Ignoring here

I have a 6 month old female German Shorthair who will occaisionally ignore "Here" and run off. She knows both the verbal and whistle "Here" commands. When I have her dragging a check cord she seldom goes out of the yard. When she's off the check cord, I call her in frequently, praise her, and once in a while give her a treat.

Then she'll get into the neighbor's yard. When I command "Here", she looks at me, turns, and runs off. I don't want to punish here after obeying "Here", so I try to catch her without any commands and then punish her. She's figured that out, and simply stays away if I follow her without talking to her.

I'm trying to train like the good old days without an E-collar. Do you have any suggestions for how to train her to unfailingly obey "Here"?

Thanks.
Bryce

Hi Bryce,

It sounds as if your dog has figured out that it can disobey when off the check cord.

I too like to train the old fundamental way but sometimes it's tough to go that route when your dog is behaving the way you describe yours to behave.

The old fashioned method would be to command "here" and if the dog did not respond, go catch the dog and scold it while returning to the location from where you commanded 'here'. Then if the dog disobeyed again, it would be to catch the dog and punish with a newspaper (rolled up - makes more noise and doesn't really hurt).

Now let's stop there. Never punish you dog if it comes to you late. In other words, you command 'here' and it doesn't come right away but does come eventually. If you scold or punish, the dog won't understand and will assume it is being punished for what is present, coming to you.

E-Collars have come a long way. I personally own a Command Series Innotek collar. You honestly can't feel levels one and two yet when you test it with the testing light, the test light does glow indicating that level one and two do work. What does this mean? It means that you can reach out and 'tap' the dog without hurting it to let it know that you have the ability to touch the dog at any distance.

I am not an advocate of e-collar training 100 percent of the time. I still use the old repetition and rewards system but with the advent of new technology, have added a unique tool when necessary, the modern e-collar.

This weekend I was handling a 2 year old Brittany, purchased from me, for a Circuit Court Judge. The dog had developed the habit of chasing after the flush. When the dog had chased a good distance, I applied level two and the dog stopped, looked at the bird and was obviously perplexed (not in pain) about how the bird could do that. It was wonderful to see the dog react so surprised but without pain. The dog now holds his point until shot with no degradation in hunting enthusiasm or run.

Bottom line: Find a pro trainer with a modern state-of-the-art e-collar to help you. My guess it won't take but one lesson and the dog will behave correctly for a long time.

To ensure the trainers collar is state of the art, have the collar set to level one and touch both electrodes at the same time. While touching both electrodes, have him press the stimulate button. If level one hurts, it's the wrong collar for your dog. Good luck.

Cordially,

Dave Jones
Chief's Brittanys
Guided Upland Bird Hunts, Gundog Training, Started Gundogs, and Brittanypuppies
We GUARANTEE our Brittanys to hunt and be healthy!
Visit us at http://www.brittanygundogs.com

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