Thread: What sort of cast do you want from your dog...

on another forum, the question was put up...what distance of cast do you want from your dog. My theory on it is...depends on the environ...big country, big cast; little country, little cast. Another forumite mentioned the bite of the cast being possibly more important. What are your thoughts?

+1 on the type of terrain dictating the distance of the cast, the bite really depends on your dogs nose

Without too much detail , but how do you dictate the distance of cast ie whistle and hand signal?

With all of this casting and biting shouldn't this thread be in the fishing section. Leaving now before I get growled by EeeBees for hijacking her perfectly sensible thread.

Originally Posted by Munsey

Without too much detail , but how do you dictate the distance of cast ie whistle and hand signal?

Change of direction whistle

The distance as per the terrain what UU said. Dictating it is initially by control (Whistle, hand etc etc)... and thats what I initially did. Constantly blowing my whistle which I then realized is not quite necessary.

More recently I just walk without much audible commands. If my dog is further than where I want him to be I stop and stand, when he sees me I turn and walk the other way so he follows and thus the pattern begins... It becomes quite simple once your dog gets the idea that he needs to follow. That's about pointers and setters... For spanners you'll probably need to be within fu*kable distance to keep on top of them, so a lot more control is used (i believe)...

ideally a cast with a dog using the wind and terrain as the limit and with a dog with enough natural ability to use both with a natural desire to check in and work for the handler.
the spaniel is trained to pattern within shot gun range, running a flushing breed that works any further out is a waste of time.

Originally Posted by Rushy

With all of this casting and biting shouldn't this thread be in the fishing section. Leaving now before I get growled by EeeBees for hijacking her perfectly sensible thread.

Principal's office for you, Rushy

Originally Posted by Petros_mk

The distance as per the terrain what UU said. Dictating it is initially by control (Whistle, hand etc etc)... and thats what I initially did. Constantly blowing my whistle which I then realized is not quite necessary.

More recently I just walk without much audible commands. If my dog is further than where I want him to be I stop and stand, when he sees me I turn and walk the other way so he follows and thus the pattern begins... It becomes quite simple once your dog gets the idea that he needs to follow. That's about pointers and setters... For spanners you'll probably need to be within fu*kable distance to keep on top of them, so a lot more control is used (i believe)...

I try to use the whistle as least as possible. I think body language without voice is good in the field. where we hunt on the river, the cast can only ever be around 15 to 25 metres maximum either side so there is little advantage for whistling in my view. While the casts might be that distance the actual bite, due to the rough, can be considerably small.

Originally Posted by kawhia

ideally a cast with a dog using the wind and terrain as the limit and with a dog with enough natural ability to use both with a natural desire to check in and work for the handler.

I agree, Kawhia, the connection is important to me...what is the point of hunting with a dog if you cannot work as a team.

Originally Posted by EeeBees

Principal's office for you, Rushy

Originally Posted by Petros_mk

The distance as per the terrain what UU said. Dictating it is initially by control (Whistle, hand etc etc)... and thats what I initially did. Constantly blowing my whistle which I then realized is not quite necessary.

More recently I just walk without much audible commands. If my dog is further than where I want him to be I stop and stand, when he sees me I turn and walk the other way so he follows and thus the pattern begins... It becomes quite simple once your dog gets the idea that he needs to follow. That's about pointers and setters... For spanners you'll probably need to be within fu*kable distance to keep on top of them, so a lot more control is used (i believe)...

What you have described above is training a dog to run a pattern, the whistle blowing is necessery to train a dog to cast out to a specific distance.

For interest sake , do you think a whistle can adversely affect what game birds do in the field when hunted ? (. Uplands )

I run my pointer with a bell on him so I dont think the odd peep on a whistle will affect anything.

Originally Posted by upnorth uplander

What you have described above is training a dog to run a pattern, the whistle blowing is necessery to train a dog to cast out to a specific distance.

more than one way to skin a cat bro...