UNTIL NOW, REMY’S training has been quite solitary. He has been worked on his own without any distractions from other dogs. However, as I plan to work him with the rest of my picking-up team, the time has come to see how he gets on watching other dogs work and whether he can remain calm and under control.
This stage of a dog’s training can be fraught with problems — if you don’t do it carefully, it can lead to the snatching of retrieves, running-in or, even worse, making a noise out of frustration.
To ensure that this exercise goes as smoothly as possible, it is important that you use one experienced, steady dog to work alongside your youngster. In this case I used Jack, my 12-year-old springer, who has…