Are you a competent handler?
If your dog is not obeying commands, the problem could be you rather than the dog, says Nick Ridley
Afew years ago I was doing a photo commission on a driven day and the shoot captain had two rather smart-looking labradors. He was proudly telling everyone who would listen that he had paid a lot of money for these highly bred, fully-trained gundogs from a well-known professional trainer. To be fair, they sat nicely at his side but at the end of a drive he just turned them loose and by the end of the day they were running around like headless chickens. All the months of training were forgotten. It wasn’t the dogs’ fault, nor was it the trainer’s – it was a classic case of ‘operator’ error.
Watch and learn
Over the years, I have been privileged to watch some of the best gundog trainers and handlers in the country. On the other side of the coin, I have probably witnessed some of the worst. Many times I have sat at a working test and listened to a handler give a tirade of commands to a confused dog. The whistle commands get louder and more erratic, and the hand signals are reminiscent of a London stock trader. I have been guilty of every single one of these actions, but over the years I have looked at the good handlers and I now try hard to emulate some of their characteristics.
The one thing I work really hard at is trying to give quiet commands. Watch and listen to a good spaniel handler and you will hardly hear a peep from them unless the dog is out on a longish retrieve. Think about this logically; if you are hunting your dog close in you shouldn’t have to blast the turn whistle, the dog’s hearing is far superior to ours. How many novice handlers blow a long stop whistle? Then watch the dog that has learnt to stop only at the end of the noise – and the worse the dog is at stopping on the whistle the longer the handler blows it. I once listened to a handler blowing the stop whistle continually for more than 10 seconds before her dog stopped and yet she was quite happy that the dog was ‘on the whistle’, which, to be fair, it was… eventually.
Reading your dog
As regular readers will know I am quite a fan of good gundog training DVDs and books – they are great for showing you how to train your gundog. However, the one thing they cannot teach you is how to read your dog and I believe this is the key to becoming a good gundog handler.
When hunting or out on a retrieve, a dog’s body language can be subtle. It may indicate a touch of scent by an increase of tail movement, or a slight lifting of its head. An observant handler will be reading these signs and be ready to react to what may happen.
Mrs R has told me that I am a “miserable git” when I am working the dogs as I won’t speak to her. In truth, I am concentrating so hard on the dog I am pretty well oblivious to everything else. If only I was a woman and could multitask. Being able to read your dog’s body language is so important and,
“Being able to read your dog’s body language is so important but unfortunately it is a skill that many handlers never achieve”
unfortunately, it is a skill that many handlers never achieve.
Some time ago I was photographing a flat-coated retriever working test and the first test was a blind retrieve out in a small depression approximately 80 metres away in a rough grass field. I have never owned or worked a ‘flattie’ but I have watched a lot of them working and I do know that they will air scent as well as ground scent. Most of the dogs went out really well but I watched as handler after handler stopped the dogs just as their heads came up and acknowledged the scent of the dummy. The handlers thought that the dogs were going to come off the line and felt that they needed to put in an extra command just in case. How good it was to watch the ones that were left to get on with it as they followed the scent trail like they were on a railway track.
The Game Fair
Many of you will be going to The Game Fair this year (fingers crossed) and no doubt at some point you will find yourselves watching the gundog tests or even entering the various scurries. If you watch the tests in the big arena just take some time to observe the handlers rather than the dogs. You will have to watch carefully but you may just pick up some useful tips.
Watch the way the handlers position themselves before sending the dog, the way they use their hand signals and the whistle. With regards to hand signals, I picked up one of my most useful lessons many years ago from Simon Tyers who won the cocker championship on two occasions. When my first cocker, Sweep, was in training I was having problems with her left and rights; she would go off in the right direction but drift off after a couple of yards. Simon taught me to hold my hand signal for longer. I tended to push my arm out and pull it back quite quickly. By leaving it out for a few seconds longer reinforced the command to the dog. Problem solved.
Frustration
A friend of mine has a habit of giving his dog a command such as “Get back!” while the dog is still moving. As a consequence, the dog has taken relatively little notice of his commands. This has resulted in a cycle where both the dog and handler end up getting wound up and frustrated. The dog is pretty good on the stop whistle, so over the past few weeks we have been working on the handler’s skills rather than the dog’s.
The first thing was to get him to stop the dog before giving any other command, and then to slow everything down so the dog settles before being sent back, left or right. The difference it has made has been dramatic. The handler has become a lot calmer and, as a result, the dog has come on in leaps and bounds.
I know I must sound like a stuck record but it is not a bad idea to get someone to video you when you are handling your dog. I know a number of trainers who do this on their courses and, although it can be extremely painful to watch, you can learn a lot about how you handle your dog. And it is far more fun than watching another holiday video.
A final piece of advice would be that if you are having a problem with your dog get a professional to watch you at work. It may be something that you are doing rather than something your dog isn’t doing.