Gun Dog Training: How to Get Into the Sport

Hello, dog peeps. Jack here. Just a quick one before we get into this episode. You may or may not be aware that when I'm not talking dog stuff with Max, I in fact interview people who are incarcerated in prisons across the United States on a show called One Minute Remaining Stories from the Inmates. And that show has been nominated for an award in America. And I would love your support if you've got 60 seconds to click the link in the show notes of this episode and just vote for my show. That would be amazing if you could. Thank you very much indeed. Oh, and don't forget to verify your email address. Otherwise, the vote does not count. Thank you.

Therapy's biggest impact doesn't show up in some dramatic breakthrough. It shows up in the smallest moments. You bite your tongue instead of escalating. You put your phone down instead of firing off that text. You say what you actually mean instead of what would hurt someone else the most. Nobody applauds those moments, but they quietly change your life. That's what growing feels like, and that's exactly what Grow Therapy is here for. Grow is therapy that works, covered by insurance. Sessions average $21 with insurance, and some pay as little as $0 depending on their plan. There are no subscriptions, no long-term commitments. You just pay per session. Grow connects you with thousands of high-quality licensed therapists across the US, offering both virtual and in-person sessions nights and weekends. You can search by what matters, like insurance, specialty, identity, or availability, and you can book a therapy session in minutes and begin in as little as 2 days, not the national 48-day average. See if you could pay as little as $0 for therapy in seconds at growtherapy.com/startnow. That's growtherapy.com/startnow. growtherapy.com/startnow. Availability and coverage vary by state and insurance plan.

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It's the Dog People Podcast with your host, Jack Lawrence. Secretly, I decided to start this podcast For some free dog training advice. You know, Malinois seem to be like the dog at the moment. Like I think people see them on Instagram doing these incredible things. Yeah. Go oh my god that's awesome. And then they get one like oh my god what the fuck I done? And Max O'Neill.

You would not believe how many people I meet and I go what made you want to get say an Aussie Shepherd? They go I don't know. I'd go had you met one before? They go no. If you want to ask me how often I walk my own dog a week, it's only twice a week.

It's the dog people. The Dogmobile Podcast, the podcast hopefully giving you a no-nonsense approach to dog training so you never have to shout, it's okay, it's friendly. My name is Jack Lawrence. Max O'Neill, Down Under Dog Trainer, joining you. But also, Max, an episode I've been frothing on for a long time. I feel like you've been secretly pushing this further and further down the list because, you know, I'm just going to go off on one. We've spoken a lot about breed-specific enrichment. We've done a lot of different topics. We've done the barn search and the dock diving and all that sort of stuff. But today is a sport that has really got a place in my heart.

Pretty close to home for you.

And we've got a guest joining us in the studio to talk all about this, Georgina, who has got an Instagram page you can check out, The Gundog Gang with Callie and Hank. And you are mad into the old—

I am.

Gundog stuff as well.

I feel like it's in my blood being English.

Same.

But funnily enough, I only really got into it properly when I got Hank about 2 years ago. He's my GSP, comes from pretty strong working lines. So it was a do or die situation.

Again, same with mine.

But started dipping my toes in with my spaniel because she has pretty high prey drive. And yeah, the more I found out, it's like a hole you keep on digging. There's more to learn, more that you can do.

I think people don't realize that, especially the spaniels, how high drive a spaniel really is. Like, they just want to get going.

I started my business in the UK and honestly—

Spaniels everywhere in the UK.

75% of my clients are just like cracked out little spaniels. Yeah, they're mental. They're not these little dopey little cocker spaniel house pets here. They're just like little curly-haired mouths. They're insane.

Yeah, people see them and they look like cute teddy bears and they're all over Instagram with bows in their ears and little top knots and stuff. My spaniel pulls rats out of the bin. Her prey drive is insane. And if I didn't fulfill her, I would have resource guarding problems, reactivity problems. There's a lot of drive behind the long eyelashes and the curly ears.

Well, we speak about spaniels, like what other dogs, if people are listening to this right now, before we even get sort of too deep into the weeds, like if people listening are going, okay, would my dog be into this? What breeds, Max, are we talking here?

