Teaching
Retrievers
To Crawl

This article appeared in Retriever Journal - February/March 1998

                 written by Butch Goodwin      
                                  of
                Northern Flight Retrievers  

raduation day had finally arrived. All of the clogs and their owners were ready to show off their their skills to the obedience-school instructor and other members of the class. Mocha knew all of her lessons to perfection and was eager to demonstrate what she had learned. Many weeks of Saturday classes at the kennel combined with nighttime lessons and repetition at home were about to be put to the test.   

Carrie teaching the "down command to Mocha. Step one - pull out on the dog's front feet while pressing on its withers.

On the command "down," Mocha drops from the sitting position to the ground.

   Carrie had been training Mocha to be husband Jim's gun dog while she had been working on her lessons for the obedience class. Mocha had been doing an exceptional job and learned her lessons quickly, and Carrie had worked hard at both her obedience and field training.

   All of the other dogs had done passable jobs, but Carrie was confident that her Chesapeake Bay retriever would show the others how it should be done. Mocha and Carrie were ready

   Mocha did her off-lead heeling and "sit-stay" drills with perfection. She demonstrated her re-call and flew into the "heel" position when commanded. All that was left to demonstrate was the long "down" exercise, and Carrie had never had any problems with Mocha executing that. Carrie was confident that they had the diploma well in hand.

   Mocha dropped like a rock into the "down" position on the signal of a hand gesture, and Carrie then commanded and signaled her to "stay" as she turned her back and moved away to the other side of the outdoor ring - and turned around, horrified. There was Mocha still in the "down" position but right behind her - Mocha had crawled completely across the ring to follow her.

   Carrie thought that a quick explanation to the instructor might he in order. She tried to hide her embarrassment by laughing and explaining that Mocha was her husband's hunting dog and was being, taught to crawl for sneaking up on geese while hunting in open fields. The teacher didn't buy it. Another attempt at further explanation also fell on deaf ears. Obviously the instructor wasn't a hunter. The teacher volunteered that the only place for this kind of exercise might be as one of "David Letterman's Stupid Pet Tricks." That drew chuckles from the other members of the class. Carrie was devastated but continued to force a laugh and a smile. So much for her diploma!

   If you think that teaching a hunting dog to crawl only belongs on "Stupid Pet Tricks," then you have never sat along the edge of an open field with a late-season flock of feeding geese in the center and little or no cover to hide your movements, trying to formulate a plan of attack. Your only hope may be to try to crawl close enough to get off a couple of shots. Getting close to these wary birds might just be the toughest part; teaching your dog to crawl along with you is relatively easy. And having your dog nearby when the shooting starts is a real asset if there are birds that have to be chased down.

    I used to teach all of my personal hunting retrievers to crawl, but due to the work load of full time gun dog training, I now find myself only teaching it when someone requests that their dog learn this skill. My friend and training partner, Carrie Aguas, had a definite need to teach her Chesapeake to crawl. She and her husband had unsuccessfully attempted every other conceivable method of trying to get close to the feeding geese in the flat, relatively bare stubble fields of western Idaho.

    Carrie taught Mocha to crawl by building and expanding on lessons that she had taught her the previous summer, let me explain.

   One of the commands that a finished, multi-purpose hunting dog must know and execute without question is the command "down." Please note that I used the term "finished, multi-purpose" hunting dog. I do not believe that there is any such thing as an "all-purpose" hunting dog - that is why individual pointing, spaniel, and retriever breeds were originally developed. However, most of the sporting breeds of dogs can be made into exceptional multi-purpose hunting dogs by giving them a great deal of patient training and experience in the marsh as well as the uplands. In reality, this training never really stops it continues throughout the dog's life. So perhaps there is no such thing as a truly "finished" hunting dog.

    If all that is expected of a retriever is to sit beside a handler or remain quietly in a duck blind, then there is, perhaps, little reason to teach the command "down," other than the obvious benefits of obedience around the house. To the multi-purpose hunting dog, this command is every bit as important as teaching the "sit" command.

