My wife was sitting at her sewing machine working on binding a quilt when I headed out the door with a jumble of equipment in my hands. “Going to train dogs. Be back in a bit,” I said with a smile on my face and that happy feeling you get when you are finally done with the day’s work and can go do something you really love.

Two hours later I returned, shoulders slumped, head hanging and a defeated look in my eyes. It had gone like that for about half of my training sessions—little to no progress along with no knowledge as to what I’d done right or wrong.

Sure, I sometimes have those happy drives home when everything went exceptionally well, the dogs did exactly what I wanted them to and we actually accomplished a great deal. But those times seem to be far outweighed by the heavy-hearted trips home, mentally kicking myself and thinking I needed to find a new hobby.

One day, however, it finally occurred to me what I had done better on the good days—I had made a specific plan of what I wanted to accomplish and actually stuck to that plan when out in the field.

Planning in the Sunflower State

Kaj Larsen got started in bird dog training when the company he worked for chose to relocate to a faraway state and he didn’t want to make the long move. He worked part-time for a well-known trainer for a few months before that trainer saw he had a knack for working with bird dogs and put him on full-time. A year and a half later, he was out on his own, and he has been training bird dogs full-time for the past dozen years.

Kaj is the owner and operator of Hunt’em Up Kennels in Tescott, Kansas, where he raises very nice German shorthaired pointers and trains everything from hunting dogs to competition dogs looking to get their AKC Master Hunter title and field trial dogs that are competitive on a national basis. 

“It’s been a challenge, but it’s been fun,” Kaj said. “It’s rewarding. And I’m lucky to get to do what I do. If you let it, it will challenge you every day. There’s always something to learn. Always ways to improve as a trainer. The minute you stop learning is the minute you ought to hang it up. I was told a long time ago by a guy that's been training dogs for a long time that the minute you stop learning, you ought to hang it up because you're either too arrogant or, or you just don't care anymore.”

Kaj believes that for all handlers—from the newest amateur to the most seasoned professional—having a good, solid plan before you head out to your training grounds can mean the difference between success and failure on any given day.

“I think it's super important to have a plan and have goals for each training session, for different dogs,” he said. “You may or may not accomplish exactly what you want, but it's definitely important to have a plan and try to stick to it. You know, if you’re going out to work on basic obedience and you get sidetracked or you’re not focused on what you're doing, you're just kind of wasting your time.”

Long-Term Goals?

When determining a training plan, it’s important, according to Kaj, to have a goal. And that includes not only a goal for that day of training but an overall goal of what you want to accomplish with that dog in the long run.

“It's important to have an idea of what your end goal is for that dog,” he said. “I ask clients all the time when they come in, ‘What’s your end goal for this dog? Are you wanting just a good meat dog to take hunting or are you wanting a finished level, broke dog that you can run field trials or go do master hunt tests or something like that with?’ That helps me make a plan.”

Once such plans are made, it’s important for trainers—especially amateurs—to heed the old saying, “Patience is a virtue.”

“That plan is often not accomplished in a session or two, it's accomplished over several months or even several years,” Kaj said. “Too many people get in too big of a hurry with the timing of their training and have everything on a timeline. Like, ‘This takes a week, this takes two weeks, this takes ten days.’ But it might not take the same for every single dog. Some things that one dog may take a week to learn another dog may take a month, and then there's another dog that might learn that stuff in two days. So, at least for me anyways, nothing is set in stone as far as how long training for a certain individual task takes.”

Get it in Writing?

While we’ve determined that making a plan is important, I wondered aloud to Kaj if it was necessary to put training plans down on a piece of paper and take it along with you when you head for the training grounds. The answer: Just like some dogs learn differently, some people best manage their training plans in different manners.

“I'm pretty bad at taking notes,” Kaj admitted. “So, I keep it in my head about what that person or what the client wants to do with the dog or if it's my own dog, I have that in my head from the very beginning. It's pretty easy for me because every single dog that I have around here that's going to be a part of my breeding program is going to be finished level dog that is steady to wing, shot and fall. They’re going to retrieve to hand, and more than likely they're going to be force-fetched, because that's what the games that I play require.”

However, Kaj has fellow trainers who make their training plans differently, making a physical list of things to accomplish on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. Some even keep a log of training sessions for future reference.

“I've got a good trainer buddy that sits down and basically makes a journal for every dog after every training session,” Kaj said. “That way he can look back on it and note progress or that a dog’s not making any. That might be something to look back on several years down the road, too. It'd be interesting, especially with the breeding program in mind, to see, ‘Did this puppy’s great grandmother have the same issues that I’m working through today?’”

Enough is Enough

When making a training plan for any given day and any given dog, Kaj says it’s important to not overdo it. He sees many amateur trainers make the mistake of trying to push a dog too hard and too fast, resulting in problems.

“I think it's really easy to feel like you didn't accomplish enough in a session,” he said. “I get a lot of clients that ask, ‘What's a normal day look like for my dog? How many minutes a day is it going to be worked?’ And that's a really hard question to answer because it varies so much. Like in force fetching, there's times where a three-minute session and one good rep is way more beneficial than a 30-minute session that gets drawn out and you have pushed the dog to the point of failure. Then you're pushing him to the point where you're having to use way too much pressure on him. I like that perfect session, short and sweet where he did it right. You reward him, you praise him, you let him know that he did the right thing and you put him away.”

“Clients may not like to hear this, but there are times where the best thing for that dog is to sit a couple days—have a couple days off, let it clear its mind, let it just go out and play with the other dogs and not work on anything that day other than maybe we just try to build a little bit better bond between him and I.”

Kaj says keeping in mind before a training session that stopping after the dog has succeeded at a task can be helpful for both the trainer and the dog.

“It's always a good rule of thumb to stop on a good note, if possible,” he said. ”There are times where stopping on a good note is not really possible, but we just stop on a note that's somewhat neutral. And when I say neutral, don't lose your temper, just walk back and put him away. You know, you're far better off doing that than pushing him a little too hard and losing your temper.”

Most of the very best dog trainers have a set plan for every dog and every training session, and that helps them be successful in reaching their goals for each dog. Putting a little more time into planning and less time into just “going to train” might make you a more successful, too, in the long run.