"Hi Howard, I have really been enjoying your videos etc and bloggs on the web. Would you be kind enough to give me some advice? I have a three year old ESS [English Springer Spaniel] I have trained her myself and as she is my first dog I have probably made errors but she has turned it to a good dog. I go beating on an estate in Wales but this season she has started to pull ahead and ignore calls. She never goes more than 30 seconds before returning, but she definetly is increasing her distance too far for my liking and she isn't as responsive as before - when I walk her on her own she stays a lot closer. Is there a specific training model I can follow to encourage her to stay closer? Again I'm really enjoying the videos etc and wish I had seen them three years ago! Thanks, Andrew"

"Dear Andrew,

Many thanks for your email and I’m really glad that you are enjoying the H&C stuff.

With regards to your ESS it’s great to hear that you are able to take her beating and that you have gone to such trouble to get her well trained enough to be able to do this. As the shooting season progresses, most dogs start to get a little 'wild’ - the excitement of the occasion means that they ignore your commands a few times and very soon realise that they can get away with it.

I’m not sure whether you have trained her to turn on the whistle or just to the recall. Either way it would almost certainly be a good idea to sharpen her up in the training field, not just on the turn and/or recall but also hupping/sitting to the flush heel work and general sharpness.

Once you are confident that you have got her listening and obedient in the training field then try to find an area with some game scent or a small amount of game, keep her really close and expect the same level of obedience. Most dogs will now be much more excited and less inclined to listen to you. This is the tricky/skilful bit if she is close and you issue a command to sit, turn or recall that she chooses to ignore you should immediately go out to her taking her back to the spot where the disobedience took place, re-issue the command doing everything to ensure that your command is understood and then carried out. Once she is obedient and listening to you at this level then you can reintroduce her to the beating line.

Again this transition can be difficult as the beating line moves forward fairly promptly with game running away in front of you, as you know this pulls your dog forward and further away from you, this is where the training and obedience will be tested as we will need to insist that the dog hunts a really tight pattern close to us. (Watch out for an H&C how-to on hunting coming soon). This very tight hunting pattern is sometimes a little too tight/close for a beating line but it is the compromise you will have to strike if you are not to end up with a dog that runs ahead out of control. The positive is that as your dog becomes more reliable you will be able to allow the hunting pattern to open out giving you a slightly bigger beat.

It is essential that this stage is not rushed, get this right and you will have every keeper in the area requiring the services of you and your dog. Well trained line/beating dogs are few and far between but worth their weight in gold. In conclusion, taking a step back and consolidating the basic training will be the way forward. I hope this is helpful but do get in touch with us again if need some more advice.

In the meantime have a brilliant dog training Christmas and once again thank you for your comments.

Very best wishes,

Howard"