Oggi parliamo di cani unicorni. Ho scelto gli unicorni perché posso dire le stesse cose che direi sui cani senza che la gente si metta sulla difensiva. Perché… Quando tiri in ballo argomenti caldi, ci sono un sacco di persone diventano agressive assertive. È cominciato tutto qualche giorno fa, in un segretissimo gruppo Facebook, fatto da persone che si conoscono da più di vent’anni. Ci sono allevatori, giudici, addestratori, ciascuno portabandiera della sua razza. Ci sono anche un sacco di veterinari, e chiunque si renda conto di cosa sia la facoltà di medicina veterinaria sa quanto queste persone debbano essere determinate per laurearsi. Quindi, mettine un po’ insieme e avrai i fuochi d’artificio.

La miccia l’ha accesa un appassionato di genetica canina (che nella vita vera lavora nel marketing). Ha iniziato a pubblicare una serie di fotografie volte a dimostrare come le razze siano cambiate nel tempo. Prende una razza, quasi ogni giorno, e poi ne pubblica i cambiamenti affinché li si possano discutere. È filato tutto liscio fino alla pubblicazione dell’Unicorn Spaniel, quando io me ne sono uscita a chiedere come mai gli esemplari da lavoro di una razza assomiglino di più ai loro antenati di quanto non accada ai soggetti da show. Ho detto questo per l’Unicorn Spaniel, ma le mie perplessità riguardavano tutte le razze da lavoro che erano andate dividendosi in due ceppi. Avrei potuto dirlo per l’Unicorn Setter, per l’Unicorn Collie, per il Siberian Unicorn, per il Pastore di Urnicornlandia… Prendete una razza a scelta, tra quelle da lavoro, meglio se una di quelle che lavorano ancora, controllate vecchie stampe e vecchie fotografie e traete le vostre conclusioni.

Tornando al singolo episodio, è successo che uno dei vet (amico e gran prava persona!), appassionato di Unicorn Spaniel da bellezza, si è messo sulla difensiva accusandomi di essermi impuntata e voler avere ragione a tutti  i costi. Ok, ogni tanto mi capita, ma non in questo caso. Gli ho mostrato alcune fotografie di Unicorn Spaniel da lavoro ne è rimasto sconvolto: erano tutti sbagliati, le orecchie non andavano inserite, lì le teste non parliamone, le zampe erano sbagliate eccetera. Nel frattempo, un’altra vet ed amica, allevatrice di Unicorn Retriever è passata di lì e ha commentato: “Oh, ma è la stessa diatriba che c’è per gli Unicorn Retriever”.  Io capisco entrambi, davvero, e a modo mio simpatizzo con il loro punto di vista, ammetto persino che gli Unicorn Spaniel da show siano animali esteticamente molto gradevoli ma… allo stesso tempo, ritengo che si siano allontanati dal modello originale, altrimenti detto “giurassico”. Non sto dicendo che siano peggiori, solo che siano diversi!

Ammetto candidamente di essere appassionata  unicorni da lavoro, ma non intendevo affatto dare torto a nessuno, né riattivare la solita, per quanto sempre saggia,  discussione su linee da lavoro e linee da expo’. Intendevo, e intendo, capire PERCHE’ gli unicorni da lavoro sono ritenuti “sbagliati” dalla maggior parte delle persone, in special modo da chi frequenta le expo’. Sono la prima ad affermare che ci siano soggetti da lavoro ORRENDI, che non sembrano nemmeno più unicorni, ma sono anche pronta a ribadire che ce ne sono alcuni molto bellini. Il mio unicorno ideale è un bell’unicorno da lavoro. Non sarei felice con un unicorno brutto, ma allo stesso tempo, il mio unicorno, deve essere bravo in campo. Siffatti animali, sono la più pura espressione della bellezza: armonici e sobri, sono un piacere a vedersi, sia al guinzaglio che mentre lavorano. E, guarda caso, assomigliano anche ai loro antenati, soggetti creati per funzionare.

