By: George DeCosta, Jr.
In my opinion, for what it’s worth, I believe the most underutilized training technique (or process) by novices, professionals, and owners alike is what I call Everyday Bird Dog Training. What does that mean? It is the training that you can do every day that will dovetail into bird-dog work. This is not a formal training session; in fact, to the dog, it may not feel as though you are training at all. And this everyday training starts at day one with your pup.
Take, for instance, my dog Sackett. Sackett is a pup I got back last year to rehome. He was just over a year old when I got him back, and unfortunately, he didn’t get much exposure to hunting or training. After spending a few weeks with Sackett, I decided to keep him. Sackett is now just over two years old and retrieves to hand, is steady to flush, wing, shot, and fall. (When I’m guiding.) When he is hunting with his father, CK, he will release for the retrieve at the call of his name or remain standing while CK makes that retrieve if I call CK’s name. Sackett has had less than five formal training sessions in the past year, most of which were for demonstrations at a clinic I was conducting. He has achieved this through our “Everyday Bird Dog Training.”
Two phrases in my training book, Tips and Tales On Training Your Bird Dog, play a huge part in everyday bird dog training. The first is “The Process of Osmosis.” The second is “Repetition creates an automatic response.” Chapter nine of Tips and Tales is titled “Learning Through the Process of Osmosis.” I would like to share that chapter with you in this article. After that, I’ll go into specific techniques that, with repetition, create an automatic response from your dog or pup that will fold nicely into your bird dog’s work in the fields and wetlands.
Learning Through the Process of Osmosis
There are many commands that a pup can and will learn in its first year without any “formal” training. I call this learning through the process of osmosis. Think of a child that learns to speak in its native language. It learns through the process of osmosis. It hears the words throughout its life and puts the words into perspective. The same is done with puppies.
Here are a few of the words, which become commands, my pups learn in their first year of life… and they don’t even know they are learning.
Out: I say out every time I release a puppy to go outside after it has been whoaed at the door. I say out every time the puppy is told to come out of its crate or kennel. Out when it moves forward after being in the whoa position at a street corner. Almost any time I want the pup to move in a forward motion I give the command out. Soon, the pup learns that Out means to move forward. Easy to teach, and most pups learn this in no time at all.
Easy: Remember the half hitch we used in training whoa? I use “easy” with a slight tug whenever I want the pup to slow down a bit. Just a tug with the Easy command. When we’re on a lead going for a walk (I haven’t taught heel yet, and I won’t during the first year), a tug on the lead with the easy command will slow the pup down. By the way, I haven’t taught heel at this point because I want the puppy to learn that its job is out in front of me. Heel is super easy to teach at a later date after the pup has learned to search and explore out in front of you. Teaching Heel is also an excellent way to transfer our training sessions from puppy training to more formal and advanced obedience sessions, as you’ll see in future chapters. The Easy command will also come into use later when the pup starts ranging too far out in the field, hunting, or just off lead. Just saying Easy will make the pup slow down and stay a bit closer.
Fetch/Retrieving: Unless you’re an avid waterfowl hunter that doesn’t do much upland, I would not do too much with the retrieves in the pup’s first year. What I’ve seen happen and dealt with for clients is they did a lot of retrieving and praising for the retrieve with their pup before the puppy had a chance to develop its pointing instinct. Many pups that have had the retrieve/praise game done a lot before they’ve been exposed to the pointing aspect of the hunt will either not point or break point very quickly. They think you want the bird retrieved, and that’s what pleases you, so their desire to please you overcomes their pointing instinct. The following advice would be for someone who is an upland hunter who wants a steady dog on point. If you don’t care much about upland and waterfowl is your primary, then retrieving becomes more important at an early age. Therefore, you can focus on the retrieve early on and even consider force fetching the puppy at an earlier age.
There’s another reason I don’t teach the retrieve in the first year of a pointing dog. That reason is some pups just don’t like to retrieve when they are young. They would much rather find another bird. If you put pressure on the puppy to retrieve at an early age in the field, many pups correlate negatively to the fieldwork. I want my pups to learn to love the hunt. I want everything to be positive during the first year of hunting and bird exposure. After the pup has learned to love the hunt and is steady in pointing, we can start to enforce the retrieves, and we aren’t taking the chance of lowering the hunting desire in the pup or having it think that the retrieve is primary to you. We want the point and the search primary at this point.
