Professional Gundog Training

Joe Irving, winner of the prestigious McNeil Professional Handlers' Cup, was the author of a number of gundog training books including the classic titles 'Training Spaniels' and 'Gundogs; Their Learning Chain' (both published by Quiller Publishing). He was training gundogs since acquiring his first Springer Spaniel in 1963. A former child psychiatrist, he discovered that his psychiatric training gave a unique perspective to gundog training. He used this method to great success as a professional trainer.

Preface

The ‘Macsiccar’ Training Plan

1 Absconding ❖ Association – Learning By ❖ Amateur Trainers

2 Behavioural Boundaries ❖ Biddability ❖ Boundaries v Hunting ❖ Blinking Game ❖ Blood scent v Powder scent ❖ Boredom ❖ Breakers ❖ Breaking Cover ❖ Breeder ❖ Breeding

3 Car Sickness ❖ Case Hardening ❖ Chastisement ❖ Check Cords ❖ Conditioned Experience ❖ Creative Imagination ❖ Crowd Shyness

4 Dangerous Venues ❖ Dashing along the Hedgerows ❖ Dead There ❖ Directing the ‘Turn’ Signal ❖ Discipline ❖ Discouraging Game ❖ Disobedience ❖ Disobeying the ‘Return’ Whistle ❖ Dog Schoolmaster ❖ Drop – Disobedience ❖ Drop – Disobedience To ❖ Dummies ❖ Dummy Launchers

5 Ears ❖ Eye Colour – Hard ❖ Eye Shy ❖ Eye Wipe ❖ Eyesight ❖ Experts

6 Field Trials ❖ First Season’s Experience

7 Game ❖ Game Sense ❖ Genetics ❖ Genetic Insight ❖ Get In ❖ Get On ❖ Get Out/Go Back ❖ Gone Away ❖ Gun Nervous ❖ Gun Shy

8 Habits ❖ Hand Signals ❖ Hand Training ❖ Hand Training – Sitting at a Distance ❖ Hand Training – Returning to Whistle ❖ Hard Mouth ❖ Heel ❖ Hi–Lost ❖ Hiss

9 In-Breeding ❖ Indiscriminate Breeding ❖ Inheritance ❖ Injuries

10 Judges and Judging ❖ Jumping

11 Kennels – Reluctance to Return To ❖ Kennel Sickness ❖ Know-How

12 Leave It ❖ Line Breeding ❖ Lineage ❖ Lining Ground Scent

13 Mistakes

14 Neurotic Aversion to Scent ❖ No

15 Out-Cross Breeding ❖ ‘Over’

16 Pickled Piper ❖ Prankish Gun ❖ Predators ❖ Preparation For a Field Trial ❖ Professional Trainers ❖ Professionalism

17 Quartering ❖ Quartering – Cheek Wind Beat ❖ Quartering – Down Wind Beat

18 Rabbit Pen Construction ❖ Rabbit Pen Substitutes ❖ Retrieves – Frozen ❖ Retrieving – Encouraging a Good Delivery ❖ Retrieving – Forced

19 Scent ❖ Sheep Dogging ❖ Shot – Dropping To ❖ Sighted Retrieves ❖ Stinking Out ❖ Substitute Judges

20 Taking Signalled Directions at Distance ❖ The Three Ladies ❖ Tracking or Taking a Line ❖ Training Collars ❖ Trust Your Dog ❖ Trust Yourself

21 Unmarked Retrieves ❖ Unseen Multiple Dummies

22 Videos ❖ Voice

23 Water – Introduction To ❖ Water – Retrieving From ❖ Whistles ❖ Wind–Cheek Treatment ❖ Wind – Down Treatment

24 Yapping – Yipping – Giving Tongue