Training the Pointing Labrador

In this episode, it's all about pointing retrievers.  How do we get them to hold a point and be steady to both flush and shot?  It's a combination of using principles they know from standard retriever work, a true dechase and a real understanding of whoa conditioning.  Then, you put that together on a bold, confident dog in the upland field.

I think this is an important episode.  Effective dog training is not accomplished by carrying out specific tasks.  It is based on the ability to know what you're trying to teach your dog, and doing so by responding to what your dog tells you about your teaching.  This is extremely important in the skill of doing marked retrieves, and everything else you do.  Developing marking is used to illustrate how important knowledge based training is.

Today we talk about G's latest escapades and introduce the discussion of developing the retriever pups marking, thinking, use of eyes and nose, so that as a hunter and competitor, they are as skilled and confident as they can be.  This really is part of their life's work.  And it is at this age that I begin the skill development so that whatever she winds up doing as a retriever, she is very good at her job.  It is a fun time...

In this episode, we talk about the improvements in G and her work, and the associated idea of teaching your dog to take responsibility for doing their own work without your constant reminders and assistance.  It is a big part of training a dog to be very good at what they do.

In today's episode, I tell on Miss G and all the things she's doing this week.  We also break down 4 listener questions about the training of a puppy at this age, centered on when to begin 'discipline', live bird introduction, the real purpose of basic obedience and why working on retrieving is so important.

In today's episode, we talk about how Miss G makes me have to think a lot about what we're doing; outlandish behavior on the walk and retrieves without any return.  We also discuss how the training aspects now are important to future behaviors, so it helps to keep in mind how quickly these little guys learn and grow.

In this episode, I bring you up to date on "G" and her latest hijinks and what I plan to do about them.  From there we go into a discussion on the approach to various dog personalities, their abilities, their limitations and how to think about adjusting your training program to take your dogs idiosyncrasies into account.

The new puppy has a call name!  We discuss what she's been up to, good and bad and how to approach, or at least think about, questionable puppy behavior.  Barking, biting, good aggression are also talked about; these little fellows, though short in duration can certainly be a handful...

In this episode, I bring listeners up to date with the latest yellow puppy progress.  We also discuss how to approach your dog goals in 2021, the way to be the best trainer possible and wind up with the success you'd like to see this coming year.  Hint:  don't be afraid of training problems, and small things are much easier to fix than big things...