---
title: "The Season Has Started: Is Your Gundog Ready to Work?"
description: Taking your gundog into the field for the first time? Learn how to manage their first shoot days, spot weaknesses and keep training throughout the season.
image: https://www.millroegundogs.co.uk/hubfs/The%20Season%20Has%20Started%20-%20Is%20your%20gundog%20ready%20to%20work%3F.png
---

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Field Days Training

# The Season Has Started: Is Your Gundog Ready to Work?

![Adam Peace](https://www.millroegundogs.co.uk/hs-fs/hubfs/4c40f0da-0b79-452d-97c1-26168c1d9bbf_C7200205-9AA8-4D1E-B81B-760D22959B43.jpg?width=48&height=48&name=4c40f0da-0b79-452d-97c1-26168c1d9bbf_C7200205-9AA8-4D1E-B81B-760D22959B43.jpg)

 Adam Peace

September 23, 2026

September means the start of the shooting season and, for some handlers, the first opportunity to put months of training into practice.

You’ve done the retrieves, worked on recall, practised steadiness and put the time into heelwork, the stop whistle and handling. Now comes the bit that matters: taking all of that training and asking the dog to do it when there’s actually something going on.

Because there’s a big difference between doing it on the training ground and doing it with game in front of you.

**This is where you find out what you’ve actually got.**

## “But he does it at home.”

Everybody says that.

Your dog might have a brilliant recall at home. It might sit to the whistle every time on your usual training ground and walk beautifully at heel when it’s just you and the dog. That’s great, but now add other dogs, people, shot, scent, game, excitement and a handler who’s probably a bit more excited than usual too.

It’s a completely different situation.

That’s why we don’t just look at whether a dog *can* do something. We want to know whether the foundations are strong enough to still be there when the situation gets more difficult.

If this is your first season together, there’s something else worth remembering too:

> **Don’t judge the first day by how much work your dog does. Use it to find out what you’ve actually got and what needs training next.**

## Go back to the foundations

Before asking for more, look at what you’ve already got. For us, that means the basics: **recall, heelwork, the stop or sit whistle, steadiness, delivery and handling.**

They don’t need to look fancy. They need to work.

If you haven’t got a reliable recall without game present, adding more game isn’t going to improve it. If your dog is already creeping on a simple retrieve, putting it into a more exciting environment probably isn’t going to make it steadier. And if you’re having to give the same command five times in training, think about what happens when the dog has something much more interesting in front of it.

**Foundations first.** There’s a reason we keep coming back to them.

That doesn’t mean everything has to be perfect before you ever take your dog into the field. At some point you need to make that transition, and working your dog will tell you things that training alone can’t. The important bit is recognising what you’re seeing and not asking for too much too quickly.

## Don’t make the jump too big

This is where handlers can get caught out. The dog has been going well in training, so we make the next exercise much harder. Sometimes, we make it too hard.

There’s nothing wrong with progressing your dog that’s what training is about but you have to work the dog in front of you.

Some days you might be able to stand 200 steps away and get exactly the response you’re asking for. Another day you might need to be two steps away. That’s fine. Make it easier, get the response and then build it back up.

You’re not going backwards. You’re making sure the dog understands what you’re asking.

That becomes even more important when you take a young or inexperienced dog into the shooting field for the first time. The temptation can be to think, *we’re here now, so we need to do everything*. You don’t.

## Your dog doesn’t have to work the whole day

If this is your dog’s first season in the field, don’t feel you have to work every drive just because you’re there for the day.

There’s a lot for a young or novice dog to take in: new ground, other dogs, people, shot, game, scent and periods of waiting around, followed by suddenly being asked to work amongst all of it. That’s a big step up from a training session.

So take your time.

**Work a drive and see what dog you’ve got.**

If they’re settled, listening and coping with the environment, great. If you can see the excitement building and they’re starting to become overstimulated, give them some time out.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with working a drive, resting a drive, then working another one later. In fact, for some young dogs that can be a much better introduction than expecting them to cope with a full day the first time they go out.

Not every young or novice dog is going to be ready for a full shoot day.

And they don’t need to be.

## Learn to notice when things are changing

A young dog might start the morning brilliantly and then, as the day progresses, you begin to notice little changes.

Heelwork gets a bit untidier. They’re watching everything around them rather than paying attention to you. They become quicker to move, the whistle doesn’t get quite the same response and they’re finding it harder to settle between drives.

None of those things necessarily means you’ve got a problem. The dog may simply have taken in enough for now.

What matters is noticing those signs before the dog becomes completely overstimulated and you lose the behaviour you started the day with.

**Let them have a breather.**

Put the dog away and let them settle. You might bring them back out for another drive later, or perhaps just bring them out at lunchtime and allow them to be around the people and dogs without asking them to work.

That can be useful experience too.

One of the things handlers have to learn during a first season is that knowing when **not** to work your dog can be just as important as knowing when to send them.

