The Training Adventures of Bob the Dog

Meet Bob, a two-year-old working Golden Retriever, and follow our honest training diary as we build recall, retrieves, heelwork and teamwork.

The Training Adventures of Bob the Dog – Part One

Many of you have enjoyed following Griff's training adventures over the past couple of years. Some of you tell me you find them inspiring, whilst others say they're reassuring because they show that training isn't always straightforward—even for a dog trainer.

Well, there's a new recruit in town!

I'd like to introduce you to Bob.

Bob certainly wasn't planned. Sometimes life has other ideas, and you simply have to go with the flow and see where the adventure takes you.

I've had Bob for around four weeks now. He's a two-year-old working-line Golden Retriever from breeding lines I'd actually been researching with the possibility of getting a puppy from in a year or two.

Sadly, through no fault of his own, Bob had to be returned to his breeder.

Of course I wanted to know a little about his previous life and what training he'd had, but I don't place too much importance on that. I prefer to take dogs exactly as I find them. One of the things I enjoy most is the journey of discovery that we begin together.

I knew Bob had done some gundog training. I was told he had a reasonable foundation, which has proved to be true. Drive is something I look for in a working dog, and Bob certainly has it. As the weather cools and his fitness improves, I suspect there'll be even more to come.

I was also told his outrun to a dummy was good, but that he didn't place enough value on the retrieve itself, often picking the dummy before continuing to hunt.

Interestingly, that wasn't what I found at all.

Instead, I discovered a dog who happily picked up the dummy... before wandering off to enjoy a good chew! Alongside that, recall wasn't particularly valuable to him and lead walking left rather a lot to be desired.

Considering Bob is built like a brick outhouse, being towed around wasn't something I was keen to continue for very long!

The unusually hot summer has meant Bob's training has started slowly. We've kept sessions short and enjoyable, concentrating on building the foundations rather than rushing ahead.

Most of our work has focused on:

strengthening his recall
building value in markers and rewards
lots of play
learning to swim
teaching him that giving something up doesn't mean the game is over.

My suspicion is that more recent training may not have relied heavily on reward-based methods. I also wonder whether possessions had regularly been taken away from him, making him reluctant to part with things. Through games and play, he's quickly learnt that handing something over simply means more fun follows.

Today was noticeably cooler, so we managed our first really productive training session.

Walking into the training field is still something we're working on, so we began by helping Bob settle into his environment and introducing a consistent warm-up routine before any formal training starts. He handled this brilliantly.

Next came several heelwork exercises. Within the structure of a training exercise, Bob works beautifully. Outside of that structure... not quite so much! Like many dogs, he now needs plenty of generalisation so those skills transfer into everyday life.

I've also been rebuilding his retrieve pattern.

Initially we worked with food before introducing a dummy and then alternating between the two. Up until today I've used a long line to prevent him disappearing with the dummy while we establish the behaviour I want.

I've also experimented with different rewards to stop the dummy becoming the prize. A Lotus Ball has proved to be an excellent solution, giving him something even more rewarding to work for.

Today's breakthrough?

Several lovely retrieves without Bob even considering running off for a chew.

That's real progress.

Finally, we spent some time on the stop whistle. Like everything else, we've built it in tiny, achievable steps. Today I was able to send Bob to a food bowl, stopped him successfully, rewarded him, and then recall him.

It's only a small exercise, but it's exactly the sort of foundation that future handling work is built upon.

We're still very much at the beginning of our journey together. Bob isn't a blank canvas, but neither is he a finished picture. Over the coming months I'll share the successes, the setbacks and everything in between.

After all, that's what dog training really looks like.