    If the pup is taught the "down" command from it's earliest training, then it becomes just as ingrained and natural as any other command. One of the great side benefits of teaching the pup to lie down is that this is a very submissive position for a dog. You are gaining domination over the pup without gimmicks or a great deal of unnecessary force and without him even knowing that he has been dominated. This can be invaluable with some of the "alpha" dogs that can often grow quite quickly into uncontrollability.

here are two ways that a dog will lie down. The usual position is when they casually lie down with their feet off to the side. This is termed the "lazy down." This is not what we want for the purposes of this exercise. This position usually results in the dog rolling on its back, expecting to get its belly scratched. We want the dog to lie down in a position with all four feet under him - much the same position that a border collie would assume when he is ready to spring forward and move his sheep.

Use the "down" and "here" commands to get the dog crawling toward you.

With Carrie in a crouching position and carrying her shotgun, she teaches Mocha to crawl along beside her toward the objective - a white bumper in the grass.

Crawling flat on the ground toward a shackled duck as an objective.

The retrieve is Mocha's reward for a job well done.

    I'm not going to go into a long explanation of teaching the dog to execute the "down" command or any of the other preparatory commands necessary to teach crawling; there are many obedience-training books on the market that give detailed instructions for teaching each of the individual commands necessary, but this exercise starts from the sitting position and needs to be taught and repeated until the dog will drop like a rock when he's told, "Down!" The dog should be taught to lie with his head flat on the ground between his front feet.

    Before attempting to teach the dog to crawl, he must know how to "sit" on command, both at the trainer's side and at a distance. He must know that he is to "come" when called, and he must know how to "heel" off-lead while executing left and right turns and figure eight turns. It is also imperative that he "stay" in place (whether sitting or standing) when commanded at a distance away from the trainer without moving or coming toward the trainer.

    I teach the "stay" command separate from the "sit" command as I feel that if a dog has been commanded to "sit," he should do so until commanded to do something else. I like to think of this "stay" training as similar to teaching a pointer to "whoa" in which "stay" doesn't necessarily mean that the dog must be in the sitting or "down" positions. Teaching a dog to "stay" in the standing position is invaluable when .jump shooting ducks and the cover is high.

    Start by commanding the dog to "sit" and pulling his front feet forward so that his body will flatten on the ground with all four legs under him in the ready-to spring position, all the while giving the command, "Down." You might find it helpful to place one hand on his withers and push down while pulling the legs forward with the other or to use a choke or pinch collar and a lead under your foot to force him to the ground.

    I find it more effective to get down on the ground and work with him at his own level than trying to force him down while standing over him. Most dogs seem to resent being dragged down into position, and I find the forced dogs are never quite as dependable as the dogs trained through repetition and teaching. If you do have a dog that violently resists going down, you might try putting a prong or pinch collar in place snugly around his neck with the swivel for attaching the lead under the dog's neck. Try pushing down on the prongs on the back of his neck while pulling down on the lead under his throat, but be sure to keep him going down straight with all four legs under him.

    While teaching the "down" command, it is time to push his head down between his front feet flat on the ground and hold in this position. This is more an exercise in dominance than a necessity in teaching the dog to crawl. Dogs that are taught to flatten, head and all, on the ground seem to have less inclination to stand up during future exercises. I find this to be quite important.

   When the dog will drop, head and all, on command to this "down" position without being touched, it is time to start teaching hand signals to accomplish the same results. I start by snapping my fingers to get the dog's attention and then point with my index finger at the ground. It is necessary to repeat this exercise until the same results can be accomplished without verbal command or touching the dog. Then, I continue with the hand commands by teaching the dog to "stay" in this position by snapping my fingers and giving the "traffic cop" stop gesture with a flat palm in the direction of the dog's face to indicate to him that he shouldn't move from this position.

    As with any dog training, it is necessary to "chain" the verbal and hand signal commands together by using the command and then following it with the hand signal as the dog accomplishes the exercise, eventually eliminating the verbal commands entirely.

hen you have your dog trained to the point where he will drop to the "down" position when you give only the hand signal, it is time to begin teaching him to crawl toward you. This is one of the most difficult of the commands to teach and takes a great deal of patient teaching and repetition. But this exercise must be very solid in the dog's mind before moving ahead to the next step.

    Start teaching him to crawl by giving him the command that you use for having him come to you as you squat or kneel several yards in front of him. I use the command "here." Even though you begin this from the kneeling position, be prepared for the dog to spring tip and come running. When he stands up to come running to you, give the verbal command, "Down" and the hand gesture you have taught him. Keep trying. Put a lead on him if he begins to believe that he is getting in trouble for coming when called. Keep telling him, "Here" or, "Come" followed by the verbal command and hand signal for "down."

