Our dogs are hunting dogs.  Two of the commands that we train the most are recall and steady.  Even when our dogs know the commands, we review them–often.  This is because these two commands are for their own safety and they are not negotiable.  They must respond to them every time.

When our dogs are hunting, it is off leash and in heavy cover.  They must come back when they are called.  We would not like to lose them in the cover.  They may be after a pheasant, grouse or even a rabbit and headed toward a road or a frozen pond.  They must come back when they are called.  We would not like them to be injured or worse.

Steadiness is something else we train all of the time.  A steady retriever sits quietly and waits until it is released to retrieve, no matter what is going on around it.  When you are out hunting, you do not want your dog heading out for a retrieve while hunters are firing live rounds at game.  It is not safe.  No dog is 100% steady, but we want to get as close to 100% as possible.

Freighter does really well on his recall, but being steady has been an issue for him.  We have worked long and hard on it and he is getting better, but he still has trouble with birds that are shot up close to him.

In our training group there are about four other dogs in the same boat as Freighter.  They do fine with bumpers.  They do fine with dead birds.  Bring out the live birds and they loose their minds.  Their steadiness in not reliable.

A couple of Saturdays ago we got out to work on this.  The training grounds where we train is a preserve so they can shoot training ducks all season.  These are not wild birds.  They are pen raised.

We felt that getting Freighter out now and again to train with live ducks and real gunfire is something that will help move his training forward.  Normally he only has birds at tests and during hunting season if the hunters are lucky and get into the birds.  That hasn’t been enough for Freighter so we joined this group which trains with live birds every few weeks.  It has seemed to help.

But Freighter still needs reinforcement.

This training day was set-up to be particularly challenging for dogs that are prone to break.  The bird was thrown from right next to the dog and the gunners were also next to the dog.  Having hunters in a line is more like a normal hunting situation compared to having them spread out in the field as they are at a hunt test.  There was also a dog at honor that had already made their retrieves and was just watching.  Having another dog watching is tough for both the running dog and the dog watching.  If either the running dog or the honor dog moved, they earned a collar correction and were told “sit”.  All of these dogs know the sit command very well so if they broke it, it was their choice and a poor one.

Now some may say that this scenario was unfair and it did not set up the dog for success.  I would argue that it absolutely set them up for success, maybe not during the training day, but out in the field where it really matters.  So many times I hear people get all upset because their dog broke a sit, or bolted after something, or did not come back when they were called.  I would argue that is not the dog’s fault.  That is the owner’s fault because they have never put their dog in a position to be challenged and when it is, the dog has no training to fall back on because everything has been set-up to be easy.

So with all this in mind, here are some pictures.

This was a double.  The first bird down was a dead bird off to the right and the second or “go bird” was the shot flyer right out in front of the dog.  Both gunners were calling with duck calls which also excites the dogs.  The handlers were not to pay attention to where the birds fell, they were to watch their dogs and make sure they did not get to the flyer before they were sent.

Freighter has a great memory.  Even with all that messing around on the line, being recalled and corrected, and being made to wait, he still pinned the two marks.

The last thing he had to work on was the honor.  This can be just as hard as being the running dog.  Many times if you are honoring a dog that is prone to break, it can cause your dog to also break.  This can be also be an issue while you are out hunting if you are hunting with other dogs that are not steady.

For our training set-up, the honor dog was seated right next to the gunner.  This is probably the most difficult spot for a dog prone to breaking.

Has this cured Freighter of his breaking?  Maybe.  Maybe not.  We have noticed that at least for dead birds, his fanny has been firmly planted.  Hopefully we will get to train with live birds again this summer.  He will definitely see them at tests.