Keeping your Dog Focused Out of Season
Ian Clinton · 28 Feb 2012 · 6 min read
Think carefully about the weaknesses and plan ahead to use the longer days to keep the dog focused; time and effort put in over the summer will mean that you are unlikely to suffer a repeat of this seasons discrepancies.
So what are the most likely things that went wrong for you?
Unsteadiness and running in, picking and swapping birds, sloppy retrieving, whining, poor recall, deer or hare and rabbit chasing are without doubt a few of the most common. Fault resolving and getting back on track will be challenging and take time and commitment to address, but successfully confining bad habits to the bin will only be achieved by the determined application of a consistent training plan. Perseverance may well ensure you turn up next season with a changed dog you can be pleased with.
The most successful way of dealing with any of these issues after the excitement of the shooting season fades is to go right back to basics. It is worth noting that some of the problems highlighted most likely develop as a result of moving on too quickly during basic training and not ensuring 100% compliance in the first place. Remember, when training a gun dog ‘make haste slowly’. A second bite of the cherry and revisiting basics properly away from the shooting field will ensure a way forward if you are to try and exchange those bad old habits for new and improved ones!!
Let us examine the first basic rule to work on, as I have said before and make no apology for repeating here, if a dog has a good grounding in basic obedience then all of the more complex gun dog work and behaviours should slot nicely into place. If your dog can manage a 100% solid ‘sit stay’ you will be able to trust your dog more easily to stay calm and seated whilst you enjoy the best birds a driven shoot can offer.
The drills to teach a dog to sit and stay until told to do otherwise are as follows:
In a garden or field walk your dog at heel and with a raised hand and single pip on the whistle command the dog to sit? Ensure you give the command only once and make sure you get compliance. If he fails to sit then raise his head slightly with one hand and with the other gently push his rump down into the sit. Praise the right response and behaviour with a gentle stroke and a ‘good boy’. Repeat as many times as is required until he sits on command. Between each sit, walk on at heel for a few yards before commanding the sit. This exercise is helping the dog to realise that it must stay with you when you command heel and relax into a sit position when you stop. Using the raised hand and whistle pip at the same time will begin to reinforce the right behaviour desired for more advanced work when he is out working away from your side (but more of that in future articles). Keep practising this drill until he is 100% compliant; remember it is consistency and repetition that will reward you with the right behaviour. Keep sessions short and focussed, 15 minutes on this exercise is enough to prevent boredom for both you and the dog. Two or three 15 minute sessions a day is far better that one long session.
The next step is to introduce the stay to the sit. With the dog sitting and focussed on you, raise one hand to signal the sit and pip the whistle once, command the dog to stay and take a few steps backwards away from the dog. If he starts to try and follow you, take a step forwards towards him and firmly command stay and with raised hand pip the whistle again. Try to get to a position 5 yards away from him and hold him in the sit position, reinforce the hand and whistle command to sit. Calmly walk back to him and give gentle praise for staying. Over time and with repetition and consistent application you should be able to leave the dog in a reliable sit stay for an extended time and distance. Testing the reliability of the sit stay can be practised by sitting the dog up and walking away, walk out about 10 yards and then walk round in a big circle with the dog sitting in the centre, apart from turning his head to follow your movement he should remain seated where he was placed.
Always return to the dog and praise the right behaviour, do not be tempted to use this exercise to practice a recall otherwise you stand the risk of the dog anticipating the recall and learning to run in back to you without the command. Remember, this is one of the habits we will be trying to eradicate in a future article so let us not develop a habit to rehearse failure.
With practise and 100% compliance this exercise will develop and improve your dogs’ obedience and relationship with you as his handler and is an important step in eradicating bad old habits. As he learns this exercise build on the distance and duration of the stays, variance will keep him thinking and on his toes and test the reliability of his obedience.
In the next article I will be looking to build on the sit stay by introducing steadiness training and a reliable stop whistle at distance.
In the meantime if you wish to discuss any matter regarding your dogs training or require new training equipment please take time to visit www.workingdogcompany.co.ukor give Ian a call on 01462 450830.
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