Pouring rain providing a slow start to our morning so, I elected to make an informative post to kill time and shed some light on an often misunderstood or confused topic in retriever training.
Our take on Force/Compulsion.
I’ve heard constantly, “well, my dog doesn’t need to be force fetched, he’s not going to be a hunt test dog,” or “do you have to force your dogs and/or my dog to jump from the boat while hunting,” and “force fetch just makes a dog who doesn’t want to retrieve, retrieve.” All are incorrect, ESPECIALLY the latter.
Force fetch and/or a compulsion program, as I like to put it, is about teaching a dog to think through pressure and giving us, as handlers, a tool or correction to use in rare cases of non compliance with a properly forced dog. Teaching a dog to reliably hold a bird, bumper or other object is minimal and achieved in a matter of a couple weeks. Teaching a dog to use their brain in stressful situations is where a compulsion program excels.
Dogs that willingly and eagerly jump out of boats, off dock blinds, into rough water with harsh currents and waves do not do so because they’re made to, they do so because they had proper exposure to that situation and were taught how to be successful in those situations. Forcing a dog who’s unsure or scared of a situation is detrimental and an easy way to make that dog never work in that situation again. We must teach that situation before any correction is applied for non compliance.
Compulsion, while it has taught and “awakened” a handful of dogs who weren’t eager retrievers, is far from a way to make a dog retrieve who doesn’t want to retrieve. That’s a topic for another post, but had to be touched on because of the amount it seems to have been associated with a Force/Compulsion program.
Truly, force fetch, when looked at as a whole and not as a “way to make a dog pick something up”, because let’s face it... they’re retrievers, they do that inherently and on occasion, bordering constantly, is the ultimate brain awakening tool in a formal retriever program. Past teaching a young puppy HOW to learn, a compulsion program teaches a dog how to turn off pressure through compliance, “forcing” them to use their brain in, what could be labeled as, a stressful situation.
Compulsion programs provide the handler and the finished retriever with a level playing field and understanding of how to deal with a situation vs what’s required in certain situations and when implemented properly, with minimal/only the pressure needed to generate the desired response, created an eager team member to share the blind or line with.
Dog Trainer
This is an excellent article
ReplyDeleteNice article
ReplyDeleteCompulsion programs provide the handler and the finished retriever with a level playing field and understanding of how to deal with a situation vs what’s required in certain situations and when implemented properly, with minimal/only the ((pressure needed to generate the desired response,)) created an eager team member to share the blind or line
ReplyDeletePast teaching a young puppy HOW to learn, a compulsion program teaches a dog how to turn off pressure through compliance, “forcing” them to use their brain in, what could be labeled as, a stressful situation.
These are so important to understand.
Very interesting article. Sure sheds light onto a different mindset about what we are doing.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to say understand this article as it applies to my dog, but I really don't. What I do understand is that I must have control of Piper's mouth under stressful and unpredictable conditions. For that to occur, we have to go through the middle to the other side. There is really no other way through. So... trust the training and don't screw her up.
ReplyDeleteLike Kellie, I have a ‘good retriever dog’ that isn’t quite an actual retriever dog, so it was difficult to pick out the message I needed to take home, but what I landed on related to this quote:
ReplyDelete“…a compulsion program teaches a dog how to turn off pressure through compliance, “forcing” them to use their brain in, what could be labeled as, a stressful situation….”
1) Niko is forced to use her brain under pressure to choose to follow me- that way of thinking is shaped through applied pressure (ie EC) until she chooses me (Immediate response)
2) Working under general pressure, using her brain and choosing me under said stress, and coming through it successfully teaches her that SHE CAN and (hopefully) eventually decreases the stress of the generalized pressure until there is none- no stress and no pressure (Long-term response)
Forced fetch works. Riley would not have ever held anything in her mouth if we hadn’t forced her to do so. Once she figured out what I wanted, she knew what to do. She is smart, as I belive most dogs are if they are trained properly to use it.
ReplyDelete