RE: Thoughts on training
Mine has been e-collared but I use it very little. I only put it on him to make sure he doesn't try to run a moose or bear on me. He has already been around deer and showed no sign of interest in them. However i still want to play it safe with him.
As for drive, she's very birdy to the point of stubborn.
Mine will get that way from time to time that is when I break out the check cord or over hereI can take them on a dirt road and just let them run some of the energy out so I can work them better. That normally solves the problems for me.
I have never heard tell of the barrel method and it may work out alright for you. It wouldn't work very well for me though as picking up the 70 lb setter just to have him jump down would get to be a pain.
On of the trainers Bill Tarrant's Gun Dog Training - New Strategies from Today's Top Trainers is Bob Spouse. He was a red setter man and once editor of The Flushing Whip. He talks about back in the '30s, his grandfather owned red setters with Campbell blood. This is the same line of red setters started by George and Milton Campbell in which back in 1884, Joe Junior (mixed red setter) beat the famous Llewellin setter Gladstone in a one-to-one competition. It goes on about how the red setter was saved by outcrossing. Very interesting story.
Alot of folks have been doing this that is for sure, mine is a cross with the irish Red and White setter and the Irish Red setters and are very smart hunting dogs.. I enjoy hunting with them but, I have noticed after letting them run some of the energy off helps them do a better hunt for me.