Experiences of acquiring a trained dog?

[SimpleSimon]

I'd be keen to hear from anyone with real life experience of buying (or otherwise coming to own) a trained working dog of any sort. Did you find it easy or difficult to build a bond with the dog, get it "settled in" and working well for you? Was there an element of needing to re-train certain aspects according to your needs, and how easy did you find that? Presumably it takes a little time/work to make sure you and the dog are on the same page? How did the seller/trainer help you - some kind of "handover" where they demonstrate the commands, etc?
I'm considering the possibility of sourcing a trained dog when the inevitable happens to one of my current pair, it could be a more suitable option than getting a puppy this time around.

 

[nic531]

my old lab was acquired at 2 years of age as a 'failed FTCh. she did not have the drive and speed needed for that..... however as a wildfowling rough shooting dog she has been far better than i could achieve normally. She came from being kept in kennels to a house with my other two lab x ridgebacks. was housetrained in a day or two and settled in fine. I had spent an afternoon with previous owner and did not try and change commands but altered me to suite her.

i also had a lab from a gamekeeper at 15 months and that also was good... a week after getting her 1/2 trained she was retrieving geese on the Tay with the previously mentioned lab.

 

[polranny]

I bought a trained cocker spaniel about 10 years ago, at the age of about two and a half. We were not in a position really to have a puppy at that time. The previous owner thought Tilly was not fast or stylish enough for field trials.
She has been the most fantastic dog and has picked up thousands of partridge and pheasants over that time. Superb at following hand signals, bold and with a great nose.
No retraining was needed and she bonded very quickly. We bought her out of the shooting season so there was no rush to get her going. Most of all we felt the previous owner was honest and open about Tilly.

Good luck

 

[willie_gunn]

We bought an 18 month old lab, Twigg, as a "failed" field trial dog. As with @nic531 above, this was because he didn't have the speed and style that the trainer was looking for when it comes to field trials.

He turned out to be a great picking-up dog, and Mrs Gunn (who works the dogs) still rates him as the best we've had. He's sorely missed.

 

[SimpleSimon]

She came from being kept in kennels to a house with my other two lab x ridgebacks. was housetrained in a day or two and settled in fine.

Interesting, thanks, that's something else I wondered about as pre-trained dogs are very often kept in kennels. House training and general "house manners"

 

[willie_gunn]

Interesting, thanks, that's something else I wondered about as pre-trained dogs are very often kept in kennels. House training and general "house manners"

Twigg had been kennelled - he then lived inside the house with us and our other three dogs and was house-trained within the week.

 

[Brittany boy]

My first vizla was a failed stud due to having too much bone on his shoulders, needed an op so couldn’t be used for breeding. He was about two years old when we got him, turned out to be gun shy and a bit nippy with the kids. He had been recuperating in a crate for previous 6 months and the youngest child of the breeder had been tormenting the dog. Two weeks with us and he was great with the kids, two years later he was a great shooting dog. He had had no training before we got him and it started the bug for HPR. Would happily take on an older dog again, and the point about the previous owner being honest is a valid one.

 

[Dan Newcombe]

We sell trained dogs and retire dogs to pet homes and there never seems to be a problem with them bonding with new people. That’s assuming that they have been a) trained properly and b) brought up well.

We have also taken in dogs that have not had the best start and the results have been more mixed because they have come with ‘issues’.

Generally speaking I think we overthink it. As long as you feed it and be nice to it then you shouldn’t have an issue bonding.

Worth noting that because it is coming ‘trained’ to a level - the best results come when you then out the effort into further / refresher training as that helps the bond form.

One of my most loyal cockers retired to a friend of mine down south and when I visited 4 months later - she was 100% his little pal.

 

[SimpleSimon]

We sell trained dogs and retire dogs to pet homes and there never seems to be a problem with them bonding with new people. That’s assuming that they have been a) trained properly and b) brought up well.

We have also taken in dogs that have not had the best start and the results have been more mixed because they have come with ‘issues’.

Generally speaking I think we overthink it. As long as you feed it and be nice to it then you shouldn’t have an issue bonding.

Worth noting that because it is coming ‘trained’ to a level - the best results come when you then out the effort into further / refresher training as that helps the bond form.

That all makes sense. One of my current dogs I actually got when he was about 2.5 years old and he settled in fine. He'd lived in the house, and although he wasn't "trained" as such, he'd obviously been very well socialised and all the basic early groundwork and "manners" done. I suppose in real terms that isn't much different from buying in a fully trained gundog. You're probably right when you say Over Thinking!

 

[unicorn71]

I have taken on 3 trained dogs over the last 20 years , the first a lab took about 2 months till we were on the same page the second and third were both purchased from sd a Hwv and a cocker both bonded almost instantly and were a credit to their previous owners . To be honest training a puppy has lost appeal after my experience of trained dogs.

 

[308tikka]

We bought an 18 month old lab, Twigg, as a "failed" field trial dog. As with @nic531 above, this was because he didn't have the speed and style that the trainer was looking for when it comes to field trials.

He turned out to be a great picking-up dog, and Mrs Gunn (who works the dogs) still rates him as the best we've had. He's sorely missed.

View attachment 292962

What a beautiful dog.

 

[Heym SR20]

In many ways I can absolutely see the benefit of having a dog properly trained by somebody who really knows what they are doing. Whether you get a puppy and then send it away or buy one from a handler.

