Recently I was very fortunate to have the wonderful opportunity to go to a Positive Gun Dog training seminar in Minnesota. This was possible due the amazing and generous support of my community and family. I really cannot thank you all enough for the awesome outpouring of support that made this adventure possible. Pippie and I learned so much and are eager to practice all of the great beginner skills and games we learned.
Before I get too far into relaying this awesome experience, I want to cover a little ground work about positive training and how it specifically applies to hunting dogs. Positive trainers begin by rewarding the behaviors they want to see in their dogs, often not ever feeling any need to use other methods (modeling, punishment: ”stimulation,” intimidation, etc). There are trainers & training instructors who are at every level of a spectrum ranging all the way from all positive to only recommending the use of aversive methods & dominance based training. I am not writing this in an attempt to tell other hunters how to train their dogs (although I do, personally find aversive methods to be unnecessarily injurious to dogs and our relationships with them), but to express my belief that positive methods work well and are the methods I am choosing to use.
Stone Mountain Pet Lodge in Minnesota, where the seminar took place
The tradition of training hunting dogs has a very long history stemming back to a time when we basically took a “hands off” approach, following dogs around hoping that, if well bred, they would lead us to game and thus minimize our hunting efforts. In Europe a tradition of training for rock solid obedience before moving into field work at a later age has developed, whereas the United States has developed a tradition of introducing dog to bird as young as possible and utilizing shock (or “e”) collars and what is called “modeling” (physically manipulating the dog’s body into the position you want them in). Many positive trainers use tools such as “clickers” or marker words and methods such as “free shaping” (capturing a desired behavior that is spontaneously offered & rewarding it) and occasionally “luring” (where the dog is guided into position by following a treat or target object). This is just an overview of some of the basic differences between positive training and its traditional counterpart. This is a much more complex issue with a wide variety of people using methods all along the spectrum. The application of the positive methods to hunting dog training, is precisely what I went to Minnesota to learn, for many reasons, but primarily because I really do want a true companion out in the field, I want my dog to love hunting as much as I do, I never want it to feel like I am coercing her into helping me hunt.
Pippie watches a demonstration on retrieving
I found out that Positive GunDog Training of Minnesota was offering this Introduction to Field Sports for the Family Dog (or Beginning Positive Gun Dog Training) seminar through the Yahoo group: “Positive Training for Gun Dogs” which boasts over 1,000 members and growing fast, and offers a wonderful support network for this small community of gun dog trainers wanting to use positive methods. The seminar promised to cover: Field Sport Basics, Introduction to Scent Work, Positive Training of Retrieve and Field Sport Testing Level 1. The instructor for this course, Inga From, is well educated in this area, having studied under all of the Professional Positive Gun Dog trainers in the US and a few overseas as well. She helped dispel common myths circulated throughout the gun dog community, such as “never play tug with your hunting dog,” “allowing a hunting dog to live in the house will ruin its nose,” or “only use retrieving dummies to teach your dog to fetch.” Just the knowledge that playing tug is not damaging, as long as we play by good rules, like “no skin/teeth contact” “if good impulse control is not shown the game ends,” etc. Or that I can use anything Pippie loves & wants to chase to teach her to retrieve is liberating and encouraging. This seminar was rather unique in it’s combination of training for hunting and positive training methods, the fact that it was a 12-14hour drive away seemed a small hurdle given the scarcity of this resource. Positive Gun Dog Training is still in its infancy, but the interest is rapidly growing.There is only a small handful of professional gun dog trainers in the whole country using these methods.
I’m going to take a few posts to cover all of the things we learned because I want to be able to give a more in depth explanation to each section. But I’ll give you an overview of the things I’d like to cover; Tips for Trainers, Rewards & Markers(what they are and how to use them), How to teach a Chain of Behaviors (the Positive Trainer’s answer to “Force Fetch”), Scent Work, Games Exercises & Whistle Commands, Resources & Where to go from here.
Pippie found some wonderful-smelling thing to roll around in
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