Setting the Table for Success

By Jerry Holden

In the last article, we discussed how to avoid some common mistakes in your journey to realize the waterfowl retriever of your dreams. The concept of clearly stating your goals and expectations, working at it a little every day and simplifying when things get rough, has far more applications than merely retriever training. In order to be successful, you have to know what actions to take to teach a dog the desired behavior. This requires a basic understanding of the canine mind.

Dogs are often fairly easy to train once you understand how they think and react. The difficulty arises from the disconnect between the way we think and the way our dog thinks. Two of the most important differences are that dogs have no concept of time, and that they live only in the moment. You must learn to read the dog, understand what it is conveying. Dogs do not have a sense of the past, present, or future but they are very sensitive to routine. In general, they do much better with a fairly rigid routine. They begin to expect certain activities to take place in a customary fashion.

A typical workday (M-F) routine for a kenneled dog might look like this:

0600 - 0630 Morning airing

1400 1430 Mealtime

1430 1500 Afternoon airing

1830 1900 Training in the yard or pond

1900 1930 Evening airing

1930 2100 Time in the house with family

2100 2130 Last airing

2130 0559 Kenneled or crated for the night

A weekend routine would be similar but with an additional field training session:

0500 - 0515 Morning airing

0515 0530 Load up the truck with dogs and equipment to go to the field

0530 0600 Commute to training field or pond

0600 1100 Training in the field with training group

1100 1130 Commute home

1130 1200 Airing

1200 - 1400 Kennel time

1400 1430 Mealtime

1430 1500 Airing

1500 1830 Kennel time

1830 1900 Training in the yard or pond

1900 1930 Evening airing

1930 2100 Time in the house with family

2100 2130 last airing

2130 0559 Kenneled or crated for the night

This makes it seem like we train all day, every day, but look closely and youll see that the training is only for 30 minutes on weekdays and 1-2 hours on weekends for each dog. Youll also notice that feeding, airing, and training times are kept as consistent as possible throughout the week. The dogs come to expect these activities and look forward to them. This makes the dog receptive to learning and makes a huge difference in training. Creating the expectation of these activities will keep the dog mentally focused on what we are trying to teach. The schedules listed above are merely examples. However, where possible, a routine can be very helpful.

Once you are actually training, what should you do? I follow the Mike Lardy progression (http://www.totalretriever.com/flowchart.htm). However, remember that your goals and expectations are yours alone. You decide what level of performance you desire and then train to that level. Regardless of your goals, the socialization, introduction to the field and basics of training will be the same for most dogs.

Socialization and introduction to the field are critical elements to your retrievers success. The pup must be exposed to as much variation and new activities as possible, while they are 2-6 months of age. If you expect your dog to ride your ATV, put the pup in your arms and ride. As the pup grows, teach it to ride in the basket. If you expect your dog to ride in a pirogue during hunting season, take them for a pirogue ride in the summer and do some fishing or scouting. Show them birds and water, but do not force it on them. Introduce kids, pickup trucks, livestock and barbed wire etc. Anything you might see later, youll want them to see now. Most importantly, spend lots of time with a puppy. Build the bond of trust between you and your dog that will assist you later in training. A puppy in a kennel learns little, a puppy underfoot learns not to get stepped on.

A word of caution here though, some folks get so excited by the puppys natural desire to retrieve that they throw too many retrieves. I introduce retrieving at 8 weeks using a puppy bumper or sock. I do these retrieves in my home in the hall with all the doors closed. It is natural for the pup to go to a thrown object. It is up to us to teach them to bring it back to us. Using a hall eliminates all the puppys return options except back to the trainer. Only throw 2-5 per day. If you see the puppy slow down or its enthusiasm diminish, you just threw one too many. We want to build the retrieving desire to a fever pitch at this age. Well use this desire as a tool and reward. If you throw until the puppy quits, retrieving isnt so special anymore and their desire can diminish quite rapidly.

One of the most common mistakes people make with dogs they train is what I call conditional commands. Conditional commands are those commands like HERE that you make conditional based on your willingness to enforce them. Of course, HERE should be unconditional and instantly obeyed. However, it is all too common that the dog learns in some situations HERE is conditional. In other words, the dogs learns that the command is not always enforced and they learn to guess when they can get away with disobedience. It is much easier to train a dog that knows that the command will always be enforced. If you arent willing to enforce a command then dont give it.

In the last article, I suggested defining your expectations, buying a quality-bred puppy, work a little at it everyday and simplify when things get tough. In addition, if youll establish a routine, socialize the puppy, develop the retrieving desire and avoid conditional commands, youll be well on the way to training happiness. The table will be set for success in training your retriever.