The De-flaring Drill

[This is an advanced drill, intended for a dog with considerable experience running single and multiple marks.]

Sometimes the judges for an advanced event, and training day "judges" preparing for such events, set up a retrieve that requires the dog to run close to the gun station for a mark that was retrieved earlier in order to take a straight line to a longer mark.

One example of such a set-up is a reverse hip-pocket double, also known as "off the heels". Another example is an indent triple in which one of the outside marks is tight to the center mark. Typically both marks have been thrown in the same direction, so that the dog is running "behind" the shorter gun. Another possibility is a blind whose line runs behind a gunner, or even in front of the gunner in a configuration called "under the arc", since the line to the blind runs under the arc of the gunner's throw.

Many dogs tend to "flare" or "push off" the short gun when running a line that passes close to that station. That is, the dog veers away from the gunner, then attempts to veer back on target once past the gunner.

For a mark that is not too difficult for the dog, that strategy is often successful, which unfortunately tends to make it self-reinforcing for the dog. Meanwhile, the trainer might not realize that a problem is developing.

However, letting a dog push off has the same objection that applies to any factor that can cause the dog to veer off a direct line to the fall: On a difficult mark, the dog may not be able to find her way back on target by herself, and may then require a long hunt, may need to be handled, or may even need to be picked up.

I have never seen a traditional trainer run his dog on extensive drills to teach the dog not to push off, and perhaps it is not necessary to do much teaching for dogs being trained with an ecollar. However, for the 2Q dog, breaking down the skill enables the dog to learn the concept without the need for aversives.

Here is a drill I call the De-flaring Drill, for training the dog not to flare around short guns. Other skills, such as practice with retired guns and practice with out-of-order triples, are incorporated in order to fully develop the dog's understanding not to flare around short guns.

Step 1. Singles

Using a flat field with low cover, set up two singles, one about 50 yards from the start line (SL), the other 100 yards or more from the SL. If you're going to use one thrower and one Bumper Boy (BB), use the BB at the short gun, and place a chair with a white coat behind the BB in neutral position (facing the SL).

It's not practical to run this drill with two BBs, because a BB is not consistent enough in throwing distance for the long gun.

You'll practice this and all steps from both sides in different sessions. For this description, we'll have the dog run on the right side of the short gun.

Therefore, have both gunners throw right to left. Use orange tape or something similar to mark the exact placement where the long gunner's throw is to land. The line from the SL to the tape should pass within a few feet to the right of the short gunner's chair, which is facing the SL.

The long gunner will need several white bumpers (or birds, if desired). He may wish to practice his throws to make sure he can land his throws right on the tape. The short gun will only be making one throw for Step 1.

For the first set of retrieves, the handler and dog set up halfway between the SL and the short gun, on the same line as if running from the SL. The long thrower should stand on the tape and make sure that the dog will be taking a line right next to the short gun's chair when the dog runs to the long mark.

Now run the set-up as two singles, starting with the short gun. The only purpose of this throw is to make it clear to the dog that next, she'll be running behind the short gun. It's unnecessary for her to run the short retrieve in Step 1 again.

Once the dog has picked up the short mark, have her run the long mark. The purpose of this mark is not merely for the dog to have a successful retrieve, not even for her to home straight in on the mark for the last fifty yards. Instead, the purpose of this mark is for the dog to take a straight line past the short gun, without pushing off. If she runs it correctly without veering either before or after the short gun, she'll run a perfect line to the fall.

The handler should not run this drill expecting such a perfect line. Rather, he should be expecting the dog to flare, and if so, when the dog does, the handler calls, "No, here," and brings the dog back to the handler without allowing the dog to complete the retrieve. Call "No, here" as soon as the dog begins to veer, since it is difficult and unpleasant to stop the dog once she's past the short gun, and also because "No, here" acts as a No Reward Marker (NRM) and should therefore occur at the moment of the infraction in order for the dog to understand why she's being called back.

Once the dog is back at the handler after "No, here," line the dog up and run her again. Again be prepared to stop her and bring her back. However, don't keep repeating failure. If necessary, have the long gun throw another bumper before sending the dog again, and also if necessary, move even closer to the tape that marks where the long throw falls.

