Spaniels have been bred for generations to hunt out game from stick piles, patches of bramble and thick bracken banks, and a well-bred puppy should be pre-programmed to get its nose down.

However, if you do too much early hunt training with a young spaniel this can become the most important thing in its life and will overtake any desire to retrieve.

How to plan your puppy training

Nobody said puppy training is easy - just make sure you don't make it unnecessarily hard for yourself.

How should I start training my puppy to be a gundog?

Take things slowly, don't rush and form a bond with your new gundog puppy before starting any training

Six frequently asked questions about gundog puppies

Why won't my puppy concentrate during our gun dog training?

Spaniels are “pre-programmed” to hunt, it is their most basic instinct and, to be honest, there are two trains of thought when training a young spaniel. Some trainers, especially if they plan to compete in field trials with their dogs, like to concentrate on getting a puppy whizzing about “play hunting”; others like to get a dog retrieving first and then concentrate on its hunting at a later date.

Recall is most important

The recall is one of the most important parts of a young gundog’s foundation training. There will get to a stage at which you want your dog to come back to you no matter what it is doing. If he has become “all obsessed” with hunting, especially if he gets on some ground where there is a bit of scent, you may well find he will ignore your recall command.

Steadiness

Steadiness is another foundation 
training element and – once again – 
if you have focused on the dog’s hunting skills it can be more problematic to instil steadiness at a later stage.

Balance and consistency

Training a gundog is all about balance and consistency. Therefore, you don’t want to be too biased towards either hunting or retrieving. Ideally, each aspect should be taught in conjunction with the other and, in fact, they can complement each other. If you have conditioned your pup to fetch retrieves, later in its training you can use this to encourage the pup to hunt up and to find a retrieve.

Teach a spaniel puppy to retrieve