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Brittany Spaniels


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Hi there,

 

Is anyone on here working Brittany Spaniels? I bought one and I'm very happy with her, but I'd love to chat to someone who has some experience with them.

 

I cannot get her to retrieve a dummy at all, have tried rabbit skins, wings etc. but she has absolutely no interest, so how do I teach her hand signals? If I shoot a runner, she will find it and hold it until I get to her but she won't pick it up and return it to me. Better than nothing I suppose, but not ideal!

 

I've never lost a bird with her, she's a fantastic marker and finder but I'd like her to do the job properly.

 

Any advice welcome.

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yeah mate had a few of the little fire crackers, how old is she first and hows her basic training, is she an inside dog? if she is it is alot easier to get her to start picking things up. the basic retreive should have been next on the list after sit/stay/heel and the all important stop. the retreiveing is something that needs a bit of fine tuning before ya start them hunting, which they need no training for at all.

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Thanks Thurso Jack will try and buy it tomorrow :good:

 

Kiwi, she's about 21 months old and her basic training is quite good, she has her, sit, stay, heel, drop and recall pretty well mastered. She's not an inside dog, she's outside in a kennel.

 

She is a fantastic hunter, i've never seen anything like her, really perfect for roughshooting, nice medium range dog that runs at a nice speed that she can keep up for a long time.

 

She was a bit young last season, so maybe when she actually sees some warm game that she has pointed herself she might be more eager to retrieve.

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do ya use her on rabbits, i simple set of dummies made up with a dried bunny skin or some phesant wings attached to weighted sock will help with the picking up, treat it as a game and pratice every nite, simalar to training a lab, use shot game as well. the retrieve must be completed to hand, all my britts ended up good retrivers but they where high maintence on the game to hand bit, i was a bit lazy on it as i was running a lab at the time and he picked up most of [bANNED TEXT] the britts pointed. 21 months is still young enough. do ya have a bell on her collar?????? i hunted mine with one. i agree on how they hunt all day too.

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I don't use her on rabbits and I don't really want to as I have a springer spaniel who's very good at her job and I'd rather keep them for their respective jobs.

 

I don't have a bell on her collar, I haven't seen the need for one, she tends to stay within a nice range and not get too far ahead. I had a pointer beforehand who was completely nuts and ran like a racehorse and covered huge areas but was useless for general rough shooting, too much handling required. The Pointer would have been great on massive open areas such as a grouse moor but the Brittany is far more practical, plus the pointer was worn out after half an hour because he ran so hard.

 

Overall, I wouldn't change her for the world and I'm sure she will probably come around for me with a little time and patience.

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Hi there,

 

Is anyone on here working Brittany Spaniels? I bought one and I'm very happy with her, but I'd love to chat to someone who has some experience with them.

 

I cannot get her to retrieve a dummy at all, have tried rabbit skins, wings etc. but she has absolutely no interest, so how do I teach her hand signals? If I shoot a runner, she will find it and hold it until I get to her but she won't pick it up and return it to me. Better than nothing I suppose, but not ideal!

 

I've never lost a bird with her, she's a fantastic marker and finder but I'd like her to do the job properly.

 

Any advice welcome.

 

Hi All

 

I just picked up a Brittany bitch 8 weeks old, Its a real bundle of fire but does seem a little bit deaf! I'm not sure if its just me or what but it does'nt respond to any squeeky toys or any noise and carries on walking obliviouse to everything, does this seem a problem or am I being Paranoid? :wacko:.

 

Cheers

 

Tony

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when i watched HPR field trials in the early nineties there was a tri coloured dog called "bestobel hiver" if i remmeber correctly.I think,but dont quote me on it, that it went on to be made up to FTch.The dogs owner told me that ,when training brittanies, that basic training had to be 100%,especially retrieving, before the dog was introduced to game.He said some breeds can be trained whilst in among game but the brittany needed training beforehand because its hunting instinct is so strong.Go and watch a good one in a open stake,you find bad ones aswell, and you will see the hunting instinct.Think of the hardest hunting springer you have ever seen.Then times it by 5 :icon_eek: .Then give it a viagra :11: .Then you will be getting close to how a GOOD brittany HUNTS. JESSDALE

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Dead right,

 

She's some hunter all right, best nose I've ever seen on a dog. Was walking her yesterday and she tracked a wily old cock pheasant for about 400 yards through heavy cover and eventually found, pointed and flushed him. :good: Pity it wasn't in season!!! She has actually won a pointing test organised by the Brittany Spaniel Club of Ireland. She'a not too bad when hunting, she hunts hard but she doesn't go out of sight. I spent a lot of time teaching her the turn whistle and she's learnt to limit her range and won't cross a boundary or hedge.

 

I'd definitely buy another one, no question about it, but I'd spend more time on the basics before showing her game , they need no encouragement to hunt. :D

 

I'll try and upload some pics of her shortly.

 

Nice pup Jasper I hope she works out well for you.

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