Question: I don't have much time or access to grounds to train my hunting dog, other than in the hunting season. He won't hold his points (he's a dropper) even though I taught him the "Whoa" command, I think. Is there anything I can do around home, when the season is closed, to make sure he stays put, most of the time? A friend down the road said every time I feed him I should tell him "whoa," and not let him go to the feed pan until I tell him, "okay." What do you think of that advice? (South Carolina)

Answer:
Although I don't do it myself, I couldn't say the advice is bad. It has been a shortcut used since bird dogs have been trained. I'll tell you a method just as simple, which can be used in training pointing, retrieving and flushing dogs. This informal training doesn't require planned training sessions or open space and poses no risk of intimidating a pup or shy dog.

First, however, I know not many of today's dog fanciers know what you mean when you describe your bird dog as a "dropper," although most would be cognizant of today's deliberately bred "designer dog" mixes such as Labradoodles, Cockapoos, etc., which are sold for ridiculously high prices.

"Droppers" may well have been the original "oops" dogs, the result of an unplanned, inadvertent cross between a purebred pointer and a purebred setter. This crossing produced a lot of useful gun dogs, gifts to kids or sold for a pittance unless, rarely, they contributed to a serious effort to "hot up," "cool down" or revise and re-establish a breeding program.

Probably, most pro trainers would advise going back to basic work, yard training with check cord. But a pro you ain't. You have one dog and no facilities and aren't being paid for the time you spend with a casually bred dog. Nor am I telling you that whoaing him at the feed pan won't work. But there is an easier and better way. Reinforcement training!

Assuming, as you claim, your dog understands that "whoa" means plant those feet and keep them in place until I release you, the oftener (or more) you do this, the better he'll become at it. Do it anytime, anyplace--at house doors, kennel doors, on walks or during romps.

He'll soon recognize that when he "breaks" without a head-tap or verbal release and is punished for a breach of manners, the punishment came because he disobeyed a known command. When "whoa" is then used in a field situation, he'll have come to know whatever unpleasantness follows disobedience is not the fault of the bird he was pointing.

Associating "bad dog" and punishment if the command is used mostly or always when birds are present is distinctly possible.

Unpleasant punishment when correcting a lack of restraint on training birds can lead to developing a "blinker," a hunting dog that deliberately avoids birds he has come to fear or hate because of intimidating discipline during training. Innocently instilling such reactions in a bird dog puppy before its training is well underway is bad enough. Doing it deliberately, under the guise of early or reinforcing training, borders upon criminal.

Question: My Lab is difficult to get to sit and stay when I have company hunting. He's pretty good when we're alone, but when other shooters start banging away, he'll break. I give him a lot of work in the off season. In training and in UKC hunting retriever testing, he does well. Any suggestions? (Michigan)