Sit on the floor in the middle of the run and wait for dogs to come to you. Avoid the most boisterous one. Avoid any which slink away to a corner to be alone. Look for the one which approaches you with caution and inquisitiveness and persists till you start to play. Look for a pup which keeps picking things up and playing with them, this is proper GSP instinct and is a sign of good breeding.
Always see the dam and if possible the sire - if they look good then the pups will probably be good too - results of the usual health checks should be offered by the breeder.
It is a point of much discussion but generally bitches are more biddable (easily trained) and don’t forget that dogs spend a lot of time peeing to mark territory and sniffing for other dog’s scent marks. This can interrupt your training session and make your garden a smelly place!
I use "he" throughout this article but read he or she and make your choice.
Work tirelessly to train your GSP - if you fail, IT WILL TRAIN YOU!
Learn that dogs do not see very well - their hearing and sense of smell are much more sensitive. This is not to say that dogs will not obey hand signals - they do and it can be very useful to have a dog obey a silent command. Dogs see round corners with their noses. One of our pointers would stand by the front door sucking in outside air through the letter box and could have a picture of who and what was passing - the postman complained!
Never let the dog jump up at you, deter it by making the experience unpleasant. A knee to the chest to push it away works but be careful, that could turn in to a game. Grab the dogs paws and hold them tightly till the dog feels uncomfortable (not in pain) and pulls away, that seems to work well.
House training, if you are lucky the pup will ask to go outside from the start. Never miss a sign, if the pup goes to the door or starts to go round in circles or maybe some other signal which you must learn for yourself then let it out immediately - fail once and the pup will learn that it is ok to pee on the carpet - then you have a bit of carpet which smells of pee and the pup will adopt it as a toilet. Far better to have a bit of carpet in the garden which you hold the pup over to pee on for the first couple of times, it will then adopt that as a toilet and ask to go there and eventually, wait till it can get there. Soon the pup will learn that outside is the toilet and inside is definitely not.
Develop a language that you both understand. The dog does not speak English (or German). Don’t waste your breath having a conversation in a language the dog does not understand. For example, if you say ”Don’t be a bad boy Fido, it is not acceptable for you to sit down here in the doorway”. All the dog hears is “Fido sit” all the rest is just noise from which he may deduce your mood but not your message. Develop a vocabulary of words/commands which the dog can easily hear and understand. Words such as “Sit - down - heel” are obvious but you should also find words which the dog understands to be more general commands. I like “out” to stop the dog in its tracks and back away form any situation such as scrabbling under furniture, shoving its nose in someone crotch, climbing on furniture or going through a gate in to someones garden and so many more things that you will never get a precise command for. Beware of giving your dog a name which contains a command. One of our neighbours called his Alsatian Bruno and wondered why the dog was so difficult to train. He took the dog to lessons only to be told that the problem was that every time he spoke the dogs name all the dog heard and understood was the NO! at the end. Dogs names should be short sharp and not to be confused with commands. It has been known for people to train their dogs using the wrong words in order to prevent other people from interfering with the dog, accidentally or otherwise - you can train your dog to understand NO when you say YES, he will be perfectly comfortable with that. An important sound is the hiss - if you want your dog to pay attention and stop what he is about to do just hiss, like a snake - nothing nice in nature hisses - the dog will react immediately and it is something you can do while having a conversation without interrupting your friend too much. The hiss is also the start of the word sit so you will find that a simple hiss will get your dog to stop misbehaving and sit by your side without too much fuss.
