We held a Working training day in July, with a variety of dogs and handlers taking part, who all went away having learnt a new skill. Mark Firmin was our trainer and he was so patient with both owners and dogs and got the best out of them.
Photos available here
After introducing himself to everyone, Mark asked what they wanted to get out of the day. Most wanted to work on retrieving and the skill set of the dogs ranged to never having retrieved anything to those dogs who did retrieve but not back to their owners. By the end of the session all dogs were retrieving to hand which was brilliant to see in such a short space of time.
Next came the swimming challenge, again some of the younger dogs had never been in water. The day was warm and after the running around retrieving they were quite happy to go paddling in the water.
The first novice dog showed all the youngsters how it should be done. There was one baby GSP who really did not like the water initially but after lots and lots of encouragement she eventually went in and retrieved a dummy from the water – very nearly swimming! Others just took to it like a duck to water.
The day ended with lots of smiling faces from the owners and happy dogs who all want to have another training day. To that that end we will organise one again when Mark is available during the Autumn and hopefully the same training ground will be available. Please watch this space for an update.
The day was attended by 4 GSPs, 1 Hungarian Vizslas and I must not forget my English Springer who swam for the first time.
Grateful thanks to Mark for making it such a successful day and for Sarah Anslow, Conrad Goff, Michael Rogers, Leigh Miller and of course our Chairman Eileen Hughes for helping on the day.
Photos available here
After introducing himself to everyone, Mark asked what they wanted to get out of the day. Most wanted to work on retrieving and the skill set of the dogs ranged to never having retrieved anything to those dogs who did retrieve but not back to their owners. By the end of the session all dogs were retrieving to hand which was brilliant to see in such a short space of time.
Next came the swimming challenge, again some of the younger dogs had never been in water. The day was warm and after the running around retrieving they were quite happy to go paddling in the water.
The first novice dog showed all the youngsters how it should be done. There was one baby GSP who really did not like the water initially but after lots and lots of encouragement she eventually went in and retrieved a dummy from the water – very nearly swimming! Others just took to it like a duck to water.
The day ended with lots of smiling faces from the owners and happy dogs who all want to have another training day. To that that end we will organise one again when Mark is available during the Autumn and hopefully the same training ground will be available. Please watch this space for an update.
The day was attended by 4 GSPs, 1 Hungarian Vizslas and I must not forget my English Springer who swam for the first time.
Grateful thanks to Mark for making it such a successful day and for Sarah Anslow, Conrad Goff, Michael Rogers, Leigh Miller and of course our Chairman Eileen Hughes for helping on the day.
