DE-CHEATING YOU'RE PUP

This is a guest post by Jon Hass of Double Barrel Retriever's. I had the honor of spending some time with Jon this past spring in south Louisiana in preparation for Cajun HRC hunt test where Jon received a finished title for one of his students. You would be hard pressed to find a better person, and an excellent trainer!!!  ~Waylen.

                  

My name is Jon Hass with Double Barrel Retrievers in Maysville, North Carolina.   I have been training retrievers professionally for both Competition and just plain old hunting since 2009.  I am also an Active duty Marine so as you can guess I am constantly busy.   I bought a little female black lab in 2007 to be a meat dog and never looked back.   I trained her with the help of my two mentors.  She obtained her HRCH title at 23 months old.  Shortly after that people started asking me to train their dogs and I found my new passion in life…Training Dogs.

This brings me to the point of this article.  Whether you are training your pup to be a meat dog or a Grand Hunting Retriever Champion the majority of the training is the same.  We want our dog to be steady, and take the most direct route to the bird and return, ready for the next.   If you are hunting in the middle of the Pamlico Sound in Eastern North Carolina, pup has no choice but to jump out of the boat…go straight to the bird… and come back to the boat.  Now what about when you are hunting a rice field in Central Louisiana and you sail a pintail over a levee or two? 

When God made Labs, and Humans he programmed us to take the path of least resistance.  In your dogs eyes that means run the levee as far as you can then get wet and pick up the bird.  The only problem with this is now pup may be on the wrong side of the wind or now he is "discombobulated" and not sure of where the bird crashed.  As he is hunting more birds want to come in but he still hasn’t finished his retrieve.  This is where DE-CHEATING come's into play.

 

Cheating is when pup runs the bank when the most direct route is to swim.  We solve this by teaching de-cheating.   There are many different methods of teaching this, but the end result is the same.  Pup will take the most direct route to the bird even if that means swimming 12 inches off the shoreline or levee to get to the bird.  My program has three separate portions of de-cheating that is taught throughout pups first year of life.

I begin de-cheating, as a game, when he is a puppy and after he has been taught sit to whistle.  If you have access to a small square pond this is perfect.  Toss the bumper across the pond.   If pup tries to run around to get back to you, stop him and move to the opposite side of the pond.  Whistle him back to you.  Repeat this process until he gets wet and comes straight back to you.  Keep these sessions short and lots of fun.  We are not working on steady here.  Do this as hup hups and stay calm.  This should not be a battle.  Once he figures out he has to swim back to you to get his love he will make it a priority to do so.

Now we have implanted the idea that being in the water is safe.  The next portion of my de-cheating will come a little later after force fetch and the land T.  This is when we start Swim by.  I start swim-by, by lining each pile first prior to the casting portion of swim-by.  If you can use the same pond as we talked about above you will be one step ahead. By lining your piles first  you can cut off corners of the square pond.  If pup tries to cheat the bank, stop him with the whistle, give him a light nick with the collar and cast him back into the water.  By doing this you make the shore line hot in pups mind.  Ensure you test the dog by cutting off both the left and right corners of the pond.  By the end of swim by, pup will be entering and exiting with ease and will give you true honest lines to the bumper. 

Between puppy games and swim by you have built a solid foundation of de-cheating.  Unfortunately you are not completely de-cheated.  You have taught him how to return honestly and to take a line in the water.  Now you must reinforce this while marking.  Now an oval or circle pond will best to use.    Start with you and pup on the shore line.  Throw a hand thrown mark into wide open water.  This is pups safety mark.  He should go straight out and come straight back.  Your next mark should be closer to the narrow end of the oval.  This will entice pup to try the shore line.  As he is running the shoreline give him light nicks until he gets in the water.  As we said before in his mind that shoreline is now hot.  Anytime he cheats the shore continue to nick him.  Once he returns give him his safety mark.  Then repeat the second mark again.  If he does this well, you will throw the third mark over the very end of the pond so that the line to the mark cuts off a small portion of the water.  It is almost a guarantee that he will try to cheat again.  Again, make the shoreline hot.  If he did cheat, bring him back and give him another safety mark.  Then the second mark, then the third mark again.  Keep these sessions between 15-20 minutes at most.  Make sure you run this drill with the shoreline on either side of the dog.  Run it in the same place until it is perfect on both his left and right.

Now you are ready to take your show on the road.  For a short time, every new area you train in you may have to make a correction here and there to ensure pup understands he has to be honest all the time. 

Remember if pup cheats make the shoreline hot.  If it is on a blind, Stop him, nick, and give the appropriate cast back into the water.

I know this seems like a lot but it is really not that bad.  Remember stay calm and keep pup’s spirits high.  When you are done you will have a very happy and very honest dog.  Good luck and happy training.

 

~Jon Hass.. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Double-Barrel-Retrievers/262481180429662