A Shot of Steadiness.

A Shot of Steadiness

Before teaching "sit on shot," the dog must know to sit when he hears a single whistle blast. Try blowing the "sit" whistle and continue walking without breaking stride and not looking back until you reach the end of the lead

ver the years, I have experimented with teaching my retrievers all sorts of "parlor tricks" to get them to sit or be steady, pay attention, and watch when birds are flying without having to use my voice or whistle to give the commands. I have tried teaching them to sit and watch when they hear a duck or goose call, and most waterfowl dogs learn to do this anyhow just from experience but blowing a call doesn’t always mean that birds will fall or even be visible, for that matter. And eventually I found that when someone else does the calling, the less experienced dogs got into the habit of looking at the caller rather than toward the sky for birds.

Likewise, I have taught the dogs that when I snap my fingers, they are to look at me for instructions. Then when I give them a traffic cop, palm forward "stop signal", they freeze in place like a pointer is taught to "whoa". If I point my index finger skyward, they are to sit and pay attention; index finger pointed toward the ground, they are to lie down. You see, birds don’t tend to flare overhead or jump from a ditch when a finger snaps or silent gestures are used. Similar to most of the other "tricks" I have trained, I have discovered that these are great fun to teach during the summer and work well early in the season or when the dog and I can see each other. But when the outside air drops to 10 degrees and snow is blowing horizontally, snapping cold fingers or removing heavy gloves quickly can present a problem.

What I have found is that there is always a time when the dog is sitting outside of the blind out of sight or in a hidden location on the other side of heavy cover, and he can’t always see me but he can always hear. This is why I have also taught my dogs that a shot going off means to sit, be steady, and wait for me to give them further instructions.

Then leave him sitting while he watches you walk out and pick them up yourself.

In my type of hunting situations, I have found that to teach a dog to sit and pay attention when a gun goes off, particularly when it is used in conjunction with some of the other "tricks" I mentioned above, is invaluable. Being taught to watch when blowing a call, responding to hand signs after a snap of the fingers, and sitting when a shot is fired all complement one another and combine to make my personal retrievers my greatest asset. Gunshots are a sound associated with something that is happening; a whistle and particularly a human voice are foreign sounds. By the time the shooting commences, such things as noise, movement, and staying hidden don’t much matter anymore if birds are nearby, they are going to flare or flush anyhow. But, there is only one reason for shooting and that is to kill something. When a hunter is shooting, he has made a commitment, and his attention is focused on the target and not on the dog; so if trained correctly, for me, teaching a dog that when a shot is fired he is to sit and remain steady has proven to be a tremendous asset.

aybe this isn’t something that would fit into your personal training regimen. I fully understand that not everyone wants their dog to sit when a bird flushes or when a shot goes off. There are numerous schools of thought on this. Although at one time I taught all of my retrievers to sit when a bird flushed to keep them out of harm’s way, much of the cover where I now find pheasants hanging out is waist deep or deeper, and often the movement of the brush is all I can see of the dog. My principal pheasant dogs are taught to hesitate when they hear a shot and then quickly follow in the direction of the sound of a flush. In this kind of cover, those that sit like a rock likely won’t have a clue where the bird went down.

But think of the inherent potential for a waterfowler if his dog was taught that a gunshot meant to sit, or at the very least stand steady and pay attention until sent to retrieve. If trained correctly, the dog will learn that a gunshot means to sit or stop and focus on what is happening rather than what most retrievers seem to believe: The boss isn’t paying attention, so I can break and go!

Pups do not come from the womb speaking the English language. Most of what they learn early on, they learn from Mama through her gestures, licks, growls, and expressions. When the pup is weaned and his training is started, he must quickly learn whatever language the new owner speaks. Like going to a foreign country with no cross-reference dictionary, he finds himself totally immersed in a new language, and he adapts quite easily. He must first pick up on his new name and the sound of the food bowl meaning it’s time to eat. Then he learns all manner of things such as to "sit", "kennel", "lie down", and "come" when commanded. And, he learns to do these things in response to either a word or some sort of a gesture or both.

Reinforce his steadiness to the shot by picking up or having your thrower pick up at least half of the bumpers.

So what is a command to a dog? It is simply a word or signal that they have learned in a particular language to which they respond with an action that they have been taught to execute. If that is the case, what is a whistle command? It is just another language, a different form of communication to tell the dog to respond in a way that he has been taught.

