Well known gundog trainer Dave Small of Reedlands Retrievers offers 10 top tips on training the Gun Dog Puppy

10 Tips for Training the Gun Dog Puppy

1. As with any new dog it is important to make friends and bond with your puppy.

2. Introduce the whistle into your puppy’s life as early as possible. Puppies learn faster than older dogs and he will quickly pick up new commands.

3. Teaching your puppy to walk to heel by using the lead is an ideal way to start discipline.

4. Your puppy should find you exciting to come back to on the recall. You should enthusiastically encourage good behaviour.

5. On a first retrieve with an article or dummy, make the puppy believe that you want them back more than the article or dummy. You should get excited when the puppy returns to you and praise him.

6. When training a puppy for direction, make your body language obvious. Use the flat of the hand, as it is more visible, and bold arm signals to make direction clear.

7. When starting off on direction work with a puppy, always start on short grass so they realise that it is a direction exercise and not a hunting exercise.

8. Puppies have a short attention span. To prevent boredom never throw more than three dummies on a training session.

9. Your puppy’s diet needs to accommodate the extra energy he will use when in training. Alpha Sporting Puppy is a complete food formulated to accommodate the needs of growing working breeds.

10. Always finish on a successful exercise that you and the puppy have completed well. You can both go home happy and look forward to your next training session.