One of the best and most rewarding comments we hear is 'I have learnt so much about my dog from you.  All the reading of books, watching of dvds, obedience training and other gundog training has never come close to what we have learned about our dog when training with you'. 

For us, this is what it is all about.  Once you learn to read and understand your dog, it makes training so much easier and you start to see everything he does in a completely different light.

A dog at a shoot that is not well trained is not only a danger to itself, but also to others around it.  They can also spoil an excellent day for the Guns, Beaters, Pickers Up and Keeper.  A poorly trained dog is a nuisance to the Roughshooter or Wildfowler and not an asset.  Well trained working gundogs have a very high standard of training.  They do all the things they want to do naturally like hunt for scent and retrieve but their standard of training is high so that they do this in partnership WITH you, not in an unruly manner on their own, AWAY from you.

(NEW TO GUNDOG TRAINING - YOU SHOULD READ THE NEXT 3 PAGES)

Training begins at 8 weeks old with love, touch, play, fun and creating a strong bond and trust.

This is Craigelachie Gundogs training. 

'Every little thing matters' - remember that and it will help enormously with your training.  If you don't know what that means, you need to learn.  It is the difference between an 'ok' dog and an 'excellent' dog

From the day you get your pup home you begin to play with your dog and touch your dog. It amazes me in this day and age so many people come with their dogs for training and really don't know how to actually touch their dog with love, warmth and kindness. I have to show people how to do this. This touch needs to come from the heart, as it would from you for a child.  We're not talking about praise here, but physical touch and closeness.

We don't start the training process as traditional obedience trainers do.  We don't use treats.  We don't stand like sargeant majors when working with / training a dog.  Gundog training starts with you creating a strong bond with your pup but also about your pup learning good manners.  Good manners are those things like waiting to go through gateways, doorways, or not letting your pup snatch from your hands, not encouraging your pup to behave in any sort of manic way, teaching your pup basic commands properly and well like sit and come.  All of these things are the foundations of gundog training.  If you begin gundog training and don't have these foundations already in place, this is where you will start.

We work with all dogs and all the problems they come with.  We have never turned a dog away.  Some dogs need much more time and attention than others.  They way they live at home and what they are taught at home plays a huge part in how your dog behaves and contributes greatly to any problems your dog has.  We train dogs from scratch and we take on older dogs with problems and everything in between.

We train with touch, movement, eye contact, warmth, body language.  We interact with dogs when training and throughout the day in the home.  We want the dog to interact with us, but more importantly, we want the dog to WANT to interact, play and train with us.  We unconditionally love our dogs and we hope you feel the same about your dog too.  We train with love.  BUT love isn't always sweet smelling roses, most roses have thorns too.  This is the love we train our dogs with.  Just as a child grows through life being taught right from wrong, so too should a dog.  You need a healthy balance of sweet smelling roses love and thorns love to teach your dog the things you want him to learn.

If your dog was a child, would he have all the latest games and named label clothes?  Would he have little respect for you?  For many people, they can love their child and teach them right from wrong but when it comes to their dog, a mist seems to descend upon them.  Common sense goes out the window and suddenly they feel dog training is like achieving a masters degree.

If you love your dog with just the sweet smelling roses he is likely to pull on the lead, run off to play on his own or with other dogs, chase birds, about turn when he sees you get the lead out to go home.  Your dog, as a child, needs both the sweet smelling roses and the thorns to be able to build a trusting and unconditional relationship and bond with you.

Most people who train with us who have followed the tradional obedience training route or gone down the roads of KC bronze, silver, gold and good citizen or agility can't actually believe how different dog training can actually be to all those things.  A lot of people who go down these routes think great, I have an obedient and trained dog but when they go out for walks they get hauled about by a pulling dog, a dog that takes off to play with other dogs, a dog that chases joggers and cyclists, a dog that jumps straight out the back off the car the minute the door is opened, a dog that barks incessantly when the ball comes out.  In other words, in that safe, 4 walls environment, they have a fairly well behaved dog but then out in the real world, they have 1 problem after another. 

One of the best and most rewarding comments we hear is 'I have learnt so much about my dog from you.  All the reading of books, watching of dvds, obedience training and other gundog training has never even come close to what we have learned about our dog when training with you'.

For us, this is what it is all about.  Once you learn to read and understand your dog, it makes training so much easier and you start to see everything he does in a completely different light.

Training in a nice warm and dry building might be nice for us but that is not where you're going to take your dog on a daily basis.  Your dog is going to go out into the real world with all its real distractions like walkers, sheep, birds, smells, sounds, grasses blowing in the wind, rabbits, cyclists, water and a host of other distractions.  If you try to ignore the distractions, like walking your dog before other dog walker arrive, you are never going to teach your dog how to deal with the distraction.  If you always make excuses for your dog doing something e.g he pulls because he's dying to get to the water, he always pulls going downhill, or one of the many other excuses, you will never teach him not to do it.  And this is the problem with nice warm and dry dog training (well, one of the problems), there is no real world environment to help you learn how to teach your dog how to deal with the real world.  I could tell you horror stories of young dogs now wearing ridiculous pronged collars because their owners can't walk their dog to heel because the only place they take their dog training is in that nice, warm, dry, non- muddy building.  It is so unneseccary to have to resort to such gadgets for such young dogs, or for any of the other gadgets like headcollars or a 'baby harness'!  This doesn't teach your dog how to walk to heel, it just makes it easier for you to walk your dog.  They don't teach your dog how you want him to behave, either in walk or in any other area of his training or behaviour. 

There is another way to train, a better way to train, a way to teach you how to understand your dog and to help you to teach your dog the things you want him to learn.  A way that you can have fun with your dog and build a strong relationship with him but you have to come and be ready to change how you interact with your dog and be ready to move away from standing like a stone cold rock beholding a bag of treats.