Yeah, cool. So today's little episode or in the start of this miniseries is going to be for the gundog group. So I'm going to list off breeds of the gundogs here. So you first got your retrievers, which is your labs, golden retrievers, Flat-Coated Retrievers, Curly-Coated Retrievers, Chesapeake Bay Retrievers, and the Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever.

I'm sorry, a what? If someone listening right now has a what? Nova Scotia—

I can name like 5 Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retrievers.

Really?

Yeah. Shout out to Tux, the Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever, and Sunny.

What a breed.

Couple off the top of my head.

Yeah.

We then got the spaniels. We've got the English Springer, the Cocker, the American Cocker, The Clumber, the Welsh Springer, the Field Spaniel, the Irish Water Spaniel, and the Boykin Spaniel. And all— and then also looking at our pointers and setters, the German Shorthaired Pointer or GSP, the Wirehaired Pointer, your Vizslas, Weimaraners, your English Pointers, um, your Wirehaired Pointing Griffon, things like that. And then lastly, your setters, your English Setter, Irish Setter, Gordon Setter, and your Irish Red Setter. Um, the other ones that are on here that are gundogs that are We haven't mentioned yet are your poodle and oodle breeds. If you have a poodle, you have got a gundog, even if they are a toy poodle that's 2.3 kilos. If you've got an oodle, and even if that thing's Bernedoodle and it's crossed with a Bernese Mountain Dog, you have still got half a gundog. So stay tuned, listen to this. Jack and Georgie, and not really much of myself today because this is not my area at all, are going to dive pretty deep into how to best fulfil your gundog. Because we just see so, so, so many of them. And I'm seeing a rise in behaviour problems. And Georgie and I talk about this a lot in gundogs, seeing a lot of, you know, gundog breeds with resource guarding issues, anxiety issues, stimulation issues, and all sorts of things like that. And they're always coming off the back of not meeting their needs. So these 2 guys are the experts on this area.

Oh, don't, don't use that word. Don't use that word with me. Don't use the E word.

A nerd.

Compared to me. All right.

These 2 are the gundog nerds.

And they're going to give you some really helpful tips to All right, Georgina, first we'll start with you with your situation, because you, I mean, it sounds very similar to mine. You got a dog which was high drive that you needed to find a way to sort of stimulate the brain and get some very specific enrichment going. So how did you get started and how did you even find out about the Gundog stuff?

Yeah. So I have had Hank since a puppy. He was like, I have PTSD from him being a puppy. He had a really bad accident. No ability to switch off unless he was in a crate. His crate training was good. Outside of the crate was insane. And I would see all my other friends that had puppies that snoozing on their laps. He didn't fall asleep outside of the crate until he was about a year old, and that's with tethering and everything. So a big thing for me was impulse control. When you're outside of the crate, it's not being a hurricane. You need some impulse control. I fell into the trap of trying to physically exhaust him.

Yeah.

Impossible, because those dogs are bred to literally go on hunts for months at a time. You're never going to physically exhaust them. So I really needed a way to mentally exhaust him. Um, so I started to dip my toes into a few different sports. We did— I was already doing the barn hunt with my spaniel, so I took him along to that, which he loved. Did the dock diving, which he also loved, big into the water. And then as I was Talking to people at those events, someone mentioned, um, this retrieving club. It's called United Field and Retrieving that we do a lot of our stuff through now. They were like, oh, I think you should go along. And I went along. They run beginners mornings. Actually, there'll probably be one coming up in a few months. And I've seen Hank get excited at sports, but the sparkle in his eye watching him do what he was bred to do, I was like, okay, this is it. Like, this is what we're training for. This is a team. We can both really enjoy this together. Um, and that's when I started following everyone on Instagram, watching all the YouTube videos, finding out that, hey, it's not just going out and getting something and bringing something back. There's things called memory retrieves, blind retrieves, directionals, a whole host of whistle cues. And then there's the hunting aspect of it as well— quartering, flushing, all of that kind of stuff. Um, So yeah, I just would watch a video, then go out and play around with it and see what Hank enjoyed.

