General Concept:
This book is a guide on teaching your retriever to hunt both upland game and waterfowl. The book is very practical. It doesn’t go deep into training concepts or methodologies. The bulk of the book is step by step drills you can use. Once you’re dog has completed the drills in one chapter they can move on to the next. Each chapter begins with an age to be used as a general guideline in your training.
Training style:
Use “pressure on, pressure off” to teach your dog the necessary skills to be an effective gun dog. The technical term for this is negative reinforcement, but the author’s term is much more descriptive. “Pressure on, pressure off” is simple. Make the dog slightly uncomfortable, give a command, make the dog comfortable again as soon as the dog complies. The author starts teaching puppies with food rewards in the beginning to give the pup a basic idea of what is wanted. Then, the dog graduates to a choke chain and finally, the electronic collar is introduced to complete the training.
One idea that stood out:
Methodically introducing game birds. Instead of having your dog go out to retrieve a crippled goose on his first hunt that may terrify him, start out with smaller birds such as pigeons. Then, graduate to bigger and bigger birds. Dokken recommends this order: pigeons, chuckar, hen pheasant, rooster pheasant, mallard duck.
One drill that stood out:
Perfecting Back. When teaching your dog the “back cast”, you should train them to turn left or to turn right depending on where the downed bird is. The dog will likely slightly angle towards the direction he turns. If the bird is back but slightly left, have the dog turn around to the left by raising your left hand. If the bird is back but slightly right, have the dog turn around to the right by raising your right hand. To teach this, Dokken says to use three platforms in a V shape. The platform at the bottom of the V is where the dog will start the drill. The other two platforms will be about six feet away and angled 45 degrees away from the bottom platform. Give the place command and raise the appropriate hand while making an exaggerated step towards the correct direction. If you want the dog to turn to the right, raise your right hand and step to the right. Use a check cord to guide the dog in place if needed. After the dog catches on, sharpen the V shape by putting the back two platforms closer together and continue the drill. The dog should continue to turn appropriately even as the platforms get closer together.