DRIVEN TO DISTRACTION

I learned a lesson last spring that I hope really sticks.  It took me some time “to think through it all” and to understand what was wrong. With some kind help from my friends, I came to realize my error(s) of my ways.

Let me start at the beginning:  On a most typical spring day, Merrimack Valley Chapter of NAVHDA (North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association) had a “Test Day”.  The site was packed with people and dogs.  There were people planting birds, shots fired, tracking activities, and birds being flushed, shot and retrieved.  There was a gaggle of judges following each dog to evaluate its performance.  The energy level was high for dogs and handlers.

Enter yours truly with K-Lee, my 14 month old Pudelpointer.  K-Lee had been on birds last fall.  She knew that gun fire usually meant a bird on the ground.  K-Lee looked into the field and saw birds fluttering as they were planted, birds coming down, other dogs running to retrieve, and lots, lots of activity.   Her body language was shouting:  “Oh yeah!!  Let me at them!  Oh Yeah!  Me! Me! Me! Go! Go! Go!”

Before First Haircut

Needless to say, we were out of control.  Lessons for “obedience” that I thought were “learned”—were “out the window”.   At first, I thought it was “willful disobedience”—that she was just “flipping me off”, but after listening to my friend/mentor, I realize that it was natural that her “genes” were “ignited” under those conditions.    The problem was in the training—not the dog.  The training was not “deep” enough.  In spite of her lack of cooperation, we were fortunate that day and received a NA Prize III.  I was surprised, for I expected none.

After First Haircut

As I did my “forensics” on the day, I realized that although she was fine when we were "alone", I had not “trained for distraction”.  In other words, I had not desensitized the pup to such activity, so that she could remain calm while these things went on.  Being an "empty-nester", the home environment is rather quiet, and K-Lee was the only (full size) dog around the house.  (My wife has a dog that's more like a barking cat.)  It was basically just K-Lee and me, inside and outside.   So on "test day", I felt as if I were "the emperor with no clothes”.  I wasn’t embarrassed with  K-Lee’s behavior,  I was embarrassed with  the fact that I had allowed myself to be blind-sided so easily. I had failed to train “deeply”—to have a good recall, to train for distractions such as "the gallery".  K-Lee needed to know that the judges weren’t there to play “keep-away”!

It was time to dive in deeper—not to wade out of the water!  I realized that I did not have an adequate” recall” in place, and her “whoa” was not as strong as I thought.  She barely pointed before taking out a bird.  I needed to train for obedience and distraction.  I also needed to be trained myself.  My level of experience was inadequate for what I wanted to accomplish.  

My first reaction was to come up with all kinds of reasons why she was doing this.  “Planted birds smelled more like wounded birds to her”, etc … I’m sure that many of us have reacted like that at first.  

 Once I settled down and worked at being honest with myself, I came to the conclusion that I needed some experienced help.  I knew I had a dog with potential and I wasn’t going to let her down.  I contacted Blaine Carter of Merrymeeting Kennels in Brunswick Maine. He saw the problem right off, and created a program to help us.

Getting it together

A few course corrections later, and we were on the path to ‘righteousness’.  K-Lee is still a bundle of energy, but she controls herself in a more mannerly fashion.  She is much more obedient, and her field work  is better. We are continuing our training and hope to enter the "Utility Test" this fall.  I know that things often fall apart when testing, but I‘m hopeful that our next test day will be more positive and controlled than that challenging spring day when “the wheels fell off”.