We received an email from a viewer who wanted to ask trainer Howard Kirby’s advice on clicker training:

“Dear Howard, is it possible to teach a gun dog the basics via the clicker training method? We have a seven-month-old English Springer Spaniel bitch that has just starting training. I have been trying to get her to walk to heel, sit and stay but her concentration is very limited. I was also wondering if you could use the clicker in recall training, or is it not advisable to try and adapt it to gun dog training? Darren"

Dog trainer and behavioural expert Howard Kirby writes: 

“Hi Darren, the answer to your question is undoubtedly yes, however clicker training - like all training methods - requires a good deal of skill from the handler. I would recommend that you research the subject well and ideally work with an experienced trainer, to ensure that you are doing the right things. Clicker trained dogs get better and better the more training that you do with them. Their work rate is just fascinating to watch.

You will need to start as early as possible with your young Springer ensuring that she doesn't become too independent of you, this hard hunting breed need a handler that is prepared to interact, engage and entertain them, otherwise they very quickly start to make their own entertainment and will start to hunt and lose contact with you.

Please do check out my video below which might give you some tips on clicker training, and I will be making a new video soon for the H&C website. Please let me know how your dog gets on and good luck”.

Howard