F E AT U R E A RT I C L E
A Handler’s Job is to Help Dogs Need Consistency in Training and in the Field By Leo Boman
You’ve been working hard all summer or winter long to train, condition, and prepare your hunting companion for the upcoming season. Your dog is ready to perform, so it’s now your time to help him/ her be more successful afield. Team Work Whether it be hunting, testing, or trialing; it’s the bond between dog and handler that brings about great memories and full game bags. It’s a pleasure to watch a handler and dog work well together. Unfortunately it’s not as easy to watch a dog/ handler team struggle. To build teamwork you must also build trust. This trust is only achieved through fair and consistent training; clear communication and quality time spent working together.
always walk around your dog twice while doing a rain dance, or go through a sequence of baseball signals telling your dog to steal home; figure out what your routine is. Use that routine to your advantage to reinforce desired behaviors like steadiness on game or walking correctly at heel. Your routine can be as simple as momentarily stopping to close your gun, or taking your sunglasses off when your dog is on its way back from a retrieve.
In your training, be consistent with your commands. This replication not only builds a strong association for the dog, it also helps you remember what command to give during crunch time. I don’t know how many times I have seen a handler (myself included) give a wrong or inconsistent command, and the dog respond adversely. If your cue to retrieve is fetch, only say fetch (not OK, Dead Bird, Get It, etc). Also in training, you have intentionally or unintentionally reinforced a routine. Whether you 38
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If you are running a brace, keep an eye on both dogs.