30/03/2025
My dogs are all trained using reward based methods. That includes not chasing birds which inevitably ramps up for many spaniels (and other breeds!) once they reach adolescence.
🎬 a short unplanned clip from a walk this morning of joyful spaniels - the 2 most wired of my gang were excited in this area as they have found and flushed pheasant here a while ago - memories can be location specific and they have not forgotten even though it happened just once! They get a recall whistle and then later a turn whistle to change direction and come back to the other side of me - nothing formal just a fun blast over the fields. Always engaging with my dogs from day 1 outdoors so they get the freedom they love to be themselves - within the boundaries and rules set by our training, of course.
My dogs are encouraged to engage enthusiastically with the environment, confidently and naturally expressing those spaniel traits to get the nose down and SEEK - checking for scent lines to follow up on. Usually game or other birds but any small animal can be of interest. They are also very keyed in to visual stimuli - aka movement - because they are seeking until they find, then flush (aka disturb the prey animal to get it to move from its cover), ready for the next sequence in the predatory motor pattern - CHASE.
As working Gundogs, we do not want them to chase game, as a rule (exception is tracking an injured bird / small game such as rabbit and chasing, if needs be, to catch and return to their handler with it). This means a large part of training is being able to control them on a flush, so that they then leave the flushed animal and either take a trained cue from the handler or carry on hunting and ignore the flushed animal.
Spaniel hunting pattern is called ‘Quartering’: this keeps them within a certain distance in front of and to either side of the handler and Cockers tend to naturally move in this type of quick movement from left to right while moving forward, nose down. Some are more driven than others: that’s individual difference for you within a breed. And while most tend to be more driven to use their nose, others might be more driven to be alert to visual stimuli (bit like a sight hound!)
My dogs are all encouraged to explore and exhibit their natural drive as pups which involves, usually, fairly high speed movement while at the same time, training allows for getting those behaviours under stimulus control. They learn to switch on and, importantly, switch off. They also learn that making decisions for themselves is how rewards happen.
Pacing at speed for prolonged periods, while practising part of the predatory sequence that is nose down SEEKING, is fuelled by adrenaline so is a pretty heady experience for them and can be quite addictive for some, if left unchecked through training.
My dogs are trained for the situation, not in it (as we should be doing for all our pups regardless of working training or pet training) so my dogs:
✅ are trained to recall on cue this is heavily conditioned from day 1 - using rewards, of course
✅ are encouraged to explore independently while listening out for my cues
✅ are trained to change direction on cue - from left to right - and not just when in a quartering pattern but running around on walks doing their own thing too
✅ are desensitised to movement of small animals, birds (and sheep alongside stock fence) when very young. Then, as bird dogs, inevitably training around birds needs to be revisited as adolescence sets in. I up the ante at this time if needed - depends on the individual animal! But again, using predominantly reward based methods (predominantly because during training not being permitted to chase or to start ‘free hunting’ will no doubt feel aversive for the individual who is very motivated to chase or to keep on SEEKING themselves into an adrenaline fuelled hype. But for their safety they cannot. They are taught that alternative behaviours get them the reward they desire or a close substitute for the reward they desire.) This is behaviour modification.
✅ are trained to retrieve as while finding and retrieving game is not their main job on shoots, as part of their job I might be asked to find a lost bird or to keep an eye (nose) out for a dropped bird on the next drive
✅ are trained to respond to cues whilst in a highly aroused state within a very exciting environment
✅ are trained to sit and wait either mid-drive at the Beat or Game Keeper’s request for various reasons, or at the start of each new drive.
Having just seen a video posted by someone who was singing the praises of shock collar training, implemented by a shock jock trainer, the spaniel was doing none of the above. It was hesitant, moving slowly, head mostly up and not at any distance from its owner (or whoever filmed that clip). Yet the comment was, the dog was a nightmare on shoots before this training and now everyone was happy.
Why would anyone get a working lines dog to do the job they were selectively bred for, then not train them *for* the situation, but try to manage them *in* the situation? Not only does this set the dog up to fail and strengthen unwanted behaviours in a very exciting environment, it leads the inexperienced owner who ‘wants to work their dog’ down the path to punishing their dog to try suppress the unwanted behaviour. A culture of blaming the dog for being a ‘nightmare’ when, in reality, the human handler lacks the skills to train the dog appropriately.
Except not everyone was happy because:
❌ any educated experienced dog professional knows body language is a clear indicator of the likely emotional state that accompanies behavioural expression
❌ hesitant, unsure behaviour is a signal that confidence is lacking
❌ hardly moving at all and staying in very close proximity in front of a handler is not how spaniels hunt (or move about generally)
Yet this was being held up as a success. Totally ignoring the effects of behavioural suppression due to fear or unpredictability of consequences is not a training success. It’s not training at all. It is behaviour suppression.
😢 the unpredictability of consequences of behaviour in an animal’s environment can create anxiety
😢 anxiety as part of an animal’s environmental landscape can lead to chronic stress
😢 chronic stress leads to dysregulation of the nervous system
😢 dysregulation of the nervous system leads to dis-ease
😢 dysregulation can also create new behavioural issues - even if it is thought that the original ‘problem’ is resolved
😢 movement and seeking are the essence of what makes spaniels great working dogs
😢 suppressing natural behaviour, rather than harnessing it and allowing actual, or alternatively rewarding, behaviour expression, under stimulus control, denies their very essence, their Telos.
How is that a success? It’s not, it’s an illusion.
⛔️ using punishment as a go-to method to get an animal to do what you want is about a century behind the times
⛔️ using punishment as a go-to method to get an animal to do what you want is not training
⛔️ using punishment on any animal is unnecessary - if trainers are using positive reinforcement to gain cooperation from zoo animals such as hyenas and rhinos, why on earth would punishment be used on a species that, for millennia, has evolved and adapted alongside humans to be affiliative and sociable? Dogs live in our homes with us.
💖 Dogs deserve so much better than that which is being masqueraded as ‘training’ by guileless confidence tricksters pressing a remote to deliver painful electric shocks to dogs’ sensitive necks (and sickeningly, other parts of their bodies too)
‼️ in a recent interview the scientist who led the Kiwi aversion experiments in New Zealand, categorically said he did not agree that electric shock collars should be used for general training, such as recall or other wanted behaviours that can be taught effectively and humanely, using reward based methods.
‼️ shock collars are not fool proof. They fail. This is well documented. There is zero guarantee using one will actually stop the unwanted behaviour. Dogs will and do ‘power through pain’ if motivated enough to do so.
‼️ reward based methods, on the other hand, when taught correctly, create long term behaviour change through Classical and Operant learning processes. With no risk of harm or fallout to your dog.