Having said that, I do use the word fetch and find it when playing with the puppy. I put scent on all my pup’s bumpers and toys that I toss. I do this because when we are playing, I’ll toss a bumper or a toy and say fetch. The pup runs out to get the bumper or toy. I don’t care if the pup brings it back to me; we’re just having fun, but the pup is learning that fetch means going out and getting something. I’ll take a canvas bumper with scent on it and toss it out where a puppy can see it and say fetch. If the pup brings it back, I’ll praise and pet the puppy, letting it know that was great! I’ll only do this two, or three times, and then we’ll do something else. I want the fetch to be fun but not to become so important that it becomes the primary. I also don’t want the pup to get bored fetching, even if it’s a natural retriever. After the pup is doing this, I’ll whoa the pup and toss the bumper into some tall grass or brush. Then I’ll say fetch. The pup has already scented the bumper, and it will engage its nose and go into the grass or brush, searching for the bumper. If the pup brings the bumper back, fantastic! If the pup finds it and doesn’t bring it back, I’ll go to the pup and praise the puppy for finding the bumper or toy. This sets the foundation for future training on dead birds and fetching. But remember, at this point, it’s all fun, and the pup is learning the fetch command by osmosis.
The Find It Game: Most pups will have a toy they like to play with or hold. It could be a stuffed animal, bumper, canvas toy, or tennis ball. I’ll put a little bird scent on the toy they like, just a small amount. I’ll take the puppy to the hallway in our house. I’ll whoa the pup and then walk down the hallway dragging the toy into a room. I’ll rub the toy on the floor in the corner of the room, by the bed, or dresser, somewhere the pup can find it easily, but not in the middle of the floor. Now I’ll go back to the puppy, grab its collar and entice it to want the toy. Where is it? Do you want your toy? Do you want to go get it? Then I’ll release the pup and say find it with excitement. The pup will almost always run into the room and grab the toy. Sometimes it brings it right back to you; sometimes it may take it and run around with it, doesn’t matter; load on the praise for finding its toy. Make this a fun game you do now and then., When the pup has learned to enjoy the game, whoa the pup in another area of the house. Take the toy and drag it on the hallway floor into one of the rooms. Now take your pup to the same spot as you’ve played the game before, whoa the pup, and then give the command, find it. The pup will know you’ve hidden its toy and will go down the hallway, engage its nose to track and locate the toy. Perfect, all fun and just a game, but the pup has learned to track, locate, and maybe retrieve with no pressure whatsoever. My friend Bruce Collett expands this game to his backyard. He has his pups stay at the sliding glass door. Then he leaves them inside the house and does a drag with their toys or scented bumper in the backyard. He then returns to the pups, opens the sliding glass door, and gives the find it command. His pups run into the backyard, track and find the toy and then bring it back to him inside the house for him to do it again. All fun, but when Bruce tells his pups to find a bird in the field, they are machines at locating fallen birds. This game is one of the reasons the pup Jake I mentioned at the beginning of this book was such an incredible retriever at such a young age.
No: Some folks don’t realize that no is a command. If the pup is doing something it is not supposed to do, give the command No and enforce it in some manner. If it’s biting me, I’ll roll its upper lip under its canines and say no as it bites down. The pup is now biting itself and will stop on its own and is learning what no means. If it’s grabbing and biting at something it shouldn’t be, I’ll grab its collar and pull it away with the No command and then put it in a timeout. If it’s jumping on folks, I’ll take a spray bottle and have the person or myself spray water into the pup’s face saying no. Another technique is to grab the pup’s collar as it jumps and move the pup back and forth in a side-to-side motion as I push it back down and say no.
