Course Introduction
Course Introduction
This course contains 6 weekly modules.
Each week, we cover 5 different gundog training concepts. It's up to you how you complete the course, but let’s say you chose to train Monday to Friday, you’ll need around 20 minutes a day to train and can have the weekend to relax.
How We Train
Remembering your dog doesn’t speak English so there's no point telling him what to do. Somehow we need to teach him what we want.
We normally do this by creating the behaviour with what's known as a 'lure' .
We then build an association between the behaviour and a word, what we dog trainers call a 'cue'.
Lastly, we then provide a reward which is known as a 'reinforcer'. Let's call it payment.
Do I have to use a Clicker?
We also need a way of providing feedback to our dogs. Being precise with our feedback enables us to teach our dogs what we want in an efficient way. For the purposes of providing feedback we need to use what is known as a ‘marker’.
One, very precise tool at your disposal, is a clicker. Equally though, we can also mark behaviours with our voice using words like “Yes”. In the videos on this course, we use both.
Reward Based Training
All of our training is based on setting dogs up with the best chance for success.
We can then provide rewards when they perform the behaviour we want.
Dogs are not unlike humans in that we are somewhat selfish creatures. We do things which we like and find rewarding. When we learn which behaviours get us rewarding things, we are more likely to repeat them. Dogs are no different in that respect.
In our training, we can use rewards for our dogs such as play and affection, but bear in mind these tend to be relatively low value to most dogs. Far higher value and more practical is the use of food.
Payment in Hard Currency
Think of your food rewards as hard currency.
A few dried-up old pieces of kibble are the equivalent of the loose change in your jeans pocket. Whereas, chopped chicken, sausage, frankfurter, cheese etc are more like five, ten and twenty pound notes.
Which would you be most inclined to get out of bed for?
What's The Worst That Can Happen?
If your dog gets something wrong, the worst thing that can happen is he just gets another go at earning a reward.
So, let's say he gets up just after you’ve asked for a sit for 10 seconds. No biggy. Just re-set him and try again, maybe for 5 seconds next time.
Boom! Suddenly you’re back in the game. Your dog gets paid, he's feeling pretty chuffed with himself and wants to try again.
Time for a Kit Kat
Take regular breaks, particularly with young dogs. Have a break, have a Kit Kat!
Do no more than around 10 reps at any exercise and certainly no more than a minute at a time before having a sniff break (that’s the dog, not you).
Aim for no less than 8 or 9 successes in every 10 reps. Any less and payment will be too thin on the ground to keep your dog motivated enough to keep trying.
Good Luck!
Enjoy the course and let us know how you’re getting on, you can contact us here: