Water Spaniels and hunting
 

Ears and hair flying in all directions, Yeates takes a huge leap and
lands way out on a water mark. Doing a belly flop and sinking out of
view, he reappears, undaunted and swims towards the lily pads, using a
sort of Australian crawl as opposed to a dog paddle. Now ears wet and
dragging in the pond, he halts a moment to shake his head. A halo of
ears and water crown his face. Then its on to the task at hand. A
hundred yards out, he allows his olfactory senses to kick in and hones
in on the downed quarry. With a triumphant snatch, the duck is in his
mouth and he has turned to bring it home. There's nothing more
rewarding . . . nothing more satisfying than to see these IWS do the
job they were bred for so many years ago.

Some of it comes naturally, just part of the package. Some of it comes
after years of training and working with an intelligent animal that
wants desperately to please. Love of the water, of water fowl and
running full tilt comes with the breed. The control, the knowledge of
where the bird is and the agreement to work with a human comes with
training. When you find an IWS with a combination of the two, you
invest the time and effort necessary to make a top hunting dog or
master hunter. Yeates was one of the great dogs who loved to work in
the field and who was willing to go to any length to please. He was
the first IWS to attain the AKC Master Hunter title.

Yeates was an easy dog to train. Having been raised with labs, Yeates
trained just like them. He was a thinking dog and used his brain to
try and understand what was asked of him. In addition, when he made a
mistake, his attitude seemed to be "let me try it again and I will do
it right this time". It always appeared to be a giant game with
Yeates, one he always enjoyed.

Attitude and success are the goals in training a dog for field trials
and hunting tests. It is a balancing act not to sour a dog and put too
much pressure on him. You have to balance the exercises too. Too much
blind work and the marks fall apart. Too many marks and the dogs start
to think they can do everything on their own and they don't need you.
So it takes a human who can devise variations and different exercises
to keep a dog competitive and interested in his work. Lots of birds,
lots of water and lots of positive enforcement keep a dog up and
happy. Constant drilling and negative corrections can ruin an
otherwise enthusiastic worker. You want a dog to be familiar with all
concepts of marks and blinds but you want him to view each test as a
challenge. He often has to call on his own resources to "pull the bird
out of the bush".

The IWS can and should do field work. It is their history. It was what
they were primarily used and bred for. The IWS florish with the work
and the rewards of working with your dog will translate into many
wonderful memories of days in the field.

REMEMBER: "This is worth repeating for benefit of al newbies!
Jo Ann asked Dr. Solo to remind people that while she has retired from selling GF (and sold
the business to Ken Fischer http://dandyorandas.com/) she has NOT retired from
helping people with sick GF and koi FOR FREE. 251-649-4790 phoning is best for
diagnosis. but, can try email put "help sick fish" in subject. Get your fish at Dandy Orandas
Dandy Orandas Dandy Orandas........you guys got that DANDY ORANDAS