So really similar to my situation with Kira. I mean, although she came to me as a foster and then became a foster fail and she ended up staying with us. But unlike you, who knew what your breed was, which is helpful, I had no idea really what Kira was like. You don't generally when you get a foster or a rescue. And all I knew is she was cattle cross something. And I also knew that she was extremely high drive, high prey drive, zero impulse control, loved chasing everything. That's how Max and I met when he started helping me with the impulse control. But like anyone with a new dog that's high drive and you're pulling your hair out thinking she's destroying everything I own, I started obviously searching through Instagram, came across Tom Cantwell on Instagram, which obviously he's a big—

My hero.

Jack's got him tattooed on his arm.

He's my boyfriend. He's my Instagram love. Loved what he was doing. And a few other people came across Mordor Gundogs as well in the UK. I was watching a lot of their stuff on YouTube and I thought, I went, I wonder if I can train an Australian Cattle Dog to be a gundog, not realizing that really my Cattle Dog was also crossed GSP.

That's a lot of drives.

Oh my Lord. Well, absolutely. It's a strange mix indeed. But, and so I started with simply, as most people do, with doing the fetching and retrieving. And then slowly, I mean, if people are thinking, well, how do you get this started? How I started. Was doing fetch, but obviously adding in that impulse control by making her wait for a little while before we go and retrieve. So we're going to sit, wait, I'm going to throw it, wait, now go get it. And we just gradually built on that. And she just came alive. She would just like, she wasn't just sort of trotting out to go and get the ball. Because I thought the one thing is you throw a ball for a dog and it kicks the prey drive and they want to chase something that's moving. I'm thinking if I throw it and it stops, she's going to lose interest.

Yeah.

And at the start she was kind of like, What's going on here? Like, why? It's not moving anymore. But eventually she got the idea and she was just, she will just fly for that thing like her life depends on it.

Do you mean doing the steadiness? Because you almost feel like, oh, I don't want to make you wait. You love to chase it.

Yeah, that's the exciting part.

Yeah. I saw a lot more drive and excitement when I started adding in the waiting and a few memory retrieves, putting something out, walking away from it. There's something called honoring the retrieve as well, where if ever I've got Friends, hey, I'm going to throw something out. It's not always yours. That unpredictability. Sometimes another dog's going to go get it. Sometimes it's your turn. Yeah. All of those things, I think you feel mean because you just want to endlessly fulfill your dog, endlessly throw something. But when you start to add in the impulse control, they enjoy it so much more.

Well, Max, you talk about that a lot. You know, you use that analogy with the poker machines and how we put, you know, they don't always pay out, but it's just that excitement of like when it does pay out, it's like, oh yes. And that's what— that's the addiction. And that's what happens with the gundogs.

Spot on.

That's it.

If you just, if you just get in that rhythm, just And then you're just throwing the ball endlessly, endlessly, endlessly. It's like your dog's heart rates are staying up the whole time. It becomes really predictable the whole time. So all you're really doing is teaching their body just like, go, go, go, go, and overstimulating them. But also they run back every time knowing exactly what's happening next. And then they crave this like, you know, crazy, crazy, crazy high level of stimulation. And you're not really building any impulse control. Second you pick up the ball up, you know, the dog's already fucked off halfway across the field waiting for you to throw the ball again. It almost just becomes mind-numbing to them. So that's what I like what you guys are saying. And when I used to have a Weimaraner, I used to have a gundog, um, you know, those exact sort of things we used to do. It's like what people don't realize is though, that 30 seconds of dogs laying in a down, shaking, waiting for you to release them, like that is so much more draining and fulfilling to them than just getting up and going straight away. And you know, when we talk about, say, blind retrieve and memory retrieves, what these guys are meaning is like Rather than just throwing the ball straight ahead down a short grassy field where your dog can see it, is like tossing into the bush where your dog's like, oh, but now I can't see it. Then they've got to flick from eyes to nose and really track that thing, which is way more fulfilling. Or like you said, memory retrieve, like, all right, I'm going to throw the ball. You and I are going to go over here and do 2 or 3 minutes of obedience and do something else. And then we're going to test your memory and see if you can remember what direction I threw it and things like that.

