Gun Dog Forum

I just was reading some post the other day with the names of some soft dog programs and cant seem to find them again. I' m loking to read some more before move on in my pups training,

I think you were reading e-collar dilemma.

Our program is minimal pressure and works well with the softer dogs. May be some helpful information for you there.
www.higginsgundogs.com

Sniperjon,
90% of the time the master initiated beeper controls a soft dog real well, as a matter of fact it works real well with most gun dogs in general. We use different numbered beeps for different commands, the dog learns real quickly what is expected and that when he is on point the master always comes to him, we use a double beep for a reacall command and a single beep 20 sec or more apart, as a locator.
The dog learns real quickly what the master expects, soft or bold it works on all different dogs. We start all our Grouse dogs in this manner as part of our training program.
RGD/Dave

If your dog has a problem with the e-collar, you have it turned up to high or you don't have a low enough setting. Start at zero and hit the dog, won't see a thing. Now move up one notch at a time and do it again until up do it and see the dog move it's head just a bit. Stop going up right there.

Jon, If your dog is on the soft side, go slow with e-collar work. Be sure your dog understands the commands.

Jon,
These men are giving good advise, take heed as to what they are saying. Knowing how to use your collar is a big part of
training your gun dog.
RGD/Dave

HuntSmith men don't believe that there is such a thing as a soft dog. They believe "soft" dogs have developed those behaviours to avoid compliance. They put one of my "soft dogs" on the whoa post one day and she fought like M.Ali. Not soft/submissive at all.

Sharon wrote:HuntSmith men don't believe that there is such a thing as a soft dog. They believe "soft" dogs have developed those behaviours to avoid compliance. They put one of my "soft dogs" on the whoa post one day and she fought like M.Ali. Not soft/submissive at all.

Sharon, you know better than that. There are soft dogs and that are that way before they have had a chance to learn it. However, a soft dog is not a reason to not use an e-collar. E-collars are much less severe than the human hand or most of out training tools. Decide how you want or need to train the dog but you never need to stop using any tool unless you are using it wrong. That includes e-collars, check cords, pinch collars, or any other tool.

Ezzy

LOl hey, I assume they know more than me.

Sharon wrote:LOl hey, I assume they know more than me.

Probably do but evidently not as much about soft dogs. Happens sometimes with those that spend a lot of time telling people how much they know. :roll: :roll:

Ezzy

Lol.

West method iS simple and can be used with softer dogs. Designed for them.

ultracarry wrote:Lol.

West method iS simple and can be used with softer dogs. Designed for them.

This is right. Many of the pros today are basing their training on it.

Ezzy

Sharon wrote:HuntSmith men don't believe that there is such a thing as a soft dog. They believe "soft" dogs have developed those behaviours to avoid compliance. They put one of my "soft dogs" on the whoa post one day and she fought like M.Ali. Not soft/submissive at all.

What you may have been seeing in your dog is a typical canine behavior . Fight, flight ,fakery, freeze , are all responses to negative stimulation that a dog will encounter. Was your dog fighting as in growling and biting ? Or was the dog fighting to escape? Fight or flight? The next behavior fakery the dog will cry and yelp even though it is not in any real pain, it learns this from it s litter mates when it yelps they let go. And freezing the dog just shuts down and refuses to play your game to avoid correction. A typical example of this is when a dog blinks birds after being corrected while in the presence of a bird, no bird no correction. Dogs may exhibit all of these behaviors to avoid a single command. If you have a dog that you perceive as soft and you are training whoa, this dog may freeze to avoid correction thus leading you to believe that the dog understands the command when in fact it was only exhibiting a natural canine behavior. Learning to read the dog is imperative in situations like this. Sometimes a dog that does not deal well with the collar does not really need the collar to get compliance while training, and as one of the previous posts said make sure the dog fully understands the command before using the e-collar. A good rule of thumb is that the dog performs with excellence 80% of the time.

Keep in mind that ALL dog's go through the SAME program; it is only the amount of pressure that varies.