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Steadiness from flush with HPR s ~
by Bill Thayne
I often get a bit annoyed when H.P.R. owners tell me
their little darlings chase following a flush. Some
of them seem to think this problem is specific to
H.P.R.'s or even to their specific dog ! A chase
following a wild, "spaniel fashion" flush is easy to
understand and have some sympathy for but a chase
from a flush preceded by a point gets no sympathy
from me. Just what does a dog have to do to tell you
it has found game and will flush it, chase it, catch
it kill it and probably eat it given the chance ?
You may be thinking of shooting the rabbit or of
having someone else shoot it - but that is not what
a dog is thinking when it finds game. Dogs do come
to understand the power of a gun and will work to it
but initially they haven't got a clue about that,
all they know is what nature has spent millions of
years breeding them for and punishing with death any
who did not follow her commands. These behaviours
are contained and are intertwined within the total
parcel we call a dog.
Fortunately for us it is often possible to slacken
off the intertwined behavioural strings a little and
to try to tie new little knots in them that better
suit our purposes. A pointing dog is telling you
just as clearly as can be it is in the presence of
prey/game. This clear forewarning gives a handler
the chance to tie a new knot in the behaviour
string. He can physically prevent a catch or chase
by attaching a long control lead and have the dog
flush on command while wearing it. Many a spaniel
owner would give his eye teeth for a few chances to
do that !!! Compared to the spaniel trainer
the H.P.R. guy is cruising down easy street !
A spaniel being hunted will be several yards from
its' handler and the handler has to watch and try to
catch that instant when the dog scents the rabbit
and dives in to punch it out of the cover. If he is
an instant too slow with whistle or voice in
controlling the dog a chase may be the result. If he
tries to play safe and controls his dog a fraction
too early he runs the risk of making his dog
hesitate before flushing or of causing it to "blink"
game - both of these are definite no- nos' in
spaniel trials. Physically correcting a dog in the
immediate presence of game can often be detrimental
to a dogs work, but , at least with some dogs, it
is often necessary. With my pointers I find it easy
to control and redirect the chase after the flush to
another activity - the fact that a bird has flown or
a rabbit has ran becomes , in itself, the command to
sit.
I begin by using every tool in the box. My pointing
dog is quietly and very gently leashed and is then
encouraged or commanded to "Get it up!!" The dog
moves in with me beside it and hopefully a bird will
take to the air or a rabbit will run. I wait a
couple of seconds before doing anything at all with
a puppy , I want the finding of game to be
disassociated with even the mild correction given to
ensure the sit. The correction is therefore given a
couple of seconds after the bird is in the air or
after the rabbit is several feet away. This time
lapse is later decreased as the dog comes to
understand what I want and is less likely to "blame
the game" for any correction. To get the sit I will
use a jerk on the lead adjusted to the individual
body sensitivity of the dog I am familiar with and
am training. I also use voice, whistle and hand
signal . These are used as required for a
considerable period of time which to a large degree
depends on the availability of game for the dog to
find and attempt to chase. It is a war of attrition
rather than one single fierce "you will sit !"
wallop !!! Eventually I will begin to see signs
that the dog understands that it should sit. I now
step up the power of the enforcements and "should
sit " becomes "must sit."
The sit commands are now slowly deleted one by one.
This takes a lot of time and I will at once add a
command again if the dog slips back at all. The way
I train this takes months , not weeks , it is not
what the average pro - trainer would do , he
couldn't afford the time and the average client
couldn't afford the fees ! The sit to flush is
taught but is done very gently so as not to cause
any possible aversion to game.
The only part left of the sit to flush commands
becomes the game itself. I think a trained or
"finished" dog is one that will sit rather than
chase even if I am 100 yards away from it or even if
the dog and I are unsighted to one another when the
flush occurs. I like to end up not having to hang
onto my whistle for dear life as I hunt a dog --
many handlers I see appear to have their whistles
super glued to their mouths !!! This should not be
necessary with a pointing dog and in just a few
weeks time I'm to begin trying to train a spaniel to
behave in the same way - say a prayer for me on that
one !!!
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