Graduate Foundation for Gundogs All Breeds with Lynsey

Our Graduate Foundation for Gundogs sessions, led by Lynsey, are suitable for...

• All breeds of gundog puppies or young dogs who have completed our Foundation for Gundog course.
• Older dogs with some experience of gundog training.
• Handlers with experience of clicker training who are just starting out on their gundog training journey.
• Handlers with experience of gundog work but without any clicker training experience.
• Those wishing to work towards The Gundog Club Grade 2.
• Those looking to eventually work their gundog on a shoot (beating and picking up).
• Those wanting to participate in Novice Dog/Novice Handler working tests.
  
• Pet gundogs whose owners feel they would benefit from doing some gundog training.
• Owners who wish to let their labradors, spaniels, pointers and vizslas off lead safely in the countryside.
  

Our Graduate Foundation for Gundogs classes are held monthly.

This gives you and your dog plenty of time to practice what you have learned in between sessions. The sessions are 3 hours long, so there is plenty covered.

Each month, the tasks will be set to the ability of the dogs and handlers in attendance. Group numbers are limited to 10 dogs and handlers.

This is a rolling course, there is no start or end date. If you are joining the course partway through the year, don't worry, our experienced teacher Lynsey will guide you and set the exercises to enable you and your dog to succeed.

Each month, the Graduate Foundation for Gundogs classes will include a mixture of…

• Progression in the topics covered in Foundation for Gundogs
• Connection building
• Establishing a reliable recall
• Sit, loose lead walking and heel work, duration in both the static and action behaviours, such as sit and heel work with distractions
• Retrieves
• Play, including the principles of clicker training and building valuable rewards in play that can be used to add strength to other behaviours
• How to settle in the countryside
• Hunting
• Use of targets in progressing the retrieve and the stop whistle
• Building steadiness
• Isolation of cues from the environment and other distractions
• Building a training plan
• Plus much more.

Each Graduate Foundation for Gundogs session will cover the above elements and then include one of the following main topics…

• Focus in the environment: The foundation to building a solid recall. Introduction of distractions to the recall, isolating the recall cue from the environment and building powerful rewards.
• Going for a bumble: How to go for an off-lead walk in a distracting environment with your gundog. Using the 'this way' whistle, recall whistle, building observation skills, and learning to come away from distractions.
• Heelwork: How to walk together off lead, manage the environment and your expectations, understand the rewards and how to use them. Adding a cue to the behaviour and then isolating the cue from other environmental triggers.
• Introduction to shot: Making the correct association for the dog, and understanding how and when to reward.
• Building duration in both static and action behaviours e.g., heel work and stays. Adding in Distance. Building loose lead walking in a challenging environment.
• Marked retrieves: Building the hand delivery, adding in difficulty using different terrain, distance, obstacles and incorporating shot.
• Introducing transitions: Moving from one retrieve to another, learning to turn away from a distraction. Focusing on tasks with distraction. Learning to switch from hunting to bumbling.
• Water retrieves: Progressing the water retrieve to include more distance, steadiness and difficulty. Introducing shot.
• Steadiness: This is the ability to stay focused on a task or respond to cues while ignoring all the other triggers that are present, especially in the environment. Learn how to isolate your cues. Build together exercises in retrieving and hunting and extending the transitions.
• Stop whistle: Building the stop whistle into grid training with targets, introducing left, right and backs with retrieves.
• Retrieves: Extending the difficulty in memories and blinds, including multiple retrieves.
• Hunting patterns: Introducing stop to the hunting pattern. Introducing shot to the hunting pattern.