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Copyright Mike Lardy and Total Retriever 2002 The hunting dog that clings to your side after an e-collar correction for ranging too far, the dog that seems to quit altogether during force-fetching, and the transition dog that won't even watch a bumper thrown on a cheating single, are all said to be "too sensitive" or to have a "poor reaction to pressure." Failures to complete handling training and/or the unsuitability of many dogs to compete at the hunt test and field trial level are often blamed on this weakness. This characterization is so broad, however, that it fails to consider more specific underlying causes, not the least of which may be poor training methods. The relationship between desire and sensitivity creates a cloudy picture for understanding temperament and reactions to pressure. Is a dog's poor reaction the consequence of low desire, or the result of her sensitive nature? This is not merely a semantics game, because it can profoundly affect a dog's potential and your training strategy for reaching maximum success. Consider the spectrum of desire and sensitivity depicted in the diagram. While I cannot assign absolute values to these coordinates, I think it is a useful concept for understanding the relationship. Sensitivity can be thought of as the psychological reaction to pressure. Pressure could be an aversive stimulus such as a loud, "No," a swat with a newspaper, or a nick from an e-collar. In the retriever world, desire is thought of in terms of birdiness and retrieving desire. Everyone recognizes that ears-up, intense desire to retrieve, or the tail-wagin'-root-'em-out-hunt of the very birdy retriever. Clearly, dogs at the very low end on the desire scale are unsuitable for field work of any kind. But what about very sensitive dogs? Many trainers are quick to dismiss the sensitive dog as a candidate for advanced training. Conventional wisdom suggests that tough, high-desire dogs are the most suitable candidates for field work, especially in the high performance field trial world. However, my experience has been that the ideal working retriever has reasonably high desire with moderate sensitivity. The catch is that the training system has to be tailored for the sensitive dog. Don't make the mistake of assuming that physical and mental toughness always go together. Some dogs may show little physical reaction to pressure, such as an ear pinch during force-fetch, but be profoundly psychologically affected. Attempting to elicit physical reactions to pressure from these dogs can be a serious mistake. You have to recognize that sensitive dogs come in a variety of packages; some may be hard charging and show little physical reaction to pressure. In essence, the entire training approach I have advocated in this column over the past several years is geared toward the sensitive retriever. Certain principles, guidelines, procedures, and hints stand out as being essential in this regard. Consider the following during the various stages of your dog's training: Use birds and give plenty of marks when going through the yard program. Tough dogs might tolerate day after day of yard work, but the sensitive dog needs more variety. Vary your routine during yard work. Doing your yard work at different times of the day and in different places may reduce a sensitive dog's anxiety going to the yard. Watch closely for escape behaviors. Sensitive dogs may learn to escape pressure by all kinds of inappropriate behavior. Aggression and bolting are two extreme examples that need to be nipped in the bud. More subtle escape behaviors include looking away from you, deliberately tangling the lead, standing over bumper piles, "shopping" for just the right bumper at the pile, and "bugging" (looking around while being lined up). Sensitive dogs tend to exhibit these kinds of cop-out behaviors because they want to escape their work more than a tougher dog, and because we tolerate these kind of behaviors out of misguided sympathy for our sensitive friend. Don't fall into the self-fulfilling prophecy trap. If your dog enters the yard expecting trouble, don't give her trouble right away. Find some task she can be successful on before proceeding into the heart of your lesson. During collar conditioning, by all means use a lower intensity, but don't make the mistake of conning your dog through this process with a level that isn't really aversive. Low-intensity nagging can be more discouraging to the sensitive dog than a swift, clear correction. Although you will want to slow down through certain steps in the yard program, don't spend forever on yard work. A month on the swim-by or double-T can turn into a real grind. Pay close attention to the timing and use of praise. The sensitive dog will require more praise, but don't fall into the trap of using syrupy encouragement when your dog acts wimpy. Use praise to reward appropriate responses the second they occur. Maintain standards. It is better to reduce the level of difficulty of the task than to reduce the standard on a difficult task. Don't forgive the sensitive dog by allowing him to cheat on a complex cheating single. Instead, keep a high standard on a basic cheater. Keep a balance in your training. Intersperse cheating single setups with plenty of so-called "therapy" marks, such as non-cheating boat marks. Don't teach with the e-collar; use the e-collar to enforce the command after the dog has been taught. You not only have to consider that the dog has learned the command, but that it has been taught in the context you are now in. For example, you may have taught your dog to sit on blind retrieves, but you would be ill-advised to use a collar correction for a whistle-sit refusal the first time your dog is on the hot trail of a rooster pheasant while hunting. Using pressure in this new situation could turn the sensitive dog into that all too common "shoe-shiner" who is unwilling to hunt aggressively. Instead, train on quartering situations and gradually introduce the idea of stopping on the whistle while hunting. Simplify after using pressure. The use of even mild pressure may render the dog less able to sort things out. When you're working with a dog at the line, moving up is usually the easiest way to simplify a test. In a marking situation, you may need to throw the mark again. Do whatever it takes to make it easier for the dog to give the proper response. Recognize effort. If your dog is making a good effort, don't use pressure for simply making a mistake. If you correct a dog for every mistake, he will soon develop a fear of failure. Say, for example, that your dog stays in the water too long; swimming past a mark thrown along the shore. It would certainly be inappropriate to nick him for that error, even if he gave a couple of cast refusals when you cast him toward the shore. Recognize he's trying to be good, and use attrition to get to the bird. If you faithfully follow these types of guidelines and still find your retriever's attitude to be lacking, you might then conclude that your dog's desire level is insufficient to progress with training. Early symptoms of insufficient desire include quitting after just a few retrieves, showing repeated reluctance to enter unpleasant cover or water to retrieve a bird, or becoming easily distracted when retrieving. Don't be too quick to give up on a dog whose yard attitude is poor but who continues to excel in the field. If you can complete the yard training, you might just find that her natural birdiness and retrieving desire may make her transition training easier than the yard. However, if you find both yard and field work to be lacking, it may be time to throw in the cards and accept the limits of your dog. By all means, don't try to make a handling dog out of a low-desire, sensitive retriever. You won't enjoy training if your dog hates it, and you'll be unlikely to reap much benefit for your effort. Perhaps you have been blessed or, perhaps, cursed by having a hard-charging retriever that keeps on giving 100 percent regardless of whatever corrections you dish out. He (more often than not these are male dogs) "takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin'." This is an admirable trait as long as the dog is not so tough that he ignores your corrections and keeps on misbehaving. Dogs like that may require extensive training to achieve reasonable standards for steadiness, noise at the line, and honesty around the water. In the final analysis, though, even these tougher dogs thrive with the application of these guidelines; they're just more tolerant of our mistakes. Copyright Mike Lardy and Total Retriever 2002
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