Durante la mia prima lezione di istologia (lo studio dei tessuti del corpo) all’università, il professore, introducendo la cellula, ha messo in chiaro che la forma è conseguenza della funzione e che questo era vero per una cellula, per un tessuto e per un organismo. Credo debba essere vero anche per gli unicorni, allora. Quindi, perché gli animali funzionali sembrano sbagliati? E perché lo sembrano anche se riflettono quanto scritto nello standard? Se leggete gli standard di razza con cura, noterete che molti di loro non promuovono, né tutelano, la maggior parte delle esagerazioni morfologiche che oggi fanno vincere un cane in ring.

Quindi, perché oggi vengono ricercate esagerazioni come mantelli super lunghi, orecchie esagerate, pelo da pecora, gambe extra corte e adipe in abbondante eccesso? Perché queste caratteristiche sono ritenute piacevoli? Dove è andato il buongusto? Il nostro senso estetico è stato contaminato dalla modernità (TV spazzatura, fast food, cineserie…)? Se è così, forse dovrei tornare nel passato mentre la questione, piuttosto filosofica, resta senza risposta

Forse ne scriverò ancora.

E’ da parecchio tempo che mi assale un dubbio; e proprio oggi, a seguito di una chiacchierata al telefono con un amico, ho ritenuto corretto diffondere questa mia perplessità anche tra gli amici che mi leggono abitualmente. Veniamo al dunque: spesso mi ritrovo a chiedermi se una delle razze che più mi appassiona, il segugio italiano a pelo raso, goda oggi di buona salute o meno. Ci sono alcuni fattori che mi portano a dubitare del fatto che la situazione sia rosea. Il primo è ad esempio il numero di cucciolate che vengono di norma prodotte dagli appassionati. Questi ultimi, non essendo in molti casi allevatori professionisti, generalmente mandano in riproduzione una femmina solo qualora abbiano l’esigenza concreta di dotarsi di un nuovo cucciolo. Se il numero di cucciolate si mantiene costantemente alto negli anni, ciò mi fa ipotizzare che la riuscita media degli accoppiamenti non sia così soddisfacente, tanto da dover produrre e testare un numero cospicuo di giovani soggetti per individuarne uno totalmente rispondente alle specifiche esigenze. Anche il prezzo medio a cui vengono di norma ceduti soggetti avviati e già in grado di evidenziare buone caratteristiche venatorie e morfologiche mi sembra di nuovo in tal senso un segnale del fatto la percentuale di riuscita dei cuccioli non sia così elevata, anzi! Se l’acquirente è disposto infatti a versare una somma decisamente superiore a quella cui viene di norma ceduto un cucciolo, questo divario non può essere spiegato solo ed esclusivamente con il tempo e l’impegno necessario per allevare ed avviare un cucciolo. La restante parte del divario di prezzo è secondo me giustificabile con l’incertezza in merito alla buona riuscita dell’operazione appena descritta. Oggi più che mai l’utente medio del nostro cane da seguita si è fatto esigente, vorrebbe abbinare la tipicità al lavoro, ma ciò è molto complesso. In tal senso mancano forse gli indirizzi zootecnici, e sull’efficacia selettiva di prove ed esposizione avremo modo di parlare in futuro. Vi sarebbe forse da aggiungere a questa mia analisi una considerazione. Il fatto è che il nostro segugio svolge un ruolo complesso e lo esegue in termini mai banali o scontati. Ecco dunque che il palato fine avrà gioco facile ad individuare mancanze nell’una o nell’altra fase, imperfezioni nella quantità o qualità della voce e così via. Non vorrei però che queste mie ultime valutazioni siano solo delle scusanti, un po’ come quelle sul clima che talvolta si utilizzano per giustificare gli insuccessi di un cane di non eccelse qualità, e che in fondo questo progresso della selezione si sia un po’ inceppato. Del resto alle volte si crede di essere in fuga, anche se in realtà si è fermi, basta che gli altri facciano un passo indietro.

Today we are going to talk about dogs unicorns. I choose unicorns because I can say the same things I would write about dogs and, at the same time,  avoid people getting defensive. Because… When you discuss some hot topics, plenty of people can turn aggressive assertive.

It all started a few days ago, in a super secret Facebook group, made of people who have been knowing each other for about 20 years. There are plenty of breeders, judges, trainers, scholars, involved with different breeds.  In such a diversity, there are also plenty of vets and… anyone familiar with Italian Vet Schools knows how strong willed these people need to be, in order to graduate!  So, put some of them together and you will get fireworks!

The fire point’s of origin was caused by a scholar of canine genetics (who in real life is a marketing specialist) who started to publish pictures showing how some breeds have changed through years. He picks a breed, almost daily, and publishes the changes for us to discuss. It all went quiet until we came to the Unicorn Spaniel: at this point, I came out questioning why the current working specimen of a breed are much closer to their ancestors than their show counterparts. I said this in the Unicorn Spaniel discussion but I deemed it valid for most of the “working” breeds that have gone through a split. It could have been the Unicorn Setter, the Unicorn Collie, the Siberian Unicorn, the Unicorn Shepherd… Pick any breeds created for a specific purpose, better If it is performing its job, go through old prints and pictures and draw your own conclusion.

What happened is that a vet (and very good friend)  involved in the show type Unicorn Spaniel, got defensive and accused me of being strongly opinionated, which I can sometimes be, but not in this case. I showed him some Working Unicorn Spaniel pictures and he was literally horrified by them stating that those dogs had wrongly set ears, wrong heads, wrong paws, they were all wrong. At the same time, another vet (and good friend as well) who breeds Show Unicorn Retrieves stopped by and commented that “Oh well, it is the same story with Unicorn Retrievers”. While I can understand their viewpoints, and agree upon the fact that the show type Unicorn Spaniel is still a nicely built animal, I am also firmly convinced that it diverged from the original model and became something else. Not better, not worse, just different.

I admit being a supporter of  the working unicorns cause,  but I was not trying to prove anybody wrong, nor to end up in the same old (yet always important) discussion on show unicorns vs working unicorns. I was, and I am, trying to understand WHY working type unicorns are perceived as being “wrong” by the majority of people, and especially by show people. Whereas I am ready to declare that some working type unicorns are incredibly UGLY and do not resemble unicorns at all, I am also ready to point out that there are also some very pretty (or handsome, depending on the sex) ones. My ideal unicorn is a good looking, nicely built, working unicorn: I won’t be happy to own a ugly unicorn, but at the same time, my unicorn should perform well in the field. These animals are the purest expression of beauty: harmonic and sober, they are a pleasure to look at either when they are on lead or when they are performing their job. Needless to say, they resemble their ancestors, models of unicorns which were created for function.

During my first histology (the study of body tissues) lesson at the university, while introducing the cell, the professor pointed out that form follows function, and that this was true for a cell, for a tissue, for an organism. I guess it should be true for unicorns as well. So why do functional specimen look wrong? And why do they look wrong if they still incarnate what is written in their breed standard? If you go through breed standards carefully, you will notice that most of them are not promoting, nor advocating, most of the exaggerated features we now see winning in the show ring. I was almost forgetting… that they still do the job they were created for!

So why do people perceive exaggerations such as extra long coats, extra long ears, super fluffy coats, super short legs and extra pounds as correct and aesthetically pleasant? Let’s forget functionality – for a moment, where has good taste gone? Has our aesthetic sense being contaminated by modernity (rubbish on tv, fast food, short lived made in China goods…)? If so, I think I should have born in another century,  but the question, a pretty philosophical one, remains unanswered.

More later, maybe.

Tok Mostert, a Professional Hunter from South Africa, now living in Sweden,  is sharing his writings on dog training with us. You can start reading them from Part 1 here.

We are Losing Legendary Methods (Fieldwork 3) – By T. Mostert

Planting Birds (… & backing)

In hindsight, I should have been able to read Flake better when she was younger. I was so focused on getting her to do what I wanted that I neglected to see the little signs she gave of her natural ability to find birds. I took many photos of her as a pup and now, when I go through them, I find several photos that show she was pointing, or was interested in a bird. Never be so focused on what you want your dog to do, that you forget what the dog can already do. If I had just made the effort to get some help she would be much, much further than she is today, not that I am not happy with where she is today, she is a incredible little dog.
Feather training is one of those things you either believe in or you don’t. It is no replacement for birds, but to teach a young dog to be steady and sit to the flush it does have its place. As said before, I made a mistake in teaching Flake to run a pattern simply for the sake of running, instead of giving her a reason to run a pattern. The very first field test I went to was a complete disaster, two days of running on fields and no one bird pointed and believe me she had the opportunity several times. I was basically stuck with a dog that would cut a field to shreds but did not know why she was doing it, running and hunting are not the same thing.

This is when I realized I needed some expert help and like we all should do, I looked for the best possible person to help me, a Legend. I also realized I needed my own birds and we built a enclosure and stocked it with some partridge. The first time I met Sten Rönnerling, he was out on a field, he was busy placing out partridge to train his dogs. I had heard of placing out birds, but I had never seen anyone do it. He was a friendly man and by his firm handshake I knew those where not the hands of a talker, he was a doer. Right off the bat he told me to tag along with Flake on a leash while his pointers were running in the field on placed birds. Sure enough his dog went into a solid point and Sten instructed me to bring Flake in, slowly behind the pointer so she could pick up the scent of the bird. I did not notice it, I could not read her yet, but Sten immediately said she has the scent when I was six meters from the pointer, he can read a dog! The pointer flushed on command and they made quick work of dropping the bird from the sky, I gave Flake the sit instruction the moment the bird lifted.
This is how we carried on for several more birds, at one stage we even leashed the pointer while on point to try and slip Flake into his place, the bird flushed by itself and made our plan unsuccessful.
We did this on several occasions, I started using a longer leash so we could slip her in tight to the pointer, it did not take more than 5-10 of these placed birds before Flake understood what was happening. This was the point where Sten decided that she had had enough and that we would or could turn her into a point stealer if we would have continued slipping her on the pointer, that is experience. What we did now was to follow at a good distance and once the pointer took a solid point we would move on from maybe 150 meters and get Flake to see the side profile of the pointer while on point, the moment she would display backing or mirroring we would stop, some days this would be at even a 100 meters out from the pointer. I need to back-up a little here and make it clear, Flake had already pointed pheasants and grouse before I started with Sten, but this was infrequently and on some days she would simply run right over birds. 

Back to Sten. It was the third time I went out to Sten when he decided it was time to place birds for Flake. We placed three partridge out on the field, they were spread pretty far apart, and we let her go. Sure enough, it did not take very long for her to go into a solid point on one of the birds. Here is where placed birds are extremely valuable. I walked up to her slowly and told her to be steady when I was a few meters away, I kept saying steady, steady until I could lay my hand on her and say good girl, girl. Now is the time to heap praise on them, right there and then is the best opportunity to reinforce that what they are doing is what you want them to do! I then took a few steps back and to the side, called her name once and gave her the flush command, while doing this I also moved briskly forward. The bird took to the air and I whistled the sit command. It all fell into place perfectly.
She managed to do the same on the other two birds we had placed out.

Two weeks later Sten had a couple of clients from the north of Sweden who came down to work their dogs on birds. He had placed out several birds and there some wild birds in the area too. I was just going to tag along with Flake on a leash to gain more experience. After about a hour the guests’ dogs had not found one bird and Sten told me to let Flake off leash and let her run. It took no more than two minutes before she just stopped and went into a solid point. I waited for the guests to get into a suitable shooting formation and once they were in place, I gave Flake the flush command. Up went the bird, whistle, down sat Flake and boom, bird dropped from the sky. Flake had marked the bird and I sent her to retrieve it, good retrieve delivered into my hand. That right there was one of the proudest moments of my entire life! She was finally on her way to becoming a bird dog!

Continues here…

Mi è stato chiesto se mi fossi dimenticata della sezione “A Month on the Moor”. Certi che no! Sono solo impegnata con un sacco di cose da fare allo stesso tempo, come al solito! Per questo motivo sto “sfruttando” i post di addestramento di Tok Mostert, ma ciò non significa che non voglia continuare a raccontare la mia storia.

