Verbal Command or E-collar: Use One or the Other

Besides a pinch-collar and check-cord, you also use verbal commands and an e-collar to train your pointing dog. It’s important to use one or the other—a verbal command or the e-collar—but not at the same time. A good example is the whoa command. If your dog is creeping or under a bird, it takes a lot of self-discipline not to yell “Whoa!” at the same time you correct your dog with the e-collar. Unfortunately, if you use them together very often, your dog may learn to associate the e-collar with the word whoa, and he can begin to blink birds.

About ten years ago, I interviewed seven pro trainers for The Brittany: Amateurs Training with Professionals. I asked Ben Lorenson to talk about the problem of blinking. At the time, his response surprised me. He said, “Nine times out of ten, it’s the misuse of the whoa command.” He gave an example of a dog on point that had started to creep: “The dog starts to creep and the trainer says, ‘Whoa,’ and corrects the dog with the e-collar at the same time. It doesn’t take long before the dog starts leaving the bird, because he thinks every time he hears whoa he’s going to get hit with the e-collar. He’s not blinking the bird; he’s blinking the word whoa. The best way to avoid this situation is by not getting into the habit of using whoa around birds in the first place.”

Recently, I watched a training buddy do something similar. His dog had knocked a bird and was under it, chasing hard. He started yelling “Whoa” at the same time he was correcting the dog with the e-collar. Using whoa and the e-collar simultaneously is a natural reaction, especially when you’re upset with your dog and don’t have time to think about what you are doing. Again, this combination can get you into trouble. Your dog may start to associate whoa with stimulation and think he’s going to be corrected any time you say the word whoa.

Another combination is using the e-collar and the here command. If you call “Here” and your dog does not respond, a natural reaction is to correct him at the same time you’re calling him to you. While you can avoid using whoa around birds, you cannot avoid using here, but you can develop good timing for the verbal command and e-collar correction. Good timing includes giving your dog a chance to respond to the verbal command before you correct him with the e-collar. If you practice doing one or the other, your timing will improve, and you’ll build good habits.

Last summer, I was reminded of a similar combination that uses the e-collar and the fetch command. It’s easy to have a dog on a force-fetch table and ask him to fetch. When he refuses, you repeat the command at the same time you nick him with the e-collar. If you use them together, your dog may begin to blink the bumper. While you cannot avoid using fetch, you can learn to give your dog time to respond to the command before correcting him with the e-collar.

There are so many pitfalls in dog training, and most are predictable. Good trainers learn to avoid these situations by developing good habits. Just like a responsible bird hunter learns never to point a shotgun at anyone, whether it’s loaded or unloaded, a good trainer learns to avoid those situations that are likely to go south, and quickly.

With the Bill West method, you learn to stay quiet around birds. This good habit helps you avoid using whoa and the e-collar at the same time. Giving your dog time to respond to a verbal command before using the e-collar helps keep you focused on your timing and builds good habits for the here and fetch commands. Sometimes just knowing what may happen can help you avoid it. By learning to use one or the other—the verbal command or the e-collar—you will end up with a happy dog that loves his work.

Living with Your Mistakes

Anyone that trains a dog makes mistakes. Some mistakes are bigger than others, and sometimes you do harm that cannot be undone. Living with your mistakes is part of becoming a good dog trainer.

Bill West began a seminar in Arizona by telling the audience that he’d made more mistakes than everyone there, combined. It was Bill’s way of saying that making mistakes is part of dog training; the more dogs you train, the more mistakes you’ll make. Unfortunately, the fear of making mistakes may hold some amateur trainers back. Some are afraid to use too much e-collar, while others let their dogs get away with bad behaviors because they are afraid to fix them. Both situations can create more problems. To quote Maurice Lindley, “If you aren’t making a few mistakes, you aren’t training hard enough.”

I was working a young dog last summer that had a ton of prey drive and too much desire to chase. After a couple of months, I got really tired of it and turned up the e-collar to see if I could get him to slow down as he was chasing. As soon as I tapped him with the e-collar, I knew I’d overdone it. To say I felt lousy was an understatement. The next day, I was thinking about how surprised I was by his reaction, and for the first time, I realized he was soft when it came to the e-collar. I backed up and shot some birds for him, dropped down a couple of intensity levels on the e-collar, and tried to use the check-cord as often as I could for corrections. It took about a month, and he got through it. I sure felt bad, but I’d learned an important lesson: A dog can be tough around game and at the same time be very soft with the e-collar. I will try not to make the same mistake again.

