Training Never Ends

Not even for husbands.

Bella crossing the creek to make a retrieve.

Bella rested her head on my shoulder as we drove along the frontage road heading north from Manhattan, Montana. She let loose with an almost imperceptible whine/whistle in my right ear.

“Where are we going?” she whispered. “Are we going hunting?

It occurs to me you may not know what a whine/whistle is if you aren’t familiar with German Shorthair Pointers. GSPs can whine while they whistle. The whine comes from their mouth and throat whereas the whistle comes out of their nose. It’s not a loud whistle. It’s a high-pitched single note whistle that is constant and unaffected by their breathing. I have no idea how they do it. The whine is not the whimpering sort of thing that Lassie did every time Timmy fell into a well. No, like the whistle, it too is a quiet sound. So quiet in fact that I have wandered around the house wondering where that sound was coming from. Is the furnace dying? Is the microwave about to explode? No. It’s a GSP whine.

Where was I? Oh, I remember. Bella wanted to know if we were going hunting.

“No Bella,” I said. “The upland season is over, but duck season goes on for a few more weeks.” Now I know I should never have mentioned ducks but Bella looked so disappointed I messed up.

“Ducks!” Maggie leapt to her feet in the backseat. “We are going duck hunting! I get to go in the front of the … what’s it called again?”

“Boat,” Bella woofed. “I love boats.”

Thank goodness The Head Dog Trainer was there. Regular readers know how my solo conversations with the dogs can go sideways in a hurry.

“Stop it,” Kerry cried. “Neither one of you have ever been in a boat. We don’t even have a boat, just a canoe and neither of you has ever been in that either. Besides, John must fix the big hole in it before we can use it. Today we are going to train for duck search and retrieves.”

I grimaced somewhat. Kerry had introduced a new topic, and I knew what was going to happen next.

“How did the whatchamacallit get a hole in it?” asked Maggie who is a GSP known for her curiosity.

Bella, who is a GSP known for being opinionated, was insulted by Kerry’s boat comment and pointed that out. “I see dogs in boats hunting ducks all the time on TV. I know how to do it .”

Kerry leaned into me and pleaded, “can we go a little faster and get there?”

I stepped on it.

The whine/whistles increased in volume when I pulled up to the chained gate entrance to some state land. The dogs love this place. They knew all the nooks and crannies of this property having done bird training here from the time they were puppies. We were happy to see no one else was in the gravel parking lot and had the place to ourselves. Kerry put on the girls’ e-collars and took them on a couple mile run to burn off some energy while I set up buckets and bumpers for the T Drill. Bumpers are white or orange plastic things that look like oversized hotdogs that people throw for their dogs to retrieve.

The three five-gallon buckets are white. One is placed straight away from the handler. Another is placed closer to the handler and off to the right and the third the same distance off to the left to form a lower case “t.” Next to each white bucket there is a pile of bumpers. The bucket is a visual cue to the dog. Kerry will teach the dog to go straight to the farthest bucket with the command “Back” along with a raised hand signal. The dog runs and grabs a bumper and brings it to heel by her side. Now here is the tricky part. Once they understand “Back” the dog learns the command “Over” given with a hand signal to go right or left to one of those buckets and bring a bumper back to heel.

The other important command is “Wait” which is often given with a whistle blast. The dog, who is running toward a bucket, must stop, turn around and look back at Kerry for a command. The dog needs to look at Kerry and wait for the next command. Then follow that command, either “Back” or “Over.”

The reason for this drill is simple. In a hunting scenario, the dog may not have marked a bird coming down, but we saw it and know about where it fell. The dog could find it using its nose to track it down but that could take a while and we want to move the process along before more ducks fly into the decoys or the downed bird manages to hide somewhere so thick or far away the dog can’t find it. So, this drill teaches them that the handler can direct them properly even if the dog is swimming. It’s so cool to watch.

You may be thinking this seems like a lot of work with a dog that is bred to hunt, but remember, GSPs are not retrievers like Labs. GSPs hunt and point by instinct. Retrieving is almost always taught to them by humans and water search and retrieves are the most difficult skill to learn and teach!

I sat at the picnic table by the parking lot waiting for Kerry when I began to hear the familiar chugging of a canine locomotive coming through the grass. Bella appeared and rushed over to me.

“Hi,” she panted.

“Hi. Did you have fun on your run?”

“Yes, I did. I found that old deer leg Kerry keeps losing.”

Every time Kerry takes the girls for a run to “air them out” and burn off energy at this property, Bella will find something old and dead then proudly bring it to Kerry. The deer leg was Bella’s latest obsession.

“You understand she keeps tossing it away because she doesn’t want a gross old deer leg.”

“She throws it away on purpose?” Bella was floored. “Why would anyone throw away a perfectly good dead deer leg?

Maggie came galloping around a big Hawthorne stand and skidded to a stop by the buckets and bumpers. She carefully sniffed around investigating everything. Those buckets and bumpers were not there when she left so how did they get there? With a snort and sneeze of understanding, she trotted over to me and Bella.

“Are we going to play a bumper game?” She wanted to know. “I love bumper games.”

“Bumpers??!!!??” Cried Bella as she tried to run to grab one.