## You don’t have to keep going until something goes wrong

This is another one worth remembering.

There’s no rule saying your dog has to work the last drive.

If you’ve worked two or three drives and you’re pleased with what the dog has done, sometimes that’s enough. You don’t need to keep going just because everybody else is.

A first season is exactly that, a first season. You’ve got plenty of time.

We’d rather see a young dog do a little bit well, come away having learnt something useful and be ready for the next day than ask too much too soon and risk undoing some of the hard work you’ve already put in.

Don’t measure the success of the day by how many drives your dog worked.

**Look at how they worked them.**

If you finish earlier than everyone else with a dog that has listened, remained settled and had a good experience, that’s a good day.

## Game changes things

The field is also where you’ll start to see how your dog reacts to game.

You can do a lot of training with dummies, we do but a dummy and game aren’t the same thing. The scent is different, the feel is different and the level of excitement can be different too.

Some dogs make that transition without much fuss. Others change completely.

You might see hesitation on the retrieve, a change in grip or more excitement on the return. A delivery that was solid with a dummy can suddenly become untidy, or the dog may simply become much more interested because what it’s carrying is now real game.

That doesn’t automatically mean you’ve got a problem. It means you’ve learnt something else about your dog.

And now you can train it.

Introduce things at a level the dog can manage and see what happens. If it goes well, move on. If it doesn’t, don’t keep repeating the same mistake and hoping it fixes itself.

Have a look at why, make the exercise easier if you need to and then go again.

## Watch the handler as well

It isn’t always the dog. We talk about this a lot at Millroe.

As things get more exciting, handlers can start rushing too. Commands change, hand movements change and our body position can change when everything is happening quickly. Without realising it, we can give the dog a completely different signal from the one we’ve been practising in training.

Timing can change too. You send before you’re ready, or before the dog is properly lined up, and then wonder why you’ve had a different response.

Before you send, take a couple of seconds. Check your position, make sure the dog is with you and check that you’re both facing where you want the dog to go. Think about your hand signal and then send.

**Get yourself right. Get the dog right. Then send.**

We ask our dogs to be consistent, but consistency works both ways.

## If something goes wrong, don’t panic

Something probably will at some point. It may be a new environment, a young dog or simply one of those days. No dog is always perfect.

One poor retrieve doesn’t undo months of training. Neither does a missed whistle or a bit of untidy heelwork. What matters is what you do next.

Don’t immediately make things harder and don’t keep repeating something that’s going wrong in the hope the dog suddenly gets it right.

If a retrieve has gone wrong, make the next one closer. If necessary, walk part of the way out with the dog so you're reducing the difficulty rather than testing the same problem again.

If you’re beating and your dog is starting to get too far ahead or too excited, bring them back in and work them closer to you. Don’t feel you have to keep pushing the dog further out simply because that’s what you eventually want them to do.

Make the situation manageable again, get the response you want and then build it back up.

That’s training.

## Your first day isn’t an exam

This is probably the biggest thing we’d tell anyone taking a young or novice dog into the field for the first time.

**Your first day isn’t an exam.**

You don’t need to prove anything to anybody.

You’re there to see how all the work you’ve done holds together in a real working environment. You might find that it holds together brilliantly. You might find a few gaps. You might discover that your dog can manage two drives really well but isn’t ready for a full day.

That’s fine.

Because now you know.

And knowing what needs work gives you something useful to take back into training.

That’s a much better outcome than pushing on simply because you want to say your dog worked the whole day.

## Keep training through the season

Once you start working your dog, training shouldn’t disappear from the diary. Quite the opposite.

The season is going to show you things that are difficult to recreate completely on a training ground. Recall might start getting slower around game. Steadiness might begin to slip as excitement builds. Delivery might change. Handling at distance might not be quite as solid as you thought.

Or your dog might surprise you and show that they’re ready for more.

Pay attention to it.

After a day in the field, think about **what went well, what needs work and what you’re going to do about it before the next day**.

You don’t have to wait until the end of the season to address something that has started showing itself now. In fact, dealing with those little things as they appear can stop them becoming much bigger things later.

That’s why our classes and 1-2-1 training continue throughout the shooting season. If something shows up in the field, bring it back into a training environment where you can take away some of the excitement and pressure.

Break the problem down, work on it and then take that training back into the field.

## Work the dog in front of you

A first season isn’t about producing a finished dog in one day, and it shouldn’t be about comparing your dog with everybody else’s.

Some dogs will be ready for more than others. Some will take the whole environment in their stride, while others will need more time. Neither means you have to rush.

Don’t feel you have to work every drive. Don’t keep going simply because everyone else is. And don’t be afraid to take a step backwards in training when something needs a bit more work.

**Work the dog in front of you. See what you’ve got and pay attention to what they’re telling you.**

Then take what you've learnt back into your training, put the work in and go again.

Because ultimately, there isn’t a shortcut.

**Time put into a dog and the right focus. That’s what makes the difference.**

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