To our way of thinking, top flight companion gun dog trainers do it on the dog’s pace and in concert with the dog’s owners. Such professional are among the most talented, resourceful, and hardest working people in the shooting world.
There are plenty of men and women who can get a dog to perform on cue; there are far fewer who are willing to let the dog set the pace and the agenda, who can mold their program to that specific dog’s needs, then have the nuanced dog and people skills to forge partnerships between client dogs and their people.
Truth be told, that’s the only training that matters, the training most likely to hold. In the “time is money” world of the common pro trainer (and, in fairness, the client on a budget), it’s easier to deal with the dog on the trainer’s schedule, strictly on the trainer’s program, without the owner’s involvement because the people are much harder to navigate than their dogs! Some dogs do just fine on this regimen, delivered back to their owner people with a new skill set; many others, not so much. That’s primarily because some owners, especially those with an unusual amount of experience, can pick up where the trainer ends. Frankly, in our experience, most don’t.
What too many people want is a clicker like the one that runs their home entertainment center. They give a command; the dog responds on cue, on time, every time regardless of circumstances…which is exactly why most people who send their dog off with the common pro trainer end up disappointed.
Blessed are those owners who insist on being partners, on being responsible for the training of their own gun dogs. They find a trainer who works more as a consultant, one who arranges his or her work around the client being involved, who won’t accept dogs from people who don’t want to be involved.
Those are rare arrangements, mostly because trainers with exceptional dog and people skills are not common. Theirs is a much more sophisticated, holistic approach and, as it should, comes with a much higher price, both in trainer investment in time and careful teaching, as well as more personal and monetary investment from the client.
The people who start with a puppy or even with an older dog with some training background get the most from their money when they set out to get trained themselves. Hunting with a pointing dog is not a video game. It is about paying attention to cover and the wind. It’s about knowing game bird habits. It’s about timing and positioning, it’s about knowing the individual dog, being able to read that dog, about sharing a rich collaboration that, when it’s right, is the highest art in game shooting, as far as we are concerned.
Very few people get that from sending his or her dog off to most pro’s.
We've all heard the standard litany of excuses: "I don't have the experience." "I don't have a place to train." "I don't know how to use birds or have a place to keep them." "I have a jam-packed schedule already. I just don't have the time to train my own bird dog."
We once ran dogs with a water company meter reader who lived in tight circumstances in his town. He did not come from a hunting background, but as an adult, fell in love with the idea of bird shooting over pointing dogs. He did tons of research, attended horseback and on-foot field trials and, because he liked to hunt waterfowl as well as upland birds, cast his lot with German Wirehaired Pointers.
His path wasn’t easy. There was a city ordnance against keeping pigeons. Sal and his dogs had to get their training in before and after work. He helped out landowners with chores to get permission to keep birds there. He belonged to a club that pooled resources and brought in guest pros to help…and he and his dogs were full partners in the enterprise. His transition from the training field to the hunting season was virtually seamless because he had built a clear idea of what he wanted out of his sport, what he expected from himself, and was humble enough to train with the idea that the dogs had plenty to teach him as well. Like successful people anywhere, Sal fused uncommon, purposeful energy and deep commitment to become the dog handler his bristly bunch of hard-going gun dogs deserved.
We are completely sympathetic with breeders who would prefer their puppies not go to anyone who plans on sending the dog off to be “trained," breeders who are looking for placements who couldn’t bear to send their dogs away because they don’t want to be cheated out of the full experience of a companion working gun dog.
The very best breeders are bent on producing elite gun dog prospects for owners who want an equally elite companion experience hunting with a pointing dog. That means breeding puppies of sound body and mind, drive and tenacity tempered with tractability and an uncommon desire to please…and seeking out owners who are willing to personally invest themselves in that dog.
