Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Teaching Your Retriever Hand Signals

When hunting upland birds or waterfowl, it sometimes is necessary to direct your dog to an area you want her to hunt, or to downed game that she  didn't see fall. This is when hand signals come in, well... handy.

I like to wait until after a dog's first hunting season to begin teaching hand signals, although I see no reason you couldn't start teaching them earlier. The following instructions assume a few things:
  • Your dog already is accomplished at retrieving single dummies.
  • Your dog knows not to break for a dummy until you verbally cue her.
  • Your dog heels moderately well.
  • Your dog has mastered the sit/stay and will stay put until you get several yards away from her.
To begin teaching hand signals, take the dog to a nice, big field. I often use undeveloped tracts of land slated for improvements in Northeast Denver; there are many of them around Green Valley Ranch. But any place will do, as long as the grass isn't too tall (more on this in a moment).

Once you arrive at your training grounds, follow these steps:
  • Imagine you are standing on home base. Then walk your dog at heel from home base out to where you imagine the pitcher's mound would be.
  • Have your dog sit on the pitcher's mound. (I like to blow one long burst on my whistle just before saying "sit." You might as well get in some whistle training while you're at it. This will be useful when the dog is out in the middle of a field and you need her to sit and wait for a hand signal.
  • Throw one dummy towards where you imagine first base would be. Don't throw it too far. For now, five or ten yards is fine. You want the dog to be able to mark the fall without difficulty.
  • Tell the dog "stay," and walk back to home base. When you get back to home base, the dog probably will be looking at you like you're crazy. That's OK. He'll figure out what you're doing soon enough.
  • Hold your right arm straight out at shoulder level and command your dog to retrieve the dummy.
  • Do this several times, and he'll soon start associating your right arm being held out with moving to towards first base. Once you feel she has it, start throwing the dummy towards third base and extending your left arm when you command her to retriever. You'll also want to throw the dummy towards second base and extend your arm towards it (this should look something like an overhand pitch) to teach her to move directly away from you.
Don't rush it. One hand signal per training session (or even several training sessions) is fine. If you try to advance too quickly, you'll only confuse and frustrate the dog.

Once the dog understands the three hand signals (left, right, and go back), you will want to gradually increase the distance you are tossing the dummies and work in areas with taller grass. The key is to only change one variable at a time. Again, too much too fast likely will discourage your dog. Remember, you want to build her confidence and skill level, not stump her.

Don't forget to praise your dog lavishly and tell her what a pretty retriever she is when she gets it right. Flattery will get you everywhere.

For more dog training tips and information on obedience classes in Denver, Colorado, visit the  FetchMasters website or email Tom directly.