The dog must know that you are the leader of the pack. Never let a dog pass through a gap such as a doorway in front of you. The dog must always wait for you to go through first. I have a friend who sometimes sits in the dogs bed and shoos the dog away to make the point that he is the leader and the dog must give him preference. If the dog is sitting in your chair it should jump out as soon as you come near. When you give the dog its food, put the bowl on the floor and make the dog wait ,sitting patiently for a few moments before receiving the command to take the food. The dog should learn that it is OK for you to pick the bowl up and take it somewhere else before letting it eat again, practise this. The last thing you want is to end up lying on your back on the floor covered with dog food and the dog licking you clean - a GSP can and will do that if you let it! The dog must only get food from its own bowl, never give a dog titbits unless in the bowl. Do not use food as a training aid, this is totally unnecessary - what will you do one day when you have run out of biscuits? Do not feed the dog titbits while you are eating at the table - do not let other people feed your dog. The dog sees the person who feeds it as some sort of god. In a household made up of a big dominant male and his small timid wife the wife should be the one to feed the dog, thereby gaining the dog’s respect.
Punishment does not work Getting the dog’s attention and giving reminders is the way forward. Your tone of voice is important - try to be consistent with joyous upbeat sounds when the dog has done well and a melancholy, disappointed voice when the dog misbehaves - they learn to judge your mood very quickly - and your body language. Your dog loves you and all the reward he needs is to know that he has pleased you - show this with affection and a happy voice. The dog has a very short period of time in which it is aware of the consequences of its actions. If the dog is to be reprimanded for misbehaving the reprimand must come within seconds of the action. I can best illustrate this with a simple example. If the dog has been told to sit and wait somewhere while you attend to something else and it is distracted and stands up to walk off, then your command to stop that action “NO” has to come immediately, two seconds later the dog’s mind has moved on to coming to heel and sit beside you and then the command will be very counterproductive indeed.
Getting the dog’s attention is quite an art. If you can whistle this works well. You could buy a dog whistle, or any whistle really. I find a bunch of keys or maybe some metal washers on a key ring works really well. Tie the washers to the end of a short piece of string do you don’t have to bend over to pick them up all the time. Get in to the habit of using your signal all the time. I use the bunch of washers physically as well. Should the dog, for example, try to get in front of you when going through a door way then drop the washers on the dogs head, it will be startled and pull back behind you - such use of the washers will make the dog aware of the sound they make and can later be used at a distance as a reminder / attention call. Just shake the washers and the dog will immediately stop in its tracks and look for you, to see what you need of it. Throwing stones at your dog is a good way of achieving “remote”control. Do not throw the stone hard or in any way hurt the dog but start by dropping a small stone on the dog’s back when it misbehaves. As the dog learns you can toss a stone to land on the dogs back from a distance. Then you will find that you can gain the dogs attention by just tossing a small stone in your hand and catching it again or even just by bending down and pretending to pick up a stone. Much of the stone throwing process depends on the fact that a trained dog never, for a moment, looses sight of you and if you develop an action that the dog recognises as important it will constantly be on the look out for that action.
When you are out “working” with your dog maintain your interest and concentration. Stopping to talk to someone when you should be giving signals to your dog who is searching for something to retrieve is asking for trouble. Don’t be afraid to say to someone “sorry but I have to finish this activity with my dog and bring him to heel and put him on the lead before I can talk to you” Loosing concentration can lead to your dog running in to the road, for example. Don’t put answering a phone call before completing the activity with the dog. Teach your dog, on command, to return to you, walk round behind you, to your left side and put his head in to the waiting loop on the lead. Your life then becomes much easier too.
Never forget that the dog loves you. It will never run away and get lost, it may take a while but they always come back to you. Never chase after the dog, this becomes a game and the dog will continue to run away thinking that you are having a good time too - watch two dogs at play in an open field, they chase each other endlessly, what fun! If your dog is running away then the best response is to turn your back and walk away, the dog will run back to you to find out what is wrong.
Concentrate on learning to recognise signals from the dog. The most obvious signal is when the dog is about to have a crap - you will learn this one quite quickly, sadly there is not much you can do to stop it happening. You will also learn to spot the dogs head come up when it is about to run off after something, a quick “no” will prevent a disaster. The dog’s body language is as important as yours, learn to read it.
