 |
Area Specific Dog trainingJackie Drakeford |
 |
Dogs are area
specific, which is why, to begin with, you have to train the same
disciplines in different surroundings. Watch the weekly
dog-training class in the village hall; dogs behave perfectly in the
hall, but can be seen towing their owners to and from the car park,
jumping up, pestering other dogs and generally being a nuisance before
and after their training session.
Maybe owners are area-specific as well, because consistency is the key to all training, and some people don't correct behaviour in the car park that they would not accept in the hall. So it is when working, too, when you have to translate what has been learned in the yard to the greater temptations of the field.
All this means that first you train the behaviour you want in an area where correction is easy and distractions few, but then you need to consolidate whatever you have taught by repeating the exercise in less safe surroundings.
Now and again, with any dog, you will find that the lesson has not sunk in as well as you had hoped, and you have to go back to the "safe" area and try again. A few people do all their training in the field, which requires a gifted and dog-aware individual if it is to work. These are the kind of people who make training look easy, but others try to emulate their successes, they tend to create problems for themselves, in that the dog may learn precisely the opposite from that which is intended.
Sorting out a dog that has tasted the bif wide world before it has learn't basic siscipline is a far harder job than building the foundations step by step, first here, then there, untill the dog is word-perfect wherever it is.
Maybe owners are area-specific as well, because consistency is the key to all training, and some people don't correct behaviour in the car park that they would not accept in the hall. So it is when working, too, when you have to translate what has been learned in the yard to the greater temptations of the field.
All this means that first you train the behaviour you want in an area where correction is easy and distractions few, but then you need to consolidate whatever you have taught by repeating the exercise in less safe surroundings.
Now and again, with any dog, you will find that the lesson has not sunk in as well as you had hoped, and you have to go back to the "safe" area and try again. A few people do all their training in the field, which requires a gifted and dog-aware individual if it is to work. These are the kind of people who make training look easy, but others try to emulate their successes, they tend to create problems for themselves, in that the dog may learn precisely the opposite from that which is intended.
Sorting out a dog that has tasted the bif wide world before it has learn't basic siscipline is a far harder job than building the foundations step by step, first here, then there, untill the dog is word-perfect wherever it is.
reprinted with kind permission from
Alastair Balmain
Deputy Editor:Shooting Times & Country Magazine
Blue Fin Building, 110 Southwark Street SE1 0SU
Tel: 020 3148 4750
Deputy Editor:Shooting Times & Country Magazine
Blue Fin Building, 110 Southwark Street SE1 0SU
Tel: 020 3148 4750