
I recently attended two different gundog training days in Newbury and Wiltshire. Both gave a warm welcome on arrival and a comprehensive outline of the training day. Building Reggie’s confidence and achieving success was the main aim of the day. This gave me the opportunity to test him in a game environment and practice some mock working tests for the novice handler/novice dog. Each location offered a fantastic variety of terrain which allowed me to discover something new about Reg. We had the opportunity to retrieve dummies over fences which many of the dogs found challenging and tested the communication between dog and handler. The new ground provided all the training requirements with the odd bolting rabbit and pheasant as a perfect distraction. What I liked about these events is that I was made to feel competent and capable and at ease to enjoy a training day. The steady pace of the day meant that I could take my time and correct any mistakes. This is invaluable for a novice handler and a great confidence booster!

For me, being able to try out different terrain, meet other novice handlers, iron out problems and prepare us for tests and shoot days is the attraction of a good training day. I’m able to experience new things together with my dog and in my training journey these memories are simply magical!