Anytime you feel you are in over your head, it’s important to ask a pro trainer for help. At a recent seminar of Maurice’s, a training buddy of mine asked Maurice about a problem her dog was having. Instead of pointing, this dog had gotten bad about diving in and trying to catch the bird. Her training birds were not flying well, and the dog had succeeded in catching some of them, and, as a result, had started to regress. Maurice worked the dog on a couple of birds and said he knew what to do to fix the problem; however, he told my friend she had to realize there was a good chance the dog might start blinking (avoiding game). He asked if she wanted to risk it, and she said yes.

Maurice worked the dog on a bird, and when the dog made a dive for it, Maurice waited until the bird was in the air and the dog was chasing it. Then, he came down hard on her with the e-collar. The dog yelped and came around. Not knowing how the dog had handled the correction, Maurice worked her on a second bird. He wanted to see if she would blink it or point it. Fortunately, the workout ended on a happy note with the dog pointing, and when he worked her the next day, she had two beautiful broke finds. Afterwards, Maurice cautioned my friend, saying: “Don’t attempt to fix a problem, especially with the e-collar, if you aren’t equipped to deal with the additional problem you might create.”

Dog training is guesswork. The more experience you have, the better your guesses will be. The hard reality is, you will make a lot of mistakes as you gain experience. Make your best guess and watch the dog; the dog will tell you if you guessed right. And, if you guessed wrong, step back and try to understand what happened.

If you think you’re in over your head, ask a pro trainer for help, as my friend did. Although my friend’s outcome was a happy one, it’s important to understand that this is not always the case. Her dog might have started blinking, and then my friend would have felt terrible. To her credit, she had given the dog a good foundation; even if Maurice had guessed wrong, there was still a good chance the dog would have been fine because the foundation was solid.

Accept that you are going to make mistakes. Take these mistakes as opportunities to learn and move on. As hard as it may be sometimes, living with your mistakes is an important part of becoming a good dog trainer.

Check-cord Tension

Check-cord tension is one of the most important forms of communication between you and your dog. How much tension is too much—or, to put it another way, how hard should a dog pull—is a question that is often asked but difficult to answer. It’s like asking a race-car driver how fast is too fast, when you know that it depends on the car and the track. The same is true with a dog: It depends on the dog and the situation.

I’m sure you have seen amateur trainers dragged around the training field by their dogs. In these scenarios, dogs are telling their trainers that they don’t respect them. Dogs that pull with enthusiasm without dragging trainers around are showing respect, and dogs that walk on loose check-cords without pulling may be unhappy about going into the field.

I had a situation like this a few years ago. I was working a young dog and teaching him to be steady. One morning, I noticed he was not pulling as hard as he normally did. Right there, I knew I had a problem, so I watched him closely as he worked birds. I noticed that he had lost some of his intensity on point. Because I paid attention to the lack of check-cord tension, I was able to step back in training, shoot a couple of birds for him, and before long, he was pulling with enthusiasm to get to the field.

This spring I was working another dog. He was broke on pigeons and had progressed to quail. He had pulled with enthusiasm on pigeons, but now that he had gone to quail, he started dragging me around the field. I was slow to realize how hard he was pulling, and that quail were getting him too excited. As a result, he had lost his manners and reverted to busting birds again. If I had paid closer attention to what he was communicating to me with the check-cord, I would have stopped working him on birds and focused on regaining his attention. A few sessions of asking him to go with me and come to me on the check-cord would have done wonders to regain his respect and get him focused again.

A basic check-cord is about twelve feet long, and while it may appear to be a simple piece of rope with a snap at one end, it’s the most complex piece of training equipment you will ever own. For many pro trainers, it’s the one piece of equipment they cannot do without (see chapter 9 for more information).

Check-cord tension is where much of the communication between you and your dog takes place. Learning how to read this tension and understanding what your dog is communicating takes practice and experience. You will need to work with many dogs at the end of a check-cord before you’ll get really good at it, but if you pay attention, it will help you figure out what is going on in your dog’s head.

Self-Awareness

To be a good dog trainer, you need to be self-aware. In other words, you need to monitor yourself for body-language and verbal cues that you’re unconsciously giving your dog during training.

Last month, a training buddy was working her ten-month-old pup on pigeons. She had become concerned that her pup was losing interest in birds. I suggested she bring the pup cross-wind to the bird so I could see what was going on. At first, the pup did not pick up scent. As she tried to work the pup into the scent, I noticed that she’d raised her right arm, the one holding the check-cord, above her head. As soon as she held the check-cord high, the pup appeared to get nervous.

I walked over and mentioned that she was holding the check-cord above her head. The comment surprised her; she had no idea she was making this gesture. Her pup did fine once she lowered her arm and began to focus on the pup and not where the bird was. For whatever reason, the pup had made a negative association with her body-language cue. As soon as she eliminated this gesture, the pup became more confident around birds.

