Not a good start.
We learned every step of the way together. I'd never used a whistle to ask a dog to do something :
"The whistle asks, the voice tells" said my trainer.
We were both in the dark - the dog and I. From the very first lesson though I had visions of winning Field Trials across the country with him.
Then there was the day he chased a Hare. Well, to be fair to him, his training straddled a shooting season. So having had two lessons before it started his third was after it ended. Of course I kept him up to the mark in the interval - except I hadn't a clue what that was. If he did what I asked I was ecstatic..... I'd read the books, we were fine. He "err hum" experimented a few times with 'how fast a rabbit can run' but on the whole he was sound. Summarising to the trainer I said "He's 95% there all the time";
"That's a fail then" said that man.
Ever had your hopes dashed?
It was all my fault of course.
If I said "sit" and the dog eventually sat, I thought that was good.
"He's supposed to drop like a lump of lead" said the trainer.
"Sh...."
Well, we worked hard in that lesson and inbetween and the next time we went I could honestly say the dog had improved. Actually : What I meant was I thought the handler had improved. By his 4th lesson the handling had definitely got better and Gunner was great at 'left', right' and 'back' retrieving and he could find absolutely anything anywhere.... but, every now and often, if a rabbit popped up off would go the dog - yet again looking to see which was the faster of the two..... So in that 4th lesson we took him to enticing fields with ditches. The dog was great; keeping close and listening to the whistle and even sat - after a lot of loud whistle and hollering - when a pheasant flushed up,..... that was the first. By the third, he'd got the message and sat like a brick as soon as the bird moved. "Brilliant dog" I thought. "OK Got that" he said.
The trainer too was most impressed. By now, we're almost done and the trainer spots hares ears: I tell Gunner to sit and stay; which he does. He hasn't seen the hare.
"OK" says the trainer "Send him across the hares's scent...and as soon as he picks it up you do whatever's necessary to stop him following it"
"OK" says I crossing my fingers and sending Gunner out. And watched in amazement.
Well, he was on that scent within seconds, picked it up and bolted after it as fast as his little legs would carry him. And that was all we saw of him for the next 10 minutes....."Gosh" I thought "For a steady dog, he can't half move"
My faithful trainer set off after the dog - not chasing him cos he never stood a chance there, but making sure he was in the dog's sight all the time, however far back. I meanwhile moved the car. The dog eventually realised it had gone, lost his confidence, returned with tail between legs to where it had been and found a very annoyed trainer. Who berated him in no uncertain terms ("Where's my mum" said the poor dog)
I brought the car round, ignored the dog except to load him in and took him to the rabbit pen! where the "Every time you spot a rabbit you sit" lesson was reinforced. Well, Gunner had got the message by that time.
When I let him off the lead and he saw the first rabbit he froze. "Not going anywhere near that" he said. I told him to "Seek on" .... "In here?" he said "No way"
He never chased a hare or rabbit again after that day. Don't get me wrong, he'll hunt them and sniff them out and many's the time he's "jumped a hare" particularly in the snow (and, that's another tale - in the cold winter of 2010 on one particular drive on one particular shoot he caught a hare Every week we went!!!!) and brought it to me (for dinner) - but never has he actively chased one....
How often since then have I heard the trainer say - to me and others -
"I'll never forget that day. When Gunner chased after that hare, I knew he had something about him".....
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