Cerchiamo di essere brevi e ricordare il giorno in cui sono partita dall’Italia. Era il 15 di luglio e lo era per un motivo preciso: non volevo essere in Francia il 14. In qualche maniera sentivo che sarebbe accaduto qualcosa il giorno in cui si commemorava la presa della Bastiglia. Prima di andare a dormire, la TV ha passato le immagini dell’attentato terroristico di Nizza: ero amareggiata, triste e preoccupata ma non sorpresa. La mattina del 15, prima di partire, ho dovuto finire di caricare l’auto: non ho mai afferrato appieno il concetto di “viaggiare leggeri” e il mio viaggio in UK nel 2016 lo ha confermato, ma parleremo dei miei problemi con i bagagli in separata sede. Ho superato Milano velocemente e mi sono fermata in una stazione di servizio nei pressi di Varese, prima della dogana Svizzera.  Pensando di essere furba, mi ero portato un termo pieno di caffè, pensavo così di risparmiare. Pessima idea, c’erano già 30 gradi e il caffè era ancora fumante! Perché mi sono fermata? Perché mi era stato detto di fermarmi almeno ogni due ore, per il cane, cosa che ho eseguito diligentemente per tutto il viaggio. Mentre cercavo comunque di bere il caffè, il gestore della stazione di servizio mi è venuto incontro per salutare il cane. Era lo stesso uomo che avevo incontrato alcuni anni prima, mentre stavo andando in Svizzera per conoscere l’allevatore di Briony. Lui non si ricordava di me, ma io sì, del suo cane maltese e della sua passione per questi animali.

La cosa che mi ha stupito di più, comunque, sono state due macchine parcheggiate accanto alla mia. Indossavano una targa scozzese ed era la prima volta che vedevo una macchina con targa scozzese in Italia, che bel segno! Le auto in verità erano tre, e piuttosto costose, mi pare Audi e Saab, e, stranezza, ciascuna di loro aveva un guidatore e zero passeggeri. Si trattava di due uomini di mezza età e di una ragazza bionda. Come faccio a saperlo? Perché mi hanno accompagnato durante tutta la traversata della Svizzera. Li perdevo e ricomparivano, spariva una delle tre auto e ne spuntava un’altra. È stato così per tutto il tratto Svizzero, ho avuto questi insoliti compagni di viaggio che, per motivi assolutamente irrazionali, mi ricordavano James Bond e le spie al servizio di Sua Maestà.

Come si viaggia in Svizzera? Ci sono dei bei panorami? Sì, si guida tra laghi e montagne ma non ce li si gode appieno perché devi stare molto attenti alla strada. C’è parecchio traffico: gli automobilisti e i camionisti che vogliono risparmiare scelgono il tunnel del Gottardo, che è gratuito. Il Monte Bianco e il Frejus sono costosi e, inoltre, le autostrade svizzere si pagano una tantum (la vignetta costa circa 40 euro e dura un anno) mentre le autostrade francesi hanno sistema di pedaggi analogo al nostro. Però, la Svizzera non è perfetta: le autostrade sono strette e hanno dei limiti di velocità piuttosto bassi che cambiano in continuazione. Bisogna fare attenzione, ci sono moltissime telecamere pronte a tendere agguati agli automobilisti distratti.

Ci siamo fermate di nuovo prima del tunnel del Gottardo, mi avevano detto di fermarmi spesso se viaggiavo con il cane… Eravamo nel bel mezzo delle Alpi e il clima era piacevolmente freddo. Passato il Gottardo, pieno di automobilisti belgi, abbiamo bordeggiato il lago di Lucerna durante un temporale, sempre scortati dal Team Bond, e finalmente raggiunto Basilea. Nuovo stop, per il pranzo, avevo del cibo con me ma ho voluto controllare cosa offrisse l’autogrill: torte splendide ma che costavano 7.50 euro a fetta! Non ho avuto dubbi e sono tornata alla mia piadina fatta in casa, smangiucchiata sotto ad un albero. Il mio vicino di albero, all’ombra del successivo, era uno svizzero con un bassotto a pelo duro. Pochi minuti dopo ero già in Francia.

Somebody asked whether I forgot about the “ A Month on the Moor” section. No! I did not, I am just busy with so many things to do at the same time, like always! This is why I am “taking advantage” of Tok Mostert writings on training but… I still want to tell my tale.

So, let’s try to be brief and remember some things about the day I left from Italy. It was July 15^th and I had set this date because I did not want to be in France on the 14^th. I somehow felt something was bound to happen on that day, France national day. I was going to go to bed on that night, when the TV announced there was an ongoing terrorist attack in Nice. I was sorry, worried and moved but not surprised.

