Training in black & white

Thoughts and notes from Cathy V.

Training Notes
Fred Bradley
March 24-26, 2008


In no particular order:

• Be fair to your dog
• Don’t lie to them
• One command
• Don’t correct unless you need to
• Make sure you correct the last command you give them
• Heel – one hand on the leash
• Keep your spot – sit means sit – put them back by using a palm and put them back
• Use a small space for heeling and quartering until you and the dog can move to bigger ground
• Quiet whistle – don’t change the volume as you get excited
• On the Retrieve – the dog should go out and come back at the same speed
• 90% of blind work is done by memory work
• Dog should work in the channel you send it
• Don’t worry about anything that has happened in the past – move forward
• No Drills – too boring for spaniels
• Tell the dogs what you like and what you don’t like
• No pile work – too monotonous
• Pile work is forcing them to do it – sense of power – not fair
• Throw a bumper by the dog, pick it up
• Fairness = black and white – Keep it clear
• Decide what the issue is – is the problem you or the dog?
• Come = keep whistling at first as they are learning the recall
• Keep your dog close
• The only thing the shake a bird does is it teaches the dog to pay attention to the people shaking the bird or hat. The dog should pay attention to you
• Recall – don’t feed a meal or two – whistle, praise and reward. Hot dogs for 2 -3 weeks, then just praise, don’t bait the dog
• Use your personality
• Don’t use the recall for control – only for come
• Stand up Straight
• Sit means sit
• Cast off using one hand – palm down – no fingers. Try it with no hands
• Don’t look at the dog when you are heeling – feel where it is and correct or encourage as needed
• Only point a finger when they have done something wrong – use your finger as a correction
• Quiet Whistle
• The reward for the dog is being with you
• Make any piece of ground interesting to your dog – that is your job
• The dogs are here to please you
• How simple is dog training? Having your dog do the last thing you said – remember the last command
• Sit means sit, turn means turn, come means come
• Be critical about yourself, but move on and learn from your mistakes. Take it to the next level.