Group Training 

written by Butch Goodwin
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Northern Flight Retrievers  
The Retriever Journal Apr./May  2005

any years ago, I had a high school football coach whose name was Pete Labukas. Now, as anyone who has played a competitive sport knows, coaches customarily use platitudes or maxims - little "sayings" - tossed out freely in hopes of inspiring their players and also to keep them walking the straight and narrow when away from the playing field.

  Coach Labukas was no exception. Among his favorite sayings that I recall was, "Nothing good happens after midnight!" (Always good advice for teenagers.) And another went something like, "Hanging around with a group never produces anything positive." Undoubtedly sound advice for teenagers - but not necessarily for dog trainers! Okay, I will admit that was an under-handed way of backing into a column about the advantages and disadvantages of "pack training" or working with more than one dog at a time - but it got your attention and piqued your interest to read on (I hope).

  First, let me explain exactly what I mean by pack training or group training and why you can often use a dog’s innate behavior to your advantage in your day-to-day training.

Consider for a minute the huge diversity of domesticated dog breeds that we have today. As recent DNA findings have confirmed, the ancestor of all of our dog breeds is the wolf. So each of those breeds - from the smallest "toys" to the largest great Danes - owes some degree of his instinctive behavioral characteristics to his wolf predecessors. And since wolves are pack animals, we can use that inherent pack behavior and communication to work to our advantage (or sometimes - to work to our disadvantage) when working with our dogs.

  An example of this inherent pack behavior and communication becomes quite apparent when watching a pen full of puppies. Puppies’ minds are uncluttered by training; they are totally natural. Their actions are controlled only by the instincts they are born with and what they have learned from interaction with their "pack" of littermates.

  Last fall, I asked my helper to put a clipped-wing pigeon in the pen with a litter of five-week-old, recently weaned puppies. The puppies wanted nothing to do with the intruder and piled themselves up, loudly screeching, against the far side of the pen - until one particularly bold youngster decided to move in for a closer look and check out the strange new smell. Within about 10 minutes, the competitive nature of the pack had taken over and every one of the pups’ prey drive juices were flowing; each was chasing the bird around the pen with tails wagging.

  This same competitive pack mentality will work whether it is the first encounter with a live bird, the first swimming lessons, or a youngster that might be kind of 'spooky" or shy and perhaps doesn’t show much interest in retrieving. The litter or pack is unquestionably the most reliable way to get the sensitive ones to come around.

  We can take advantage of this same competitive pack psychology in older dogs by using one dog to "pull" or "push" another along. I use these instincts to my advantage for teaching dogs to remain steady while another retrieves or works in the field, and reinforcing that they go only when sent by saying their name. I line up three, four, or more dogs of similar abilities and tell them to "sit" while my helper throws bumpers in the field. Then, I rotate through the group by sending each on his name while the others remain sitting and watch him make the retrieve.

  It is similarly possible to employ pack behavior to motivate an otherwise shy or spooky dog and get him fired up about hunting or retrieving, to teach a dog to jump into a crate in the truck by watching other dogs jump in, and to bring along gunshy dogs; dogs that will want to salivate or even run and hide at the sight or sound of a gun will usually become significantly more bold around a group of their peers. It’s the inherent pack mentality - "I’m not going to show my weaknesses among my equals" or, "If it doesn’t bother him, I won’t let it bother me, either" or, "If he can do it, I can do it."

know what you might be thinking: "How is this going to be of help to me? I don’t have a whole kennel full of dogs; I am training only my one retriever." Please don’t think that it takes a large group of dogs to accomplish the positive results of pack training.

  Several years back, I wrote a column called "Walking Singles" (RJ May/June 2002) in which I talked about teaching marking concepts by two trainers, each with their dog, moving around in a field or around a pond, alternately throwing marks for the other. One would throw a trainer’s dog would pick it up. Then, the other trainer would throw for the first trainer’s dog to pick up the mark - and so on - continually moving around and selecting marks over whatever terrain was available. This is a great example of group or pack training - even though there are only two dogs being trained.

