More Training Updates with Griff!

A gundog training weekend with Griff brings challenges, progress and valuable lessons about patience, maturity, foundations and working as a team.

More Training Updates with Griff!

We’ve just returned from a training weekend on the Devon/Somerset borders, and I’ve come home with plenty to think about, a good dose of reality and a few reminders that are just as relevant to me as a dog trainer as they are to me as Griff’s handler.

First things first, though: big girl brave pants were definitely required!

I’d been invited to join the weekend by someone I’d met at another training venue a few months ago. Unfortunately, they weren’t able to attend, which meant heading off to spend a weekend in a shared house with a group of people I didn’t know.

The house itself was large, with plenty of space for everyone, and I was lucky enough to have a room of my own. I always appreciate having somewhere to retreat to when I need a bit of quiet time. The dogs weren’t allowed in the house, but that wasn’t a problem for Griff. He’s much happier in the van, which is his safe place.

There were also a couple of paddocks available for exercising the dogs, which made life much easier at the beginning and end of each day. Catering was shared between everyone attending, so the responsibility of feeding the masses didn’t fall to one person, with everyone sorting their own breakfasts and lunches.

All in all, the practical arrangements worked well, and we were ready to get on with the important bit: training!

A group of six, with plenty to learn

There were six of us training, with Griff being the only Golden Retriever among a group of Labradors. There was also a good range of experience and ability among both the handlers and the dogs.

At two years old, Griff was one of the youngest dogs attending, both in terms of age and experience, apart from a wonderful seven-month-old puppy who had come along for the ride and a little experience. In terms of maturity, I’m not entirely convinced Griff had the advantage!

We spent Saturday and Sunday training at the South West Gundog Training Centre, with Monday left for people to train independently or in smaller groups on Exmoor.

Saturday: excitement, challenges and a little reality check

As you might expect, Griff found the new training venue incredibly exciting. His ability to mark retrieves and listen to my cues was definitely compromised, and he was, at times, rather all over the place.

That’s part of the learning, though. Working in an unfamiliar environment, with different dogs, people, terrain and distractions, is a very different proposition from training somewhere familiar.

To be fair, I think we were both trying to find our feet.

There were positives. Griff managed not to run in on the marked retrieves, and he did as asked when sent back to areas where he had previously picked. Returning to an area of an earlier fall has been something he’s struggled with in recent months, so that was progress worth recognising.

We also got through Saturday without him squirming underneath another dog, something else that has caused difficulties in his training. These might not have been the most spectacular achievements of the weekend, but they mattered.

Saturday afternoon brought another experience for this sensitive boy: a ride in a Kubota. It’s not something he’s used to, and he’s not particularly comfortable with it, so that was another challenge to navigate.

We then moved on to retrieves across a small valley, working on both marks and memories. The changes in the ground made maintaining his mark difficult, while the stinging nettles provided an unpleasant distraction of their own. At one point, he needed to stop and sort his feet out before he was able to respond to any of my cues.

And this is where things became a little more challenging for me.

I can always find positives in our experiences, and there were certainly some on Saturday. We made progress with returning to areas of previous falls, and we avoided the squirming-under-dogs issue.

However, if I’m being completely honest, I finished the day feeling a little inadequate, disappointed and frustrated.

That wasn’t a reflection of the people I was training with or the ground we were working on. It was about me, my expectations and a healthy dose of reality.

I’m not always the most patient person when it comes to my own dogs, and I was reminded that knowing all the right things to do as a trainer doesn’t automatically make them easy to put into practice when you’re emotionally invested in your own dog.

Sunday: a change of approach

Sunday was another day at the South West Gundog Training Centre, but I approached it differently.

In hindsight, it was an approach I should probably have taken from the beginning.

When you’re training as part of a group, there are all sorts of very human pressures at play. You don’t want to take too much time, you’re conscious of the other people waiting, and there’s always the possibility that you feel you’re being judged, even when nobody is judging you at all.