Once the dog runs the mark correctly, the handler and dog reposition closer to the SL, the long gun re-throws the mark, and the dog runs the mark as before. Again the handler needs to be prepared to stop the dog and bring her back if she veers off line.

Finally, the handler and dog run the long mark from the original SL, with the handler again calling "No, here," and re-running if necessary. Again, don't practice failure. If the dog isn't successful after two tries at a particular distance, move closer to the tape and have the mark re-thrown as necessary, until the dog is able to run the mark correctly.

Practice Step 1 in as many sessions as are needed, eventually running the first pair of singles at the original SL, until the dog is able to run the long retrieve from the original SL without flaring on the first run of the session. Move the set-up to different locations and different orientations, and vary the distances of the marks somewhat. Practice both sides.

Step 2. Reverse hip-pocket double

Steps 2 thru 9 continue to use a flat field with low cover and similar distances.

Once the dog is able to run Step 1 correctly from the original SL on the first run of the set-up with the throws in either direction, the same set-up can be run as a reverse hip-pocket double, or "off the heels". That is, as the dog waits at the SL, first the long gun throws, then the short gun. The dog picks up the short mark, then the long one. As in Step 1, the handler should consider it likely that the dog will attempt to push off the short gun when retrieving the long mark as the memory-bird. Use the same strategies as before to help the dog learn to run the line without flaring.

Practice Step 2 over a number of sessions until the dog can run the double without flaring the first run of the session. Practice both sides.

Step 3. Retire the short gun

Step 3 is like Step 2, but for Step 3, have the short gun use a large, camouflage umbrella to hide behind as the dog is running back from picking up the short mark. If using a BB for the short gun, place an umbrella in front of the BB and chair. This is not ideal for a Field Trial dog, since the dog is not able to see the short gun while setting up to run the double, but dogs can't see the gunners in Master Hunt Tests, either, so it's not an unreasonable skill.

Step 4. Retire the long gun

For Step 4, have the long gun use an umbrella to hide behind as the dog is running back from picking up the short mark. Although this might be a difficult set-up for a dog that had not been thru earlier steps, by now the dog is learning to use the short gun (or the umbrella) as a sort of "gun sight" to remember the line to the long mark. Eventually, such a mark is actually easier for the dog than one with a wider angle from the shorter mark.

Step 5. Indent triple

For Step 5, add another long mark on the other side of the short gun, at a wide angle to the short mark. Throw the new long mark first, then the original long mark, and finally the short mark. Send the dog to the tight original long mark right after the short mark go-bird, which is the sequence the dog has been practicing with her doubles. Then the dog can pick up the new long mark.

Step 6. Out-of-order indent triple

For Step 6, use the same configuration as for Step 5, but throw the original, tight long mark first, then the short mark, then the new long mark. Send the dog to the last bird down first, then the short bird, then the original long mark. If the dog hasn't practiced out-of-order triples, she may try to run the short mark first. If so, call her back with "No, here," line her up on the long go-bird, and send her again. If necessary, move up to make it easier.

Even if the dog runs the correct direction on the go-bird, she might not have gotten a good look at the throw, since she was expecting to be sent after the short throw, may have lost focus, and may require a long hunt or help from thrower or handler. With additional practice on Step 6 in a variety of locations, she'll learn to stay focused on each throw until actually sent.

Step 7. Retire the short gun

For Step 7, again throw an out-of-order indent triple, but this time have the short gun retire (hide behind an umbrella) while the dog is returning from the go-bird. This is considered a difficult configuration, but given the dog's earlier experience with the De-flaring Drill, the dog should have less difficulty with this set-up than a dog who has not been thru this training.

Step 8. Retire the tight long gun

Step 8 is another out-of-order indent triple, but this time the tight long gun retires while the dog is returning from the go-bird.

Step 9. Retire two and then all three guns

Step 9 practices out-of-order indent triples with any two, and finally all three, guns retired. To retire the go-bird, the handler throws a short fourth "mark" to the side after the triple has been thrown, and while the dog is picking up that short throw, the guns can retire.