Training a GSP can take many forms and you need to give thought to what sort of life you and your dog are going to lead. You might be a hunter wanting to work your dog with guns or birds of prey. You might want a dog to perform tricks for shows or agility contests and be part of your social round. You might want a dog solely as a companion, for company and as a guard dog in your home. Whatever your future together you must remember that a busy GSP is a happy GSP - they need to have work to do.
Basic training will involve simple commands. You may find it helpful to prefix commands with the dogs name to gain attention. Use the puppy’s name often when it is young to get it conditioned to knowing when the next word is going to be a command for him. Do the training in a place where neither you nor the dog will be distracted. You by other people and the dog by anything, he will be distracted by other people, dogs, sounds, smells - you name it he will want to investigate. Try to find a clean, quiet place to work if you can.
“Sit” can be taught and then you can introduce a single long blast on the whistle to give the same command and if you want you can also hold your hand up palm towards the dog for a silent version.
“Bed” is useful to get the dog safely out of the way, for example when crossing the room with a plate of hot food but don’t overdo it, GSPs will get to resent enforced periods of inactivity.
“Down” is just an extension of sit and can be taught as such, getting the dog to sit first and then down is just the next natural extension of that move.
“Out” can be used to stop the dog in its tracks and back away form any situation such as scrabbling under furniture, shoving its nose in someone crotch, climbing on furniture or going through a gate in to someones garden and so many more things that you will never get a precise command for. To train this use “out” and pull the dog out of the situation with the lead. Do this often and the dog will learn to stop and retreat whenever you want it to.
“Stay” is a tricky one, start with short distances, still within sight and progress to longer out of sight stays - going in to a shop for example. It takes a long time to get this one right
Walking to heel and coming to heel are best taught in a confined space such as an alleyway or corridor where the dogs is physically restricted in its movements. Never let the dog move in front of you while walking - I find the bunch of washers good for this. When the dog comes to heel and walks to heel it should always be on the same side - hunters prefer the left as it keeps the right hand free to hold the gun. When coming to heel the dog should walk behind you to the preferred side and you can then have the loop in the lead ready for the dog to pop its head in - yes they will do this willingly. Use a lead with a slip loop in the end, these are much quicker to get on or off than clips or hooks attached to a collar. Always use a short lead - if the dog is further away then you should have command over it with voice or whistle signals and if it is in a situation such as near traffic where you need physical control the you need a short lead anyway. Long extension leads tend to make the dog forget to listen out for signals from you.
Recall is important and you should use a command which can be repeated quickly. Here here here or heel heel heel work OK but I prefer several short blasts on the whistle - this will bring a GSP back from the other side of a field, woodland, river or even, the living room. Like walking to heel, the training should be done in a restricted place such as an alleyway or corridor where the dogs is physically restricted in its movements. Take a friend along, someone from the same family group is good because then the dog learns to recognise their recall “voice” as well. Set yourselves apart in the alleyway by about 5 metres. One of you should hold the dog, sitting and facing the other person. The recall command is then given and person 1 releases the dog as soon as it becomes excited. The dog will run straight to person 2 who should reward the dog by petting and use of the happy voice (no food). As soon a s the dog is calm, person 2 gets the dog in the ready sitting position and person 1 gives the signal - repeat ad nauseam - the puppy will get bored after a few runs and you should never go beyond this point but return to the exercise at least daily, gradually increasing the distance and eventually moving out of the restricted space when the dog comes to the recall every time and without hesitation.
It is very rewarding to be able to get the dog to obey hand signals from a distance. You should start by stopping the dog and getting its attention with the sit command and then you can wave a hand left or right to get the dog to go that way. Start with a reward such as a ball or retrieving dummy which the doing should be able to see. Working in front of a wall to restrict the dogs options is a good way to start. Move on to a hidden dummy and then watch as the true instinct kicks in and the dog starts to search for the dummy with its nose. You will eventually be able to hide multiple dummies and he will find them all with help of your signals and scent. Always be aware of wind direction when you want the dog to use its nose. This also applies when the dog is looking for you, if you have lost contact with your dog get upwind of it and he will find you by smell.