Yeah.

Those sorts of things are so much more challenging where your dog's really got to put all their instincts to the test. And all the while, like, they're building fun skills that are actually transferable to the real world rather than just, see how fast you can run in a straight line, Fred.

You know what I mean?

Therapy's biggest impact doesn't show up in some dramatic breakthrough. It shows up in the smallest moments. You bite your tongue instead of escalating. You put your phone down instead of firing off that text. You say what you actually mean instead Instead of what would hurt someone else the most. Nobody applauds those moments, but they quietly change your life. That's what growing feels like, and that's exactly what Grow Therapy is here for. Grow is therapy that works, covered by insurance. Sessions average $21 with insurance, and some pay as little as $0 depending on their plan. There are no subscriptions, no long-term commitments. You just pay per session. Grow connects you with thousands of high-quality licensed therapists across the U.S., offering both virtual and In-person sessions nights and weekends. You can search by what matters, like insurance, specialty, identity, or availability. And you can book a therapy session in minutes and begin in as little as 2 days, not the national 48-day average. See if you could pay as little as $0 for therapy in seconds at growtherapy.com/startnow. That's growtherapy.com/startnow. growtherapy.com/startnow. Availability and coverage vary by state and insurance plan.

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Be 21.

A lot of, a lot of what retrieving is actually isn't throwing something from right next to your dog either. One thing I really like to do is pop Hank in a sit and then actually walk away from him about 20, 30, 40. Well, we're up to about 80 meters now, but start small and just throw something up in the air.

Yeah.

So he actually has to look out and watch the arc of the fall, which is a lot more in line with what he's bred to do than just Watching you, watching where the throw is going, that doesn't really tap into his brain at all. But if he can't mark that fall, he goes out and he can't find it. So they learn very quickly. I need to watch where that bird's falling because that's how I'm going to finish the job off.

One thing I loved as well with this sort of training is the whistle stuff as well, which— so I got Kira onto the whistle and that's just, you know, because in the gundog stuff you have a stop whistle where you get the dogs could be mid-running out going like, I'm flying for whatever I'm going to retrieve. And they've got to stop on the whistle.

Yeah.

And I'm using that all the time. Like we're out and about, maybe we're going— there's an area where we actually go to cross a road from one sort of off-leash area to another, and she'll be ahead of me and I'll blow the whistle. She turns and stops and she'll wait there until I get there for me to cross the road with her. And just any aspects like that, if I just want her to stop for whatever reason, I know I can just blow that whistle and she will stop dead, lie down and wait for me to give her something else to do.

Yeah. I mean, I first trained the stop whistle for gun dog trials and introducing directions, but I've probably used it way more to stop Hank when he's running out because maybe another dog has seen what he's running for and they're going to get it, and I don't want him to meet that other dog, so I stop him. Or people are walking past and I want him to stop.

Yeah.

Or other dogs, I see them coming from up ahead and I want him to stop and decide, are they going to go off to the left, or shall I call you back? Or I've used that stop whistle so many more times in real life than for 5 minutes when we're trialing or whatever.

Yeah. And even recalls as well. Like, I mean, it's so great for recall. You're not yelling down, you know.

Yeah.

I'm like, yeah, yeah, you just literally a couple of peeps on the whistle, she turns and she comes running straight back.

And I don't know, Max would know the science behind it, but definitely my whistle recall, that noise cuts through any kind of— I know when they go into drive, the ears are more likely to turn off. He can tune out my voice a lot easier than he can tune out the whistle. He doesn't tune out the whistle.

Yeah. So, quick little—

Here we go. Calls us nerds. Here he comes.

So, if you think of it this way, right, is like most noise frequencies operate within a certain range, right? So, you know, think of as they're running, the wind going through their hair, the footsteps, especially as you get further into the forest, like the penetration of our voice just doesn't cut through, whereas a whistle really stands out. So, when people go, oh, my dog loves the whistle, it's like, well, I guess they can learn to love what we associate with it, but it's really just, it cuts through with everything going on with their ears are flapping against their head. They're running 100 miles an hour, all that stuff. It's just, it's pretty much just the cut-through.