It’s easy to get caught up in the exercise as it was intended to be completed, rather than concentrating on what your own dog needs to learn at that moment.

So, I adjusted things.

I broke exercises down, corrected errors and made sure Griff understood what I was asking of him before expecting him to get on with it. I stopped worrying quite so much about completing the exercise as originally intended and concentrated instead on helping him achieve what I wanted him to learn.

The difference was worthwhile.

Griff was also noticeably more settled on Sunday. He was more familiar with the venue and, I suspect, that helped him to function a little better.

We managed some stops and casts, including a few that were very close to what I wanted. There’s still plenty of work to do, but that’s precisely the point: we’re developing skills, not expecting perfection.

I was also careful to concentrate on just one element within each exercise. Trying to tackle too many things at once is a good way to make learning confusing and ineffective.

It’s something I talk about regularly with my own clients, and it was a useful reminder to put that advice into practice myself.

And, of course, the retrieve itself is the least important part of a training sequence. There’s so much more to a capable gundog than going out and picking up a dummy or a bird. The foundations, the decisions the dog makes along the way, and the relationship between dog and handler are what really matter.

Monday: knowing when enough is enough

Monday was an opportunity for those attending to head out onto Exmoor and train, either alone or in small groups.

I decided that Griff had done enough for the weekend, so we opted out of further training.

Instead, we went for a lovely walk along the river.

Griff encountered a variety of environmental challenges, including unfamiliar bridges and horses that took a closer look at him over a fence. He negotiated these experiences, and they provided their own opportunities for learning without the added demands of a formal training session.

If I’m completely honest, I wasn’t particularly keen on doing more training either.

The last few months, and especially the last few weeks, have been personally challenging. My own resilience isn’t quite what it might usually be, and the weekend had been a big enough experience for both of us.

Sometimes the best decision is to stop, take a breath and let everything settle.

There is no prize for squeezing in another training session when neither you nor your dog needs it.

So, what have I taken away from the weekend?

Once I give myself a good talking to, I’m pleased with what Griff achieved and how he managed himself. We did make progress, even if it wasn’t always the sort of progress that looks particularly impressive from the outside.

But the weekend also reminded me just how immature Griff still is, and how far we have to go if I decide that competition is something I want to pursue with him.

It’s still too early to know whether that will be a realistic possibility. There’s no point making that judgement now, and I’m certainly not going to rush the process.

What I do know is that Griff is still developing, and that he needs time, experience and plenty more training.

The weekend also reminded me of something slightly less comfortable about myself: I’m quietly competitive. I don’t particularly like having a dog who appears less able than the others around him, and I can find that difficult when I know what I’m hoping to achieve.

That’s mine to own, not Griff’s problem to solve.

He doesn’t know what the other dogs can do, nor does he care how his performance compares with theirs. He can only work with the experience, understanding and skills he has at that moment, and it’s my job to help him develop those things.

So, yes, I need to get my act together and get back to it! But I also need to remember that progress isn't linear, that maturity cannot be hurried, and that a training weekend isn't a final assessment of what a dog might eventually achieve.

The value of training with other people

I really appreciated the patience, company and friendship of the group. It was a privilege to be included, and I hope that, if we’re invited along again in the future, Griff and I will be a little better equipped to hold our own.

The weekend has given me bucketloads of feedback, plenty to mull over and quite a lot to process. I suspect it will take a day or two for everything to settle into place and for me to decide what needs to change in our training.

That’s one of the benefits of stepping outside your usual training environment. You see what your dog can manage, where things start to unravel, what needs more work and, sometimes, where your own expectations need a little adjustment.

We don’t always come home with everything going to plan. Sometimes we come home with questions, a few uncomfortable truths and a clearer idea of what to work on next.

And that’s valuable too.

Where this will take us, who knows? Only time will tell.

For now, we’ll keep learning, keep working on the foundations and keep building the team.

Relationship and team first, last and always.

Categories: : Training