Basic Water / Retrieving Training

A lot of what follows is geared toward "Standard" Field Training (hunting & retrieving) but, the same principles will apply to any puppy / dog and any activities you want to teach him or her.

Make a list of training priorities. Your dog must learn "the basics" first.

Make each training session positive by beginning and ending with something the dog is good at and loves...retrieve a tennis ball, a short swim after a "fun bumper", run over an "A frame", etc

Try to make this early learning positive and in short sessions. DO NOT allow your puppy to play with squeaky chew toys and to chew on bumpers. This is a great way to create mouthing problems and an adult dog which chews up birds.

When you first introduce your puppy to birds note whether he rips the bird up and/or chews it. If this happens more than once then don't give him a bird until he has had the first half of force fetch, which is "hold". Remember, it is much easier to prevent a problem in the beginning than to unlearn a patterned behavior.

Do not force your puppy into water. Introduction to water can begin at weaning time if the dam likes the water and the weather isn't too cold. If she swims out into the water most puppies will confidently follow her. If your young dog has not been in the water then don't make a big deal of swimming or not at first. Take along another dog who loves the water and let them play chase games. When your bright puppy sees how much fun it is the young dog often will begin swimming. If they swim vertically just put on your swimming suit or waders and go out and hold onto his tail for a session or two and he will quickly learn to swim horizontally. If after a few sessions your young dog is not going into the water and he is 6 to 12 months old it is time to begin "force fetch". I have had great success with getting a young force fetched dog which loves to retrieve into the water. Just start a training session near the water. Throw a bumper into shallow water near the shore. Throw the next bumper away from the water, next bumper into walking water, next along shore line on land, next into water which requires swimming for 3 feet or so, next back on land, etc. Make each retrieve a GREAT FUN EVENT and if he won't go for that first 3 foot swim just say "fetch" as he has already been well force fetched, and he just goes after the bumper.

Dogs who had never been near water as old as eleven years have been taught to retrieve from the water using these methods.

Keep a log of each training session. Include the weather conditions, what you worked on, how the dog responded, problems observed, ideas on how to solve that problem, how you felt about the session, what YOU learned, what you plan for the next session. Regularly review the log and evaluate progress. Don't go on to a new concept utilizing lessons from before, if those lessons have not been LEARNED. This will only confuse and frustrate both you and the dog.

Before you begin to train your dog for field events there are a number of training principles that you must learn and understand in order to achieve success. Most people have trained several dogs unsuccessfully before they actually begin to understand these principles well enough that they can apply them to training their next dog.

These principles are no secret. They have been discussed for years by the more successful retriever field trainers, but it seems that we each must come to an intimate realization of these concepts by trial and error before being able to apply them to actual dog training. I would like to give credit to all of the books, trainers, dogs and friends who have helped me to develop an understanding of these concepts but the list would fill all of the megs available for this web site.

1. You must be fair to your dog. By this I mean, teach the dog an exercise or concept before you attempt to correct the dog for doing something that it did wrong. A Poodle is very unforgiving of a correction that it does not understand. If the dog understands a concept and then chooses to disobey or not do the required and well understood action and you give a correction that is of appropriate degree and timing for the infraction, your Poodle will accept that correction and react positively by DOING the action required of it and will not hold a grudge. On the other hand, if the dog does not understand the correction he will be resentful, afraid to try again, and will develop a decreate in attitude and motivation. The lack of understanding is usually because the dog was not adequately taught what was expected of it, but it may be that the correction was of inappropriate degree for the infraction, or the timing of the correction was off. In fact, most dogs who are corrected for not doing something that they understand in an appropriate degree and time will react by trying much harder the next time and will react with joy and relief to realize that in fact, they do not have a choice in the matter.

Improperly applied corrections result in poor momentum and poor attitude. Well timed corrections of appropriate degree given to a dog who understands what is expected results in increased attitude and momentum.

How do you know that a dog understands an action? If you have taught the action and then on another day you test the dog and he does it and then on a second day at a location different from the training site you test him and he does it correctly he probably understands. However, don't forget that if you don't repeat the test for a couple months he will most likely forget it, as it usually takes about 2 months for an action to get from the short term memory into the long-term memory of a dog. It is a somewhat shorter time for people (usually)!

2. Train for momentum.

3. Establish high standards of performance. If the dog has trouble on a concept then you should simplify the concept, not decrease your standard.

4. Live by the "go, stop, come" rule, and "go as sent rule". In other words, early on the dog learned to go out, to stop on a whistle and to return when called. If they don't do one of these actions then immediate backtracking of your training and reestablishment of foundations must be accomplished. This also applies to going as sent. This means that if you send a dog North and he decides to go Northwest then that requires a correction and back tracking.

5. Vary your training level. If a dog is asked to perform the most difficult task that you have taught him every test and every day of training pretty soon he gets depressed and demotivated. If you have a difficult day of training with lots of corrections or are working on a difficult concept for the dog you should spend the next day to several days on simple marks, easy drills , and lots of fun and "atta boys" to rebuild confidence and momentum. A test involving triple or quad marks and a difficult blind should be followed by 2 or 3 sets of multiple gunner singles. A test with difficult to find marks in deep cover should be followed by some singles or simple doubles in short cover with white bumpers or ducks with white streamers tied to them.

6. Continue to train your dog to use his eyes rather than his nose. A retriever is first and foremost a hunting dog who must use his eyes to mark the falls. It is important to continue to stimulate this talent. Dogs are primarily scored on their marking ability at tests and trials.