Step 10. Increase factors

Once the dog is successful on all preceding steps on a flat field in low cover, begin to practice various steps with additional factors: hills, throws into cover, terrain changes, strips of high cover, water, a cross wind, mounds, longer distances, and so forth. In an event, one or more of the throws may be a flyers, so that, too, needs to be practiced.

During Step 10, it is neither necessary nor desirable that set-ups keep getting more and more difficult from day to day, though over time you will continue to advance the dog. But in the process, keep the dog's confidence and motivation up by using easier set-ups for some sessions. Keep the dog's success rate -- the ability to nail every mark without help -- in the range of 70-85%.

Competing Instincts and Instinctive Drift

[This article is currently in draft. My intent is that when completed, it will introduce and provide a link to the Keller's 1951 article, "Misbehavior of Organisms". It will then discuss the concepts of competing instincts and instinctive drift, and relate them to the problem of training recall to a retriever.]

The Kellers give several examples from their own observation of instinctive drift in non-canine species. Melissa Alexander, posting on the PGD list, gave this example of canine instinctive drift:

Bloodhounds are bred to sniff. If you want to train "head up" for the ring, you're going to have to reinforce it regularly for the entire working life of the dog, because nature is constantly trying to undo that lesson. No amount of reinforcement will create a permanent change in that lesson.

Although Melissa did not go on to describe instinctive drift with respect to training recall to a retriever, the problem is every bit as difficult. Retrievers are bred for independence, and in the field, they have powerful instincts to explore, sniff, follow scent, swim. When wet, Goldens, and perhaps other breeds, instinctively roll in the grass. Having completed the outrun to the article, whether bumper or bird, some or all retrievers have instincts to keep the prey, parade the prey, even eat the prey.

All of those instincts follow the pattern that the Keller's described for instinctive drift. The young puppy may only be vaguely aware of such, so the competing instinct to return to the handler predominates, and can be readily reinforced and further strengthened by rewards offered by the trainer. But as the puppy matures, and especially if she is being trained for field work, she becomes ever more aware of her many instincts not to return, all compounding on one another. In time, those instincts overwhelm the instinct to rejoin the handler, easily exceeding in influence any amount of positive reinforcement the puppy might have accumulated for returning on the retrieve.

All the behaviors mentioned above are unconditioned responses to stimuli the dog encounters in the field. While not instinctive, a similar and equally powerful influence comes from factors that might have made the dog's outrun difficult and therefore trigger an instinct to avoid, or at least postpone, an equally difficult return — a confusing water entry, a long swim, a headwind, a hill, a patch of high cover.

In MoO, the Kellers offered no solution to the problem of instinctive drift. The modern 4Q trainer has a superb solution: the ecollar, which the young dog is trained to view as an aversive stimulus that it is within her power to turn off. Typically, even a retriever that has not exhibited a refusal in months or years still wears her ecollar, and if ever a reminder is needed, the trainer need only refresh the dog's memory with a here-nick-here.

The 2Q trainer, new on the scene, has no such tool. As with the Bloodhound's head-down sniffing, the retriever's reluctance to return on a retrieve is a constant factor. I've developed some methods that I've found helpful: the Walking Recall (WR), the Walk Out (WO), and the Assisted Walk Out (AWO). Even more important than those, I think, is a policy of management every moment of the dog's life never to allow self-reinforcement by refusing a recall, even when training around 4Q trainers who are comfortable with early transgressions, knowing that later, they'll be able to easily repair the problem.

Shore-handling Toolkit

In April 2008, I invented the shore-handling toolkit as a catalog of the practical transitions between land and water that might occur in a retriever field event.