  Obviously, before the exercise begins, the dogs must have been through basic obedience training, have to be relatively staunch, and understand that they must go to make a retrieve only when sent. But a drill such as this not only teaches them to mark, it super-reinforces what they have learned in their basic training: It teaches them that not every bumper thrown is for them, and that they must sit steady and watch another dog work. And, when their turn does come, it gets their competitive juices flowing because they want to "show off" or "show up" the other dog just as much as they want to do a good job for their trainer. A simple way of using the inherent pack mentality to your advantage.

  One of my favorite group training tools for desensitizing an otherwise obstinate dog that has been resisting his obedience training and also to build desire and competitiveness in an other-wise unresponsive dog is to stake the dogs out on a chain gang. A chain gang is, quite simply, a chain that is long enough to hold three, five, 10, or how-ever many dogs you can muster. The chain is stretched tightly between two stakes that secure it to the ground. About every six feet or so (the dogs must be far enough apart so that they can’t reach each other and fight), a "dropper" chain of about 18 inches is attached with a heavy snap on the end to fasten to a dog’s collar. If the main chain isn’t rather tightly stretched and if the droppers are longer than about 18 inches, there is always a possibility of getting a leg wrapped up in the chain, which can cause injury. Then, I snap the dogs along the chain with the headstrong one in the center and let the others jerk him around. If I have a dog that is rather shy or indifferent to retrieving, I will generally start him off toward the end of the chain so that he doesn’t get spooked.

  To build desire and also to get the obstinate dog to acquiesce, I usually throw bumpers or live clipped-wing pigeons over the top of the chained dogs and allow a trained dog to run around and retrieve them.

  Before long the pack behavior and competitiveness shows, and each dog is jumping for the bumpers or birds without regard for the confinement of the chain - the stubborn one gives in and the indifferent one gets fired up. And I haven’t done a thing; their peers - the group - has done it all for me!

ut, while this inherent pack behavior can work to our advantage in training, if not moderated, it can also work against us. While it will bring out most dogs’ competitive spirit in an effort to test himself against the other dogs, there are dogs that will stand back or give up and let the other dog do the work. Then, particularly in the case of a youngster being trained with an older, more experienced dog, once the older one makes the retrieve, the youngster might try to steal bumpers or birds. This kind of behavior, if allowed to continue, will likely develop into possessiveness or jealousy on the part of the older dog and possibly escalate into a dogfight - where the younger dog is rarely going to come out the winner.

Likewise, it is not really a good idea to teach pups to swim by having an older dog retrieve bumpers, hoping that the youngsters will follow along into the water. Most adult dogs play rough in the water and can cause more problems than they cure. And if a pup swims too close to the older dog when he or she has a bumper in his mouth, there is always the possibility that the pup will get nipped and then have a water problem from that point forward. It is best to keep the big dogs in their crates while teaching puppies to swim - let the puppies bring along the other puppies slowly and at their own pace.

Also, until your training is well along, it probably isn’t a good idea to go hunting with other hunters and their dogs unless you are quite familiar with both. Honestly, most dogs are not under very good control, and most hunters seem to spend a lot of time hollering and blowing whistles; your youngster doesn’t need this kind of competition with another dog because it isn’t good training in a controlled environment. And it isn’t good for the other dog either; even if he is fairly well-trained, there is a good chance that he’ll begin to slip and not work as his owner expects because your less-experienced dog is being allowed a degree of freedom that he thinks he should have, too. Your dog should be learning to hunt with you and for you, and until he is under good control, it’s important that you probably go out as a dog trainer first and a shooter second.

So, for my money, I think the overall benefits of group training far outweigh the drawbacks. The dogs that have it and just need it brought to the forefront will benefit tremendously from the competition of group training; the ones that don’t probably won’t come around no matter what you do or how hard you try. 

Legendary trainer Chancy Morgan said it best: "Some apparently have it, with some it is doubtful, and some you might as well wash out - they will just have to marry rich to get by."