I’m Charlotte Smith, gundog trainer, handler, occasional breeder and all-round gundog enthusiast.
I started Riveroll Gundogs with my very first cocker back in 2010. Since then the gundog pack has expanded dramatically, including cockers, springers, labs and some other non gundog breeds too.
My life didn’t start in the countryside, infact I grew up with zero knowledge of the country side, living next to the M25 for the majority of my childhood. That all changed when, by chance, my mum took an office job on a beautiful estate that also ran a shoot. At 18 I completed a few days beating and I was lucky enough to be encouraged by the Head Keeper to learn more. 2 years on I bought LYNN EBONY OF RIVEROLL, a little cocker bitch that was to change my life.
I had a lot to learn and I couldn’t wait to soak in as much information as possible. Since then I’ve trained with many amazing trainers, completed courses, gained diplomas and most importantly gained as much experience on training gundogs as possible (and I’m far from finished yet)
Lets get to the point of this article, I wanted to talk about a really common problem I see with training gundogs, be it for fun, work or competition, chances are you want them to retrieve but does your dog come back with the dummy reliably?
I’d estimate that over half of people that come to me for training have tried a retrieve with their dog, the dog has charged out, picked the dummy and shot off playing a game of “catch me if you can” a few more would then have a dog that charged out, refused to pick and just messed about sniffing, hunting, or doing something else not asked for and the remainder have dogs that retrieve initially and then spit the dummy on route, yes it really is that rare that some one comes to me with a dog that has good retrieve.
Why do so many people have this problem? I think a lot of it comes down to over complicating things.
To put it simply, what is more valuable, the dummy or the dog? I can see your faces, looking back at me with confusion because of course your dog is more valuable than a dummy, so why do we put so much value onto dummies?
I think human nature plays a big part, we like to complete tasks, so naturally we want to get the dummy back to hand. In the process we inadvertently teach young dogs to over value a dummy, grabbing at it as though it’s gold or insisting dogs pick it. For a timid dog it’s easier to avoid confrontation and they will likely refuse to pick or drop the dummy on the way in, for a bold dog they are likely to keep hold of the dummy and lap the area playing keep away and for a dog that prefers to hunt they will consistently tell you I can’t find it” as you keep asking them to pick and they tread on the dummy for the 100th time.
All of these can be fixed in exactly the same way, teaching your dog to come back, with or without the dummy and either way being somewhat happy to see them back with you. The dogs that prefers to hunt will soon get bored of being called up and stopped from having freedom, teaching them to get on with the task in hand. The timid dogs will realise you don’t want the dummy (just yet anyway) and that they will get fuss. The bold dogs will learn that you don’t value the dummy as much as they thought, therefore it’s ok to go and get a fuss (whilst you accidentally on purpose catch them)
This may not give you that super impressive steadiness or delivery that you’ve seen on someone else’s video, but it will definitely get you a good, strong, consistent return on a retrieve. The steadiness and delivery can always be improved at a later date, but let’s face it, if your dog doesn’t come back with the dummy then steadiness is irrelevant and you’re not getting a delivery because it’s not coming back.
Hints….
- When I say “call them up” I try not to use a recall and certainly no whistles, don’t risk souring your recall if you need to work a little harder to get your dog back that first few times. I’d be shaking my car keys/ treats/ toy, tapping my boots or pockets, playing catch with a ball, running away, shaking a pot of kibble, anything that will catch my dogs attention and lure them in.
- Get your dog used to accepting a small fuss around their shoulders and neck, this makes it easy to keep hold of them from a fuss rather than trying to tackle a dog that doesn’t want to be touched. That way once you’ve lured them in they are easy to catch. It also helps them to be confident around your hands when it comes to taking the dummy, hands fuss rather than snatch.
- Make sure you are consistent with your retrieve command and that it doesn’tconflict elsewhere in training, it means they have a job to complete, not freedom.
- Practice your recall, although I don’t use a recall for retrieving, you are more likelyto have a dog that’s willing to return to you if you have a strong recall. Again use touch with your recall to make sure your dog is comfortable with hands coming towards them and that you can catch them if needed.Work around…. If your dog needs things broken down even more then try without a dummy. Throw a low value treat forward, releasing your dog to it, then encourage them back to you (without recall) for a higher value treat.Big picture …. I need to know my dogs will come back anytime they pick something, this is especially important if you have aspirations of working a team of dogs picking up, you cant watch every dog all of the time and I certainly don’t want to recall one with a bird and have four more return with nothing, just to send them all off again or if they are in thick cover I want to know they won’t hunt on with a bird in their mouth.
Work around…. If your dog needs things broken down even more then try without a dummy. Throw a low value treat forward, releasing your dog to it, then encourage them back to you (without recall) for a higher value treat.
Big picture …. I need to know my dogs will come back anytime they pick something, this is especially important if you have aspirations of working a team of dogs picking up, you cant watch every dog all of the time and I certainly don’t want to recall one with a bird and have four more return with nothing, just to send them all off again or if they are in thick cover I want to know they won’t hunt on with a bird in their mouth.
Written by Charlotte Smith, Riveroll Gundogs