On 15^th morning, I had to finish to load the car: I have never completely grasped the concept of “travelling light” and UK 2016 trip was not an exception, my “packing” issues will be told in another story . I passed Milan swiftly, and stopped at a service station near Varese, right before the Swiss border. I had a coffee flask with me: my plan was to be smart and save money. Bad idea, the temperature was already around 30°C and my coffee was still steaming! Why did I stop then? Because… people told me that when you travel with a dog you need to stop every two hours, which I stupidly did on all my way to England! While trying to sip some coffee, the service station man came to greet me and look at the dog. It was the same man I met on my way to Switzerland, a couple of years ago, while I was travelling to meet Briony’s breeder. He did not remember me of course, but I did as he told me again about his Maltese dog and about his love for these four legged critters.

What astonished me the most, however, were two cars parked by mine: they were wearing a Scottish plate! I have never seen any Scottish plates in Italy before, so I took it as a good sign! These cars ended up being three, not two: they were expensive cars, Audi or Saab if I am not wrong and, weird thing, each of them had a driver and no passengers. Drivers were two middle aged men and a girl, I know this for sure as they sort of escorted me until the French border. I was missing them, finding one of them again, miss them another time and so on. I crossed Switzerland with these three unusual travel mates, which, for no rational reasons, reminded me of James Bond… and British spies!

How do you travel in Switzerland? Are there any breathtaking sceneries? Yes there are,  you drive through mountains and lakes, but you cannot really enjoy them as you need to be well focused on the road. There is much traffic, as many car drivers and truck drivers favour Swizterland over France because the Mont Blanc and the Frejus tunnels are very expensive (while the Gottahrd is free). Also, French and Italian motorways are much more expensive than the Swiss ones: in Italy and France you pay according to your mileage and your veichle, in Switzerland you pay about 40 Euros and you can travel as much as you like for one year. Driving in Switzerland is cheaper, but equally demanding: speed limits are really tight, these roads are not made for high speeds and speed limits keep changing constantly. Beware of them and of all the cameras set to trap incautious motorists. We stopped before the Gotthard, again , having been told that you must stop frequently when you are travelling with dogs…

We were right in the middle of the Alps this time and it was pleasantly cold. Past the Gotthard tunnel – full of Belgian cars – we enjoyed bordering the Luzern Lake (in the midst of a thunderstorm and still escorted by Team Bond). We finally reached Basel when we stopped again for lunch. I had food with my but I went inside the service station to see what else they had: very cute cakes, 7.50 Euros (6£) a slice! I therefore opted for my homemade “piadina” which was consumed under a tree. My neighbour , under the next tree, was a Swiss man with a wirehaired Dacshund. And then… in the blink of an eye, I was in France.

Tok Mostert, a Professional Hunter from South Africa, now living in Sweden,  is sharing his writings on dog training with us. You can start reading them from Part 1 here.

We are Losing Legendary Methods (Fieldwork 2) – By T. Mostert

Depth and Width

There is nothing more gracious than a good dog gliding over a field at full speed, turning at the edges without cutting back and working a good distance from you without losing contact. Some fields cannot be run edge to edge, it just does not make for a huntable situation, just like some areas do not allow a HPR to run at speed, this happens normally where you have thick cover.
What is acceptable depth and width for a dog to run? It depends on whom you ask and on what terrain you are hunting. I participated in a field test not too long ago during which a dog found and pointed a pheasant for over 4 minutes. The point was maybe 300 meters ahead of the judge and shooter. Judge refused to walk up to the dog and have the pheasant flushed and shot, he said the dog was not hunting for him, it was too far out. I have my own opinion on this particular scenario, and I am sure many others will have too. Point is that what is desired by one handler, is not what suits another. 
A good dog will work as far as needed without losing contact with the handler completely, now that is another subjective phrase depending on whom you speak to. I do not mind loosing contact with my dog for 2-3 minutes when she is working high cover or thick cover, I know if she is gone longer she is probably on point. It is for the same reason I do not call her in when I cannot see her, I do not want to break off a possible opportunity. You cannot expect a dog to run the same way in a forest, as he would on a large open wheat stub field.
If your dog is not steady on point and cannot stand without flushing the bird by himself, then you probably do not want him to go to deep or too wide, because chances are he will flush the birds before you get there anyway. Do not confuse this with birds that flush by themselves without the dog moving. In short, depth and width should create a huntable situation for the dog and handler. Some dogs will start shallow and short, until the figure out there are no birds close and then start going wider and deeper.

