Last fall, your writer met a young man in Maine who was on
his first season of grouse hunting and the first for his young Brittany. Hearing from young hunters and their
experiences is always fun. The young man
said his dog was locating and pointing birds fine but wasn’t retrieving
well. Further questioning revealed that
the dog had had some retrieving training with a dummy in the back yard and only
the back yard. This dog was never
generalized with his training.
What does the
word generalized mean when referring to dog training? If a dog has been taught a command or action
in the same location during every training exercise, it will often not respond
to the command in a different location.
The repetitiveness of the command in the same location imprinted that
location and command in the dog’s brain.
The dog has difficulty transferring the imprint to a different
location. Generalizing is executing the
command in different locations. That
ensures the dog will respond properly in any location or environment.
Introducing a
command and doing most of the early training in one location is
permissible. When you see that your dog
is grasping the command and providing the desired behavior in a fairly
consistent manner, then start changing your location. Go from the front yard to the back yard, from
the yard to a field, from a field to a wooded area, from dry conditions to wet
and warm to cool. You want your dog to
respond to the command in every situation you may encounter during hunting
season.
Several years
ago, a good friend called to tell me he was invited by a business associate to
hunt a preserve. Although an avid big
game hunter, he had never hunted upland birds.
He told me they were getting the deluxe package; guides, pointing dogs
and lunch. Although happy for him, I was
feeling a bit guilty for having never invited him to hunt grouse over my dogs. My friend called me about one week later all
excited after spending the morning hunting pheasants over two English pointers. I asked him how the dogs worked. He told me that, as soon as the dogs were
released, they ran hard to a small brush pile and then stopped and pointed. The guide kicked the brush pile but nothing was there. The guide then commented “guess they didn’t
plant a bird there”, released the dogs and on they went. My friend said that happened once more. These dogs were conditioned to think there
would always be a bird in that first pile of brush. This was not what we call
an unproductive due to a fading scent cone.
These dogs were conditioned that they would always find a bird in that
location…nothing to do with scent. Most
likely, this is the only work these dogs get.
They need to be generalized by hunting them in many different
locations…and even different species of birds.
Most pointing dog
people accept that the “whoa” command is the most important command to be
taught. The command helps to steady-up
your dog and is also a huge tool in your tool box for use when a dog is running
toward a road or chasing a deer. If whoa
has only been taught in the front yard and never in the field, then expecting
compliance while hunting is unrealistic.
The dog must be generalized to the command.
The recall
command (here or come), falls under the same rules. If all recall work is done in the yard,
expect spotty compliance in the field.
Again, the dog must be generalized to the command.
Here’s another
way to look at it. If you played
basketball and practiced your jump shot from exactly the same distance and location
every time, your shooting percentage would be very poor in a game when you must
take the shot from several different locations and distance to the basket.
Generalize your
dog to your commands and you’ll be much more pleased with the result while
hunting this fall.
Paul Fuller is host of the Bird Dogs Afield TV program. Paul’s website is www.birddogsafield.com.