– Tool #1. Here-WTL-W (no WS)
– Tool #2. Here-LTW-W (no WS)
– Tool #3. Back-LTW-W/O (no WS)
– Tool #4. Back-WTL-W/O
– Tool #5. Back-WTL-W
– Tool #6. Over-WTL-W/O
– Tool #7. Over-LTW-W/O (no WS)
– Tool #8. Over-LTW-W
– Tool #9. Over-WTL-W

where

– WTL=water-to-land
– LTW=land-to-water
– W=with dummy
– W/O=without dummy

These tools are each trained thru the following stages, except that for some of them, no whistle sit (WS) is used:

• – Stage 1. Without stopping the dog
  
• – Stage 2. WS, then cueing the behavior
• – Stage 3. Distance extended for startline-to-shoreline and shoreline-to-article
• – Stage 4. Cued behaviors thoroughly proofed for multiple locations and distractions

Click here to view diagrams for the shore-handling toolkit.

A Note on the Swim-by Drill. Some of the tools in the shore-handling toolkit have traditionally been trained by means of the swim-by drill, a procedure that revolutionized how retrievers could be trained for water retrieves in field events when the drill was invented years ago. A dog who has learned the shore-handling toolkit is also able to perform the swim-by — using the tool chain #3-#6-#8-#9 — as well as other practical combinations of these tools.

Cool-off Drill

When a dog is hot, the dog's desire for comfort, and perhaps even her instinct for self-preservation, can draw her to a pool or pond where she can lie in the water and cool off. For some dogs, this can occur in during a land retrieve that happens to be in the vicinity of water, interrupting the return and possibly getting the dog disqualified from the event.

The purpose of the Cool-off Drill is to condition the dog to have a preference for completing the retrieve, rather than interrupting the retrieve to go for a swim, even when she's hot and the nearby water looks highly tempting.

The Cool-off Drill can be done as part of a regular private or group training session, as long as land work comes first.

Here's what the first session of the Cool-off drill looks like:

1. Train on land enough to get the dog reasonably hot. Allow the dog all the water she wants to drink, but don't let her go swimming.
2. Place an LP and WB a few yards from the corner of a pond.
3. Place the SL so that the line to the LP skirts the pond within a few yards. For the first session, make the distance from the SL to LP short enough that the dog will recall without fail on the retrieve.
4. Using normal line mechanics, send the dog to pick up the bumper, then call her back.
5. As soon as she returns, take the bumper as quickly as possible and throw it as far into the pond as possible, sending her the instant it touches water, or even while it's still in the air. This step is the dog's reinforcement for completing the retrieve, and you want to make it more desirable than a detour to cool off on the way back would have been, so make this step as exciting and valuable to the dog as possible.
6. Since the dog is now cooled off, repeating the drill during this session may not be particularly productive, so continue the training session with whatever other training objectives you and the group have planned.

In future sessions, gradually increase the distance from the SL to the LP, and vary how much of the time the dog is near the water, since the dog could face either situation in an event: a retrieve where she's near water most of the run, or a retrieve where she's only near water for a short part of the run.

As with any raising in criteria, it's neither necessary nor desirable for each trial to be harder than the last. Preferably, some trials will be easier than the last, some will be harder, but the trend will be toward more and more difficult trials, which in this case means longer and longer distances from the SL to the LP.

The goal would be to build to a high degree of difficulty, for example: In warm weather, the dog runs a triple, quad, or quintuple retrieve near water but without getting wet, the last retrieve featuring a line of 200 yards or more that comes within a few feet of a pond or runs beside a pond the entire way.

In an event, you probably won't actually be able to swim the dog immediately after completing a Cool-off type retrieve, but hopefully you will have an opportunity to swim the dog, perhaps in the water series, soon afterwards.

Building Motivation for "Back" into Water

Few sights are more chilling to a field trainer than a "no-go", when you send the dog and she just stands there, maybe glancing up at you, maybe just staring forlornly out into the field or pond.

One way for this to start happening is to raise criteria on a particular drill too fast, resulting in a high percentage of unreinforced or corrected attempts. The dog can lose confidence, perhaps begin to pop even when performing correctly, and maybe even refuse to take a chance on going out when sent. That's not the only way to get a no-go, but it's one of them.

