Tom Dokken's Top 10 Tips for Dog Training

Senior ProStaff Tom Dokken has forgotten more about dog training than most of us will ever know, so it would be almost impossible to get everything in one place, but Tom shared some of his Top 10 Tips for dog training:

1. Never give an order you cannot enforce. If you do, your dog will develop selective hearing.

2. There are 3 stages to completing a new command: 1. Teaching the command and assisting your dog through the processes, 2. Repetition, and 3. Discipline.

3. If you have a waterfowl dog, you should also have a neoprene vest for cold weather hunting and early spring water training.

4. Teaching your dog to track birds is a valuable skill. Begin by taking your dog's favourite training dummy and scenting it with liquid scent. Then, drag it a short distance, for example ten yards, and leave your dummy at the end of the scent trail. Command 'Dead bird' and start your dog at the beginning of the scent drag. Once your dog can manage short drags, increase the length of the drag. Eventually, your dog will have the confidence to stay on scent for long distances

5. Teaching your dog to respond to the whistle is easy. Follow these steps: 1. Give your verbal command then follow it immediately with your whistle, i.e. “come” then repeated blasts on the whistle, 2. use the whistle first then give the verbal command, and 3. eliminate the verbal command and just use the whistle.

6. All canines are pre-programmed to hunt for food. This means they will also work for food from an early age. Treat rewards can be used as young as 7 weeks to teach commands such as come, sit, stay, lie down, and kennel. This is an excellent way to start commands at an early age. Later on, you can eliminate the treats and use praise as the reward for working.

7. Here is a quick way to get your puppy ready to chase down injured birds: First have your puppy retrieve a bird wing. Then tie a four-foot length of fishing line to your wing. Attach it to the end of a fishing rod. Allow your puppy to chase the wing and catch it on the ground. This will encourage the chase and catch instinct and prepare your puppy for a live bird.

8. All waterfowl dogs should learn to work out of a boat. Begin at the back and with your boat on dry land. Next, work on retrieving from the boat. The second step, take your boat to the edge, where your dog can jump out into shallow water to retrieve, followed by jumping into deeper water. Until your dog will leap from your boat into water that is over his head.

9. If you hunt upland birds with your retriever or spaniel, a beeper collar is an excellent tool to keep tabs on your dog in dense undergrowth. Also, if you set a beeper to locate only mode, your dog can learn to check in with you when it hears the beeper sound as you press the locate button.

10. Here is an easy way to teach your dog to drink from a water bottle. Dab some peanut butter on the end of the bottle and let your dog lick it off. After a few sessions, your dog will be ready to start drinking water from your bottle.

For more information from Tom, have a look at his book Retriever Training. What are your Top 10 tips for training dogs?