New terrain and new places can affect our dogs in different, often unexpected, ways. (Photo By: Susanna Love)
Very few of us live in an environment where we can walk right out the back door of our home, call our dog to us, and set out on a bird hunt. Typically, a bird hunt requires us to spend hours, maybe even days, traveling to our desired hunting destination by truck. While a long drive to a prime hunting location provides us humans with a fun change of pace and a dose of excitement and anticipation, the same travel experience makes for a dramatic and potentially stressful change in routine for our dogs.
In loading up a bird dog for a few days on the road we remove him from a predictable and relatively quiet kennel and/or home environment. As we crate him in a vehicle or dog trailer and head out on the road, an onslaught of new stimulation follows. The entire experience is chock full of new sights, sounds, smells. When the traveling dog is unloaded, it is typically in completely unfamiliar terrain and an unusual situation. Often, matters get even more complicated in the field, as unfamiliar handlers may be present in the field using unfamiliar handling methods with their dogs. Dogs may be paired in the field with unfamiliar bracemates, who in turn may showcase a varied degree of steadiness. Multiply all these circumstances with the pursuit of an unfamiliar species of upland bird in unfamiliar cover and a high level of distraction and challenge has been created for any unseasoned dog.
Honest Evaluation Never assume your dog’s behavior and performance will be unaffected by his current environment and situation. Dogs react purely and honestly to how they feel in the moment and to the stimuli around them. We as trainers strive to condition them to handle a multitude of scenarios in a calm manner. It is impossible to condition a dog entirely to all new situations without having encountered these experiences. Your dog, one who is not conditioned to every source of stimuli he will experience on the road, may act as though he has not received any training. In response to new stressors, he may exhibit completely new, unexpected behavior. These unpredictable behaviors in response to new circumstances can feel frustrating to the handler until that handler realizes that processing new stimuli in this way is part of the developmental process of shaping a seasoned bird dog.
Remember, every new hunt and experience serves to condition an animal to new stimuli and situations. It is therefore necessary to give the animal ample time to process situations at their own pace. The dog is not setting out to misbehave or frustrate you. An empathic approach requires that the handler set the dog up to come through the experience bolder and stronger, processing stress in a calmer, more mannerly way. The goal is to make the abnormal seem more normal.
One practice that helps dogs on the road is to maintain some familiar boundaries and rules that are expected at home and in the practice field. At Ronnie Smith Kennels , we make sure that when we are on the road, we do not let our dogs barge out of a door or a crate. We ask that they stand still when cued, come when called, and heel when asked. Referencing this basic training during travel and destination hunting helps keep all of the training at the forefront of the dog’s mind.
If we stop to air a dog out along the road, we make sure we have a method of enforcing behavior (typically either a lead/rope or an e-collar). Otherwise, we risk building inconsistencies in behavior and allowing the dog’s behavior and mindset to begin snowballing out of control before he even gets to the hunt. These basic consistencies serve as a security blanket of sorts for the dog.
The consistent use of crate training keeps dogs safe and comfortable both at home and on the road. (Photo By: Susanna Love) Expect the Unexpected While on the road it is imperative to be prepared, and to expect the unexpected. Your dog may never have run off before at home, but if you turn him loose to air out in big, wide-open prairie for the first time, he may take off in pursuit of a deer. It is likely that he will not simply stop chasing when you say “here” at a distance. Always be ready to enforce behavior and to control your dog when he loses composure and makes a bad decision. Being prepared to do so will not only ensure his safety when he cannot think rationally, but it will enhance your dog’s training .
When dogs lose their composure and cannot self-compose, implementing some exercises on heel and “whoa” can help to calm their mind and refocus them. A loose lead or off-lead heel requires the dog to think about where the handler is, and to move in concert with the handler. This simple exercise is very useful in getting a dog in a “joined up” state of mind, one where he is thinking about going with the handler and paying more attention to handling cues than to the exciting stimuli surrounding him.
There have been many times when we have gone to a dog’s crate to turn him loose on a hunt only to find the dog has “lost his mind” with excitement. Getting that dog’s attention and getting him calmed down before turning him loose is critical for him if you want him to be productive. To re-establish this mindset, we will often heel the dog “to a point of compliance.” This just means we require the dog to walk beside us in a calm manner until he is settled enough to be capable of listening to cues and acting on his training. As we practice this concept, we factor in some practice stops or “whoas,” requiring the dog to stand still on cue. Both elements reference the dog’s previous training and help him regain that ideal mindset. The “point of compliance” is the moment when the dog’s overly excited mindset calms and his training rises to the forefront.
Ensure you are able to enforce a command or cue when your dog is in new surroundings. (Photo By: Susanna Love) When handling a dog and working to reshape a state of mind it is always important to take note of the behavior a dog exhibits both pre-cue and post-cue. On the road, subject to new stimuli, a handler’s cue needs to be adjusted to accommodate the dog’s current state of mind. The cue may not fall within the normal parameters of a routine training session, because the dog and handler are not engaged in a normal training session. If you cue your dog and the post-cue behavior does not change, then your next cue needs to be adjusted to ensure the desired change. If a dog is distracted by new surroundings, a subtle cue may not be complied with simply because the dog is too distracted to be aware of the cue. The handler should not assume that the dog is intentionally disregarding the cue. For example, we often ask our dogs to heel simply by patting the outside of our leg or snapping our fingers. This is a very subtle cue that typically gains immediate compliance in a controlled environment. However, when on the road in unpredictable environments we always make sure we have an alternate method of implementing a successful heel, particularly with younger dog. This alternative method of cuing may be a loose lead or an e-collar that we can utilize to enforce cues when needed. These alternative methods are used regularly in the dog’s basic formal training and are the foundation the more subtle cues have been built upon.
The main thing to remember when on road-trip hunts with your dog is that you cannot expect perfection from your dog. Recognize and identify the new experiences your dog is going through and the learning opportunities that are being presented. Help your dog through stresses by implementing his training and help him be successful in the new environment. If you see your dog get overwhelmed or confused, take a step back and simplify the elements of basic training for him. Keep things simple while your dog goes through the mental process of assessing the new environment and situation. Once he has settled in or transitioned to the new experience then he is more likely to respond appropriately to the subtle cues he is given.