For many of us, we will get a dog about once every ten years or so. And whilst we think we know everything about dog training, we really do not. But equally there is a lot of pride / fun in a dog doing its first retrieve for you etc.

 

[Ratel]

I once went to Cheshire to look at some cocker pups and a half trained bitch. Seemed to me to be rather a large litter of pups and whilst looking round I spotted a very thin poor looking bitch that had not long had pups. This set me thinking and I asked to look at her. He told me she was just 12 MTHS old. I asked him to get her out which he did, she was a snoopy look alike in a very thin state but she avoided him and came straight to me. How much I asked "I can't let you have her like that he said". My reply went along the lines "I'm having her you cuel .... You've bred from her already. I'm taking her money or not and I'd advise you to sell her to me before I drop you where you stand". He knew I meant it and £350 and papers changed hands. She needed no training and all the time I had her she would come out of the kennels and jump up onto my arms. It was like having another kid, she loved me to bits and was the best spaniel I ever had for beating or picking up. I still miss her after 15 years.

 

[Dan Newcombe]

I think that for a lot of people a started / part trained dog makes a lot of sense.

The first year is when they take a lot of management and sets you up (either god or bad) for the next steps.

We have seen quite a few people come to look at young dogs, baulk at the price and because they want a puppy so they can do it themselves - only to come back 9 months later with a hell raiser they need help with.

Buy something that has good basic and you are away - as with everything it all depends on the person you are buying from, make sure it’s been done right and you will have a great partner, get the wrong one and you are just putting work on yourself.

Go and see the dog but if it’s not right, walk away - proper trainers will not hold it against you. And remember expensive doesn’t necessarily mean good

 

[countrryboy]

Dan is bang on with his 2 posts
FT boys think nothing about moving a dog on or buying 1 in when older, as do keepers/pickers up running big teams of dogs, most times u never have a problem.
if it was an issue ur rehoming kennels would never manage it and most/many off their dogs could have behaviour issues, be far easier with a well trained and socialised dog.

Wot i will say and i've seen it quite often is folk spending a lot of money buying a fully trained dog, but not having a clue wot to do with it, how to work it and also u still need to be training it constantly to a small degree or more stopping it slip out of its good habits.
It is 100% the new owners fault/problem and seen some owners repeat the process with another fully trained dogs when the last 1 "wasnae trained right"

To give an example, I know 1 landowner who had a lab trained by a local lady, and trained to a decent working standard, goes to its new home, back door is opened in morning dog is let out to 'free run' all day with no supervison in a big house garden full of rabbits and pheasants.
Then it comes out on a shoot day and he wonders why it doesnae behave???
Been back and fro a few times, the 1st time it actually took some remedial training, now when it goes back it just knows it has to behave with her and not with the owner. U honestly would not believe it is the same dog when handled by the 2 different people

Don't be put off by my post as the owners don't have a clue, a bit of common sense and listen to any advice the trainer gives u even try to get/buy a lesson of him when u pick it up or in the future to iron out any wee problems that may develop, as even when u train ur own dogs always wee flaws developing when u work them.

i know fully trained dogs seem and are a lot of money but by the time u factor in price of a pup + 1yr+feed + any vet bills and then add time in training on top the hourly rate for training will not be very high
Sometime u can get some bargins of hobby FT lads with dogs not quite up to competion standard, sometimes happy to move on for not much more than a pup price as there happy to free up kennel space for the next hopeful

 

[chiron]

I have only had two dogs from pups all the others have been trained or “ failed trial “ dogs. Of the 2 pups one was brilliant and the other I should have given away! The trained dogs all bonded really well and my theory is that in a big kennel they don’t get the 1 to 1 time except maybe 15 minutes a day training time. So a bit love and attention and they relish it.
However do spend some time with the dog before saying yes. You owe it to the dog and yourself to make sure it’s the one. I turned down several dogs because I felt they just weren’t for me.
Personally I would not have a another pup. You get at 8 weeks cost what ever, train it for 18 months with cost of food ,vets bills and training lessons maybe and you hope and it’s a big hope that you have a good one. The price of a trained dog is nothing to the angst of a bad one which you have fo maybe 10 years.

 

[VSS]

Even if you buy a trained or part-trained dog, you'll need to quickly run through the whole training process with it, starting from scratch, otherwise it's never going to bond properly and be your dog. So basically, if you're a crap trainer, buying a trained dog isn't necessarily going to work for you. You could just as easily ruin it, and end up with something that's more of a liability than an untrained puppy, because it'll take advantage of every opportunity to challenge you.
If training dogs isn't your thing then I'd suggest getting a started (but not fully trained) dog, and then getting regular lessons from a decent trainer.

 

[potshotpat]

Don't buy a dog from a trainer/owner from Wales, if your English and can't speak Welsh.

 

[VSS]

There's a reason why I prefer getting dogs onto whistle commands, rather than voice, ASAP!

 

[paul o']

Don't buy a German retriever !!! if you raise your right hand they klick there heels ! or one called Fenton .
but many years ago I had a wet dog thinking it would save time I got a fully trained Chessie fantastic when I saw her working and it took a fair bit of time to gel she did't like how I tried to mould her to my way! so I got hold of the guy and we both had a few lessons and she worked out well .