What’s the Best Way to Train Your Gundog?

There is such a bewildering array of advice out there for the novice handler. Discovering the best way to train your gundog is difficult with so much conflicting information. Surprisingly, a lot of the traditional methods still used in gundog training are now very outdated.

What you decide is the best way to train your gundog will have a massive influence on the speed of learning, the bond that you build together and the end result you achieve.

Books and videos are all well and good, but what they can never cater for, is the fact that each dog is different. Just like humans, dogs have their own characters and personalities. Effective gundog training is about being able to adapt your methods to suit the dog that is at the end of the lead. And, whilst it can be interesting to see the end result in a gundog display at a country show, what you really need is the help to get there.

The Beginner’s Guide

This article is written to help you, the beginner, get the best out of your gundog. We’ll teach you what to look for, or avoid, in whichever training methods you use.

Traditional Gundog Training Methods

In the journey to discover the best way to train your gundog, let’s first summarise the methods that have traditionally been used.

The Death of Dominance Theory

Dominance Theory has been the basis for a lot of dog training since the 1960’s. It has now been scientifically disproven by numerous studies.

This old style of dog training is based around owners asserting themselves as a pack leader over their dog.

Really, there is no reason that a human should eat before their dog, sit with their head above their dog’s, walk through doorways first, or stare dogs into submission.

Using Punishment in Gundog Training is Dangerous

Training techniques incorporating punishment are proven to cause fear and pain. Typically, they have been used in gundog training for generations. Just because methods have been used for a long time, it does not necessarily mean that they are the best.

Punishment may change a behaviour, but there is normally a fallout from this method of training.

Modern Training Methods

Modern Gundog Training incorporates methods based on scientific research. Studies have shown that dogs do not see humans as other dogs, they know we are a different animal to them. Our bodies are different, our methods of communicating are different, nearly everything about us is different.

Dogs do have similarities to humans in some ways though. Humans and dogs are both motivated primarily by selfish reasons. Think ‘what’s in it for me’. Dogs simply want more of what they like and less of what they dislike.

The use of food treats in gundog training is frowned upon by many, often successful, old-school trainers. There is a popular belief that giving rewards just makes dogs soft. Dogs should simply obey their master’s commands because they are the boss.

Why Rewards Are More Effective Than Punishment

Cast your mind back to when you learnt to drive. Do you remember what it was like trying to reverse a car into a parking space for the first time?

How would you feel if, every time you selected the wrong gear, revved the engine too loudly, or touched the kerb, your driving instructor shouted at you and whacked you round the back of your head? Very soon you’d start to feel nervous about your driving lessons. You would get a sinking feeling whenever it was the day of your next lesson and start to feel uneasy at the thought of having to drive a car anywhere. If the whacks around the head caused enough pain, you’d probably give up learning to drive altogether.

Let’s contrast this with a situation where the worst that could happen would be the driving instructor simply allowing you another attempt. Better still, for every for every successful parking manoeuvre you made, your instructor passed you a crisp £20 note. How would that alter how you felt about learning to drive? And how many attempts would you make at parking the car, even in the tightest of spaces? No doubt, you’d soon be the best student that driving instructor had ever seen!

Understanding What Motivates Is the Best Way to Train Your Gundog

Gundogs trained with shouting or physical punishment are the same. Depending on the severity of the punishment, it can lead to a dog giving up.

On the other hand, gundogs trained with positive reinforcement try all sorts of behaviours. Just as though they are trying all the gears to find the one that makes the car reverse.

The Key to Successful Gundog Training

The best way to train your gundog is to set your dog up to succeed as often as possible. This allows you to reinforce his success with rewards.

In the absence of any fear of punishment, confidence quickly grows and he’ll want to keep trying. The reward is the reinforcer that drives his behaviour. A skilled trainer will keep incrementally increasing the level of difficulty, yet continually achieve success.

Dogs trained in this way learn far quicker. They are far more receptive to further training and work in true partnership with their handler. So much so, in the dog’s mind, the handler becomes a vital part of the dog achieving what he wants.

For this reason, all the opportunities to obtain reinforcers should ideally be provided by the handler. This way, the working gundog truly believes that his handler knows where every shot bird lies. He is tricked into thinking that he can’t possibly locate them without the help of the trusted handler.