by Tim Andrews
Hi. My name is Tim and I suffer from Adult Onset Hunting (AOH). When my time in the Navy sent me to Hawaii and Guam, I filled my free time with diving and spearfishing. I even became a SCUBA instructor and a freediving instructor trainer. When I retired and left tropical paradise, I was left with a big void in my life. I also went culinary school. There are several reasons I pursued my culinary degree, but one quick look at me demonstrates my love of food was front and center. I especially like eating duck, which really helped open door for the AOH. Unfortunately, I don’t like Labrador retrievers. Don’t get me wrong, there are some excellent labs doing some amazing things—I just don’t like them. Once I discovered versatile hunting dogs, I was set down a path that was littered with Griffs and a passion for excellent dog work and upland hunting.
I think that if we’re being honest with ourselves, if our interest begins and ends with harvesting wild birds, a dog of appropriate breed from a good breeding program requires very little training to be the proverbial “meat dog”. I, however, find myself wanting so much more, and if you’re anything like me, you have almost certainly found yourself attending NAVHDA training days and tests or trying your hand at AKC hunt tests. There you’ve undoubtedly seen some really solid dogs, doing some really good dog work. As impressed as I have been by those dogs, I couldn’t help but watch my goofy, little Ewoks stalk the cats in my living room and wonder if there was something missing from so many of those dogs I’ve seen. When Nick interviewed Randall Lykens (episodes 240 and 246) and he talked about having fun with games like tug and really challenged the way I thought dogs were “supposed” to be trained, my interest was piqued. The tipping point was when I had the opportunity to see Randall handle his pudelpointer, Creek, in the field and I saw the enthusiasm, joy, AND obedience. I immediately knew it's what I was missing and there WAS a better way (we had a chance to chat about some of it in episode 258).
Nick has already begun exploring this new approach, obviously, with Randall and also with Jared Warren (episodes 274 and 275) and over the course of the next several weeks, he’ll delve deep into it. There’s a discussion with Justin Rigney about e-collars that will almost certainly radically change the way you think about them in episode 283. Chris Armanini is going walk us through the Unforced Force Fetch (UFF) program that he laid out in a 3-part blog series (part 1 is linked here) and in episode 282 with an accompanying special YouTube release. It probably won't look that much different than what you're used to seeing, BUT, the dogs' enthusiasm is so much higher and the experience is so much better for the handler if you capture the subtle differences. And before you can say he just makes it look good because he's using black labs: my wife is currently taking her 7 month old Griff puppy through the program and the results are amazing. Next week this "series" will kick off in episode 281 where Chris and Justin are joined by Randall for a roundtable discussion with Nick and myself exploring all kinds of different things, including why the three of them do things the way they do. The “series” will close out when Nick sits down with Nate Czarnota to recap the seminar of his that Nick and I attended where he utilizes a NePoPo approach to training hunting dogs.
Whether you’re in search of your first dog or you consider yourself a seasoned pro, I encourage you to listen to these episodes with an open mind. Ask yourself if compelling a dog (with force) to do the things you ask of it is good enough, or if you’d rather see your dog performing with enthusiasm and excitement. Even on the bad days, when the reps are going poorly, is your dog pouring its heart and soul into offering the behavior that you want or are you both just frustrated wondering why it isn't going how you want?
Lastly, is training your dog a chore that must be done, or is a fun and exciting highlight of your day? Which do you want it to be?
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