The glory of mornings
I often read about getting your dog to focus on you when training, but I am not sure what this even means – is it really necessary?
Tom says: Different times of day produce varying sport and opportunities. Evening flights on a marsh splash for wigeon can be amazing. There are a few spots that I love to head out to with a pocket full of shells, my gun and a trusty dog in tow. Wigeon hovering over the water, captivated by whistling, while being illuminated by light pollution from the town provides a different type of magic to packs swooping into the decoys in the morning sun on a tide. Each time of day can produce something special. If I had to pick between the morning or the evening, then
I would have to choose the morning. It is wonderful to see the world come alive, especially when sitting on the foreshore. Watching the abundant species that call our beloved foreshore home during the winter is amazing and, along with the added soundtrack to accompany the visuals, is really something to experience.
I decided to have my setter’s teeth attended to as they were pretty dirty and I thought he had a broken molar. The vet said, however, that it was a malformed tooth, so he didn’t remove it. Is that right?
Neil says: Your picture, taken by your vet during the procedure, shows gemination of the upper left carnassial molar. This is not a fracture but a developmental abnormality, caused by an incomplete attempt of the tooth germ to split. I have seen it pretty often in incisor teeth, where again they look broken, but rarely in the large, three-rooted molars. My guess is it will be present on both sides. Though extraction is not required, the fissure obviously weakens the tooth to some extent, so I would avoid hard chews and bones and try to brush it regularly to avoid tartar buildup. An interesting case.
Fran says: Getting a good focus is vital when training a gundog and it starts from an early age. The aim is to make yourself the centre of the dog’s world; you need to be more exciting than the dog’s surroundings. This will change as the dog grows and gains confidence and experience, but the initial groundwork is very important. I look to develop good eye contact with the dog, and this carries on right throughout its career. When I’m out working and I blow the stop whistle, I want the dog to spin round and look at me; I want it to focus on my next command, rather than looking around at its surroundings.