If you’ve been to our drop-in sessions in Ainsdale Village Park or joined any of our pet gundog skills lessons, there’s a very good chance you’ve already met Badger, our very sweet and enthusiastic 18-month-old Labrador Retriever.
Badger is one of our demo dogs for our Life Skills Programme and he’s the perfect example of a typical young Labrador: endlessly curious, ridiculously friendly, and always ready for an adventure (especially if it involves water or a muddy puddle).
His enthusiasm is one of his greatest strengths and occasionally one of his biggest challenges. Badger loves introducing himself to every person and dog he meets. While most people find his happy, wiggly greetings charming, not everyone appreciates being approached by a large, often very wet or muddy black Labrador! Which is why we’ve been working hard on polite greetings and recall practice, using a longline and harness to give him some freedom to explore, but which stops him rushing up to other dogs. When there are no other dogs around, his recall is reliable, but we have some work ahead of us to get it reliable around his biggest distractions – other dogs and water – before he is given more off lead freedom in public spaces.
Badger also has some adorable quirks that make him very entertaining. One of my favourites is his food bowl ritual. As soon as he finishes eating, he picks up his empty bowl, carries it across the room, sits politely in front of me while holding it and waits until I take it from him. His reward? A few extra pieces of kibble. I’ve actively encouraged this habit because it’s brilliant practice for the clean “deliver to hand” we’ll need later when he’s retrieving dummies in the field. It’s just one example of how we weave our gundog training into everyday life.
Badger is currently working towards his Gundog Club Grade Two Retriever test. This includes two marked retrieves, a memory retrieve, a directional retrieve, plus solid obedience with recall, heelwork, stop whistle and a 2-minute sit-stay. We’re using force-free methods, with food rewards and games to make the learning fun, and we’re making good progress.
Like most Labradors, he’s also a complete water baby. Whether it’s a proper swim, or an enthusiastic wallow in a muddy puddle, Badger is always up for it, even on the coldest days. His thick double coat and confidence in the water will make teaching water retrieves much easier when the time comes. The challenge will be to keep him out of the water and steady at my side until he is sent for the retrieve!
Over the coming months, I’ll be sharing Badger’s full gundog journey here on the blog from Grade 2 to Grade 5, plus his first working tests, his first shoot, and everything in between. You’ll get to follow his progress, see the training sessions, the challenges we face, and learn the tips and lessons we pick up along the way.
Whether you have a young Labrador, a gundog of any breed, or you’re simply interested in force-free training that works in real life, I hope Badger’s story will be useful and entertaining.