Hunt driven, but not for dummies

[SpanielMedley]

Hi! I am a novice with an 18m old spaniel mix - cavalier, springer, cocker. I know, I know. He's a family pet but we live rurally and I want to meet his breed needs. He's 18m, owned since a puppy. Please excuse me if I get the terminology wrong!

Over the last year we've been working on various training including gundog basics. We are making improvements but I'm not 100% sure we're on the right path.

He lives for scent. He's not high energy like pure breed working springers/cockers - he's chilled at home, and in many environments he's just an average dog. But, anywhere where there's scent and hunting available, he immediately switches gears and is entirely different! Very easily aroused by any scent, and this brings his hunting drive out. He lives for hunting, and for moving into new environment at high speed to access hunting ground. These are very high value behaviours for him! Very little else is anywhere near as rewarding as this (he's NFI balls, food is still low value in work environments despite working on that and it being vastly better than a year ago, tuggy toys we use quite a bit and he really likes them but they're not as high value as hunting). I'd say his drive to hunt is quite a bit higher than his drive to please/work with his humans right now

He has fairly low drive for retrieves. He quite enjoys running out/after something so I'd say his chase drive is dependent upon the situation - if there's hunting available, that will trump chasing. But if it's a more familiar environment/less hunting, or he's done some hunting and then seen various prey (birds flying around him, deer), then his chase drive may kick in and he'll find tuggy toys and social play (running around with his humans) rewarding as an alternative to chasing prey.

So, we've worked on retrieves, but they are not inherently rewarding in themselves (will they ever be for a dog like this?). He will do a marked retrieve because of his training rather than his instinctive drive. We have started working on blind retrieves (I think this is the right term - he finds it using scent?) - he enjoys these more, as it means using his nose, and we are starting to see some excitement to do them. However the highest value reward for him is still being released to hunt freely - so we use premack for this, he finds his retrieve then gets released into the environment. This seems to be working well. However, sometimes he takes his time sniffing the wildlife smells before eventually getting the dummy (he will find it and ignore it until he has enjoyed the other scents first!), or he might try and p*** off doing his own hunting and ignore the dummy. So he's not always motivated enough to go out, work to find it, pick it up immediately and come back swiftly.

Three questions
1 - What/where should we be practicing?
2 - How do I make sure hunting for the dummy is of higher value than the hunting he can do just sniffing the smells and smashing about the countryside?! (Or is this an unrealistic goal?!)
3 - What should my approach be regarding 'free hunting'?

In the house he gets very excited when he sees his dummies or tuggy toys, but I think it's just because they signify a walk - anywhere where there's hunting to be done, they're not as interesting. I can't find any environment that is middle ground - the moment there's any smells or cover, the distraction and arousal immediately goes up and retrieve behaviours are that much harder. He's similar with his scentwork - really enjoys it but still very easily distracted by any environmental scent. I'm aware that these things are hard for teenage brains and take time/practice, so want to make sure my expectations are reasonable. Thanks for any tips!

[newf]

Hi. Back track to yard training. Utilize whatever the pup likes to pick up. Here, you’ll try to develop a retrieving maniac with no distractions.

It will be seen retrieves, with no cover, no hunting (very little), no steadiness and no sit delivery. Just throw and take, throw and take; get the dog into a frenzy of playing chase and grab. One caveat, save the retrieving item or items for the game and not as everyday toys.

As to the free hunting, don your whistle and use it to turn, stop and recall. It seems from your explanation, he’s a hunter already, so, just develop the connection that’s supposed to exist between you and the pup. You can begin by limiting his distance from you without a lot of direction change and work.

As an example, when he ranges outside shot distance, recall back to you every time. You can eventually change this to ‘turn’ whistle, allowing a more smooth send off again with rhythm. Out and a back, out and back, minus a focus sit. The dog will catch on to the fact it will be sent again but only if it comes all the way in. My tip, have him touch your hanging hand before leaving again if you require no direction change like travelling a path.

P.S. I wouldn’t worry about treats or toys in the field as it pertains to hunting. Allowing the pup to hunt is rewarding enough for all the obedience you’re attempting to instil.

[ips]

Brilliant advice from my learned friend newf...... As a novice (with "some" learned experience in the field) I can relate to all of that