“Nooooo,” came the command from the Head Dog Trainer as she arrived. Bella was devastated and slunk to Kerry’s side at heel. Bella thinks if she heels, no matter what she has done, she is a good girl which is at least a little bit true.

“Are we ready?” asked Kerry.

“Yes, ma’am. Did you want…” My question was drowned out by the excited barking of our whirling dervish of a GSP.

“Ready, ready, ready!” Barked Maggie as she spun around and jumped in place.

“I guess I didn’t burn off enough energy.” Kerry said as Bella joined with Maggie in a chorus of excited howls, woofs and spins.

“Ready, ready, ready!” They chanted.

“Ok then. Bella, you go first.” Kerry directed as she handed me a leash for Maggie and took Bella over to the starting bucket

“Ha! I’m the smartest!” Bella proudly proclaimed.

Maggie gave me a worried look.

“No, she isn’t Maggie. She is just first.”

“Oh, that’s good.” Maggie said as she stress yawned and lay on the ground to watch. She is a funny dog. She wants to be the best bird dog of all time and gets nervous if she thinks another dog is better at something than she is.

Bella did “Back” well after a few false starts. The trick is to line the dog up: head, spine and tail pointing straight at the bumper pile when you release her. Give the command and hand signal, sometimes with a little body movement toward the right pile for momentum if they need it, and hopefully they go to the right bucket. Bella needed to be pretty close to the right pile at first, but Kerry kept moving back at each successful repetition. As with most things from weightlifting to multiplication tables, it’s all about reps.

Maggie watched Bella’s runs carefully.

“I think I can do this game,” she murmured out of the side of her mouth. She didn’t want to look away from the action.

“I know you can, but you have to control your excitement level.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” came the exasperated reply. “Why isn’t Bella going to the other bumpers? I would get one of those. They are closer.”

“Because Kerry wants her to go ‘Back’ to the farthest pile. You must listen to her.”

“I think the other bumpers look like more fun.” Maggie scrambled to her feet. “Oh boy! It’s my turn now!”

Maggie learned to jump into the water to retrieve

Kerry and Bella had done a couple “fun throws” as a reward and Bella got to carry the bumper all the way to the picnic table.

“Did you see how great I was?” Bella said. At least I think that’s what she said. She had a mouthful of bumper, and it was hard to hear.

Maggie was all aquiver with anticipation but didn’t leave my side like a good dog. Kerry and I traded leashes, and Bella gave Kerry her bumper.

While Maggie was quiet and watched what was going on, Bella was noisy and disruptive while pacing back and forth on the leash.

“Take me, not the Pip Squeak!” She yelped. “I’m the duck dog! Not her!”

I asked her to be quiet several times and she ignored me of course. Then I took out the e-collar controller and showed it to her.

“Bella knock it off or else,” I threatened.

“Oh, I see. Fine,” Bella grumped and she lay at my feet sulking.

Maggie immediately tried to go to the “Over” piles for a bumper which I warned her about. Kerry corrected her and started over by lining the little GSP up. Both of us tried not to laugh. She was lined up alright, but her eyes kept shifting to the “Over” pile.

Have I ever mentioned how obsessive compulsive GSPs can be? After several glitches Kerry got her to go “Back” successfully. I sighed with relief. We were getting somewhere. She did “Back” right twice in a row but then tried for the “Over” pile again. Kerry corrected her, lined her up and sent her again, but she took a few steps to the “Back” pile, stopped, turned around and came back to Kerry with a confused look on her face. It’s what we call being “Sticky.” Bella was amused.

“I told you she couldn’t do it! My turn now, my turn!” She woofed.

“Settle down, Bella,” I implored while vibrating her collar as a reminder of what might happen next if this behavior continued.

The dogs got switched again and poor Maggie was not happy. She was deep in thought about the whole experience, and I could tell she was confused. I got her a dish of water, but she wouldn’t touch it, she was determined to figure this out.

Meanwhile, Bella began to struggle and at one point took off out into the field like Kerry sent her to hunt. These things happen in training and the solution is to go back a few steps and get some success. She got a couple of perfect reps and stopped on a high note. Maggie was up and ready.

She started out sticky again but then it clicked in her head, and we got some great reps. One of the talents of good trainers is knowing when to stop. Maggie was rewarded with a few bumper throws, and we were done.

That night as we watched a football game, the dogs were in their usual spots, Maggie with her head on Kerry’s lap, and Bella lying on our feet. Both were fast asleep. We can always tell when it was a good lesson because the dogs zone out on the ride home, eat a lot, and then pass out. “Thinking about it” is what the Head Dog Trainer calls it. She always says the same thing about horses.

I mentioned that I wished this method of teaching worked on me. Kerry sighed and stood up. She walked into the kitchen and came back with a cookie.

“None of my methods work on you,” she said. “You are untrainable.”

“So, I’m like a wild stallion out on the prairie…”

“No,” she interrupted. “Just untrainable.” And handed me the cookie.

“I guess having a cookie is just as good as being a wild stallion on the prairie. It might be better if I had some milk.”

“Fine, you are a good boy and a big help today. I’ll get you a glass of milk, so you don’t run away to the circus.”

“Prairie!”

“I apologize, run away to the prairie to be a wild stallion.”

And that my friends, is how you train husbands, I mean bird dogs.