Whats an acceptable level of Chastisement?

[Springfield Pointers]

I've shot plenty of stuff over spaniels & it doesn't mystically 'un-train' them. And I'm not even a Gentleman.

Me neither.

[Judy]

Thats obvious

I'm talking roughly tufty picking up dogs here as are most people I suspect, shooting over your dogs gives you a degree of control which would be a rare luxury on a big driven day. Especially when you are there to get the birds in the bag and getting paid to do so - you wouldn't last very long standing with dogs at heel watching runners beggar off to cover. OK some dogs take the strain well and remain steady, others don't no matter how much training you put in.

[Naj]

I did pick-up with a team of 3 spaniels for many years. Way back from the gun line, especially when hidden away in the woods, it was fairly straightforward & you could select your retrieves/dogs & send during the drive. On most shoots I picked up on if you were in sight of the gun-line you'd get a b@llocking from the keeper if you didn't keep a low profile, especially when driving partridge, & any noisy handling & arm waiving during a drive would have been a no-no. I wonder if things have changed over the years because, from all accounts, this is now common practice.

Naj

[macbud]

Question is , if your dog suddenly forgets how many hours you have spent training .How do you react ? And what is acceptable correction ?

[Springfield Pointers]

Question is , if your dog suddenly forgets how many hours you have spent training .How do you react ? And what is acceptable correction ?

not sure I understand the question? Why would a dog "forget"?

[kent]

Question is , if your dog suddenly forgets how many hours you have spent training .How do you react ? And what is acceptable correction ?

Dogs don't" remember" such things they react to that instilled by conditioning. Hence this is the fault of the trainer/handler and correction might rightly be seen as retribution on the dog for the trainers failings and serve no real purpose in its development (it certainly wouldn't make it remember all those hours as dogs live only in the present here and now).

A single transgression could be corrected on the spot with the right timing though. Bad timing of the correction in the wrong place will just confuse the dog and is better left undone

What your question shows up is often seen in the field and its usually accompanied by " he knows what he has done" , which of course the dog doesn't as it cannot connect so many transgressions as "all those hours have failed to implant" with time intervals between each and therefore just indicates someone with a temper and little thought