Do Your Groundwork

Not long before Christmas I was out with my dogs one evening walking across the fields. Although not pitch black, it was pretty dark and the man up ahead of me walking his German Shorthair Pointer bitch didn't see us coming up behind him.

The dog did, however, and immediately crouched low in the grass watching our approach. Its owner was suddenly aware the dog was no longer with him and turned just in time to see us bearing down on his dog.

Immediately he called the dog, which took absolutely no notice.

As we walked past his dog got up and followed mine. The owner kept calling but his dog continued to ignore him, sticking close to mine.

As I passed the owner I said good evening to him. I'd seen him out with the dog a number of times but had never stopped to talk with him.

I carried on walking, and his dog continued to ignore its owners calls, bounding along excitedly beside my two instead.

I was almost at the edge of the field and about to go out onto a road so I stopped to allow the owner to catch up with his dog. It didn't seem fair for me to continue merrily on my way knowing full well his dog was likely to bound out onto the road.

As I stopped I took hold of the dog's collar and waited for the owner. He slipped on a leash and thanked me for holding it.

We began talking. He said he recognised me because whenever we'd passed he'd always noticed how well behaved my dogs were. He said that he had real problems getting his dog to do as it was told (which came as no surprise!) and could I tell him how I managed it with mine?

He told me the bitch was nearly four years old and that he'd had her since she was a puppy. He was having problems getting her to come when she was called, walk quietly on a leash and sit and stay in one place.

Almost in the next breath he told me that he was hoping to use her as a working gundog and did I think she was ready for him to start working to the gun?

Talk about trying to run before you can walk!

A mixture of shotguns and hot headed dogs that aren't under control is an absolute recipe for disaster. I was astonished that he was actually serious about starting her off with the gun. I think he was under the illusion that as soon as she got in amongst some game some sort of obedience gene would kick in and she'd miraculously begin behaving.

Life's not like that folks. Training a dog to do _anything_ is a series of little steps. Whether you're talking about guide dogs for the blind, drugs sniffer dogs, gundogs or the family pet they're all the same. Whatever task you're trying to teach needs to be broken down into a series of little steps and it's absolutely pointless to try and master step two until step one is under your belt.

Let's use the example of this man's aspirations for a working gundog. A German Shorthaired Pointer is one of the so called 'hunt, point and retrieve' breeds. As the title suggests, they are expected both to find game in the first place and also to retrieve it once it's been shot.

Sometimes they will not have seen where the shot bird has fallen so they have to be directed where to go by a series of hand signals. If the dog is going in the wrong direction you have to be able to stop it and redirect it. The dog might be 100 yards away from you at the time.

Stopping it and redirecting it is actually two completely separate things. Let's ignore the redirection bit for the moment and just think about the 'stop' part.

It might sound very simple to you, but there's actually more to it than you might think. The dog must stop immediately you give the command and look directly at you so it can see the hand signal you're about to give.

And although I say it might happen at 100 yards it could in fact happen at any distance, so you need to have exactly the same degree of control at 200 or 300 yards. Can you make your dog instantly stop and look at you 200 yards away? And will it do it every single time?

Before attempting it at 200 yards you need to be certain the dog will do it at around 150 - 170 yards. And before that you need to know it'll do it at 120 - 140 yards. And before that it must do it at 100 yards. Before that 70, before that 40, before that 20, before that 10, before that 5, 2, 1.

And before that even? It must do it right beside you of course.

So if you break it down into stages the very first thing you have to accomplish is to teach the dog to look at you on your command. The easiest way in practice is actually to teach the dog to 'sit'. I've yet to meet a dog that didn't watch its owner like a hawk when put into the sit position when out in the open.

So you start off by teaching the dog to sit. Right beside you.

As soon as it's grasped that you immediately follow the 'sit' command with a whistle blast. This is to teach the dog also to sit to the whistle. Once you think the dog's sussed that a whistle blast means the same thing as the spoken 'sit' command you try giving the whistle blast on its own (still with the dog right beside you so you can correct it if it goes wrong).

Only when the dog will immeditely drop its butt to the ground on your whistle blast do you begin to introduce the idea of it doing it anywhere other than right beside you.

The first time you attempt it you give your whistle blast and as the dog goes down you momentarily take one pace away from it and immediately step back beside it before it's had a chance to register the fact you moved.

Gradually you extend the length of time until you step back to the dog's side. When it's happy for you to be away for one second you try two. If it's happy with that you try three. Then five then eight and so on.

You also start taking two paces away from the dog instead of just one.

You also start giving the whistle blast when the dog's already one or two paces away from you (as opposed to always starting with the dog right beside you and you stepping away from it).

And gradually, gradually you begin to stretch the dog. If you take it one step at a time there's no limit to how far you can take this exercise. Before you know it the dog will drop ten yards from you and happily stay in that position for twenty seconds.

Then before too much longer you'll to be able to drop the dog fifty yards away and keep it in that position for 45 seconds or a minute. Keep up the good work and you're well on course to dropping the dog at 200 or 300 yards and making it hold that position for 5 minutes.

When you actually get out into the field and send the dog for a retrieve you wont actually want it to wait 5 minutes before redirecting it, but the point is you will have superb control of your dog and it will _expect_ to have to concentrate hard on you before following your directions.

And it all began with teaching the dog to sit RIGHT BY YOUR SIDE INSTANTLY YOU GAVE THE COMMAND 100% OF THE TIME.

And until you've mastered that first step it's completely pointless to even think of trying a more complicated exercise.

How long does it take?

That depends on the individual dog and your skill at communicating with it. You just go at your own pace.

What one combination of dog and owner will achieve in a week might take another combination of dog and owner a month. But that's irrelevant. All you need to remember is that you don't attempt step two until step one is completely mastered.

Apply this thinking to absolutely anything you want to teach your dog and I guarantee it will work. Break the task down into a series of little steps and take one step at a time.

So long as you communicate effectively with the dog so it understands what you want of it you'll hit a home run every time.

If you want to know how to teach your dog to come when called, walk to heel both on and off the lead, wait by the car when you're about to go for a drive, wait till you give the command before coming out of the car (or going through any open door) or any other task you care to mention, just break it down into a series of little steps.

And if you're the slightest bit unsure of how to actually do it in practice then get hold of a copy of my book "Dog Training Blueprint To Success". It's all spelled out in there in step by step detail, and a whole lot more stuff besides.

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