Gun Dog Forum

Hi folks, in your training do you prefer drop or give command or both? Also how about stay and whoa or both? I will be using whoa in the field but around the house I always seem to use stay? How about come or here? Thanks

I like "give", so the dog doesn't get use to putting the bird down and having it possibly fly off if only injured. My "stay" command eventually developed into my "whoa" command during training. I use the "here" command because I can get my tone at a higher pitch for him to hear, and make myself sound "happier" or "meaning business" as he returns.

It doesn't matter. Use whatever command you would like, but be consistent... Whoa is "whoa," Give is "give," but don't switch from one to the other and expect the same result

Does not matter. In fact, you can use more than one command for the same thing if you like, as long as you teach them one at a time. Consider that a dog is easily trained to stop to command, to whistle, to hand signal, and to gunshot. A second command won't throw him, as long as he learns one first.

My dog sits to "hup" and to "sit."

Yes, you're right welsh... I should've explained more... If you teach more than one signal (whether verbal, whistle, or hand signal) at the same time, expect learning to take a bit longer.... But if the pup KNOWS a command, you can teach a new signal for it using a pre-cue/cue method. The latter method seems more efficient.

I do only want to use one command, I'm just thinking out loud here, I like the dog to come to me and I say give but if I see him pick something up away from me i don't like, I can tell him drop , Which would mean drop it now,.. Or I could just use drop for both.

I like hard commands. I use drop and so does virtually every retriever trainer out there. I use stop instead of whoa because I use NO for a ton of corrections. Just personal preference really, no right, no wrong.

I use GIVE for the end of a retrieve (put the bird in my hand).
I use DROP for "remote drop" .

.

Huh. I don't use give or drop. I use "leave it"! Words I use for commands are words easy for me, not the dog. More important that I give commands and teach commands I understand and teach the dog a function when it hears the command.

DonF wrote:Huh. I don't use give or drop. I use "leave it"! Words I use for commands are words easy for me, not the dog. More important that I give commands and teach commands I understand and teach the dog a function when it hears the command.

You use leave it when the dog brings the bird too you ?

DonF wrote:Huh. I don't use give or drop. I use "leave it"! Words I use for commands are words easy for me, not the dog. More important that I give commands and teach commands I understand and teach the dog a function when it hears the command.

I only use "Leave It" when a dog needs to leave it. Can be used in "Fetch No-Fetch", Poison birds and other portions of Retriever Training.

.

I use leave it , drop it and give it

leave it means /don't even think about picking it up
drop it means /drop it
and give it means /put it in my hand

twistedoak wrote:I use leave it , drop it and give it

leave it means /don't even think about picking it up
drop it means /drop it
and give it means /put it in my hand

Thanks, easy enough , and makes sense.

Never teach a dog two or three commands that all mean the same thing. They get confused easily enough as it is.

gonehuntin' wrote:Never teach a dog two or three commands that all mean the same thing. They get confused easily enough as it is.

I agree, I have only ever used give in the past never worried about the others. Seem to work, if they went to pick something up or had something in there mouth I would just say No. seemed to work fine also.

When I was a trainer I taught a dog that DROP meant to open his mouth, release the bird, and back his head away. If I didn't want him to go for a diversion, I used NO. Didn't matter whether it was a remote drop or drop to hand, drop means drop. The simpler you can keep dog training, the faster you will train the dog and the precision will be greater.

I say "thank you". Don't know why but I always say that when the dog brings something to me...didn't take long for the dog to learn to give up whatever he had when I say that. I have gotten a few funny looks, but hey it works!

I use "out".

Stay means stay where you are.
Whoa means stop and wait for me to get in range, or if hunting dead, start working back to me.
Leave it to completely leave something alone.
Drop to drop whatever they have, wherever they are.
Release to give me the retrieve.