One element of a gundog’s training that is often overlooked is the teaching of ‘taking a line’. It is one of the most important skills that any gundog that is going to be used to retrieve game should be taught. However, it should be understood that this can be rather confusing for the dog, especially if it is one of the breeds that are predominantly bred to hunt rather than retrieve.
The main contradiction is that during a dog’s early hunting-and-quartering training we discourage it from pulling forward on scent lines as this will disrupt its pattern. However,
