need doggy advice

stevoman

i just bought a 5 month old llewellen setter at the weekend and was wondering if any of the dog men here could help.

firstly how much should i be feeding her i really dont want to fatten her up.

also what ways have you lads introduced your dogs to the gun and what do you think works best. im open to all ideas and techniques so i can have a broader idea of what will work.

ps - i have limited access to her parents who are both top workers so that will help me when it comes to training, but i want to spend a lot of time with this pup as i want her to retreive from land and water as well as set.

thanks lads

foxhunter

Well stevo a couple of months ago i bought a german pointer pup she was around 6months old approx .Basically over the past 12 weeks or so ive been walking her through all sorts of cover /water and so on .I went to a couple of local flapper shoots and walked her around the area away from the major banging to ease her in to noisy situations.After a couple of shoots i went out with the gun and fired a few shots at pigeons and stuff like that .Low and behold last thursday i brought her out on the pheasants she put up 4 cocks and a couple of hens of which 4 cocks were shot im still working on the retrieve but now she has made the connection between the bang and the praise she gets when the bird drops and its all fun to her.

stevoman

cheers for the advice fox. im trying to ease her into noise as much as i can at the moment. somebody told me to make a racket when im feeding her like banging her food tray off the wall or fire a cap gun before dinner time but im too wary to try that. would you reckon i should let her get well used to me and get her on the collar and lead properly before i start to take her out. i was thinking about taking her out with her parents in january and and get her used to the gun then and she can learn from the other dogs hunting.

i was lucky she was the last of the mans litter and the pick of it and he was very reluctant to let her go, the only reason i got her is that i know him and he lets me use his older dog from time to time and i bought her on condition that i'l throw him back a pup in a few years when i breed her. he has been breeding the same working line for the last 20 years

Pigeonwatch, a UK forum has a lot of material on this.

stevoman

cheers zaraba

foxhunter

Deffinitly get her walking on the lead first use a slip lead rather than a collar and lead its much easier to put back on when you call her back and there is less chance of her getting caught on a fence or similar.
She will have to know who's boss aswell so dont be afraid to be strong in your voice if you know what i mean.
When she does something right give her plenty of praise and a good rub on the head this works wonders.
If you spend an hour in the evenings for a couple of weeks doing the thing right you will see your efforts being rewarded sooner than you think.
The more work you give her the quicker you will see results.

Good Hunting;)

stevoman

cheers fox. whats a slip lead look like. i have a leather collar on her neck at the moment. i also have a choke chain buit i dont know wether to use it. i might take her out in the fields with no gun tomorow for a run, but i cant see her moving more than ten foot from the jeep but i suppose thats to be expected

foxhunter

Slip lead works on the same principle as the choke chain its just one piece of rope and its not as tough on the dog.
Ive a couple of kids so training mine to walk on a lead wasn't that difficult they just kept pulling till she surrendered.:D

stevoman

i tried her on the normal lead the other night and she wasnt going anywhere but i may try again maybe tonite. i cant wait to see the work i put into her pay off. i just have to keep the manners on her and hopefully she will be ok