RULES FOR TRAINING YOUR GUN DOG
Compiled by Brad Higgins, Higgins Gundogs
1- Dog training is dog psychology. Learn to understand your dog.
2- Dogs are pack animals. Be the leader.
3- Stop unnecessary talking.
4- Dogs are highly motivated to please themselves. Patience, consistency and repetition in training are important.
5- It takes lots of birds to train a bird dog.
6- The bird is the teacher. Let your dog learn to manage the bird.
7- Quality dog work is not between you and your dog. It’s between your dog and the bird.
8- Instead of trying to get your dog to point, allow him to learn he can’t catch the bird. Staunch, stylish pointing will follow naturally.
9- Don’t teach whoa around birds. Whoa has nothing to do with birds.
10- In early training, don't correct the dog while the bird is on the ground. Your dog has not made a mistake until he puts the bird in the air.
11- A finished dog understands that a bird in the air (stready to wing), a gunshot (steady to shot), the sight of a pointing dog (honoring/backing), a flushing bird (steady to flush) and a bird falling (steady to fall) all mean stop.
12- The dog must know what the command means before he can be corrected for mistakes.
13- An electric collar is not used to teach a dog to perform a command. Once your dog has been conditioned to the collar, it is used when the dog has a complete understanding of the command and chooses not to do it. An electric collar is for reinforcement only.
14- An electric collar should be thought of and used as nothing more than a long check cord.
15- Once your dog understands the command, give the command once and always use a release command.
16- Never give a command you can’t or won’t enforce.
17- When it comes to dog training, timing is everything. Corrections must be made immediately.
18- Learn to read your dog. The best correction is made before your dog makes the mistake, when he is thinking about it.
19- Be patient and be sure the dog understand what you want before assuming he is refusing.
20- If you ignore or don’t correct for an unwanted behavior, you are agreeing with and encouraging that behavior.
Higgins Gundogs
Gundogwhisperer.com
Our goal is to create a well mannered hunting partner that, through minimal pressure or correction, has maintained all his natural style, desire and birdiness.
