English Setter Grayson

[Dean Romig]

He's a handsome boy Ted!
Setters can be stubborn, Lord knows his mother is. Patience and consistency are key.
It's good that he is learning those commands because they are the basis of all his future training. He needs to obey them implicitly in the next several months. If he isn't completely obedient to those basic commands don't move on to more complex training until he is.
Regarding the heel command... Grace, being 3 1/2 has heel down pat but being a stubborn setter, ignores it from time to time especially with distractions of all sorts.
Her heel training consisted of keeping her on a short leash or a leash with a knot 2 feet from her collar. That would be held with my left hand (gun would be in my right if hunting) and in my right hand I would have a 3 foot length of 1/2" PVC which when she would move ahead after being given the heel command I would tap the front of her chest/neck area and command heel again. That gave her a clear picture that if she moved forward there would be an immediate rap to the chest. Certainly not hard enough to hurt her but just enough to get her attention back where it belonged.
I would recommend graduating to an electronic training collar with a variable intensity dial. Grace still has her first one which is ideal for both of us. She gets very excited when I take it out of her bag - it means she's going on an adventure and she'll be running free.

The one I use is a DT Systems H2O 1850. It has 16 levels of intensity in the 'nic' phase and separate button for 'continuous' which I will likely never use unless she chases deer, coyotes, bear or something dangerous to her. It also has a 'on point' horn. Completely waterproof too.





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