The Best Kept SECRET IN DOG TRAINING

[S&J gsp]

All good trainers have four things in common. they are consistency, repetition, praise and discipline. Once you get through all the methods they all use those 4 things.

[Sharon]

The best kept secret ?.....Just what I have learned - No one is as good at training as they think they are. They make mistakes , of which they are unaware . We are all learners and never really arrive at the "I now know it all" level.

[S&J gsp]

I learned a long time ago give an opinion when asked and keep my mouth shut and learn. Another well kept secret is use a check cord and be able to know when to move forward a dog will tell you when to add pressure and when to back off

[birddog1968]

how bout training with no checkcord and almost no pressure

[Hattrick]

Add timing to what you said and we call it 5 instead of 4.

[S&J gsp]

You have my attention about no pressure training I've never tried no pressure but have had good results with low pressure training

[volraider]

A great dog man once told me "If they ain't broke with me at the end of a 10 ft checkcord how are they going to be broke with me on a horse and them 300 yards away" Makes a lot of sense to me.

[ACooper]

how bout training with no checkcord and almost no pressure

Now that is the best kept secret.

[Coveyrise64]

how bout training with no checkcord and almost no pressure

Now that is the best kept secret.

Shhhh....

A great dog man once told me "If they ain't broke with me at the end of a 10 ft checkcord how are they going to be broke with me on a horse and them 300 yards away" Makes a lot of sense to me.

If they'll do it 10' from me off check cord I'm not worried about whats happening at 300yds. Makes more sense....

cr

[S&J gsp]

If you look at all the methods that are out on DVD and books. Whether it is Hickcox, Smith, Gramham, Perfection they all have those 4 things in common. Now timing and reading a dog have been mentioned that is what makes a great trainer. As a new trainer if you follow the 4 things listed here your timing and reading a dog will get a lot better if you put forth an effort.

[DonF]

Timing is about everything. Also I'd bet the best trainer's really know how to read what the dog is gonna do! You get reading the dog down and it's a lot easier timing your correction.

[MillerClemsonHD]

Being able to read a dog and excellent timing allows a good trainer to be consistent through repetition and also enables them to know when praise is needed and when discipline is needed. The first two come before the other 4 every time. Consistently having bad timing, using discipline or praise incorrectly isn't going to get you anywhere.

I also firmly agree with the dog having to be broke on a checkcord before they can be broke over the hill. They have to earn the right to run over the hill and be trusted to be broke.

All good trainers have four things in common. they are consistency, repetition, praise and discipline. Once you get through all the methods they all use those 4 things.

[kninebirddog]

Books can be great tools for the basics but all the books in the world will not teach you how to Read a dog Have Patience and timing in the training to make repetition a Habit

[S&J gsp]

Knine that was the point I was trying to make I've see several people tell a new trainer to read the dog but if you don't know what your looking at you can't read the dog. When I started the Internet was not around so most of my stuff was trail and error and it was more error than any thing till I started thinking two steps ahead.

[whoadog]

I don't know if it's the "best kept secret" but it certainly is not something most people think about. A handler should almost never give a "single" command. Commands are usually paired with a release command, ie "whoa" and "move on" or "ok" go together or "recall" and "huntemup", "kennel" and "out", so on and so forth.

[big swill]

IMHO, I think while all 4 of the things mentioned by the OP are important, I believe that reading a dog is the most important tool a trainer can have in their toolbox. I don't believe you can get the timing down on praise or correction if you don't know how to read what the dog is going to do before he does it. I think this especially applies to corrections. A close 2nd, IMO, is patience. I've seen more dogs set back and/or messed up due to impatience than anything else. While good trainers use both praise and discipline, great ones are equal with their intensity on both. Often folks don't hesitate to light a dog up or verbally hammer a dog only to give it a solemn and muttered "good boy" when it does an exercise correctly. I'm of the opion that the praise should match the correction in intensity. If you make a big deal over what a dog does wrong, make a big deal over what it does right. That's part of being consistent. With all that said, though, the one every great trainer has in common IMO, is that they understand the WHY of what they do. Anyone can learn the how and what, but when you understand WHY the lights start to come on. Out of the dog and the handler, one of them needs to know why something is happening, and it won't be the dog.

[kninebirddog]

Knine that was the point I was trying to make I've see several people tell a new trainer to read the dog but if you don't know what your looking at you can't read the dog. When I started the Internet was not around so most of my stuff was trail and error and it was more error than any thing till I started thinking two steps ahead.

That is where hands on and Mistakes are the most valuable tool a person/trainer/handler can gain

I was told one time Everyone is a great trainer ...Majority of them will help you to learn what NOT to do

[S&J gsp]

OK I'm not saying that timing and reading a dog are not important just that if you use these 4 things you can get your timing and reading a dog down. The main reason most trainers can get a dog done in three months is that they see hundreds of dogs a year. I know they all have a method they follow and I know most washout a few dogs a year.

[whoadog]

OK I'm not saying that timing and reading a dog are not important just that if you use these 4 things you can get your timing and reading a dog down.

Wow, I completely misunderstood the intent of this thread. I thought we were sharing different things that are often misunderstood by people trying to teach dogs how to be bird dogs. My apologies.

[S&J gsp]

This post was intended to help people train there dog. The last post was so folks don't put a time line on training it may take 6 months to a year to get a dog where you want it.

[kninebirddog]

This post was intended to help people train there dog. The last post was so folks don't put a time line on training it may take 6 months to a year to get a dog where you want it.

Yes this is also a very very important thing ...If one wants to put a timeline on training That is a first step to failure
Why I say this is one may push a great training session to failure because they feel they should be doing more in a session

Or that a dog should know more by a certain time in length of training
Much like people the dogs that pick it up and are naturals can get bored from over doing the same thing
with another dog that certain time line may not be enough

Keep sessions Simple..End on Successful notes even if it means to take a step back