How to start Gundog training

Anyone can try Gundog training, it’s a great activity for your dogs to use their brains, especially if it’s what they’re bred to do!

Wyn and I have been on our Gundog training journey for over a year now, both of us starting from scratch so here’s everything that has helped us along the way!

1. Find a good trainer.

Whether it’s group sessions, 1-1’s or online training courses, there are so many ways to find a positive gundog trainer to help teach both you and your dog. There are so many great trainers out there that will put your dogs needs first, you can try as many as you want before you find someone who uses positive reinforcements so both you and your dogs enjoy the training process.

2. Dummies

A dummy is a canvas cylinder which are used for your dogs to retrieve. They come in so many different varieties of colour, shape, weight and material depending on your dogs age and abilities. A great shop to find them all in one place is www.pawsbrooklyn.com – you can get 10% off everything with the code COTSWOLDSPANIELS.

You also can’t beat a rabbit ball! For dogs that aren’t interested in normal dummies yet a rabbit ball is the fluffiest ball of excitement that they won’t be able to resist!

3. A whistle

Your trainer will teach you what the different pips and length of whistles will mean when you train your dog. A gundog whistle will come in different pitches depending on your dog’s breed.

As I have a Spaniel I use an Acme 210.5 so research what you’d need. I have a collection of acme whistles which come in so many colours!

4. Training vest

When out training with Wyn I couldn’t be without my training vest. You wear it over your coat and it’s full of pockets including a huge pocket/pouch on your back to drop your dummies into.

I use the Dog and Field V2 Heritage vest from Paws Brooklyn. You can get 10% off this with our code COTSWOLDSPANIELS.

5. Place Board Platform

A platform can be used for all sorts of dog training not just for gundogs, mine is from Anglian Dog Works. It has had such a huge positive impact on our training for steadiness, distance handling and delivery. I have a whole blog post on how we got started which you can read here.

I hope you enjoy your gundog journey, whether you’re just starting out or have been doing it for years!

Thanks for reading,

Megan, Woody, Wilma & Wyn x