Master at arms

I told you last month how I start to train my dogs to the standard I need in the field when pigeon or game shooting (Dog whistle politics, November 2020). I covered steadiness, recall and stop. These are essential lessons that your dog has to comply with and the very foundations of training a working dog.

An unruly dog is both annoying and distracting. It can also be dangerous with loaded guns around – for human and dog. If your dog sees a pricked bird lumber across the field and land in a hedgerow next to a road, and it sets off