Gunner to Gundog - the continuing tale....

So... he will never be sharp enough for Field Trials (and if he were he'd probably be unbearable to live with) but he's going the right way to be a good hunting companion.

It's always dangerous to admit to your trainer that you've had no problems since the last session but that's basically what I did. "He's done everything I've asked" I told Rory "and nothing wrong that I can tell". "I suppose the only small thing is that when he brings a retrieve back to me he has a tendency to put it down at my feet rather than to my hand. But that's something we can work on."

"OK" said the man "Let's go off to the 'farm' and see how we go".

Remembering that last time Gunner was distinctly disinterested in retrieving anything, our first task was to prove that this state of affairs would not be repeated.

Rory picked a patch of (extremely) rough field and sent us off saying - "Show me what he can do"!!!!

Striding out to the midst of the rough patch, Gunner closely to heel, I gave him the sit command. He sat. Lead removed. Dummy thrown about 15yds down-wind. Gunner instructed to fetch. He fetched , brought it back to me, put it down at my feet. Oops. My fault, not his. Repeated 'sit' command. He sat. Repeated dummy throwing in a different direction. Given the instruction, Gunner retrieved and gave to my hand. Much better. Repeated the exercise once more. Same result. Good dog. In each case he was much more interested in looking about him and trying to suss out if there was anything really interesting lurking in the long grass. Nostrils twitching and ears perked. Given the surroundings, therefore, he did jolly well.

"Pop him back on his lead, drop the dummy, walk on a distance and send him back for it" instructed Rory.

At home, this is his showpiece. He's worked up to going back about 15o yds and round a bend so he had no qualms about going back 20yds or so to show Rory.

Again, he wasn't as sharp about it as he is at home, but that's not surprising in strange territory.

"Well done" said Rory. "He's done everything you've asked him even though he clearly was more interested in the rest of the world"!!!

So off we went to 'hunt' around another very rough and boggy field - and by this time it was chucking down hail and sleet and snow and anything else that was up there. Wonderful.

Gunner's hunting was excellent. His handler was the only one in the wrong. I let him go too far away! I pushed him on too fast.! I didn't let him hunt the ground before I trampled all over it! I gave him confusing instructions, on occasion using my voice instead of my whistle and vice versa - and that was all in the first 100 yds!

Popped dog back on lead whilst some misunderstandings - on my part - were cleared up and off we went again.

This time, all was successful. Whilst not setting the world alight, Gunner was perky and thorough (and by the end thoroughly soaked too!).

"OK" said the trainer. "Let him get ahead of you, give him the 'sit' command, throw the dummy out and send him to retrieve".

Gunner was a star. He sat instantly on the whistle, looked at me, watched the dummy go and when I gave him the command - he looked at me even harder! "What's so darned exciting?" he seemed to say. "Fetch!" said I and he shot off like a bullet, looked for the dummy, found it and charged back to me. Gave me the dummy and sat, expectantly......

I looked round to find my Trainer gripping his sides with laughter.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, nothing at all" he managed to spit out "But when I said last time that you needed to show more enthusiasm for the task I didn't realise you'd take it so much too heart. In the previous field" he continued "you conveyed a sense of jolly hockey sticks and cheerleader rolled into one. Clearly it's worked because even Gunner was absolutely stunned at the last one!"

"Oh" I mumbled, more than slightly abashed.

"So I think he's got the message now and you can afford to be a little more subtle with him"!

All in all though, when we'd finished our session - and by the now the sun was literally shining above again - Rory expressed himself well pleased with the progress made in the previous fortnight.

Homework? We continue in the same spirit - me a little less 'over-the-top' and try and test him out against some rabbits to establish if he is truly steady to 'fur'.

More in a fortnight.