Quartering – 5th July 2009
I took both dogs out today to practise quartering. It wasn’t easy as the spot I used was too narrow and the bracken on each side proved far more interesting than the bird-less grass in between. I wanted both dogs to cover the ground, respond to the turn whistle and drop when commanded. The area is full of dog walkers so I had to try to control the dogs often in the presence of distractions as you will see. Grace ran quite well, apart from an initial back cast, but her mind was on other things (and often this wasn’t me), Archie was full of the exuberence of youth and whilst he may not yet have worked out what he was meant to be doing responded pretty well and dropped to command despite a rather overweight lab looking to distract him. I am not looking for any serious quartering with Archie yet, following hand signals and just running across the breeze rather than into it is good enough (not stopping to graze on rabbit droppings would be a bonus too).
It is interesting, both dogs have different running styles.
July 5, 2009 at 10:00 pm
My compliments to the camerawoman! Just out of interest, was Archie getting tired? His hind action looked different to Grace’s, or so it seemed and I don’t know if it is caused by different conformation or just being a bit tired….
Hilary
July 5, 2009 at 10:19 pm
He was very tired by this point, actually choosing to drop infront of me without command soon after as if to say enough was enough!
I was lucky with the camerawoman…its not often that she chooses to come with me, preferring to make the most of my time training by shopping.
July 7, 2009 at 4:37 pm
Both dogs look tired to me but to train quartering in an area like this you wouldn’t want it any other way. I very seldom can manage to get a dog to quarter ground this narrow, in fact even considerably wider than yours, as they tend to get too far ahead. Since you were working on spoilt ground I don’t know that I would insist on the dog completing the cast ( even though eventually I would) when I got a turn around/back cast. If the dogs has turned I would send it out the otherside. Just because it’s such a contrived situation but that comment could be filed under nit picking. Tire them out by all means but DON’T bore them. Don’t forget your own comment misquoted from elsewhere that if you train a dog to quarter in a small field what you get is a dog capable of quartering a small field.
July 7, 2009 at 7:45 pm
Thanks Des, it often takes an observer to point out what should be obvious but isn’t. Both dogs were tired – it was warm and this exercise was at the end of the session. You are right about the width of the beat too. I won’t work in this area again, just hoped that it would remind Grace as to what quartering was all about. I did the same last year and as soon as we hit heather she was off. Archie is different though, and I take your point. He has yet to get on the wide open spaces so may see this narrow quartering as his purpose – I don’t want that at all. I had them both out in the forest today and I don’t think Archie even considers close working…although I have now found that I can turn him at 200 yards…out of necessity!
Thanks for those comments – very helpful
Howard