Don't Just Treat the "Symptoms" - Cure the "Disease" writting by Butch Goodwin

Almost on a daily basis, people see symptoms in their dogs - most are pretty obvious. But very few ever learn to actually recognize and cure the underlying diseases that cause them.

No, I’m not a veterinarian, and I’m not talking about curing a sickness; I’m talking about fixing training-related problems. And if trainers and hunters would teach themselves to look deeper, to the root of the problem (the disease) rather than simply trying to patch up the symptoms that they see on the surface, they would often be able to fix not only the problem that they’re seeing, but often a whole host of others that might crop up - many seemingly unrelated.

If you are having trouble following this line of thinking, let me use this analogy: One night, you’re sitting at home watching TV and you happen to notice a crack developing in the wall of your living room. You dig out the patching material, cover over the crack, and slap some paint on it. But within a week or so, the crack is back, longer and more obvious than it was before. So you re-patch it. Again, it returns, but this time, it not only runs up the wall but is also beginning to creep across the ceiling. Now you have to repair the wall and the ceiling.

Everything seems fine until one day during a downpour, you see wet spots on your walls as a result of a leak in your roof, a leak that turns out to be directly related to the cracks in the wall and ceiling. After a thorough inspection, it is discovered that all of these problems are a result of your foundation settling. Fix the foundation (the disease), and you also cure the wall and ceiling cracking problems and the leaking roof (the symptoms). Rather than continually patching and re-patching, it simply makes more sense to deal with the problem at its source. Right?

So why don’t trainers think about fixing the problems they see in their dogs in the same manner? After all, most of the problems that arise, whether in training or out in the field when hunting, are usually a direct result of faulty fundamental training - like the house analogy, they are cracks in the dog’s basic foundational structure. Go back to basics and work on reinforcing the dog’s fundamentals and you will likely cure a whole host of problems that you are seeing on the surface - it’s that simple.

And, if you have ever participated in an organized sport, you have no doubt heard your coaches preach "fundamentals, fundamentals, fundamentals" until they’re blue in the face. Dog training and reliability in the field are no different. Rather than simply patching and re-patching and re-patching - treating only the symptoms - go back and cure the disease, the underlying problem. You will be miles ahead.

Let’s take a look at some examples that come to mind. I think that when you look at these problems, you’ll begin understanding how to follow the thread of your own training problems and tracing them back to their source in the same manner.

In the previous issue of The Retriever Journal (Sept./Oct. 2003), I wrote about dogs dropping bumpers or birds before coming all the way to "heel," and how that was directly related to not coming when called or possibly the trainer lunging at the dog in an effort to grab the bird before he dropped it. Well, I had a fellow who wrote to me almost immediately after that issue hit the mailboxes and told me that his dog had developed a closely related problem that he hadn’t been able to cure.

The dog would stay just out of reach but hold onto the bird, and then, after a short game of "keep away" (and undoubtedly, some derogatory references to the dogs ancestry on the part of the trainer), would eventually come and sit at "heel" but would turn his head away and clamp down on the bird or bumper rather than give it up. The writer had tried keeping the dog on a long checkcord and reeling him in like a big fish after each retrieve (kind of limits the distance and cover where marks can be thrown), but if and when the checkcord wasn’t attached, the dog returned to his previous antics.


This dog turning his head away (symptom) is avoiding giving up the bumper (disease).	So reach over to the opposite side of his head to begin to cure the disease.

After a discussion about the problem, the trainer went back to his basic leash work, having the dog "sit" in front holding a bumper and then come to "heel" over and over. He also began taking a few steps backward away from the dog rather than trying to chase him down, making the dog play by his rules rather than falling into the trap of playing the dog’s game. This simple return to a foundational exercise was enough to get his dog to come in consistently.

Then he worked on stopping his dog from turning his head away (to avoid giving the bird up) by reaching across and taking the bird from the opposite side. And when his dog would clamp down on the birds or bumpers (again, an effort to avoid giving the bird up), he began picking up on the flap of skin on the outside flank in front of the dog’s back leg. The trainer recently wrote to give me an update. Now his dog was coming directly to "heel," sitting, and dropping birds on command - and he had cured the problems by dealing with each on an individual basis on a fundamental training level.

Another symptom of avoiding giving up a bumper is to clamp down tight when the trainer reaches for it. Hold onto the bumper while picking up on the flap of skin in front of the dog's hind leg to get him to spit it out. After several repetitions, the dog will drop the bumper immediately when he sees your hand beginning to reach across his back.

Serious creeping and breaking when birds flush or are shot is a symptom that consistently plagues most hunters. And the problem can certainly be patched and re-patched in training by "busting" the dog with a checkcord or electronic collar. But usually, as soon as the hunter’s concentration and focus is on shooting rather than the dog’s steadiness, the dog realizes that mental contact - has been broken and once again falls back into his old ways of creeping or breaking.

It actually makes more sense and will be more reliable overall if steadiness is made a way of life - the only environment that the dog knows - from early on in his basic training. Dogs that are never allowed to go for a retrieve - until actually sent, and those that are conditioned to understand that every bird or bumper is not for them to retrieve, will simply be more reliable in a wide variety of hunting situations. It’s easy enough, when working on a youngster’s basic training and throughout his life, to leave him sitting while you walk out or have him remain at "heel" while your thrower walks out and picks up at least half of all of the marks. This also works when flushing birds - just allow a significant number of the birds to flush and either fly off while shooting in their direction without killing them, or occasionally kill one and either you or your helper walk out to pick the bird up while the dog remains sitting or standing steady.

But if you didn’t start your dog early in his training on a lifetime of steadiness, it isn’t too late to start; rather than simply resorting to a patching-up the symptoms, try returning to fundamental training and reinforce the fact that not every shot bird or thrown bumper is for him. The easiest methods for accomplishing this involve, again, requiring him to remain steady while a significant percentage of the bumpers or birds are retrieved - either by someone else or by another dog.

Try taking your dog out in the field with you while you shoot and throw bumpers for your training partners’ dogs. The "walking singles" drill that I described in the May/June 2002 issue of The Retriever Journal is excellent for reinforcing basic steadiness. Likewise, if you train with a group that incorporates mock field trial or hunt test-type marking situations, ask your buddies if they mind if you take your dog out in the field to sit beside you while you shoot and throw for them.

Another symptom that most trainers and hunters see quite regularly is an obvious form of a disease called avoidance - and usually it goes totally unrecognized. It’s one I’ve written about before. A dog that won’t look at you is trying to avoid the training drill that you are having him perform or, out in the field, is trying to tell you that he doesn’t have to pay attention when you stop him to make a cast and direct him to a bird. In training, it is the old, if I don’t make eye contact with you, then you can’t see me, and I won’t have to do what you are asking. Or, in the field, it’s, I know where the bird is located, I can find it and I don’t need your help - thanks anyway.

Looking away is best cured by backing up to the dog’s basic obedience training, starting at your side on the end of a lead, and making him pay attention and look directly at you when he is sitting in front facing you before you give any commands. And he should expect to be corrected with a firm snap of the lead and the commands, "Watch," "Pay attention," or "Look" anytime he tries to avoid paying attention to the drills that you are asking of him. If you cure this avoidance behavior of looking away at a fundamental level, the "trickle down" will pay dividends; all sorts of other displays of avoidance will likely disappear or never show themselves.

Just remember to try to look beyond the symptoms that the dog is showing and think about what disease is at the root of the problem. And, as much as you may never want to hear it again, think about what your old coach was fond of preaching: "Fundamentals, fundamentals, fundamentals!"