Simulated game days for gundogs

The concept sounds like something that might have come out of an Alan Partridge pitch meeting: Inner-city Sumo! Monkey Tennis! Sim days for dogs! But when you stop and think about it, the idea makes sense.

Just as a novice game shot’s transition from the clay ground a live quarry day is a daunting one, a dog’s transition from the training paddock to the peg is a make-or-break moment for a young gundog. Even for experienced shots, if a bad habit has crept into their shooting, will the corrective coaching at the shooting school survive first contact in the field or a busy drive, with so much adrenaline and nervous energy coursing through your veins? As above, so below: no matter how much training you’ve done in the off-season with your peg dog, you can’t know whether that will all go out of the window when the first pheasant hits the deck.

In-field training for gundogs

So, where a game shot might book in a few sim days, perhaps with an instructor in tow, in order to make sure they’re ready for their first day of the season, or just to keep themselves sharp, the existence of a sim day for dogs is a logical extension. But while it sounds sensible in theory, how might it actually pan out in reality?

To find out I headed to Cold Aston in Gloucestershire to take part in one of Cotswold Fieldsports’ gundog training simulated game days. Not having a gundog of my own to take along, I was joined by my brother Jim and his three year old cocker spaniel, Chip.

Jim with Chip as a puppy in 2018

The gundog training days are the brainchild of Cotswold Gundogs and Cotswold Fieldsports owner and co-founder Andy Brown. Although I had spoken to Andy on the phone ahead of our visit, the morning briefing at the village pub was the first time we had met in person. Despite his jovial nature, his military background was apparent in the thoroughness of his safety briefing, and the precision with which he outlined how the day would pan out.

The head honcho

A nervous start

There were around twenty people enjoying coffee and bacon rolls in the spring sunshine, and we learned that we would divide into two groups. The guns, some of whom had peg dogs with them and others who were just there for the shooting, would form one group under the direction of shoot captain Mark Oliver and Andy himself.

Mark was an excellent shoot captain, offering ribbing and encouragement in equal measure

For the first couple of drives the ‘picking up team’ would enjoy a training session run by one of Andy’s team before joining the guns for the last two. The day would be punctuated, as on a game day, by elevenses and a light lunch in the field.

The pickers up class in progress

The first drive saw the guns lined out in a steep-sided but shallow grassy valley, with the trappers positioned at the top of the slope (how nice to be on a sim day where manual traps were in use).

As we walked to our pegs I chatted with my brother, who confessed that he was more nervous about his dog’s performance than he was about his shooting, despite not having lifted a gun since January. This was in no small part due to the fact that he had left the corkscrew at home. He explained that because Chip is something of a dog-of-all-trades, at various times being required to help with dogging in, beating and to be a peg dog, he’s developed a few bad habits, most notably a tendency to run in unless tied to the ground.

Being a supportive older brother I offered some words of reassurance along the lines of “I’m sure he’ll be fine.” The whistle blew to start the drive, whereupon I missed the first three clays I shot at, so I was somewhat relieved when the whistle sounded again.

The author fails to connect (again)

Stopping a gundog from running in

To my somewhat uncharitable glee, I turned to see my brother hot-footing it across the valley in pursuit of Chip, who, finding that he was un-corkscrewed and with gunshots filling the air, had espied the training dummies landing behind the gunline and had set off to retrieve one.

This is the benefit of the clay days tailored for the dog training – if a dog goes rogue, the drive can be stopped and reset to allow the handler a chance to try again – something you can’t do on a game day!

With Chip back under control the whistle sounded and once again clays filled the skies, but seconds later the tableau had repeated itself. Once again Chip was rounded up, and I was pleased to see Andy making his way over to offer some words of advice to Jim.

When the whistle blew for the third time it was to signal the end of the drive. Eventually I had managed to catch up with a few clays, having overcome the ‘red-mist’ which always makes me shoot like a cretin on sim days, and was surrounded by an appreciable number of empties. “How did you shoot?” asked Jim, sauntering over with Chip sheepishly in tow. “Not too bad, but not brilliant,” I admitted.

After each drive those with peg dogs could send them for dummies behind the line of guns

We stood and observed one or two of the other guns sending their dogs for some of the dummies, with varying levels of success. One gentleman, a regular pupil of Andy’s had a liver and white springer who looked to be performing extremely well, while the gun to my left had a fox red lab whose enthusiasm to pick dummies made him forget his training, at least where ‘stay’ was concerned.

As we watched, I teasingly asked Jim how Chip had done. He gave me a Look, but then added that Andy had been great. “I told Andy that Chip has lots of different roles and why he’s started running in,” said Jim. “He gave me some ideas for some drills we can do at home to stop him from wanting to bugger off after the first pheasant he sees,” adding that it helped that Andy came to hang onto Chip’s lead while he was shooting.

The corkscrew of shame

Between the drives, two of our fellow guns, Henry and his other half Becky, offered Jim the use of their corkscrew, their miniature dachshund Murphy having shown a studied disinterest in all of the dummies, preferring to sprawl in the sunshine instead of haring about the place

Murphy preferred sunbathing to chasing dummies

The rest of the day passed without a hitch where Chip was concerned, though I’m not sure that I can say the same for our shooting. We shot each of the four drives twice, so we had a chance to take on a wide variety of challenging targets. The first two drives were simulations of partridges, which I am most comfortable with, this being my shooting ‘bread and butter’, and I was able to string together a few ‘streaks’. As the clays got higher, however, I started to struggle, and by the final drive, a high-pheasant simulation, I was well out of my depth.

Some of this may have been down to the fact that Jim and I had made the rookie error of taking a slab of game loads left over from the season rather than lighter clay loads. Although we had both tried not to simply blaze away, we did manage to work our way through a fair few shells, and both went home feeling somewhat sore in the shoulder.

Rewarding good behaviours

In the end it was deemed too warm for the ‘picking-up team’ to come and join the final two drives, but at the various pauses in the day - elevenses, lunch and the end-of-day coffee - we were able to have a chat with one or two. James, who had a young cocker, was a regular at Andy’s training classes and attending his second sim day.

He was enthusiastic about both Andy’s training techniques and the impact that the days have had on his young dog. I should point out, incidentally, that Andy has some strong opinions on training gundogs, with a strong focus on making sessions fun for both handler and the dogs themselves, and a focus on rewarding good behaviours rather than punishing bad ones.

Andy offers some words of wisdom to one gun and his dog

But what of the day itself? Well, speaking as a gun, I thoroughly enjoyed myself. The atmosphere that Andy and his team create is a welcoming and relaxed one. Compared to other sim days I have attended, the shooting is challenging without being ridiculous, and the setting is glorious, made to look even better by the brilliant late-March sunshine.

Side-by-side users were well-advised to wear a glove to prevent burned fingertips

Jim, as my dog-handling test subject, also enjoyed the day, adding “I can totally see how bringing a young dog along to a day like this would give you extra confidence heading into the season. Even with Chip, who is quite experienced now, I think it has really helped.”

Running in, me? Never!

For more information on Andy’s gundog training sim days, view the Cotswold Gundogs listing on GunsOnPegs.