How to make the most of your gundog training sessions
When training our gundogs, we all want our sessions to be productive and successful and feel like a good use of our often limited time.
And yet we have all been guilty of wandering into a field or a training area, with every intention of ‘doing some gundog training’ and realising that we’ve forgotten our whistle or have absolutely no plan as to what exercises we want to cover, or no way of communicating with our dog that now is training time.
What usually happens next is one of more of the following:
- You set up an exercise without the right equipment and then have to watch it go horribly wrong.
- You default to practising exercises that your dog is already good at and don’t make any progress in the areas you actually want to work on.
- You get frustrated that your dog doesn’t seem to be in the mood, you have no idea what to do, give up on training and send your dog off to have some more free time.
Our most productive and successful gundog training sessions have always been planned before leaving the house.
Consider how sports people and military personnel prepare themselves. They ensure that all their resources are ready and in working order prior to use. They have warm-up and cool-down routines. Their training plan has been prepared in advance.
Everything appears to look easy and seamless but it is the work that is done beforehand that makes it run so well.
If you have ever had the chance to watch top field trialers competing, the best handlers will invariably look calm, relaxed and confident, making everything look incredibly easy. This is all down to their preparation and their routines.
But how exactly should you go about preparing and planning? That’s what we’ll look at in this blog to help you make the most out of your gundog training sessions.
How to manage your equipment
As a handler, you will need to know exactly where your equipment is, that it is fit for purpose (and the exercises you want to work on), and is easily accessible.
There is nothing worse than turning up for training or an assessment than to find you have lost or forgotten something. It makes you feel uncomfortable and unconfident before you have even started.
By keeping your equipment in the same place, you should feel more in control which will transfer down to your dog.
It will also help you to remain focused on the task at hand and avoid what we term “faffing”. Rifling through pockets can waste significant time at best, but can at worst negatively impact your dog’s learning and understanding, particularly if they are waiting for reinforcement.
When it comes to storing your equipment, we favour the use of dummy vests. They spread the weight of the contents easily across your shoulders, they don’t flap or dangle in the way of your dog, they have a lot of pockets, are waterproof and can be worn over coats and jackets in the winter yet equally comfortable over a t-shirt in the summer.
Dummy bags are fine if they are well-organised and secured so that they do not swing forward and interfere with your dog.
Whether you choose a vest or a bag, you should never drop dummies on the floor and always get into the habit of putting them away after your dog has delivered them.
It is rude to simply discard it, particularly after your dog has retrieved it for you. Even if it is not game, they should still always be treated with the same respect. Equally, chucking or leaving the dummy on the ground will become a distraction that is not necessary, especially during your early stages of training.
As well as your dummies, you will also need to decide where you are going to store all your other training equipment such as whistle, lead, treat pouch, clicker, ball, get it bowls, posts and go-to targets, placeboard, steady fob, water, as well as things like poo bags, car keys, mobile phone, glasses, etc.
Put some thought into this, it will be invaluable in the future. We suggest you think about which hand you throw your dummy with and how you will retrieve the dummy from the back pocket of your vet. Where will you put your lead while your dog is working and have you got easy access to your clicker or treats?
How to prepare your gundog for training
Before you head out training you want your dog to be ready to learn, ready to work, ready to play. They should be well-rested and in good mental and physical condition.
Avoid certain times or situations, such as straight after food, or after a long hike on a warm day, or as soon as you return from work. If you are training after work, for example, give your dog some time to settle after being reunited with you, a walk around the garden, perhaps some play or a short relaxing bumble (walk).
For us, we have many routines that are a running theme throughout many of our training sessions and you will often hear certain catchphrases from us such as “Have a KitKat”, meaning take a break, “5 Bananas” equals 5 seconds, and “Work, Rest & Play” (the old Mars Bar advert) in reference to these routines.
No matter what you are working on, training sessions should have a distinct pattern. These exercises below have been put together to form a routine that prepares your dog for training and lets them know what is expected of them.
- Settle into the environment. Give your dog time to breathe, look around, have a pee, and suss out the area.
- Warm-up. We use what we call circuits to give our dogs time to get into the training frame of mind. When they start cue seeking you can start to ask for your well-known cues in a random order (you don’t want them to always be the same as it will become a chain of behaviours). The criteria here is to just check that your dog is responding to individual cues, not following a pattern.
- Training session with frequent breaks. We always aim to take a mini-break after each 10 repetitions of a behaviour and we take longer breaks when changing the exercise.
- Breaks that incorporate rest and play. They do not need to be lengthy or very high energy as you are simply giving your dog a head rest from the intensity of the training session. You are not asking them to go off into high arousal or self-hunting mode, simply giving them a bit of a breather, an opportunity to go and pee, and perhaps engage in some light play with you.
- Cool down session. We like to engage in a bit of light play, and probably a relaxing off-lead bumble.
All these transitions from work to rest to play should have clear cues from you, which can be a combination of verbal and body language.
To start with it may take a few minutes for your dog to be ready to work, don’t worry, give them time. If you make a good habit of doing these routines before all your training sessions, you will find that your dog is able to settle into work quite quickly and transition from work to rest to play.
How to time and reflect on your training sessions
An important part of your training routine is to be very aware of the time you are spending and the number of repetitions you are asking of your dog.
If you try any repetitive task over a period of time, it doesn’t matter how much you enjoy it, your performance will deteriorate as you tire and/or lose focus.
Part of your routine should be to always remember to try to keep your sessions short yet effective. You might want to count out the number of pieces of food, set an alarm on your phone or have someone monitor your repetitions.
Part of being an effective trainer is also to be able to reflect on your sessions in order to identify what needs to be done next to make progress. Putting the time aside, if you end many repetitions at the same level and not moving forward, this can also cause your dog to lose interest and/or become frustrated.
Try to plan the progression of your sessions before you head out with your dog so that you are ready to move and can adapt your session if your dog is progressing quicker than expected or struggling.
This means that you will have to be very observant of your dog, the environment and yourself. You might even want to start filming your sessions so that you can review things after you’ve got back home.
Use your observations and reflections to create the lesson plan for the next session.
This system of planning and preparation; doing, measuring and observation; and analysis, reflection and planning will ensure you make the most of your gundog training sessions and keep you on a smooth track of progression towards your gundog training goals.
If you’re interested in taking your gundog training further and want to learn more about how to become a better handler, as well as how to train a gundog, then we would like to invite you to join us on our Handler’s Courses.
Held over four three-day modules spread throughout the year, these are a deep dive into all aspects of gundog training and look at how dogs learn, how handlers communicate and the practical aspects of training a gundog using ethical, positive-reinforcement methods.
For more information on our Surrey Handler’s Courses head to: https://gundogtrainersacademy.co.uk/products/2025-gta-handlers-course-surrey
For more information on our Worcestershire Handler’s Courses head to: https://gundogtrainersacademy.co.uk/products/2025-gta-handlers-course-worcestershire