"Hello, I own an 18-month-old English Springer bitch. She has just started her second season at a local shoot. In the first year, she was mostly working in the line. She seemed to have a great nose for flushing and even retrieving the odd bird.

Towards the end of last season the picking up team became a bit light due to a few injurys here and there, so I was asked if I could give her a go and help out. I was given a bit of advice  to be selective on which birds to put her on, so all went well she was retrieving to hand, so I thought happy days. The season ended well. Through the summer I did not do much with her, mainly due to people telling me not to over do her.

About a month before the season started, I grabbed a few dummies about twice a week, wrapped a couple of pheasant  wings around them and we did some work that went well. At the start of the season this year, I was asked to pick up with her again. I have tried to start where we left off, still selecting good birds for her that she marks very well BUT she has started to either drop the bird half way back to me. There were two birds yesterday, which she just stood over looking at me! When I encouraged her back, she just left it on the ground where the bird fell. I also noticed that she was a bit rough with one bird. We did end on a good note when she retrieved a bird to me that fell a good 50 yards from us. 

I would just like a few professional tips as I seem to be getting different types of advice, but I'm not sure if it's the right advice! I hope you can help. Yours faithfully, Mr Branton."

H&C blogger and gundog expert Howard Kirby replies: "Dear Mr Branton, many thanks for your enquiry - you couldn’t have timed it better. I have just encountered a very similar problem with a young Cocker Spaniel of my own so this type of problem is uppermost in my mind at the moment.

What’s really important is that you get the right diagnosis as to why your Springer is putting the bird down. It could be for a number of reasons. Spaniels by their very nature love hunting and will sometimes develop the habit of getting rid of the retrieve as soon as possible in order that they get to go hunting again. The excitement of a shooting day will mean that they sometimes behave very differently to the way in which they do when in the training field at home. Assuming that this is the reason, ensure that in the short term that if she puts the dummy or bird down that you insist that she picks it up and brings the bird to you.

The clever bit now is whether you should be firm or just encouraging as you insist that she picks it up. You will need to make a judgement based on what you know of your dog. It might be a good thing to stop hunting her for a little while and use all of her energy and enthusiasm for retrieving practice, you may even find that you need to practice retrieving in an area with very little other scent around whilst you re-educate her. We need to teach her that we need the bird to be brought all the way back to hand.

Picking up might well have to go on hold for a while whilst you address this issue. I know that this will spoil your fun a bit but time spent sorting this out will be time well spent making sure that this does not become an ingrained habit.

Because she is initially picking up the bird I am sort of ruling out any great fear or tension but this can be a contributing factor for both the dog and handler, make things as easy as possible, focus on her retrieving and then see how it goes. It’s incredibly frustrating when these things happen but be patient and keep us here at H&C informed as to how you get on.

Best wishes, Howard."