ESPN Hunting

In 1974 I was an excited young man taking my very first walk on American soil courtesy of Laker Airway's $99 New York Special. I had just checked in to a cheap and not very cheerful hotel in midtown Manhattan and decided to explore Eighth Avenue.

Garbage lined the sidewalk producing the aroma of rotting fish but here I was in the USA at last and nothing would prevent me from making the most of this God-given opportunity.

I nipped inside the doorway of a rundown store to shelter from the pouring rain and stepped on a bundle of humanity lying at my feet wrapped in several editions of the New York Times.

"Oh, I do apologize, I didn't see you there. Are you all right?" I asked in my very best British accent.

The Bundle sat up and rubbed a filthy mitten across bleary eyes.

"Can I get you anything?"

The Bundle just stared.

I bent down to his level to make myself understood "Are you unwell?" I asked in the manner one would address a young child.

Still no response.

He obviously didn't speak English so I switched to my best schoolboy French, the only other language I knew.

"Comment ca va? Etez vous malade ?" I enquired.

The Bundle gestured towards me, I leaned closer and he poked a stiff middle finger out from his grubby mitten.

"Yes, yes, what is it?" I put my ear close to his chapped lips anxious to hear his words.

"Swivel," he hissed with liquor-laden breath.

"You're welcome," I replied convinced it was some colloquial expression of gratitude.

The Bundle lay down and went back to sleep. I stuffed a couple of dollar bills into his coat pocket and continued my excellent adventure deeply moved by the polite friendliness of New Yorkers.

It was years later when I found out that what I had taken to be a sign of appreciation had been nothing of the kind.

All retrievers, no matter how well trained; occasionally develop problems, which are almost always a result of poor communication. Let's make sure that you communicate better with your dog than I did with the tramp in New York.

Obedience at a distance

All retrievers learn that the farther you are away the less likely you are to physically intervene should they disobey. Well-trained dogs that handle beautifully at 50 yards are quite capable of going deaf at 150. Progressing too quickly greatly contributes to this and you should stretch out the distance slowly while maintaining control.

Start each new season as though your dog is a six-month-old pup. Go right back to basics and don't accept anything less than perfection.

Work through all your basic handling drills as though he is learning them for the first time, especially the stop whistle. Make him sit and stay while you go in the house for lunch and watch him through the window (be reasonable don't leave him in direct sunlight or outside in a blizzard). If he moves get out there and let him know it's not acceptable.

Drop a bumper in front as you walk him at heel and tell him to 'leave it'. If you have a flushing dog make him sit as you throw the dummy. Work your way through all his early training drills and extend the distance slowly.

That way the necessity for you to go out 200 yards to correct him will be few and far between but sometimes you just have to surprise him and do it.

Spinning or popping

If your dog starts to spin or 'pop' when you cast him it is almost certainly due to lack of confidence. Many dogs that willingly blast off for a 40-yard memory pop when the distance is extended too far. If it is ignored in the hope that it will somehow rectify itself popping becomes a habit, so don't allow it to develop. It doesn't look good and causes a break in your dog's concentration. No one wants to lose a bird while their dog is performing Swan Lake.

Shorten the distance until your dog regains his confidence and stops spinning then build the degree of difficulty back up slowly. Rushing ahead too quickly is almost always the cause.

Occasionally popping can come from over use of the stop whistle causing the dog to slow down and turn around in anticipation of the command but this looks quite different from the quick spin of the dog unsure of his task.

Make the drill you are working on easier and be patient. The aim is to build up your dog's confidence. When he knows precisely what he's doing he will not feel the need to pop.

Refusing recall

Ignoring the recall whistle is more than just a refusal it's an attitude problem. Your dog is telling you that he has little respect for your authority and is doing his own thing. This needs addressing immediately or his entire discipline will deteriorate.

Providing you are sure he can hear you (given the size of some American whistles I can probably hear you) your dog must return. There are no acceptable excuses and he must be made aware of the price to be paid for disobeying. Whatever it takes, find him and drag him back towards you while blowing the recall whistle. Make sure you do it in such a way that he will not welcome a repeat performance.

Now deliberately send him to an area where there is plenty of scent to hunt but no bird and recall him. If he stops hunting and comes back promptly all well and good but if he doesn't, repeat the previous correction only this time with more vigor.

A word of warning: make absolutely sure that your dog fully understands the recall whistle and that his hearing is not impaired by running water, long grass or unfavorable wind conditions. Disciplining him for something he doesn't fully understand can cause great confusion.

Chasing

Chasing is a curse in any dog but in a working retriever it spells disaster and can totally ruin a good day's hunting. The absolute best way to avoid this lies in your dog's early training regime. Do not let a young pup have free running in the mistaken belief that he needs to play. He can play just as well with you in the yard. In fact he has a far better chance of developing a bond exercising with you than he does when left to rampage around on his own.

About Vic Barlow

ESPNOutdoors.com Vic Barlow has been breeding training and hunting retrievers since he was a child. He now specializes in training dogs for American-style hunting and splits his time between his home in Cheshire England and Wildrose Kennels in Mississippi, which Vic regards as his second home. For more information on Vic's training and breeding programs, please visit his website at www.vicbarlow.com. Be sure to check back with ESPNOutdoors.com regularly, as Vic will be running excerpts from his book, "British Training for American Retrievers." Vic will also be answering questions posed by users of ESPN-Outdoors.com and readers of his book. If you have a question about training retrievers, email Vic and he may answer your question in a column.

Once he learns the joys of chasing rabbits, squirrels, deer, etc. it becomes a really difficult problem to resolve. I've tried numerous ways of stopping dogs chasing but I'd be lying if I didn't say that I've found intelligent use of the e-collar to be the most effective.

Max, my wife's golden was crazy for rabbits. If he spotted one a mile away he was gone. He would run across roads, railway lines, anything to get to a rabbit. I tried bawling him out and shaking him after the event but to no avail. I even set him up and had my buddy release a rabbit in front of him and sacked him on his way out but he just waited until next time when I wasn't so prepared.

Once the chasing habit becomes established only aversion therapy works and the timing has to be precise.

I could see that Max's rabbit obsession would eventually bring him to grief and I had to find a cure, which I did with the aid of an e-collar, zapping him the moment he gave notice to chase. Half a dozen tough sessions made him rethink his attitude to rabbits. Eventually he began to give them a wide berth but neither Max nor I enjoyed the experience.

If you want to avoid this unpleasant situation never put your pup in a position where he is free to give chase. When he's steady, has learned to walk at heel and stop on the whistle you will be able to manage his desire to chase with very little problem.

Handling in the wind

Dogs do not like to run directly into the wind and will often refuse a cast they would otherwise take if it sends them head on into the wind.

My young dog Daz handles extremely well but will sometimes balk at being cast into the wind. Remember also that if your dog will run out 100 yards for a blind downwind he'll probably only go 50 yards in a headwind.

The only way to combat this is to train in windy conditions and make sure your dog always finds his bird when you cast him into the wind. You can do this by laying out half a dozen birds in advance so that when he does take the cast he walks right into a bird.

That way he will understand that battling the wind brings its own rewards.

This column was excerpted from Vic Barlow's book, "British Training for American Retrievers."
Click here to purchase a copy.