I have another training buddy who has a bad habit of stopping when she gets close to the bird. She unconsciously stands still when she gets to an area where she hopes her dog will point. By stopping, she is giving a body-language cue to the dog and telling him birds are near. Sometimes, I find myself nagging her a bit—keep moving, keep moving. It can be a challenge to keep moving when you want your dog to stop.

With the Bill West method, you learn to be verbally quiet except for an occasional attention-getting Hey, or Here. Dave Walker tells a great story about a fellow who came to work dogs with him. Apparently, this fellow didn’t realize he was talking nonstop to his dog. Dave got a roll of duct tape, cut a short piece, and put it over this fellow’s mouth. It literally took duct tape for this fellow to realize how much he’d been talking to his dog.

It would be great to have a coach in the field to point out all the goofy things you do of which you are unaware. Since most trainers train alone, it’s up to you to monitor yourself every time you go afield.

I catch myself doing goofy things all the time. What helped me become more self-aware was helping others. As I tried to make my movements clearer to the person I was helping, I realized that, at the same time, my movements were becoming clearer to the dog. If you watch a Bill West or Maurice Lindley DVD (see Resources section), you will notice that their movements seem slower and more stylized. Good trainers give as few cues as possible to the dog about what they are thinking.

Every time you go afield, you are communicating to your dogs. The more you become aware of unnecessary body-language and verbal cues, the easier it is to eliminate them. Verbal cues are easy to fix with a piece of duct tape, but body-language cues take real self-awareness. Hmmm . . . I bet good dog trainers also make good poker players.

Turning the Corner

Recently, I was talking to Maurice Lindley about a dog I was teaching to be steady-to-wing-and-shot.

“I think Chalk has turned the corner,” I said.

“What did he do to make you think that?” Maurice asked.

“He’s calmer,” I replied.

“Good,” he said. “A calm dog is what you look for. A fresh-broke dog should go from being bug-eyed and intense to calm and composed in the presence of game. If you watch a young dog on point, every fiber and nerve is on high alert and poised to pounce. Then, as more training takes place, you notice the dog’s composure changes when he is pointing. He becomes more confident in his job, and confident that you know your job, too. The intensity is still there, but something has changed. To me, the dog just looks different.”

Maurice was describing exactly what I was seeing in Chalk. For the first time since the steadying process began, Chalk was becoming calmer around his game. Earlier in the summer, he was pointing and pouncing on pigeons still on the ground, or pointing and chasing them once they flew. The times he stood steady, either his whole body was vibrating with intensity, or his tail was moving in a quick ticking motion. On occasion, he pointed and lifted a front paw as if he wanted to take a step but knew better. For most of the summer, he followed a pattern of two steps forward and one step back, acting broke for a couple of workouts and then returning to pouncing or chasing again. The one thing I had not seen in him was a calm demeanor. Now, for the first time, I was seeing it.

Well-bred bird dogs can lose their minds when they are worked on birds; they can become totally focused on finding them, tuning everything else out. They are hunting for themselves. As dogs become calmer around game, they begin to accept training, and their attitudes change. They pay attention better. Dogs that once dragged you around the training field stop pulling as hard on the check-cord. They start coming to you and going with you when you ask, and the amount of e-collar you need to use to correct them becomes less.

While Chalk was nowhere close to being broke, he was getting calmer. Each dog goes through training differently. Some take longer than others, and good trainers learn to adjust to each dog, progressing only as fast as the dog can go. It takes time to build a good foundation, but once it is built, it will be solid, with no gaps or holes to go back and fix. Looking for the dog to become calm around his game is an early clue that he is giving in to training and wants to be broke. When you reach this stage, training gets easier.

A word of caution if you think your dog is turning the corner: Be observant. A dog that is becoming calm may resemble a concerned dog that is developing a problem. For example, a dog’s energy level may drop as he becomes calm, but it can also drop from too much pressure. There’s a fine line between calm and concerned. A calm dog is confident and maintains his intensity on point. A concerned dog loses his intensity on point. He is less enthusiastic about working in the training field, and may listen to you almost too well. Often, he is more comfortable walking at your side than walking in front of you, pulling on the check-cord. Anytime you see these types of changes, be aware that you may have a problem.

Dogs don’t become calm around game overnight; it takes time. A dog has to go from wanting to find birds for himself to wanting to find them for you, and this process goes against his predatory nature and need to survive. In Chalk’s case, he had spent many weeks in the training field working on pigeons before I noticed he was becoming calmer. He still had a long way to go, and once he moved to quail, he would go through the whole process again, but hopefully training would be easier during this next phase. Seeing Chalk turn the corner was an exciting moment; I knew he was on his way to becoming a finished dog.