    Eventually the dog will get the message and, perhaps feebly at first, begin to try to come to you while trying to stay in the "down" position. Keep backing up as you work your way across the living room or yard, and have him crawl to you at various distances.

      In the beginning, some dogs like to crawl with their back legs extended behind them, doing all of the work with the front legs. Don't worry about this. The dog is getting the idea of what you want him to do.

    At this point, I begin using a hand signal meaning, "crawl toward me." I find that this can prove to be invaluable if the dog has been put in a "down" or "stay" position in the field while I crawl forward to assess the terrain or distance to the birds. I snap my fingers first to get the dog's attention, give him the "stay" hand signal - which we taught already - and then use a beckoning or sweeping motion with my hand with my fingers extended toward the ground. This indicates to the dog to come to "here" and stay "down." This is a very useful command and well worth the little bit of extra time it takes to teach it.

    The dogs that I have trained seem to learn to crawl with less problems if they have an objective on which to focus their attention and move toward. You are the objective at this point, but when you teach the dog to crawl along beside you, which we'll look at next, put a bumper or a shackled bird out as all objective to crawl toward.

    When you are satisfied that the dog understands to crawl to you, it is time to begin teaching him to crawl along beside you. Try getting on your knees or crouching next to him as you command, "Heel." Again, expect him to want to stand up and walk at the "heel" position. Use the commands as you did when teaching him to crawl toward you. Tell him, "Heel" and repeat, "Down." If the dog has been sufficiently taught to crawl toward you at various distances, he should catch on to this drill relatively quickly.

    You might find that the dog thinks that your being in a crouching position next to him is freedom to play with you or roll oil his back. Rather than discouraging this behavior, try to concentrate his attention on the objective that you are moving toward and keep repeating the "down" and "heel" commands. Often it might help to enlist someone to stand at the position of the objective and kick the bumper around or make the shackled bird flap its wings. I have found very few dogs that, when crawling toward a shackled bird, will take their attention off it. It is also important that you send the dog to retrieve the bird or bumper at the end of the exercise. The retrieve is the dog's reward for a job well done.

    This is also a good time to begin carrying an empty shotgun while you have the dog crawl beside you.

ow comes the last step. For this you need to get into your hunting clothes or your oldest work clothes and prepare to crawl flat along the ground beside your dog. If the dog has been thoroughly schooled up to this point and understands to concentrate his attention on the objective while he moves along beside you, this last step should hardly be a noticeable change to your dog. Again, if he tries to play or lick your face, do whatever it takes to concentrate his attention on the objective. At this point I like to use a white, shackled, clipped-wing pigeon or shackled duck (try this trick: A shackled Banty hen will make lots of noise and really hold the dog's attention) and put the bird out where it is quite visible in a flat grassy field with little cover at various distances. Practice crawling toward it. Using live birds as the objective in training can also get your dog to work under control when there are overwhelming distractions present!

    When I have crawled close enough to a flock of birds for a shot when they jump, I often signal my dog to "stay" and leave him a few yards behind as l crawl ahead and move into position for a shot. This gives the dog a better vantage point, and you don't risk the chance that the dog will break in front of you and get shot. But, always be prepared for the possibility of the dog breaking; be careful and aware of the dog's position. It's also not a bad idea to practice shooting from this prone position into the air with your dog present to see if he is inclined to break and go before being sent. If the dog breaks, spend time working on steadying him up while he is in the "down" position beside or behind you.

    Now you are ready to give it a try. Next hunting season when your buddies are counting heads with their binoculars and unsuccessfully trying to figure out how to get close to those geese feeding in the neighboring field or mallards on an exposed pothole, you can show them how it's done.

    Oh, by the way, Carrie reports that she and Mocha successfully crawled up to and over a ditchbank along a river and ambushed a flock of ducks. She said that they would never have been able to get close enough to get a shot otherwise. She also reported that Mocha was successful in diving completely out of sight under the water to retrieve a submerged cripple -just like she was taught. But, teaching dogs to dive is another subject for another time. I didn't ask, but I hope she prepared the ducks and gave them to her obedience-school teacher. Better yet, I think crow would be better fare.

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