One last tip - the younger you start this new training off with your dog the better.  The older the dog is, the harder it will be for you to not only change your behaviour, but also that of your dog.  As soon as your dog has all his vaccinations, book him in and start training in a way that will set up a great relationship between you and your dog.  A relationship that means your dog sees you as fun to be with and someone he can trust to keep him happy and safe.

You're not trying to create a clingy dog who will suffer from stess when you leave him at home or in the car.  You are training your dog to have a healthy stable mind that trusts you.  You want your dog to be just as happy to be with you or for you to say to him, off you go, you can play with the other dogs (but you want to know that if you call him away from the other dogs, he is happy to do just that and not muck about and not let you catch him or take off in the opposite direction).

A lot of people are now learning there is a different way to train their dog and wish they had realised this much sooner.  So many people just do not know there is another way to train, but there is, and it gives much better and more fulfilling lifetime results.  And if you put your heart and soul into it, it wont even feel like your training your dog, it will become a way of life.

Play with your dog.  Love your dog.  Train your dog.  He must trust you.  He must believe you.

Build a relationship with him where you never have to worry about your dog taking off from you.

If you are planning on training your dog to work, DO NOT TAKE HIM TO OBEDIENCE TRAINING or you will teach him, and yourself, things you don't want him to learn and things that will cause problems for his gundog training later on.  If you do, it is likely to be one of the biggest mistakes you make and are very likely to regret.  If you do take them, you will then spend the next 6 months trying to un-teach them the things you have just taught them.  General obedience training does not start your dog off with the right training, the right foundations for gundog training.  Obedience training for dogs is like you or I learning how to count from 1 to 10 or learn the alphabet from A to F.  Proper gundog training is like learning the whole alphabet but not just in English but in French and Spanish too!

Gundog training is much much more than just throwing a few canvas dummies and teaching the dog to fetch them.  It is also more than walk to heel.  Be careful who teaches you gundog training because a lot of people say they teach it but have no real knowledge of what is actually involved in 'proper' gundog training, but, a lot of people are doing just that when teaching 'gundog training'.

They buy a few canvas dummies, throw them out for your dog, and if you don't know any different, you are going to think that is exactly what is meant to happen.  Believe me, it is not!  This is nowhere near what actually happens in real gundog training.  A lot of people go to gundog training, including here, at Craigelachie Gundogs for example, but in actual fact, they are doing 'dog training' because their dog is nowhere near ready for gundog training.  Your dog has to have a certain level of training before you can really get them into gundog training, and ideally, starting the basic training tailored to prepare your dog for 'proper' gundog training.

Craigelachie Drummer (Tarka) (if he's half the dog his brother is I'll be over the moon)

Craigelachie Drummer (Tarka) at 4 months old

His brother - Craigelachie Sporren

One of my pet hates in gundogs is dogs who not only don't deliver to hand, but dogs who don't sit and give you the perfect delivery.  Why have bronze standard when your dog is capable of gold!

My wee fella from our last litter - Craigelachie Drummer aka Tarka

Why not visit our 'Videos - Dog Training' page!  It is under construction so videos will be going on over time.

 *****Want to join the North East England Spaniel Club (for ALL Spaniels)?  Go to www.nespanielclub.co.uk*****

Kay Mclain from Craigelachie Gundogs is passionate about helping owners train their dog.  Through a series of private One to One lessons, you will be given all the instruction needed to ensure his gundog training is the best it possibly can be and tailored solely for him and his needs.  For those who don't have the time to train their dog, or prefer the training to be done for them or need their dogs training 'started off', we offer Residential Training.  You will be taught not only how to train your dog but just as importantly, how to keep it interesting, stimulating and motivating for him.  Please visit our Testimonials page to see what others say about our training. 

Our clients come from all over the UK from Inverness to Eastbourne to Wales, Ireland and Europe.  Everyone has their own reasons for deciding to work with and choose Craigelachie Gundogs, and for most of them, they go away with considerably more information about training their dog than they ever thought possible.  We get results where other trainers have failed.  We teach people so much about their own dog and how to change their interaction with them to get the best from them.  We are lucky in that through dogs, we meet so many different people, from all walks of life with all with their own life stories and over the years, many of them have become very good friends.

Craigelachie Gundogs are based in beautiful rural Northumberland, North East England about 10 miles west of Morpeth.  We are a small family kennel made up of 3 generations who, between us, have worked with dogs spanning over 50 years. We are members of over 25 Working Gundog Clubs, Societies and Field Trial Associations.

Our commitment to, and understanding of dog training is such that Craigelachie Sporren is not only an outstanding working gundog, reliable stud dog and a great friend, but he is also part 'Assistance Dog' trained.  This not only shows our passion for dog training and understanding of the dogs mind, but it also reinforces this dogs training aptitude, and his trainability will come through in his pups.

 Who says Springers CAN'T walk to heel?!?             

We breed, train and work our own dogs starting right from a very careful breeding selection process to make sure we have the best possible match between dog and bitch.  The Craigelachie Springers came about from generations of very thought through breeding.  We do not breed to sell, we only breed when we need to bring on youngstock.  This does mean that now and again, there will be some pups for sale.  This also means we breed for quality.  The up and coming youngsters are a complete joy to train.  We have worked with many different breeds over the years, gaining more and more experience with every dog as every single one is different.     

Whether your dog comes to us through veterinary referral for behaviour/training issues, whether you're looking to compete with your dog, want to have the best dog at the shoot or just a very well behaved pet, we give you our undivided attention, commitment and passion to train your dog.