Stopping and turning the dog to whistle signals can be trained in to the dog with a friend running beside the dog on a short lead and turning the dog to the signals.
Oh, I forgot to mention water. All of this “retriever” training can be done in water and your GSP will dive in to water at the first opportunity. These dogs are all purpose gun dogs - hunt point and retrieve. It was a long time before they gained acceptance here in England where traditionally we used three separate dogs for those commands. Watch your puppy learn to point - he will start pointing bees which have a very strong smell if you are a dog. Be careful not to teach your dog to search for and retrieve everything, this can happen if you make too much of a game of it. We had one GSP which would clean up everything in the area and bring it to you thinking you would be pleased with a half eaten sweet, a long lost leggo brick, a mouthful of horse shit or even on one occasion a Yorkshire terrier!
Field trials are most rewarding for GSPs and their owners, you can use this as a good way to train and enjoy working with your dog, even if you have no ambition to compete. A book called “All purpose gun dog” can be very useful.
• Publisher : Dalsetter Designs; 2nd Revised edition (1 Dec. 1989)
• Language : English
• Hardcover : 204 pages,
• ISBN-10 : 1871856000
• ISBN-13 : 978-1871856002
Which ever way you choose to develop your relationship with your dog, hard work, by the pair of you, will bring about one of the most rewarding experiences that life has to offer - good luck.
Phil
It seems that I have some sort of allergic reaction to wheat and potatoes which may well be more due to the chemicals sprayed on the intensively grown crops than due to the plants themselves. Anyway, I avoid both of them and eat more oats which are beneficial in many ways. Oats release the sugars and therefore energy in to your bloodstream more slowly than some other carbohydrates which means you feel full and energised for longer. There are many other advantages to eating oats which can be better read elsewhere, but here I am going to outline some of the recipes I have put together over the years of eating oats.
In all of my recipes I use jumbo rolled oats by Mornflake but the choice is yours.
I will start with my all time favourite way of eating oats and that is savoury oat bread.
Start with a teacup of boiling water in a mixing bowl and add seasoning to taste - I use a half teaspoon of salt; a half teaspoon of coarse ground black pepper; a teaspoon of mixed Herbes de Provence.
Add about 3/4 of a pint of rolled jumbo oats and stir them in to the water you may need to add a little more water but not too much. Aim to get all of the oats wet but no water left in the bottom of the bowl. I use a plastic spatula and continue turning the mix till it takes on a sticky, doughy texture, this only takes a minute. Add an egg and continue turning till it is fully dispersed in the mix.
I like to add two tablespoons of grated Cheddar cheese, a slack handful of olives, black or green. chopped coarsely. Mix everything in to ensure a good distribution.
Transfer the mix to an oiled baking tray, I am generous with the olive oil as it is soaked up by the oats and adds to the flavour. Use a tray big enough to keep the thickness down to no more than 3/4 of an inch (20mm). Use the spatula to rough up the surface a bit - some high spots to brown add a bit of both texture and flavour.
Put in a pre heated oven at about 200c for 20 minutes - check to see that the surface is just starting to brown and that’s it all done.
Tip out on to a bread board to cool and slice in to “soldiers” to eat with just about any savoury dish instead of other less healthy carbs.
The same recipe can be altered by adding such things as pre fried chopped mushrooms - bits of Chorizo, red or green peppers. Just experiment and find your own favourites.
The same mix can be dropped in to a frying pan, using a round mould, to make quick oatcakes which are delicious on their own or topped with goodies to make an excellent starter for any meal.
If you are really pressed for time the mix can be spread on a microwave proof tray and done in about 3 minutes - not so appetising but still nutritious and very quick.
Nothing compares to this bread for carrying with you on a long walk, a couple of soldiers will keep you going for hours!