As said before, here and only here is the time to let off on the discipline and obedience a bit. Give the dog some “freedom” and let them work. The dog needs to gain experience and confidence so he can rely on himself. There is no problem with a young dog that sticks close, as his confidence grows he will increase his range. A young dog that runs wild is another issue, here hiding from the dog to force him to keep contact is a good idea.

I have been extremely fortunate to have a Legend by the name of Sten Rönnerling who has helped me with Flake’s training on field. Sten has trained multiple field trials champions in multiple breeds. He had several double and triple champion dogs, a fist full of 10/10 field scores and dogs that have placed high in pointing dogs World Championships. This easily qualifies him as a Legend. He has single handedly helped me turn Flake into a proper field dog that understands what is expected from her. His methods have been tried tested and proven, again and again. At way over 70 years old, he still runs his dogs daily and can still drop a bird from the sky with little effort. When it comes to field training he has a few chosen pieces of advice, one of his first phrases was this:.
” The only time a dog should be standing still on a field is when he is pissing, pooing or pointing“.

Young dogs will, at some stage, start pointing rats, mice, rabbits, hare etc. Although this is not what we want them to do, they are doing what comes naturally, finding game. Do not be too hard on the young dog if he does this, simply break the point as quickly as possible and send the dog in a different direction. Never, never assume it is not feathered game the dog is pointing, always presume it is feathered game until you learn how to read the dog and interpret the signals. Never, never praise the dog on point if you are not 100% sure it is in fact a bird they are pointing! This, as discussed before positively reinforces the dog, but if it is not a bird you are reinforcing him to stand for game and possibly a empty spot where a bird was before, but has long since left (more on that later).
Dogs that stand and route around in one spot are a no, no be patient with a young dog that does this, but get them to move as soon as possible.
Don’t run two dogs that want to play with each other on the field, run a experienced dog with a young dog, or run him alone. Different breeds run different ways and look different, Flake ran and hunted her own way when she ran with other dogs, until I ran her with a setter, for some reason she shadowed the setter. I ran her a few times more with the setter and she let go, running her own lines again. Expose your dogs to different breeds on the field. If your dog shows any aggression towards any other dog on the field, pull your dog out, it is a completely unacceptable behaviour.

This is a broad brush I have used to describe field width and depth, there is much more detail that goes into making a dog run well, including external factors like weather, bird density, lack of birds etc.
Find a Legend like Sten to help you, it is incredible what difference it makes.

The next part will cover how to work a dog on planted birds.

Tok Mostert, a Professional Hunter from South Africa, now living in Sweden,  is sharing his writings on dog training with us. You can start reading them from Part 1 here.

We are Losing Legendary Methods (Fieldwork 1) – By T. Mostert

This is the single most rewarding discipline for a HPR owner or trainer. Often called the Formula 1 of the dog world, our little “machines” flying over a field, head high and then that sudden dead stop into a rock solid point. A good advance into a sit and the bird gets dropped from the sky, dog marks perfectly, retrieve is brilliant and at the end of the day you get a first prize!! Yeah, I dream too, because getting to this point takes more time and patience than any other disciplines.
Many dogs run well, many dogs find birds, many dogs are steady on point, many dogs have a good advance and many still a good retrieve. Putting it all together in ONE DOG is where it gets very, very complicated! Field trials rules, criteria and regulations are different for HPR’s in Scandinavia, Europe and the USA, but we all want our dogs to find birds, point them and be steady. I cannot speak for other test methods, I train for our field test and our criteria. Some of what I say will not be applicable to you and it will not make sense in why we do it the way we do it. I don’t like ‘kicking up birds” myself and I believe it is easier to have your dog stand still when you ” kick up” birds than to stop a dog after sending him to put the bird on the wing, it does not mean I am right and others are wrong, to each his own. Train within your framework.

