Texas Wildlife May 2011
by
Henry Chappell
Your eight month-old pup sits on command when she’s not too distracted and comes when called in the back yard. You’ve followed the advice in “Obedience 101,” tailoring and improvising slightly to fit the pup’s quirks and your own preferences.
Now what?
More of the same, with increasing distraction. Make her sit and stay while your kids kick a soccer ball around the yard. Do the same in the park, at your kids’ ballgames, in the presence of other dogs. If she breaks, issue a sharp “ah!” and plunk her back down. Anytime you’re outside the confines of a fenced yard, keep your pup in on a leash – except when you’re afield. You don’t want to have to chase her. She must believe that you can always correct her immediately. If you’re enforcing “come” in a park or other unenclosed area, (mind the leash laws, and especially the traffic), let your pup drag a 20-foot check cord so that you can catch her if she tries you.
In addition to “sit-stay,” pointing dog pups must learn “whoa.” For a detailed treatment of “whoa” training, see “Pointing Dogs 101” and “Pointing Dogs 201” in the May and July 2009 issues of Texas Wildlife.
All-the-while, you should be teaching your pup to “kennel” on command. When she’s a little bitty fart, scoop her up and say “kennel” as you place her in her crate. She’ll go in her crate several times a day. Make sure she hears “kennel” every time. She’ll catch on quick. If she balks, don’t raise your voice or get rough. Get her by the collar, repeat “kennel” and hustle her into her crate. If she rides in the backseat with the kids, command “kennel” when you lift her up and in. As soon as she’s big enough to jump in on her own, she’ll be rearing to go, and “kennel” will be one of her favorite words. When she’s big enough, just pat the tailgate or back of your SUV, and command “kennel.” She’ll load with aplomb.
You’ll probably want to teach your pup to heel – to walk or sit at your side until released with the “right on” command. This is a necessity for a retriever or spaniel, a convenience if your pup is a pointing dog or treeing dog.
“Heel” is also the most difficult basic obedience skill, especially in the case of hard-charging, independent pointing and treeing breeds. Retrievers out of solid shooting dog lines are bred for balance of drive and calmness; they’re required to sit quietly in a blind or boat until sent to retrieve. Most take readily to heeling.
Start teaching your retriever or spaniel pup to heel as soon as she’s searching boldly in the field. Wait until your pointing dog or treeing dog is a year old. We don’t want to do anything that could inhibit hunting drive. Retrievers should be stylish and eager, yet disciplined and precise. We want our pointing and treeing dogs under control, but “out there,” slashing the woods and pastures to ribbons, doing whatever it takes to find game.
Until now, you’ve merely snapped a lead or check cord to the D-ring on your pup’s everyday collar. While she has learned to give to the lead, or at least tolerate it, she’s forever pulling. That’s fine.
Now she must learn to stop pulling. You have two options: the familiar chain “choke” or “slip” collar, or the force collar. The force collar, with its spikes, looks nasty. In fact, the spikes should be filed blunt so that the collar only pinches when it’s pulled tight. The milder-looking choke collar is actually the rougher tool because a tough, stubborn dog really will gag herself pulling against it. I prefer the force collar even though uninformed friends and neighbors consider it a medieval torture device.
Nevertheless, when properly used, both devices are humane and effective. Regardless of which collar you chose, always use a short lead – no longer than four feet – so that if your pup bolts she won’t be able develop much speed. We don’t want her going full-bore when she jerks the collar tight.
Another warning: Don’t expect a pup fresh out of a crate or kennel to heel. She’ll pull you all over the yard, spikes or chain-choker be damned. Let her run off some steam first.
After she has calmed down a bit, show her the collar. Let her check it out before you try to slip it over her head. Once it’s on, keep it loose for a few minutes. Just kneel beside her and praise her softly. Reassure her if she seems intimidated.
Now snap the lead to the collar and just stand there. She’ll try to pull, and the collar will tighten. She may panic. Let her. Stand there and hold the lead. Don’t say a word. The instant she stops struggling, move toward her just enough to allow the collar to loosen. Repeat the process until she understands that she causes her discomfort by straining against the collar. You’re just a sympathetic bystander. She has to learn to deal with that evil collar.
Once she’ll stand there for a minute or so without fighting (while looking like the most mistreated dog in the world) try to coax her around to your preferred side. If you carry your gun with your right hand, you’ll probably want her to heel on your left. Pat the side of your leg and sweet talk her into position. This may go haltingly. Stay calm. Once she’s in position, order her to sit. She’ll be relieved to do something familiar. Praise her and let her stay there for half a minute or so.
Now say “heel” and start off at your normal pace. If she balks, the collar will tighten. She may yelp and panic again. Don’t drag her. Coax her to heel by patting the side of your leg. As soon as she starts in your direction, the collar will loosen. Command “heel” pat your leg and coax her along. She’ll catch on. If she surges ahead, she’ll get the same lesson from the other direction. She’ll soon learn that the only way to avoid discomfort is to stay in proper position.
What’s the proper position? Obedience purists will say that her collar should be even with your knee, and that she should heel tightly. That works great in the obedience ring, but we hunters don’t want to fall over our dogs. A “loose heel” of a foot or so to the side, and half that much to the front or back will do nicely. In the field, she’ll have to go around trees and skirt brush.
Some obedience hard-cases advocate fierce jerking and popping of the choke collar, stepping on toes, smacking with the lead, and other rough measures. Ignore them. We want a confident, spirited hunting dog, not a robot.
Walk your pup at heel. Change direction frequently to keep her alert. Gradually increase distraction. If you’re using a slip collar, be prepared to correct with slight jerk. With a force collar, simply let her corrects herself. Gradually increase distraction until you can heel her on a slack lead through a playground full of screaming kids and yipping Pomeranians.
Now she’s ready to heel off-lead. Once again, start in a low-distraction environment. Be ready to tap her with a hand or grab her collar of she drifts. Early on, keep a lead and collar handy.
A finished retriever heels reliably off-lead with very few reminders. Notwithstanding steady old-timers, any pointing dog or treeing dog worth feeding will require frequent verbal reminders. Strolling alongside the boss is unnatural if not tortuous.
What’s next? A dozen or so years of enforcement Your pup will occasionally try you for the rest of her life. Most of the time, a gruff reminder will bring her back in line. In certain situations afield, you may decide to excuse a bit of improvisation by a resourceful old campaigner. By and large, however, lax enforcement leads to bad habits.
Diligent training leads to good dogs and good hunting.