That doesn’t mean it can’t possibly work with a pro as a consultant/mentor in an extended program of lessons for dog and owner. But it requires all parties being on the same page from beginning to end. The owner has to enter into the arrangement as if she and her dog are going to study with a mentor, a sensei, if you will, developing rapport with the trainer, learning how he or she goes about the business of grooming a dog to hunt for the gun…and the owner must be willing to follow that philosophy to the letter when the dog comes back home.
A good friend has exemplary German Shorthair Pointers. He is a long-time bird hunter. He has on retainer a pro who is perfect for him and for his dogs. There is a clear understanding of what is expected from dog, trainer, and client; they have worked out the kinks over several generations of my friend’s gun dogs. The trainer has the land and the birds and the expertise; our friend has the dog knowledge, the hunting experience, the relationship with the pro, and the close relationship with his dogs before and through their brief stints away with the trainer that makes the transition seamless. He and his dogs return again and again for refreshers, for conditioning, for tune-ups.
Oh…and our friend also has made his dogs a budget priority. Like it or not, that’s part of the deal for those looking for that kind of relationship…and worth every single penny.
Certainly there are some dogs more adaptable to the back-and-forth between a trainer’s boarding school kennel and home. But of the dogs we know best – privately, rather than commercially, bred Llewellin and Ryman-type setters and British Labradors - some have done well enough under that arrangement. Far more have had mixed to miserable experiences.
Don’t cheat yourself by sending your dog away. Go with that dog to clinics. Go to workshops - not one, but many, understanding that these are a base, a fundamental start (don't be that embarrassing twit who pays big bucks for one weekend gun dog workshop and suddenly believes he or she has The Keys To The Kingdom, wearing one of the hats from the clinic like some Sign of The Anointed...). Be an engaged part of a training group, identifying those who are there to share what works for them and their dogs, and those who are there just for the camaraderie. You'll find that, as in too many walks of life, those who talk most in those settings, know least. Caveat emptor.
If you are a first time pointing, flushing, or fetch owner, do your homework. Read books and the best gun dog magazines. Go to reputable internet sources and study with the same kind of discriminating filter you should use any time you go online for anything! Pay to observe obedience classes put on by your local Humane Society; see how the instructors there go about communicating with both dogs and their handlers.
Beg, wheedle, or pay for the chance to accompany an experienced handler and his or her good dog in the field before you buy your own. Gradually form a clear idea of just how effective working gun dogs go about their business and how the best handlers support their dogs in the field.
If you still think you want to hire a pro, vet him or her personally and through references. Find one close enough that you can, with his and your insistence (!), come as frequently as possible to be trained yourself. Ask politely (and with consideration to your pro’s busy schedule) to watch dogs in her charge work birds. Be clear up front about the financial obligations, as well as your own expectations and level of commitment given the realities of job, family, even physical, parameters. Find someone to whom you can relate and who hunts the way you think you would like to hunt with your own dog some day...and be respectful of the trainer's time and expertise. Always. It's a privilege to study with the best...and you being considerate of your trainer is just another way to earn that person's mentoring of you and your dog.
At bottom there is this irrefutable truth: There are no shortcuts to the kind of bird dog most of us want, despite what the one-hit weekend clinic warriors or armchair online experts would have you believe. Owners who want it badly enough to do the hands-on work, to be happy on the learning curve that lasts a lifetime, who walk the miles, wear out the brush pants, are the ones who reap the most from this sport. They establish a baseline rapport by spending quality, purposeful bonding time with their dog, teach "Come," "heel," and "whoa" ...and then go hunting. They are iron clad in their resolve not to shoot birds their dog doesn't handle according to Hoyle, and whistle him on with a learner's mind and an anticipation that this well bred dog, with encouragement in good country, is going to do exactly what it was born to do.
It isn't easy...but then nothing worth having ever is. Work toward the goal of becoming your own pro trainer. If you don’t have the time or interest level for this kind of commitment, if you don’t truly enjoy simply spending time with your job in team building, maybe this is not the moment in your life to take up a working gun dog partnership of your own.