How things came to be…

 

Jo and Slate, 2006

The beginnings

In 2004, we got married and brought home a 7 week old weimaraner we named ‘Slate’.

We’d been told we needed to take up a dog sport, with a weimaraner - to keep them physically and mentally fulfilled.

Through Slate we were introduced to the world of shooting and gundog work.

We discovered a connection with the natural world that was unlike anything we’d experienced before.

Adam and Grey, 2008

Now hooked

Adam quickly got a shotgun licence and became a gun on a couple of shoots local to us.

Over the years, we made many friends working our dogs. There is a sense of community unlike any other, when hunting.

To hunt is to do what humanity has done for aeons - to come together with other humans, to look for food.

The way we see it

Gundogs are bred to ensure game is found and can be despatched with speed so it doesn’t suffer.

This is not ‘sport’, in our eyes. It is ethically harvesting resources for the community. We see hunting as more ethical than farming.

The game we find has enjoyed living wild and free.

Game is cooked and eaten - or it fills the freezer.

We know where our food comes from. We know that it has lived a ‘good’ life.

WORKING DOG breeds

We know we are in the minority. Most people have become very alienated from the origins of their food.

The general public are happy to purchase factory-farmed animals, plastic-wrapped in supermarkets - and yet are often against the shooting of wild game.

As the number of people who really need a dog’s incredible skills and abilities in the field dwindle, so the demand for working dogs reduces.

Consequently, the breeds which historically were bred as working gundogs are now bred increasingly for appearance or as companions.

There is a real risk that we will soon lose the natural abilities of many of these breeds.

WORKING ABILITY

When we look for a dog or when we (very infrequently) breed a litter, we value working ability over all else. Because we have experienced what happens, if we don’t!

There are too many people breeding only for appearance or just because they fancy a litter, for the working ability of many breeds to be preserved - unless there are breeders balancing this out by breeding only for working ability.

The UK KC’s weimaraner breed standard states:

Hunting ability of paramount concern

How much ‘hunting ability’ can be assessed when a dog is bred from after they have trotted around a show ring - and are never worked?

Grey, waiting for a drive to start, 2011

POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT

Jo has committed herself to promoting the training of gundogs without the use of force.

After all, ethics does not just extend to our treatment of game, but to the way we train our dogs too!

If we want the general public to think positively about hunting and shooting, to protect our reputation we need to demonstrate an ethical treatment of dogs - as much as game.

Even those who continue to believe that some force is necessary can be encouraged to reduce that force - and to expand the behaviours they can train using modern methods and positive reinforcement.

Adam and Slate, winning a Graduate working test, 2011

On a hunting training day - with Slate - run by the Spinone Club, 2006

Force-Free Gundog

Jo began by gaining qualifications and experience in general training. She founded and ran School for Dogs in Brighton for over ten years and subsequently founded and ran DogWorks in Jersey for another ten years.

Jo is a full member of PACT (Professional Association of Canine Trainers) and an ABTC listed trainer. She is an Accredited Instructor with The Gundog Club, a Certified BAT Instructor (Knowledge & Skills Assessed) and a certified Fear-Free Trainer in the field of co-operative care.

Jo completed the Compass Advanced Diploma in Canine Behaviour Management.

Jo now focuses on positive-reinforcement based gundog work and online work with reactivity. She offers online courses at forcefreegundog.com and hosts a popular podcast called Hold the Line.

Jo has written a book called Force-Free Gundog Training: The Fundamentals for Success - which is available from any Amazon online store. She is supposed to be hard at work on the sequel!

Nothing of me is original. I am the combined effort of everyone I’ve ever known.
— Chuck Palahniuk, Invisible Monsters