That's all it is.

Goes further, penetrates further. And I guess it, whereas you've got the noise scape full of 100 different things, you know, cars, traffic, wind, footsteps, voice, that really, really, really cuts through and stands out.

Yeah. Yeah.

And I guess a lot of the times we're using the whistle, it is with things he really values. Like, if I'm using the whistle, it's, hey, I might be throwing something else out that you can get. There might be a direction I need you to move in. There might be something for you to hunt. So when he hears that whistle, he's like, oh, normally good things really happen after you're telling me to do something.

Spot on.

The one thing that we've always struggled with is directions with Kira. And like, it's really hard. Well, I mean, I've found the direction stuff really hard. When I, just when I think she's got it, I'll put a direction in and she's just like, she'll run forward or she'll run another direction. And I'm just like, I can't just get her to get the direction. So I know it's something I'm doing wrong, not her, because she learns stuff very quickly. But directions is the hardest one that I've struggled with.

Yeah, well, the tip I got is to introduce directions and the stop whistle separate.

Yeah.

So literally just have your dog sitting in front of you, throw something out to the left, and then with the visual hand out to the left, ask them to go left. I think there's gundog-specific ones like over and stuff, but I just do left and right. And then they've marked the fall of something and then you take a big step. I even with Hank started like running towards it as well.

Yeah, right. Just to make it really obvious.

Yeah. Associate that. Um, white bumpers was another thing someone told me because they can see them. Again, science guy, you would know the colors dogs can see.

Yeah.

Not all the colors, but someone told me, hey, white bumpers really stand out.

And for those people listening going, what's a bumper? It's literally just something the dog can retrieve.

Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Can be foam or Plastic, but yeah, just an oblong-shaped thing that the dog can bring back.

So for anyone listening to this who's going, okay, dog loves retrieving, impulse control issues, gundog stuff, I've got one of the breeds, sounds like something for me, where would you suggest is the best place for them to start with this stuff?

I think Tom Cantwell on social media does the Monday—

Yeah, Monday challenge.

I think there's Glad Rock Gundogs that does Monday challenges. I use those a lot because there'll be a different challenge. I think, oh, I haven't trained for that.

There's definitely ones that I go, I'm not doing that one. Yeah, 100%. I'm like, I can't be filming this. Yeah, yeah, that's not gonna go well.

Or you film it and you're like, it's actually taken me all day to get this. Yeah. Um, but if you just want to go out with your dog and you don't want to endlessly throw the tennis ball, I'll say I love the tennis ball. I have a thrower. I definitely use it. But if you want to do more I think the best place to start is introducing some impulse control. Asking your dog to sit, asking for a couple of commands before they're allowed to go out and, um, chase the toy. I also think another really good thing for impulse control is asking them to sit and wait. You walking away and throwing something in the air, then you walking back and sending them out.

Very simple.

Those things are simple. They're not— most pet dogs would be able to do that. It more comes down to that steadiness. The, the suspense and the tension builds up. They really want to go out and do it. It makes it way more exciting.

Hmm.

Um, so yeah, that would probably be the first thing I would do. If you've got a spaniel, my spaniel loves going out after things, not so big on bringing things back. I'm working on it, but her main thing she loves, and that's what we want, we want So one of the best ways to find the things our dogs love is to hunt.

Yeah.

So tennis balls, long grass, throwing it into the long grass and letting her go for it.

Yeah.

I'll go one step further there. One thing I used to like getting my spaniel clients to do and still do when I see them here is to go and get just like a cheap tennis ball from, you know, it's like your typical cheap tennis balls, right? Slit that thing open with a Stanley knife and stuff it with food and then go hide it. So they actually get the satisfaction of finding something, tearing it apart, eating it. It is just like mental orgasm if you're a spaniel. That's a good one as well.

That is a very good one. I probably took it gundog nerd one step further and went online and bought some like dead grouse oil.

