When I first came to the gun dog world in the early ‘80’s, there remained fair bit of sentiment in sporting circles that the best way to ruin your bird dog was to make a house pet out of him, that it made him soft (and perhaps intimated the same about his owner) and took away his natural predatory instincts.  There was mistrust of “pet dog” training methods and care protocols. “It’s just a dog,” was more than a throw-away line; it was an underlying sentiment, that a gun dog was a tool, ranking somewhere below the shotgun and maybe just above good boots or a spread of decoys.

Much of that has changed for the better, if for no other reason than the “suburbification” of those who hunt. Many of us don’t have a place for a kennel; our dogs either live with us or we cannot have a dog.  While a secure outdoor kennel with shade in summer and draft-free accommodations in winter is a pragmatic luxury, in fact, a training aide, when used in conjunction with plenty of socialization and exercise, it’s simply not an option for many gun dog owners.  That makes it even more important that we learn about our dogs in order to keep them (and us) happy, safe, and schooled in our homes.

You see, “schooled” works both ways in the dog-people partnerships most of us admire, perhaps even envy. That’s a theme to this blog. I battled most of my professional career teachers who believed that education went one way. Teachers taught; students learned. Look at the set-up of a traditional public school classroom:  There is a big desk in front, facing the class.  Small student desks are arranged in rows, facing the front.  The implication is clear.  Information moves in one direction – front to back, unless there’s an information check in the form of a recitation or question.  Students learn in a prescribed way; they also learn from the teacher, not from each other.

Not every delivery method is most effective with every student.  Neither is every training approach or tool is effective the same way with every dog. Students and bird dogs have much to teach those charged with their education.  One of those concepts is that carefully, patiently positioning students to succeed through resourceful leadership, consistency, and fair mindedness is the path to least resistance, far exceeding coercion or remediation. Another concept is that sometimes, students (and dogs) can help each other move the program forward in ways the teacher or trainer cannot match.

Those bent on simply teaching their dogs hearth or field manners without interest in learning from their dogs, or who see dominance and force as first-response, default shortcuts, probably won’t find much of value here.