Training Tips

When I look back on the years that I have been hunting over and training Irish Setters I now realise that during the first few years at least, I thought that I was only training the dog. What I didn’t realise at first was that it was me that had to do a lot of learning as well. That is, I had to learn to train a dog properly. 

There are lots of very good books and videos on training hunting dogs. Not all of the methods and ideas will work for you but some will work really well, you have to decide. 

What I want to do here is to document some of the ideas and methods that I have learnt and that I think are really important.

Building a rapport.

This is probably the single most important principle of any working relationship between a human and an animal. If the dog doesn’t like you, whether it is frightened of you or has no respect for you, then it will be impossible to get the full potential from it. The dog must enjoy your company and want to have fun with you, and of course you enjoy the dog’s company and let him know this. And if going hunting is fun for both you then you are well on your way to the kind of relationship that many people only dream of. 

So how do I build a rapport? 

I try to spend as much time with my young pup as possible. Having a routine is important. I usually finish work at four thirty so I can generally get home before five which means that even in winter I have at least thirty minutes of daylight to run the dogs. Weather and other commitments permitting, I try to run the dogs every evening and at least once at the weekends. If I am bringing on a young pup it will generally be allowed to run uncontrolled until it is at least six months old.  By uncontrolled I mean that although I will always be with the dogs I will not be applying any “formal” control e.g. “come” “stay” “stop”. They must learn for themselves that it is OK to run as far as they want that it is OK to check out different smells and it is OK to chase birds. I suppose it is a bit like raising a child, the early years are not about learning the formal stuff like Maths and English it is about the "soft skills" such as learning to interact with other people and getting a wide variety of experiences to form a base that can remembered and built on when the formal training starts. 

There comes a time however when I need to begin applying some formal training and control. This little bird finding machine that has been allowed to run and hunt to its heart’s content free from any formal training or education will quickly learn to become what is known as a self hunter if some form of discipline is not applied. 

There is nothing worse than hunting with someone whose dog is somewhere about two hundred meters in front and you know this because you can see Pheasants flushing wild from that vicinity. That dog is a self hunter and has no intention of finding and pointing a bird until its handler arrives. The young dog doesn’t know that it is part of a team that the handler is the other part and they must work together and be aware of each other if they are to be successful hunters. Too often we will blame the dog for this problem when it is actually the trainers fault!

Tip # 1; Keep commands simple and few. 

Dogs don't actually understand human languages. They do understand voice tone and body language. When you talk to your dog in big long sentences using multi syllable words he hasn't a clue what you are saying but the tone of your voice and your body language are the big giveaways to the meaning.

I use three main commands; 

Go

Come 

Stop

Anything else is just a variation on these.

Early training will begin around the home and the puppy’s kennel. The first command is usually “come” or whatever command you use to call the dog to you. The puppy is generally rewarded by receiving food, a pat or verbal praise or any combination of these so this command is easily learnt. This is an important command so I make sure I am consistent. When I say “come” I mean “come now” not when the pup feels like it. I have had to crawl under the house as well as other places to get a reluctant pup to come to me. 

Invariably I will be in a hurry for work and the pup doesn’t want to go into its kennel so from my point of view there is definitely no option. That is pretty much my attitude to any given command. They soon learn that it is much less hassle for them to come to me rather than for me to go to them and the consequences are much better too! 

The pup must learn from an early age that I am the leader of the pack, I am in charge. And I will consistently enforce the behaviour boundaries once they are defined. It is no good chastising the dog for some thing one day and then ignoring the same thing the next day, you must be consistent. Inconsistency from the handler/trainer creates confusion for the young dog willing to please.  

Tip # 2; Define the boundaries early and be consistent when reinforcing them.

For bird dogs the “stop” or “whoa” command is the hinge of the whole performance. The Americans put so much emphasis on it because it is that important. If you can stop your dog reliably, and by reliably I mean when you give your stop command the dog hits the deck immediately every time, you can steer your dog away from potential trouble during a trial or when hunting. If there is a chase, be it fur or feather, you can stop your dog. If the other dog comes on to point and your dog cannot see it you can stop it and not interfere with the point. This is impressive not only to a judge but to any hunting companions too. They will probably want to go hunting with you again if you show that sort of consideration for them and their dogs, (let’s hope it’s reciprocal). 

I train the stop command when I think the pup is ready, but it will usually be around the  six month mark. Certainly not younger than six months.

Tip # 3; The stop command is NOT a Gimmick.

If you have a reliable stop on your dog it is three quarter trained. The stop is that important. It will keep your dog out of so much potential trouble in trials and hunting. It is not something where you show how clever your dog is to your mates whilst having a few beers, it is not a gimmick. When you give the command to STOP! the dog hits the deck right where it is! Not ten steps later. The young dog will quickly make the connection when you start enforcing a stop when game birds flush and are in the air. To me the stop in this situation is like a "follow through", Golf players will tell you that a poor follow through even though it happens after the stroke actually affects the stroke. I know from coaching target shooting that if we tidy up the follow through on each shot then the shot sequence, the aim, the hold and the triggering routine itself is much more effective. For the young dog to make the connection when it hits bird scent, "if that bird flushes I have to hit the deck". The dog becomes steadier and reluctant to rush in knowing that the bird will flush if he does and he will definitely have to plant his bum on the ground then! This is when the handler has to be ultra aware and consistent. Once you begin the "Stop" training with your young dog you must reinforce it at every opportunity. It might be a rabbit running away, it might be a quail flushing from nearby bushes. The handler must have the whistle ready to instantly put a stop on the dog. If a bird flushes from near the young dog the handler must apply the stop command. If the dog doesn't  stop  the handler MUST make it stop! This could happen some distance away from where the first stop command was given, simply pick the dog up (I physically pick the dog up in my arms but you can use a lead) and carry him back to where he was when the bird flushed and place him on the ground, again use your stop command for reinforcement. I have had to walk through blackberry, gorse and swamps to get to a young dog that has eventually and reluctantly stopped just to bring him back to where it all started.

So how do I train the stop?;

It starts at home on a short lead.

Below is a short video of the first stages of training the "stop" command on my young dog Tama. It went much better than I expected. I suspect because my family have contributed to the training regime by often making him sit when he is around them. And of course in the early stages the "SIT" command was accompanied by a push down on Tama's behind, so he has learnt to comply early and the STOP is just an extension of SIT. So thank you girls for helping train Tama. As the training progresses I will add more videos showing the progressions.