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Using a Check Cord

Quetion on using check cord ? I recently purchased a 5 yr old proven hunter gsp thru the rescue and she has not hunted in 1 1/2 yrs ive been doing basics with cord and she does exelent with cord. steady to flush, retrieves,quarters, the question is how long to train/hunt with cord on. i tred her hunting wild birds and she did great with cord on and pointed 2 grouse 15 min into hunt. she was getting tangled so i took cord off oops she must of reliesed her freddom and took advantage of it and would not hunt in range would not here,till finally i sat and said nothing and then she appeared and I collerd her and left 30 ft cord help please greg

Greg,

Practice quartering & "come" in an open field without the chance of finding birds.

With a 5 year old dog, I feel she is "testing" the waters so to speak, when the cord comes off.

Get her in an open, sterile field. Put on the 30 foot cord and handle her back & forth. If she's minding you, go down to a 20 foot cord, handle her, again quartering back & forth to your left & right IN FRONT of you as you move forward. Once she's working with the 20 footer, cut her down to a ten foot cord and repeat the process.

Once she's working like you want, as you're moving forward, do a 180 and call her around so she's back IN FRONT of you again. I'm not a big whistle fan, but if she already knows whistle commands.........use them!

If there's a bush, bramble, wall or small tree you can hide behind while you're training quartering..........Do it! Watch the dog come back to find you! Then praise, praise, praise when she does find you.

Remember, if the dog won't handle for you in a birdless field, you have a slim to none chance that they will obey you once they smell game. So start with a limited varible environment (fenced in baseball field at 6:00am) and slowly add variables.

Not knowing what kind of stock she comes from, I'm a little behind the 8-ball in being able to fully diagnose the problem from the few symptoms offered. Hence, the solution is to go slow while remaining consistent. The key is to get the dog to understand that she is down to hunt for you!

good luck,

rob hopkins
Hoppy's Kennels
http://www.grayman.com

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