Are HPRs hard to handle?
I fancy getting an HPR for picking-up and rough shooting. Are they hard to train?
Fran says: If you’ve never had an HPR before then yes, they can be a bit tricky. As the name implies, they’ve been bred to hunt, point and retrieve, so there’s a lot going on in their head in relation to things that move. Therefore, it can be hard work teaching them focus and steadiness. The main thing when training an HPR is to start in reverse order: train the retrieve first, develop the point, then train, or rather unleash, the hunting instinct. If you concentrate on the hunt first, you may find you have a dog that is only interested in hunting and doesn’t want to retrieve. Like with any dog, take it slowly with lots of repetition.