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Conflicts in Training (Page 3) An Intentional Conflict: the Poison Bird Let's consider a more advanced example. If you compete in the upper levels of hunt tests or in advanced stakes in field trials, you will encounter the "Poison Bird." In this test the dog is sent on a retrieve, often in the direction of a shot bird, and then is interrupted by a whistle command and cast away from the bird to perform a blind retrieve. The dog is required to handle neatly away from the bird he did see to one that he didn't. What's wrong with this? Before initiation of this training, every time the dog has seen a bird go down, he has been required to pick it up (honoring and no-birds aside). This he has learned from the time of steadying all the way through force on back. Now, you send him, perhaps directly, to a marked fall, and somewhere in his progress you blow the whistle and cast him away from the mark. The result? An understandably confused dog. In the arena of field trials, where the purpose of tests is to achieve "separation" between excellent dogs who receive excellent training, the poison-bird test requires trainer and dog to face a particularly demanding conflict: between canine initiative and trainer control. Traditionally it was thought that dogs marked their best when they were just on the verge of going out of controlÑrelying on their own sagacity. The poison bird requires that the trainer impose control over the dog at the time the dog most needs to show initiative; that is, in marking. Unless this is done with finesse, the dogÕs marking could be disrupted so as not to be competitive. As in other cases where new training is grossly in conflict with what a dog has already learned, we introduce the poison bird conflict as a simplified, drill-type routine in order to make the essentials clear to the dog. To get the idea across to the student, we may place a dead bird in plain sight and a dummy beyond it but at a sufficient angle that we expect success and not a battle. Then we sit the dog, back off, and cast him away from the bird toward the dummy, always rewarding him by letting him pick the bird up after he has taken a successful cast to the dummy. Most dogs learn this trick readily and seem to enjoy the game. We freely admit that while one of us has over fifty years' experience hunting with retrievers, we have yet to encounter a situation in which the poison bird maneuver seemed even slightly useful. In competitive events it has, however, become a way of life, so we are obliged to teach it. Achieving balance If we concentrate on one training specialty too long, such as the poison bird, we will frequently find that other areas of our dog's work will suffer. If we belabor control on blinds to excess, many dogs' marking will fall off. If we do too few blinds, and many marks requiring hard hunts for birds, especially in high cover, control on blinds will usually deteriorate. It is probably best not to work a dog through to the ultimate level of refinement on any of these contradictory procedures without taking a break and bringing other elements up to a similar level of achievement. We recollect discussing FC Banjo XXXVI's training with a well-known professional trainer from the Midwest. John allowed that he had spent over a year teaching Banjo to split hairs on taking a lineÑjumping over small bushes, entering tiny puddles of water, and so forth. She remarked that in so doing John had created an imbalance in Banjo's training. Maybe so, but that particular dog was so inclined to flare off the line, avoiding obstacles of one kind and another, that if John hadn't taken special pains to eradicate the problem, he would have had nothing. So Banjo's training to possible excess in this area was a calculated risk, with the result being a pretty good lining dog. Banjo's case illustrates that the optimum "balance point" of emphasis on conflicting principles is a characteristic of an individual dog, and may vary substantially from one retriever to another. Of course, this optimum is rarely obvious beforehand. Sometimes we find it through risky experiment, when the approach we planned to use proves inadequate. Whether your goal is a well-mannered hunting retriever who handles and delivers birds well, a handling gun dog, or a competitor who can face the challenge of hunt tests or field trials, the training you do will create many dilemmas for your dog. It's how a trainer addresses these conflicts that determines the outcome. If a dog is confused much of the time, and is given frequent corrections while he does not understand, his confidence, and perhaps his ultimate ability to learn, will suffer. Careful management of conflicts, on the other hand, can improve your dog's attentiveness, help make certain aspects of training clearer to your dog, and help him to progress. Try to periodically take a fresh look at your training expectations and consider your dog's point of view. Keep aware of his relative ignorance and be sensitive to the conflicts he faces, and he will give you his best. Prev. Page