For that particular problem, one antidote is a rousing session of highly reinforced "Back" send-outs. Here's the water version:

1. Carrying a bumper, take the dog to water's edge at a favorite pond and cue "Sit".
2. Position your hand over the dog's forehead as when sending out on a blind.
3. Cue "Back".
4. After the dog has launched and begun her swim straight out, throw the bumper high and far beyond her, so that she will reach it if she simply keeps swimming straight.
5. Repeat several times, but end immediately if you see any sign that her interest begins to flag, or preferably, as your experience with your dog makes it easier to predict her endurance, stop before that happens.

To keep the focus on building high reinforcement history for "Back", avoid working on difficult entries, complex line mechanics, or any other skill that would result in send-outs where you have to correct the dog's line or call her back. An exception would be a dog (like Lumi) who has been taught directions ("left" and "right") as reinforced cues, since using those would add to the goal of building reinforcement history for the original send-out.

By contrast, a WS, no matter how reinforced in training, would be avoided in this game, because it's effect is to delay the dog's forward momentum. Though the ability to respond to a WS is of course necessary for a handling dog, and ultimately supports the dog's desire to complete the retrieve, IMO the break in momentum is not fun for the dog and does not build reinforcement history for the send-out.

Puppy Training Checklist

[Details to be added]

These are skills above and beyond SSS, important for all dogs and not specific to working dogs:

Wearing the dog

Charge clicker

Hand target

Time-in for barking

Comfortable at vets office

Socializing

No-glance game for obsessions (including other dogs)

Relax on cue

House training

Eliminate on cue

Take treats gently

Leave it

Out (give, drop) with no Keep Away

Comfortable having feet, ears, etc. handled

Brushing teeth

Comfortable grooming

Nail trimming

The Trained Retrieve (TR)

[This article is from a post on the PositiveGunDogs list by one of my mentors, Jody Baker, reproduced here with her permission. I've added some notes in italics.]

On May 31, 2010, at 4:55 PM, Jody Baker wrote:

The trained retrieve usually goes as follows

Have the dog hold your finger (use the other fingers and thumb to surround

his muzzle) without mouthing or trying to spit your finger out. Click when

he stops mouthing etc. I use canned cat food on a spoon for the treat for

this.

[I would also work on shaping "hold" before switching to an article. When "hold" is cued, the dog should noticeably tighten her grip. This part of the training may take several days or weeks.]

Then place an object in his mouth - follow above.

With both the first 2 steps build in duration.

Always say "out" when he's to move his head away from your finger or the

object to get it out of his mouth. This is true with all the steps.

You should not take the finger/object from his mouth - ever. He should

always move his head back away from your hand(s), finger or object. Be sure

to be holding the object when you tell him out.

Next by touching his lips with the object see if he will open his mouth for

the object (don't worry about duration at this point). If not, repeat the

previous step. If he does open for the object, do this for a couple or more

sessions, gradually building up duration.

[I would be inclined to clicker-train the "take" of your finger, and later an object, as a default behavior first, so that no force is required to work on mouthing and hold.]

Then start working for distance, 1", 3" 6" etc.

Then start working on reaching up high or down low.

Then for taking a step to get to the object.

Work on gradually putting the object on the floor, one end, then flat while

holding on to the end, then 1 finger, etc.

The dog should always have on a line while doing this.

Now he needs to learn how to get up from a sit and take a step or two.

When he's doing this, I use the line to turn the dog back to me, so he comes

back to a chair/table/bench where I've place the open can of cat food and

the spoon (I keep it there from the beginning so he will learn the way to

get the stinky wonderful cat food is to do something about the retrieve)

[Even before learning to get UP from a sit, the dog needs to learn to get INTO a sit while holding the article. My dogs found that difficult, and it took several sessions before they were comfortable with it.]

Then on to very short tosses with the dog going out picking up the object,

you can call "here" to work on your recall, coming back to you.

If he spits out the object at any time before you've told him "out", then he

doesn't get the cat food.

This is just a rough outline of the steps required. There are many more

complete ones that you should be able to look up on line.

[I think Jody has covered the essential steps, and made clear the idea that this is a back-chaining procedure. I'd like to think about re-arranging some of the early steps.]