Following this thread a bit further, communicating to a dog that you want him to sit when a gun goes off is no different than teaching him another word and the appropriate action in a different language! Right?

Since all successful future retriever training develops from fundamentals started at the trainer’s side, it makes sense that teaching a dog to sit on a shot evolves from teaching him to sit in the heel position when commanded. That’s pretty basic; I won’t go into how to teach it. But, the sit at the trainer’s side has to be solid, quick, and unquestioned; this is where most people let it fall apart right at the very beginning. Like the foundation of a house, if the hole isn’t dug and the concrete solid, the structure built on top of it will crumble.

When the dog is sitting at your side on command, it is time to add the whistle command to "sit". All retrievers must learn to respond to whistle commands. Remember, think of it as just a matter of teaching him to respond in a different language. The language is "whistle" and the word for "sit" is the single, sharp blast. This new "word" and the resultant response is merely linked to the
response to the verbal command, and it should be repeated until the whistle "sit" has equal value to the verbal "sit" command on which you were working previously.

When he appears to be quite solid at sitting to a single whistle blast while walking at heel, try blowing the "sit" whistle and don’t stop walking. Then try doing this without even breaking stride and not looking back after you blow the "sit" whistle. On a long rope, teach him to come toward you and sit several times at a distance when you blow the single blast as he is coming in. Teach him that the "sit" whistle means to sit and be steady until given another command; teach him to sit when he hears the single blast even when distractions are present, such as another dog, the neighbor’s cat, or a wing tied pigeon walking around; teach him to sit even while you throw a bumper on the lawn and then pick it up yourself. Then, when all of this is unquestionably solid, blow the "sit" whistle even when you throw a bumper toward him and over his head and walk over and pick it up yourself.

In short, repeat and reinforce the response to both the verbal and whistle "sit" commands - under any and all circumstances - and make extreme steadiness a way of life early on, and you won’t have to revert and make a major correction later. After all, isn’t our goal to teach and reinforce training correctly from the very beginning so that we don’t have to go back and correct an unwanted behavior in the future?

ntroducing a shot into the equation is similar to introducing the whistle command with one major exception for a dog that isn’t already extremely comfortable with gunfire: Initially, the shot needs to be started at a distance. If your dog is inexperienced, starting with a helper shooting a cap pistol at a distance and gradually moving closer is a good plan. A close-up, unexpected shot can cause all manner of flinching or gunshyness problems. Again, we don’t want to create a problem that we will later have to correct.

Start by teaching the dog to sit when the gun fires just exactly like you did above when teaching him the whistle "sit" by linking it to the verbal or whistle "sit" command. Again, think of it only as another language and another word for your dog to have to learn the meaning of. As your dog gets accustomed to the shot and the fact that he is supposed to sit when he hears it, you can begin to eliminate the verbal or whistle links and proceed exactly as you did when teaching him to sit on a single whistle blast. Also, as your dog gets more comfortable with the shooting, you can go to a louder blank pistol and later a shotgun; but I would suggest when transitioning to either of these that you have your helper move back out to a greater distance as you did in the beginning when initially introducing the shot from the cap pistol.

Dogs that have a rock-solid foundation of verbal and whistle "sit" training, seem to catch on quite quickly to sitting when they hear a gunshot. Now it is time to reinforce the extreme steadiness that you want to develop. You do this by throwing bumpers and dead birds for your dog but - then walk out and pick them up yourself or have your helper pick them up! Teaching your dog to sit when a gun fires is only the first step and is relatively worthless without also reinforcing his steadiness. The combination of these two things are the focal point of all of this training. This is why I had you throw bumpers all around and over your dog’s head previously and then pick them up yourself.

So to reinforce his steadiness, leave your dog sitting in the spot where he sat when he heard the shot, and walk out and pick up at least half, if not more, of the marks that you or your helpers throw for your dog. If your dog doesn’t believe that he is going to retrieve every bumper that is thrown, he will learn to temper his eagerness somewhat - the result will be that his steadiness will improve dramatically. The inherent enthusiasm to retrieve will still be there; but he will learn that his reward for steadiness is the retrieve, and he won’t get the reward he craves unless he sits and remains steady when he hears the command to "sit" - in whatever language it is given.