From the Inside, Out

oe Back was a horse packer from Dubois, Wyoming. Many decades ago when I was a sales rep in the sporting goods business, there was a small store in Dubois, which was one of my accounts, and on one occasion I had the good fortune to meet Joe.

  Now, Joe had been a Forest Service packer for many years and had written a book titled, Horses, Hitches and Rocky Trails. Since I spent a good deal of time in those days dragging a pack horse or two around in the Colorado mountains, and Joe’s book was like the bible of horse packing, this chance meeting was a real highlight.

  In the course of talking with Joe, I asked him how he went about selecting and training a packhorse. He told me that you pick and you train pack horses "from the inside, out." He went on to say that a riding horse primarily has to take instructions directly from the person on his hack, but a pack horse - which might be way back in the string - though it may seem that they are simply following along and doing the heavy work, "has to he extremely self-confident, he must also believe and trust in you and must be resilient. And, those things have to come not only from training but also from inside. You don’t buy just any horse, tail him up to the horse ahead." Joe said, "and expect to get your gear into camp intact; you have to select and then train pack horses from the inside, out."

  In reality, a hunting retriever’s job is not much different: In many situations, he must be capable of thinking for himself and have self-control, but he must also be able to take orders and be under total control when the need arises. He must be self-confident but must also be resilient. And, in order to have these qualities, a hunting retriever needs not only to believe in you, but also to trust in you.

  Therefore, it is your responsibility as a trainer to do everything that you can to develop a working partnership between you and your dog rather than a relationship of slave and master, or one based totally on capitulation. But you are walking a fine line, because if you treat your retriever as one of your kids, he will quickly pick up on it and possibly take advantage of your generosity. So developing a partnership becomes a matter of communication - and communication is a two-way street. For many trainers, this is easier said than done.

aramount to developing a working partnership is encouraging your dog’s success. To encourage that success you must train with your head. You must organize your strategy ahead of time, plan what you will do when your dog makes a mistake, and be prepared if you have to make a correction.

  Being a trainer is really not much different from being a sports coach because dogs, like people, gain success and self-confidence by being taught, making mistakes, being justifiably corrected, learning from the mistakes, and then trying again. To simply punish a dog for a mistake when he has never been taught or may not understand what is expected of him may show a lot about his resilience as he might not want to try the task again and may have to he forced to do it; but this kind of training will also go a long way toward killing his self-confidence.

The dog has just left your side - now is the time to be prepared for him to make a mistake. Get the whistle in your mouth, concentrate on his performance, and be ready to help him out.

John Schaeffer Photo

  As a trainer, you must keep an open mind and try to keep the communication flowing back and forth between you and your dog for each particular situation that arises. Part of keeping an open mind is to stay mentally focused, closely watch your dog’s actions, and learn to anticipate what he will do before he does it; think well ahead of your dog’s actions. To do this you must teach yourself to think from where he is rather than strictly from your own perspective.

  And when the training isn’t working, stop the current line of thinking and try a fresh approach. Too many trainers follow and won’t deviate from a step-by-step or pre-packaged training program, and, when problems arise, they aren’t capable of thinking it through from a different point of view. They are training the outside of the dog while never even considering what’s happening on the inside. And everything that is bothering a dog on the inside, will eventually, in some manner, show itself on the outside!

  For some, this will be a difficult or impossible concept to comprehend; trainers have been programmed in recent years to believe "if you do this, the dog will respond by doing that - period." But in reality, the "believe in, trust in each other" type of relationship can only come about when a trainer learns to see things from the dog’s point of view, rather than strictly from the trainer’s position.

  When you achieve this relationship and understanding of the communication, your dog will show you when he is catching on and learning; you will be able to see it by watching his eyes and recognizing what his body language is telling you. Dogs are always telling you what they are going to do - it may be subtle, but it’s there. Before they do anything, they’ll tell you that they are going to do it; but most trainers are unaware of this subtle body language until it’s too late.

  All you have to do is learn to stay mentally focused on your dog and make yourself acutely aware of the signals he is sending. If you’re going to head anything off or move ahead quickly in your training, you need to be aware of these indications he is giving off and think ahead - so that you can act rather than being forced to react.

  Since training is a two-way street, you must also hold up your end of the deal. It is your responsibility to always be prepared, be consistent in your commands, your movements, and your repetitions; to try to develop a sense of timing; and keep the line of communication open between you and your dog. Before you ask your dog to do a particular training task, prepare yourself, have in mind exactly what it is you are asking, the incremental steps required to get it done, and the result you are trying to achieve.

et me cite an example: When doing lining drills, casting drills, or running blinds, there is no excuse for not being ready with your whistle in your mouth. But many trainers, both experienced and novices, continually have to fumble to find the whistle that is hanging around their neck. The trainer isn’t prepared ahead of time, doesn’t recognize what the dog is telling him through his body language, and hasn’t anticipated a problem developing.

  And its always at a crucial time: The dog has already shown by his body language communication that he’s going to veer off the line to a blind; by the time the trainer recognizes the problem, its already too late - the dog is heading quickly in the wrong direction, and the trainer isn’t prepared to immediately act to correct the problem because he’s fumbling for the whistle.

A reliable hunting - or competitive - retriever needs to be able to think for himself and have self-control, but also must stop and obey commands immediately, especially at great distances.

James Keldsen Photo

  Finally, he blows the whistle, the problem has escalated, and by this time the dog is way off line. Now rather than a simple correction of the dog’s line, the trainer has to try to make major adjustments, expecting the dog to take huge casts and completely change his direction. Rather than planning increment by increment, the trainer was betting directly on a successful end result, and when it didn’t happen, he wasn’t prepared to make an immediate correction allowing things to get further and further out of hand. And guess who gets the blame?

  Concentration, learning to "read" your dog, preparation, and communication is the key to control in all training, field work, and hunting. Whether a dog is running a blind, working a field for upland birds, or just learning basic heeling drills, he continually gives off signals - it’s up to you to learn to recognize what he is telling you. A lack of concentration is probably the most common reason for previously steady dogs beginning to break, or for dogs that have always hunted in range or were easily called off from chasing running or flying birds to suddenly start chasing birds unchecked.

  I feel that a lack of concentration and communication between the owners and their dogs that I train are the most significant reasons for dogs coming back to my kennel, year after year, for "touch-up" training. The owners never really learn to concentrate on their dogs, read the dog’s body signals, and anticipate the dog’s actions; they let him begin to ignore or "slip" verbal and whistle commands, or they "teach" the dog to break by sending him for retrieves too quickly. Most are only concerned with what the dog shows them on the outside and never even think about what he is really trying to tell them - from the inside, out.