference Nina. The level of work expected from the dogs is exactly the same (that's what I've been told by a ft judge who has judged in UK as well). The main difference is the way the birds are flushed. When the dogs on the mainland are pointing, we go to the dog, who needs to be steady till we get there, and then we flush the bird together. In the UK, you're not allowed to go to your dog, but give him/her a command to flush. This has something to do with the kind of game the dog is pointing. A pheasant for example, will stay on the ground as long as possible. You can to your dog when it's pointing a pheasant without a problem. There's only a small chance the bird will fly away b4 you and your dog will flush. But there are birds that won't stay on the ground that long.
Grouses and partridges are good examples of these birds.

[Landlord]

Hi Marjolein,

I'm interested to find out how you get your dogs to go wide. My boy will go out maybe 200 yrds (not metres!) but I want him out wider. Any tips gratefully received ;D

[marjolein]

Emstan, do you mean that he goes 200 yards left and 200 yards right?
I would be very happy if my dogs did that !!!!!!!!
What I do, to make my dogs go wider, is run with them.
When they come back and I think it wasn't wide enough, I'll send them back to make them go further. If they don't understand what I mean, I run with them untill I think they've gone wide enough. This is very good for losing weight btw
Sooner or later the dog knows what you mean, and will start to take a greater range. And when he doesn't do it, he knows what you mean if you send him back. It all sounds pretty easy, and it is pretty easy, although hard work.

[Landlord]

Yes up to 200 yards left and 200 yrds right. Back to running then for me, we did lots when he was just starting out but after a season beating he is getting narrow and cutting short.

BTW if I lost much more weight I'd disappear when I turn sideways ;D

Thanks for the advice!

[marjolein]

How wide do you want him to go Emstan? Just curious.

[Landlord]

Its just for his training, I would like him to be able to cover a field if I ask him to. He tends to use people as boundaries so in a trial providing I position guns in right place he would use them as his boundary therefore does not matter too much in this case.
Does that make sense?