Sometimes
the simpler a tool, the harder it is to understand. The human mind seems to
like making simple things more complicated; perhaps simple is more complicated
in the long run because it is harder to see the fundamental nature of things.
Take the check-cord: There are very few pieces of training equipment as simple
as this one, yet this short piece of rope—the single most important tool you
will own—is vastly misunderstood.
Unlike walking a dog on a leash, where the animal
walks next to you, a dog should hunt in front of you while walking on the
check-cord. With the Bill West method, the length of a proper check-cord is
about twelve feet, with a snap at one end. If the check-cord is any shorter
than that, the dog won’t have room to move; any longer, and you’ll have
problems handling the rope. If you are right-handed, you hold the check-cord in
your right hand, and vice versa. Timing is everything, so it’s important to use
your stronger hand.
The rest of the check-cord drags behind you on the ground;
you don’t carry the extra length in your other hand. It takes practice to get
the feel of the rope. Let it slide through your hand to slowly feed more rope
to your dog, or place one hand over the other to choke up on the rope and get
closer to the snap. The single most important purpose of the check-cord is to
control your dog.
A few years ago a fellow came by with a young pup that
had never been worked on pigeons and asked if his pup could chase some of them.
I loaded up a couple of launchers and placed them around the training field. He
got his check-cord, hooked it to his pup’s collar, led him to the field, and
then dropped the check-cord. Before I could react, the pup had run over the
first launcher and was heading to the second one. I asked him why he’d dropped
the check-cord, and he said he’d wanted his pup to run free. Running free is
great when birds are loose and can get up, but as soon as you set limits—such
as controlling the area a dog can hunt, or restraining the bird’s ability to
fly—you need to have control of your dog.
When working a young pup on launchers, it’s best to use
the check-cord to bring him into the area so his approach is cross-wind to the
launcher. Then, drop the check-cord once the bird is in the air. While he is
free to chase the bird, you control the approach.
Once your dog is ready for formal training, you can use
the pinch-collar and check-cord to teach him the here command and stand
command, continuing to hold the check-cord to stay in control. Your dog should
pull as he works in front of you, but not too hard. It’s a fine line: You want
a happy dog that pulls with excitement, not a disrespectful dog that drags you
around. A disrespectful dog needs to learn to be respectful, and you do this
with the check-cord by asking him to go with you and come to you. As your dog becomes more steady, you
begin to drop the check-cord.
While it may not seem like a big step to you, dropping
the check-cord can be a big step for your dog. Often he will chase once he’s
realized you are not at the other end. Sometimes a dog that has advanced to
dragging the check-cord starts making mistakes. You can help set him straight
by taking a step backwards in training, picking up the check-cord and holding
it for a few sessions.
Recently Maurice Lindley and I were talking about the
check-cord and how often new trainers misunderstand it. Maurice explained how
much trouble he goes to in setting up different training situations: “I look at the check-cord as the tool that guides the dog
into the different training setups. I take the time to set up training
situations with birds so the dog can learn from the bird. Without the
check-cord training, it would be really hit-or-miss—very inconsistent. A good
example is bringing a dog into the bird setup cross-wind at a certain distance,”
Maurice continued. “Too far away, and you cause creeping; too close, and you
might have the dog right on top of the bird, so he catches it. The check-cord
is the early guide, and critical to this method.”
As you become more comfortable with the
check-cord and understand how to use it to properly control your dog, hopefully
you’ll see how helpful this simple tool really is, and why no trainer should be
without one.