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

That you can mix with water. So Cali now has—

I've got the ducks and everything, don't worry.

The stinkiest tennis balls ever. But I noticed a difference in her chasing something that smells like the bird.

It's innate, isn't it? It is. It's fully innate.

I mean, the searching stuff is great fun too. I really enjoy doing that with Kira. It's just watching her Like hunt for that thing. And you can, you just see her like nose down. And the best part is when you can tell when she catches the scent.

Yeah.

Because she'll just turn on a dime and go for it.

That's my favourite thing to see.

And it's just, it's amazing. And she just catches it.

When you hear the nose like a little pig.

Yeah.

It suddenly turns on.

I mean, honestly, if you're thinking about getting involved with a gundog, I mean, as we said, the Instagram, Tom Cantwell Gundogs. He should be paying us for this plug. But there is so many out there though. Mordor Gundogs on YouTube is a great one to go watch videos.

JK the Podcaster.

JK the Podcaster, often putting up my own gundog But yeah, starting with the fetch stuff, starting with, you know, getting your dog in a sit and without— I obviously don't want to sit here giving instructions. If your dog is not great with the steadiness when it comes to throwing something and them not moving, simply just sort of holding their collar and throwing the ball out to start with. And if they go to run, it's, ah-ah, no. And then as soon as you feel the tension loosen and they're not trying to drag against you, let them go instantly. You have to be quick with that. And so they get to realise, oh, as soon as I'm chill, I can go. Yeah.

Long lines are great as well.

100%. That's how we started, because Kira wouldn't even bring a ball back to me when it started. So I had her on a long line to start with and dragged her back, basically gave her no option. It's like, you're coming back. And then she's like, oh, okay. But once they learn the game, because that's the thing, you've got to teach dogs fetch. Dogs don't come pre-wired to understand fetch. I mean, some breeds, obviously, if you get, you know, a retriever that obviously comes from those lines, a lot of them will. But even then, you've got to teach them that this is the game. This is what we want to do. And it is fun. Bring it back to me and you'll get to chase it again.

Yep.

Spot on.

And I think that's a big problem when I talk to my friends. I'm like, oh, they'll go and chase it and then they want to run away with it. Then the next part of the game is me chasing them. And that game of keep away can be quite frustrating. That's where the long line is great. And another big tip is lots of, especially the retrievers, are bred to want to hold on to something. The value also comes right at the end when they've got the thing, they're presenting it to you. If you then rush and remove it from their mouth straight away, you're kind of devaluing the game. So a big thing you can do is just play with them, be like, oh, that's so great. Thanks so much.

Really sitting in that moment.

Sounds so silly. They don't understand the words, but they understand the feeling of, I've done this great thing. Let me parade it around. Let me show you what I've got. Okay, now I'll give it back to you. Make it do the thing again. I think that's a big thing. People rush to just take it straight off them, but Those Labradors and Retrievers really want to hold on to it at the end.

Awesome. So let's really break it down. So if, so if you're listening to this, let's talk about the who, what, why. So who is this for? If you've got one of the breeds we mentioned at the start, and particularly if you may be starting to see a few little behaviour issues creep in, we always say there's such a strong relationship between the less natural behaviours that are practised, the more unnatural ones you see. Okay, 2 of the happiest dogs I know Are Hank and Kelly, sorry, and Kira. And it's because they get to do this stuff.

That's 3.

It's because they get to do this stuff on the regular. So if you're a dog mum or dog dad with one of these breeds and you're seeing a few little things, this is for you. In terms of what we can do, if we really summarise this episode and give you like 3 or 4 things to walk away with. Number 1, don't just play aimless fetch. Like Jack and Georgie said, get your dog sitting, building a bit of suspense, building that impulse control, and then sending them out is number 1. Number 2, throw the ball where you actually don't just test their eyeballs, you start to test their memory and their nose where they actually have to locate this thing. Number 3, start to actually do things other than a ball. Tennis balls or, you know, your chuck-it balls, they're great, but they're light and they're easy. The sort of things that these guys use, these big heavy bumpers or fake ducks, are a lot more weight. And it's quite underrated where 20 reps of running back and forth with an orange ball is way easier than 20 reps running back and forth with a big old wooden duck or a bumper that weighs quite a bit more.

