Training The Pointing Labrador

In this episode, we break down the fundamentals to teach a dog how to effectively become a partner in your upland work, hunting or competitive.  Things are always easier and more thoroughly taught by teaching them one at a time, in a context that makes sense to an inexperienced dog.  These dogs do not come to us understanding the complex upland game, and few learn by just watching other dogs.  Approach this in a clear, methodical way based on how the dog perceives this work, and you'll have a dog that doesn't require "correction", whistling, yelling or frustration in the field.

In this episode, I breakdown the ways I've always evaluated my training process.  How do you know how much of something to do, or when to start or stop it?  It can be confusing at times to figure out the order of steps, how much to do and what comes next.  Here are a few ideas to help design up your dog work..   www.Batesworks.net

In this episode we discuss how much our dogs, personal, training, hunting or competitive - reflect our inner workings, perspective, thoughts and anxieties.  When they exhibit certain responses and behaviors that confuse us or become problematic, it is virtually never them having gone rogue or nuts on us.  Instead, it is merely a reflection of what we thought or what signals we sent without even being aware of having sent the potentially confusing signals. It is a real skill to evaluate our own impact on our dog's behavior, but it important if we want to become better dog people.     Batesworks.net

In today's episode, we break down how to maintain a dog already trained to a high level, so they are game-day ready.  In fact, you can't, but you can make a plan, so your dog builds with focus, confidence and trust so come game-day...... You are both ready.  Listen in for some ideas....

Electric collar use is fairly widespread these days.  You get one idea about how to use it from viewing the video that came with it or reading its instructions.  You get another idea from watching local hunters or trainers use it with their dog.  You can read things on forums and it's almost like politics, you can wildly swing from one side of the topic to the other.  It isn't as much about the collar or the electricity, as it is about understanding your dog, how they think, how they react to training pressure, and how much fundamental work you're willing to put in before turning on the power.  It isn't that the 'good' guys don't use it much and the 'bad' guys do.  It is about understanding pressure, the goal of its use and how your dog processes all of this.  Listen in to a slightly different idea about this tool...

In this episode, after some business updates, we talk about what to do when you bring the new guy home.  How do you decide how to approach this pup, its behavior, its current and future training?  How does anyone know what to begin with in a pup's life?  Do you even train a baby dog?  What does that look like?  Shouldn't we just let "a puppy be a puppy?"  Let's talk about all of this...   Bateworks.net Trainingthepointinglabrador.com

On one of my favorite topics of all time, we break down the steps to go through with your litter of choice, and things to pay attention to.  Some folks don't go through the selection process, and some of us have made a life study of it.  Grab some ideas here before you go pick out that one in a lifetime pup!

In this episode, I take two questions off the website.  The first is about recovering a dog made gun-shy after returning from 8 months of professional training.  The other is more commentary about an article written by a pro stating we should be thanking our dogs for playing these dog games with them.  I agree philosophically, but I think it's much larger than that.

This is a discussion about going beyond just teaching your dog the behaviors and responses you need.  Once that is accomplished, take the next step to make sure your dog makes the right choice with no training gear 150 yards out at a dead run, or starting at a pheasant sneaking away in the cover.  It is a thing accomplished through basics, not field corrections.  We'll talk about it here....

This has to be one of my favorites of all the episodes, and one near and dear to my heart.  Dogs, like people can have mental illness, severe moods, mental and emotional issues.  They aren't exactly like us, but they can be similar in the variability in how they perceive their world.  When we interact with them, whether in training or regular life, if we first take into account "where their head is" and what they are thinking, or not thinking about, EVERYTHING is immeasurably easier.  Here is some food for thought in working with and owning these canines...

In 2023's first episode, we discuss the general nature of training.  Is it hard to do?  How to get started in your area, and do you have to be 'tough' on dogs to be a good dog trainer?

In this episode, I go over the television show by the Kinetic Dog Food Company, called Unleashed, Dogs without Limits.    The show will be broadcast on Pursuit Channel the week of December26th.  It will have the anchor spot in prime-time Friday at 9 EST.  It will also run on Tuesday at 5:30 EST and Thursday 9 a.m. EST. Once the Pursuit Channel week is up, Kinetic will make it public on their YouTube channel as well, Unleashed, Dogs without Limits.  If you have a moment and like these dogs, DO check this out. Merry Christmas and an Excellent 2023 for all!   Batesworks.net

In today's episode, we breakdown what is behind having to "correct" a dog or change their behavior.  People often have very strong ideas about this topic, either being extremely lax with their dog, or being extremely strict or punishing to make these changes.  Training shouldn't be so much about 'correction', but instead educating.  It is a topic which should be discussed a whole lot more than it is.

This episode is dedicated entirely to the dog that has been a big part of our lives but is now entering its senior years.  Though older and not quite as capable, they have no concept of not being able to do everything they ever did.  Handling this time of life with love and understanding is as important as your loved ones doing that for you when you are elderly.

Most behavioral and performance problems stem from a dog either not understanding expectations, or the dog being denied a chance at enjoying its life purpose.  Regardless of why any of us has the dog or dogs we have, it is easier to have things the way we want if we understand the needs of our animals, and how to deal with those.

In this episode, we talk about one subject.  If you are a trainer of a dog or dogs (or anything else really), do you already know everything to get the job done?  Or, do you get the job done by constantly being taught by your dog?  It's an interesting examination....   Book and videos available one www.Batesworks.net

In this episode, we address how to get some decent dog work done with very short, very cold days.  The 2nd question is about understanding what "making a dog think" really means; what that looks like in the daily life of a dog, and in training.  It is actually a multi-level concept.

In this episode, I do a podcast for a particular person on the topic of keeping your dog advancing while enjoying the hunting season.  Especially if some competitions and titles are going to be part of the dog's future.  It isn't a hard thing to do, but when you've never done it before, it can be confusing what to do, how much and how often.  This may break it down a little bit for some..

In this episode,  we talk about things to do with your dog to maintain your work from this year and your standards for behavior.  Even with the short days and the cold, there is lots you can do to keep you ready for hunting, progress in your program and next year.

This podcast is for 3 clients.  I trained 3 brown girls for the year, pointing Labs, all point, retriever and run blind retrieves.  The owners are concerned about what to do to keep things going with these fancy ladies, so I decided to give them their own personal podcast.  So here we go.... after the wild girls come home.