Thread: Dog training problems and answers

From what I see people get way to flowery with training at times, then they confuse themselves and of course the dog.
First thing you've got to do is decide what the hound actually needs to do.
Every dog, and I do mean EVERY DOG needs to know when to stop, so of course that should be real high on the list and be the most simple. Myself stop is via a single dropping whistle. If it's a fine breed that I'm happy to put the time into then there will be hand signals added as well.
Then they all need to come, that around here now is a single raising whistle. Of course these two need to be THEconsistent, no matter what may happen. For me they first get the stop one and a few seconds to take that in then the come signal rings out.
Then there is all the other shit you can add, yes I've added it to dog's but frankly if the fucking thing is any good it will be on auto pilot and will know that shit already even though you may not...

Originally Posted by Wirehunt

From what I see people get way to flowery with training at times, then they confuse themselves and of course the dog.
First thing you've got to do is decide what the hound actually needs to do.
Every dog, and I do mean EVERY DOG needs to know when to stop, so of course that should be real high on the list and be the most simple. Myself stop is via a single dropping whistle. If it's a fine breed that I'm happy to put the time into then there will be hand signals added as well.
Then they all need to come, that around here now is a single raising whistle. Of course these two need to be THEconsistent, no matter what may happen. For me they first get the stop one and a few seconds to take that in then the come signal rings out.
Then there is all the other shit you can add, yes I've added it to dog's but frankly if the fucking thing is any good it will be on auto pilot and will know that shit already even though you may not...

i have to agree with a large part of this. My dogs all only have three commands on the whistle. Stop, turn, come. As an added refinement hand signals are brought in, not 100% needed, but bloody handy and time and game saving.

The ultimate is a dog that knows it's job. the things i require like steady to flush, shot, and game is all taught to be reflexive so it doesn't require a command, it's just what the dog does... like brick in the video above. Again, many won;t need those things. i do. These leads to a dog that knows it's job. personally i prefer to hunt a dog and not have to give any commands at all. I do it a lot now with the old boy cause he can;t hear me anyway, but he knows what to do. Walking for half an hour with a dog working with you and not requiring a single command while still working with you the whole time is the ultimate for me. The only command I would give vocally in that situation is an "OK" to go and fetch something.

I do see a lot of problems in dogs brought here caused by over training. Over training can lead to a lot of confusion until the dog can;t get anything right. You have to remember they are dogs not physicists. Also over keenness by handlers. i see a lot of pointing type dogs crowd their birds badly and this is usually taught behavior by people desperate to see their dog point so they push it in on game they should be busting themselves and chastising the dog for not holding... etc...

Most people spend a lot more time training their dogs than i do.

Having said that, it's a horses for courses thing. I have had a heap of mates who over the years have hunted successfully (By their standard) over completely untrained dogs running on whatever it has. You can get these easy... you just keep shooting the non biddible naturals. I have never believed there is much in training that teaches a dog bugger all about hunting. That's what we get when we seek out great genetics... It's really just control and polish we can bring to the table. Exposure to hunting is where a dog learns to hunt, track, work runners etc.. we don;t really teach that... many dogs don;t get enough exposure to it to get really good at it. Old brick is revered by many. I am not convinced he has any exceptional inheriant abilities many of the other ballyblacks don;t have (Though Whitehead still thinks he's the best one Jim has produced). But he's hunted a lot... at one stage working preserves up to three days a week and then wild hunting on other days. He knows more about pheasants than I do.

In the end it's personal choice. Like me with photography... I have a pretty decent digital SLR but still do 99% of my stuff on auto and get pictures as a result. Some flowery types will wank on about lenses and apertures and iso's and all that other slightly limp wristed stuff and get better pics... but we all get pics.