As a retired pointing dog trainer the thing I really enjoy about retriever trainers is that most of them seem to "get it" when it comes to THE fundamental principle in training and that is setting the dog up for success rather than failure.

I was reviewing Graham's puppy program DVD and his excellant discussion on operant conditioning and passive/formal "flexible progressive" training. When I got a call from a hunting guide that I had given some young pointers and their dam to, to work and put in his guide string. I asked him how the dogs were working out and he proceeded to give me the tired, old song and dance about dogs being gun shy/sensitive. We got into a discussion about the process he used to introduce dogs to gunfire and when he started to give me the lame-a$$ excuse of "my time is worth something" and "the dog just didn't fit my program", I realized that he was yet another "trainer" that was either too lazy or too incompetent to put the work into the individual dog. (Mostly the former.)

The whole mind-set of these kind of "trainers" just infuriates me. They have no concept of DEVELOPING a dog. If the dog doesn't perform to their unrealistic expectations in 4 or 5 sessions, the dog is a washout. With those unrealistic expectations usually comes the incompetence or lack of training know-how to get the desired action out of the dog. In other words....THEY DON'T KNOW WHAT THE HELL THEY'RE DOING!!!!

I'm not talking about advanced training either....checkcording, collar conditioning and intro to gunfire, ALL basic ingredients in the training process.

The sad story is that for many of these kind of "trainers" it's too easy to add that "issues" dog to the "bonepile" that they all have and go get another dog. Truth be told, their "bonepiles" usually contain WAY more dogs than ever make the hunting string.

I'm sure that there are these kind of trainers in the retriever world but so far it's been refreshing to see the number of professionals that really "get it" when it comes to these wonderful creatures.

Thanks for letting me vent.

Pointing or retrieving, there are both builders and breakers.