There are those that believe you give a young dog birds and when he shows potential you teach him to run a proper pattern. I did not do it that way, as said before I was new to this two years ago and I taught Flake to run a pattern long before I got her onto birds on a regular basis. The single biggest problem with my method with the result that Flake ran, she did not hunt, not her mistake, but mine. She was doing what I told her to do and taught her to do. In hindsight I will use a combination of birds and teaching a dog to run a pattern at the same time. A dog that gets “fed” to many birds too early will not run as hard as he should, he will think it is easy hitting birds, more on that later.

To make it more structured, I will start with how to teach a dog to run a pattern and how to correct and steer the dog. I do not start a dog on field training that is too young, joints, ligaments and so on can be permanently damaged! Do not run a too young dog with another young dog, start your dog alone.
Exhaustion is a real danger, low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) and dehydration will kill your dog, learn the signs and keep a close watch. Young dogs rely on their owners to take care of them. Do not train field if you cannot stop or recall your dog, those who are saying “screw you” right now have not seen a dog run over. If you do run them without a stop or recall in place, run them in a fenced area or a area that has no cars or trains for 5 kms. Finished preaching let’s get to patterns.

To teach a dog to run a pattern is fairly easy, to teach a dog to run the desired pattern is harder, a dog that can adjust his pattern depending on terrain and prevalent weather conditions is a very smart dog.
I have seen many dogs on trails that are released, run straight ahead of the handler for 200 or 300 meters, then make a left or right turn head out 100-200 meters, turn left or right and head straight back to the handler before they start running a haywire pattern. I have seen dogs run the boundaries of a field only, educated dogs whose handlers trained too hard on the boundaries and not enough on the fields.There is nothing more funny for a young dog to go out and run freely, use that energy by training the dog to run a pattern. One method of doing this is by going to a field that is 50 meters wide and maybe 200 meters long. You can use larger fields, but your dog will run less pattern and you are trying to teach him to run a pattern. It works best with two people or, if you can run and keep running, you can try by yourself, I did a lot of that!
Let’s say you have the 50×100 field and you have two people. Always start training with the wind in the dogs face. Start both people and the dog in the centre of the field, release the dog and both people move in opposite directions, each to one side of the field, right at the edge on each side. I like to take a few steps back after I reach my end and then I call the dog in, this teaches the dog to cover every edge, do not expect a young dog to do this every time by itself. Then I start walking forward on the edge of the field, the other person should be able to see when the dog reaches me after I called him in. They now call the dog to them, remember to keep walking forward! The person that does the call in should not call in too soon or too late, timing is everything. Continue calling in the dog from one person to the other while walking at a steady pace towards the end of the field, the dog will eventually turn by itself. Do not let the dog turn short on either side! Once they start getting tired, they tend to turn short, the person that has the dog closest to them when he turns short should call the dog back! Please, please do not forget to heap praise on the dog when he gets to your side! He is doing what you want him to do! Do not do this for more than 10 minutes with a young dog, take a 30 minute break or longer if you intend repeating the exercise. Do not push the dog too hard in the beginning of its training on field!
Doing the same exercise alone is possible, but harder, I ran from one side to the other with the Flake, she would beat me to the other side every time, I could turn short! I had one advantage with Flake when I started pattern training, she could already take directions with hand signals (arms) and with the whistle. A judge once told me that a dog cannot read arm signals, he is wrong. Some dogs take to the pattern easy, some dogs take a little more time and some dogs just don’t get taught right. A dog that enjoys your company will follow you, no matter how hard he runs, he will keep an eye on you every now and then, a young dog even more so. Use this, when the dog reaches a point where you are happy for him to turn, turn and walk in the opposite direction (always forward), make sure your back is to the dog, do not walk backwards! You do not need to be as fast as the dog, if he passes you keep walking in the same direction until the dog reaches your chosen turning point, turn and walk in the opposite direction.

To be continued with depth and width.

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Ricevo e inoltro. Si tratta di 12 lezioni (10 teoriche e due pratiche) a Cura dell’Associazione Pavia Fotografia e dell’Associazione Vivere tra due Fiumi.