Training dogs at Scotland’s famed Gleneagles Hotel
Gleneagles Hotel in Perthshire, Scotland, has all the usual luxury resort hotel features spa, golf, tennis, etc. and Gundog School, where guests learn how to handle trained black Labrador retrievers. (Susan Spano / Los Angeles Times)
The not-very-muddy mud room at Gleneagles, where guests are kitted out for gundog classes on the lawn and by the lake. (Susan Spano / Los Angeles Times)
Max, one of the noble beasts, ready to retrieve. (Susan Spano / Los Angeles Times)
Mick Doughty, an instructor who used to train dogs for the Sultan of Brunei, prepares to put Max through his paces. (Susan Spano / Los Angeles Times)
Debbie, a female Lab, retrieves a dummy bird on the schools specially designed gundog agility course. (Susan Spano / Los Angeles Times)
Debbie in a quiet moment. She is smaller than most American Labs, but of the same breed, according to instructor Mick Doughty. (Susan Spano / Los Angeles Times)
Training time at Gleneagles Hotel’s Gundog School in Scotland. (Susan Spano / Los Angeles Times)
Debbie waits by the lake for her turn to retrieve a wooden dummy. These Labs love to swim in fair or foul weather. (Susan Spano / Los Angeles Times)
After spotting where the dummy has landed, Debbie brings it back to shore. (Susan Spano / Los Angeles Times)
After a swim, Debbie and Max are trained to shake off water on command, so as not to get their master wet. (Susan Spano / Los Angeles Times)
After class, a satisfied Mick Doughty with Debbie and Max. (Susan Spano / Los Angeles Times)