The pup will soon learn that no means stop doing whatever it is doing at the time and that whatever it is doing is not acceptable. Although the no command is not taught as a specific technique in formal training sessions, it must be taught along the same lines as far as compliance. Uttering a string of Nos without immediate compliance, or enforcement is teaching your pup that it is okay not to comply with the no command. No means no, it is not a hope, it is a command.
This way: When I’m walking in a field with a puppy after the come and whoa command is in place, I’ll have the pup off lead. When the pup is out in front, I’ll start walking sideways. When the puppy looks back, I’m no longer behind it. Most pups will then move in the direction you are walking. When it does, I’ll put my arm out to the side it is moving towards and say “this way.” The puppy will learn that when I put my arm out to one side, it is to move in that direction, all by osmosis. I can’t tell you how often I’ve been in the fields with someone while working with a young puppy. At some point, I’ll want the pup to start working in a different area of the field; maybe we have a planted bird, or the pup is going into a field that’s not ours, or we’ve seen birds in a particular area. I’ll say the puppy’s name and give the command, this way, and the pup goes over to where my arm is pointing. The person with me in the field is always amazed that such a young puppy knows that command. I’m often asked, how did you train that? My answer, by just pointing with my arm in a direction the pup is already going repetitively, the pup learns it on its own.
I’m sure there will be other commands that you’ll see your puppy learn by the process of learning through osmosis. It’s a powerful tool.
Now that you know more about osmosis, I’d like to share a few techniques I use throughout the day. One is the whoa command. My dogs whoa before going out the door, going to their food, coming out of their crate, and crossing the street. It doesn’t take long before whoa becomes an automatic response. When I say whoa, my dogs stop and don’t move until I release them. Every day, when I release my pigeons at home or the ranch, I place my dogs on whoa. Once all the birds are in the air, I praise my dogs for remaining steady and then release them. When I’m out for a walk, and a bird flushes, I’ll often whoa them and then praise and release after the flush.
My book also has a chapter titled The Hold Command. I teach my pups to hold an item when they are very young. This is not forced fetch. It is more like teaching your pup to shake hands, speak, or rollover. Most children can teach a pup to shake hands. It is a fun evening game that I play with my pups. Once they are holding and having fun with this game, I’ll have them hold an item when on whoa at eating time. After they do that well, I’ll move their food bowl a few feet away and have them walk to me with the item before they get their food. I will say come, hold, as they come to me and their food bowl. In a few months, I had Sackett holding a bumper while I walked across the kitchen and into the laundry room with his food. I then give my recall command, and Sackett runs to me holding the bumper, delivers it to hand, and gets his food.
You can most likely see where this is going. When I shoot a bird and Sackett is on his way back, I say, “Come, hold.” Sackett will hold the bird until he gets to me and delivers it to hand, just like his morning and evening feeding time. When Sackett goes on point (when I’m guiding), I’ll give him a strong whoa command as my hunters approach the bird. Sackett will remain on Whoa until released. Just like the stop-to-flush, we’ve done on walks, and when I release my pigeons,
I feed all my dogs at the same time. When I place their bowls down, I call out their names one at a time. Each dog comes to its bowl when I call its name. The others remain at whoa until their name is called. Each morning and throughout the day, my dogs all go outside. I will whoa them at the door and then call out their name. Again, the dog’s name that is called goes out. The others remain at the door until their name is called. The repetition of doing this every day blends nicely into holding steady after the shot or remaining still until release in the duck blind.
Will doing all the above hundreds of times throughout the days, weeks, months, and years make your pup a finished dog? Nope… Is Sackett a finished bird dog? Absolutely not. But he’s an incredible gun dog with excellent manners in the field and the duck blind. And when it comes time to get him ready for running in tests or field trials, and we move to our formal training sessions, the learning curve will be significantly reduced. He’ll have a head start, there will be much less pressure, and he’ll already understand what’s expected of him.
Throughout each day, you will have many opportunities to train your pup in ways that dovetail nicely into bird dog work. Why waste them? Make them fun and rewarding for the pup, and you will be surprised how easy it is to train your best friend and hunting companion.
George DeCosta, Jr., is a professional dog trainer and the author of the best-selling book Tips and Tales on Training Your Bird Dog and More Tales with Tails.