In my opinion, the most important instincts that we as trainers should concentrate on with any young flushing dog, other than maintaining their natural retrieving instinct, is developing their ability to track and then trail game to the point of forcing the game into flight. I can’t even begin to count the number of times I have seen upland birds scurry off while a young spaniel attempts to figure out which direction the bird headed, while attempting to decipher its scent trail. Woodcock, ruffled grouse and the allusive cock pheasant, who is the master of running off into the brush undetected, all will employ this strategy as part of their natural instinct of survival. They will make every attempt to escape the area of threat through the concealment of dense cover, without having to risk the point of venerability by taking flight!
In most of the situations that we send our gun dogs to retrieve, the task is completed relatively quickly and with little fuss. The majority of the falls will be properly “marked” and should the game be dead, our pups find will be relatively easy. However, at times we get into a predicament where that allusive Rooster was just peppered and has glided in for a “cripple” landing. Although the dog may have marked the fall area well, chances are the bird will have taken off on foot before the dog is able to get to the find area. Thus, making it imperative that we start our spaniels on developing their instinct to track and trail early in life.
Unfortunately, none of us owners have the ability to track and trail cripple game. Some youngsters have the natural tracking ability and desire that shows it self early in life. Others pick it up later as they start to mature. Some must be encouraged through subconscious training and exposure. It is so nice to have a puppy pick it up on his own in the woods as he runs about in search of interesting scents. You can see the dog hit the trail and begin to search a trail to find where it leads.
The good natural ones have no trouble at all. They put their noses right down on the ground cover and go just as far as it leads. You will see quite quickly how they love this game of hide and seek. Not knowing why or for what reason, but they find it such an interesting and compelling game.
Flushing dogs can begin to learn tracking at a young age. Once they are handling live and dead pigeons, we can begin training. Teaching trailing at a young age educates the dog to trust and depend on its nose for the success in producing game.
To begin, we always work the spaniel into the wind, giving them every opportunity to be successful during this stage of schooling. The first dozen or so trailing attempts should be short and sweet. Remember the golden rule, “keep it simple”. Choose a day when the grass is damp from the morning dew or has been lightly moistened by an overnight shower. This will help hold the sent on the trail you set down, making things easier for your young spaniel. The cover in the field should only be high enough to conceal the bird out of sight.
Keep your spaniel in a confined area where they will not see you set up the training situation. Put a pair of rubber boots on to keep the spaniel from tracking your own foot scent. Walk down the outer edge of a field. Make a sharp turn in an upside down “J” pattern towards the center of the field.
Mark the starting point of the trail by pulling and dropping a few pinfeathers from a live pigeon. You may wish to tie a piece of orange surveyors’ ribbon to the short cover. This will give the precise location of where the trail will start. Holding a live pigeon by the wing tips. Guide the direction you wish the trail to go as the pigeon walks along the ground. Stop the bird periodically and force the body to the ground, then continue on with the track only going a short distance to start. Once the trail has been laid, you can choose to give a dead bird at the end of the trail or a clipped winged pigeon, whichever your young spaniel is more comfortable in handling for a retrieve.
Do not overdo the training of trailing. Mixing it up between dead, clipped wings and live fliers. This will maintain good attitude about trailing and keep there flush bold. Keep the spaniel guessing, as time progresses and confidence builds. Make trails longer and more difficult by the use of terrain and denser cover.
When your dog has shown good solid development it is time to take a clipped winged and shackled duck and toss it into the field. Give the duck several minutes to work out a trail for your spaniel and settle down. Get your dog and let him work out the trail and finally retrieve the duck. Eventually, move on to an unshackled duck for trailing. This will encourage your spaniel to work a track faster. They must move quickly if they want to catch up to scurrying game. I have seen many spaniels not work a trail quick enough and lose the opportunity to flush running game!
Now that you can see the spaniel is working this stage of trailing with more confidence and speed, use trailing to get you spaniel adapted to heavier cover such as briers, berry bushes and wild roses. This is where the birds are most likely to be on the average day out hunting. Believe me, after a few sessions of trailing a bird into heavy cover your spaniel will have very little problem busting in to search out game.
The final stage of trailing should conclude with calling your spaniel off an old trail laid out the day before. Once he complies with the recall command and lay off an old trail, reward him by having him find a dead bird that you have dropped in front of you while he was starting to take interest in that old trail. You can start to teach your spaniel the difference between a fresh trail and an old one by simply lying a new trail in the general location of a trail lay the day before. However, do not overdo the call off on an old trail. I would suggest calling off on a trail about one out every five, we want to maintain good solid attitude about trailing. Enjoy your gundog!
The most important things a trainer can do while disciplining his spaniel on running birds is to learn to read the dog to determine what type of scent his spaniel is working. It is essential to know whether the spaniel is working foot scent, or if he is working body scent. It’s easier to sit a dog down while he is working a foot scent than it is to try to stop him when he has a snout full of body scent. By setting up our training session to teach a dog ” track and trail”, we can begin to see patterns in our dog’s behavior that should give us insight into whether the dog is on foot scent and when he is working body scent. An experienced dog will quickly learn to follow the scent trail and quickly locate game.
There are many ways to set up a “track and trail” training session. The technique I use is to tie a dead bird to the end of a stout fishing pole with heavy enough line to handle the bird’s weight. I simply cast the bird to the area where I would like to start the trail and slowly drag the bird along the ground, to create a scent trail for the dog to follow. Remember to always move the bird upwind to give the dog the best opportunity to follow the trail. Continue reeling the bird in for about 25 yards and mark the area in the field so you can easily identify where the trail branches off. I prefer to tie a piece of surveyor’s tape on a piece of tall grass. Then drag the pigeon to the right, no longer going into the wind but now moving parallel to the wind. Continue the trail for an additional 25 to 35 yards. Once completed, remove the bird from the line and leave it at the end of the trail for your spaniel to find. It is important to know exactly where our scent trail turns and make the first 25 yards easy for the dog to follow. At the point where the trail turns to the right, an inexperienced spaniel will typically lose the scent trail.
It is important to work your spaniel into the area where you started your scent trail. I want the canine to find the starting point of my trail and not the bird 25 yards down the field at the end. Quarter him into the wind until he finds the beginning of the trail. Then we are off to the races. Be ready to hit the whistle and give the “hup” command when he overruns the trail and heads out of the area of the scent trail. Many dogs will turn and head back towards you. This is the time to reinforce the “hup” command. The dog is no longer on fresh foot scent and should obey your command. Move in the direction of the dog. This will cause him to obey your command as he feels you approaching. Once you get yourself into gun range reward him with plenty of praise. Now that your dog has done right give him the command to continue on hunting. Stand your ground while the dog relocates the line of scent. Be patient, it may take a minute or two for him to figure it out where the scent trail turned. Give him plenty of praise as he makes the find and the retrieve. Once he has been schooled in this form of training, we can advance to clip winged birds that are released to lay a natural scent trail. Do not overdo this training technique. Allow your dog to be an unconstrained tracker on most of the quarry he finds. When the right opportunity arises, take full advantage of it. Remember to only employ this technique when you are close enough to the canine to enforce the “hup” command should he pick up bird scent and decide to ignore you. Once mastered, your spaniel should be easier to stop as he heads out of gun-range. Good luck and have fun!
