Obedience Training Essentials

For a waterfowl hunting retriever, one of the most important things the dog should know is how to sit and stay. But just how good is good enough? And for those high-powered retrievers that have been bred with almost too much energy to handle, how do we control all that high-energy desire their mom and dad gave them?

First of all, from my many years of experience in training retrievers for waterfowl hunting and AKC hunt tests, I will say the vast majority of dogs out there are lacking simple obedience training. When a new dog comes in for training more times than not the dog shows very little respect for the owner and any commands from the owner. Most of the time when the dog does obey simple commands like "come" and "sit" it is only after numerous repeated commands and an elevated pitch in the owners voice and demeanor, in other words, the owner is getting upset or frustrated and the dog knows what is coming next and usually sulks back to the owner.

So just what kind of response should we expect from the dog? Well, for example, when I say "sit" or "stay" to a dog I expect the dog to sit or stay without moving at all until I say otherwise, no exceptions. Even if the dog has to sit there for 30 minutes or more it is expected to obey the given command. When I say "come" the dog is expected to come, without any delay or meandering on his part, straight to me and sit at my side. Keep in mind, however, I also expect the dog's attitude to be positive and upbeat at the same time I give these commands.

Just how is all of this accomplished? Simply put, the dog is put through a month of nothing but obedience training and e-collar conditioning and training. Yes, I said e-collar training and yes, I said a month of obedience training. The simple truth of the matter is without some way to instantly and fairly correct the dog for bad behavior there is no way we can expect good behavior, especially when the dog is either 200 yards away on a retrieve or sitting next to us with in a duck blind anxiously watching us miss opportunity after opportunity for him to make a much wanted retrieve. And there is no fair way to expect this level of behavior if the dog hasn't been properly taught these commands without being rushed through the obedience training.

E-collars are the dog owners best friend if used correctly and trained with properly. They can give an instantaneous correction at distances from 400 yards and even up to 3/4 mile or more, depending on the model. The whole concept behind e-collars is to teach your dog to avoid correction by obeying the given commands. The dog essentially learns how to "turn off" the pressure by correctly responding to a command. Over time, you will find yourself rarely even having to use the collar once it is one the dog. If you find yourself having to use the collar stimulus more and more over time, you need to go back and evaluate just how well the dog knows his basic obedience training. E-collars, however, are just and extension of obedience training, not a substitute for it. So many times I see people buy and e-collar in hopes of saving time and money. There is no substitute for obedience training, none. But when a sound obedience training program is enhanced with e-collar training and conditioning, regardless of what kind of dog it is, you will get a more responsive dog with a positive upbeat attitude you can be proud of.