Yeah.

So it's little things like this that we can do just to tire out your dog more, make the game more exciting and fun for you. And the fourth one is just mix up your terrain. Don't always just do this at a short grass soccer field. Just go practice this in the long grass, provided you are on top of your flea and tick preventatives. Practice this at the beach, practice fetch in the water, but challenge your dog.

I do it around the house as well. The scent stuff around the house. I mean, sometimes I'll hide dinner so she gets the, you know, using her nose again, or I'll just take the Kong and just hide it somewhere in the garden and tell her to go find it. And to add to what you just said, I like what we say with everything when you're starting something new with your dog as well. Don't rush it. You've got to do this thing because you'll lose patience. The dog won't know what you really want. I mean, I'm the most impatient person on the planet, but, and I soon realized that I've actually got to just take my time here. And like we say so many, so often, it's not just for the dog. It's fun for you as well.

It's a team sport.

It's so enjoyable.

And when you see the guys working at the high levels where their dogs are working 200, 300 meters away from them. They're picking up something they didn't even see fall. Then they have to go off to the right and they're listening to all the whistle cues like that. That comes from great training, but it also comes from an amazing relationship between the dog and the handler. And that can be built just by playing these fun games and testing your dogs out and giving them those wins, not going too hard, too quick. Yep.

Spot on.

I used to party on a Friday night. Now I just sit and watch Gundog Trials on YouTube.

That's the same.

So just a word of warning, you may become lame like me.

I guess the last little one as well is, I don't know if you guys do this, but I know with my Weimaraner, I used to do this heaps, was like teaching him to fetch specific items with names. So we used to teach him to like go and bring stuff up from the mailbox. He used to run down the driveway and pull stuff out the back, packages and stuff. And then it'll be, where's the remote? Get the shoes. And you can start to name these things. And it's really not hard if you start to show them this thing. toss it and go remote, they go, oh, I guess that's what that means.

Yeah.

You know, and little things like that is just incorporate this natural skill set they were born with into like everyday life is just probably the most fulfilling thing for them.

So yeah, and that's great for generalizing like a hold command as well. Yeah. Getting them to hold not just a pretend dead duck or a bumper or a tennis ball, but also we do it with remote controls, we do it with shoes to really generalize. Actually, you hold everything.

That's it.

Spot on. Before we completely end, you mentioned, because I spoke to you before we started recording, because I said, oh, I tried to get into some clubs and stuff with Kira, but they were very breedist and wouldn't allow us to join in. But there are clubs that do allow gundog stuff with any sort of breed.

So Dogs Queensland have a specific list of breeds that they will let trial. I don't even think poodles are on that list.

Is Rottweiler on that list?

Rottweiler's definitely not on the list. Neither is cattle dogs.

Bullshit.

It's funny, I can't see a Rottweiler delivering a duck perfectly.

He's got an amazing But United Field Retrieving, they're on Facebook. Um, great club, very welcoming. I just trialled with them last weekend for the 3rd time. Any breed, I believe any breed can go along. Um, they hold beginners mornings, so the season ends in a couple of weekends because it gets too hot in summer. But if you keep an eye on the Facebook page, they tend to hold beginners mornings where you can go along and just Give it a try. It's super cheap. Some dog sports can be really expensive. So yeah, if you're into it and you want a way to train, give them a follow and they're always posting things on their Facebook page as well.

Amazing.

All right. Well, thanks for joining us. Appreciate it. Thank you for having me. Hosted by Jack Lawrence and Max O'Neill. Edited, produced, and audio production by Jack Lawrence. Vehicle safety starts underneath. That's why the pros choose NAPA for undercar solutions that stop safety issues before they become costly problems. Go further with complete repairs that restore stopping, steering, and stability. Then grow your business through trust and repeat visits. With premium rotors, pads, struts, and wheel hub assemblies, NAPA has everything you need to keep undercar under control. That's NAPA Know-How.

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