Retrievers - Some Hints On Breaking And Handling For Amateurs

By B. B. Riviere

This book contains everything you need to know about breaking and handling retrievers for work and field sports. This is an early book written by an expert in the field of dog training in the field.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Read Books Ltd.
• Release date: May 31, 2013
• ISBN: 9781473388475

Book preview

CHOOSING A PUPPY

In buying a retriever puppy to break as a gundog the first essential is to make sure that he comes of a first-class working strain, and the best guarantee of this is in the number of not too distant ancestors to be found in his pedigree who have won awards at Field Trials. So large a part does heredity play in the working qualities of a retriever that, in my experience, it is a waste of time and patience to embark on the breaking of dogs of a nonworking strain.

Picking an individual puppy from a litter for working qualities, though a gamble, is not perhaps such long odds as picking one for looks. The qualities I look for in a puppy are friendliness, courage, activity and tail wagging. Almost all retriever puppies are naturally friendly, but any one not overwhelmingly delighted at the presence of a human being should be avoided. As regards boldness, the puppy least startled by a sudden noise and recovering his confidence quickest gets the highest marks. When the puppies are old enough to run about the one which moves most often at a gallop will probably be the fastest worker.

Tail wagging, I admit, is my own particular fetish, but I regard it as a most valuable quality in a retriever. A puppy whose tail is always wagging will almost certainly later on use his tail when hunting, which means that he will have an attractive style. Moreover, it has been my experience that when sitting still at a stand—partridge driving or covert shooting—a dog who expresses his feelings by wagging his tail hardly ever lapses into that most unforgivable of sins, whining.

COMING TO WHISTLE AND NAME

Coming to whistle and name is the first lesson to teach a puppy as it is able to learn it as soon as it can run. It is of fundamental importance as a dog which does not come ‘hell for leather’ when whistled is no good to anybody. Fortunately it is very easy to teach, this being done purely by bribery. Always use exactly the same kind of whistle—I use three short blasts. Begin by using the whistle whenever you take the puppies their food. Thereafter, when the puppies are playing or hunting about and get some distance away from you, whistle them back and, as soon as they arrive, reward them with a piece of biscuit or other titbit.

1. Told to sit

2. Sitting