Been talking to an interesting man...

He saw me doing some retrieval work yesterday with Louie and whilst I was doing some hand touches with him today - he came over and started saying how he used to train and work springers and labs, how sometimes he'd let them carry hedgehogs back and how some people wrapped barbed wire round the dummies under some cloth.. how I shouldn't be training Louie with treats.

It was interesting but none of what he said soaked in except who wraps barbed wire around a dummy in order to keep a dogs mouth soft - my guess is it would put the dog off retrieving things?

there are some barbaric training methods around still (sadly) like my FIL who told my SIL that the way to house train a pup is to put his nose in his mess.

Sounds a bit out of the dark ages but then in years to come, people will probably say that about our training methods! Similar to a way I heard horses were trained to jump. Hedgehog skins were stuck to the pole to make the horse jump higher. Never seen it done though, maybe just an urban myth!

^^ Yup..I also remember a horse having Thorns put down in his stable so he wouldnt lay down (and mess up his lovely clean coat!)

Although things are moving forward, I think you will find that in the gundog training sphere positive reinforcement is only now beginning to make headway; it is the last bastion of the whack em and bash em techniques!

I bet if you asked him WHY they did this, they would be unable to come up with a rationale.

Oh yes and if you train with food the dog should do it because it respects me brigade will tell you that doing so will encourage the dog to spit out the dummy.

Just nod and say, I am sure you are absolutely right; it saves getting into an argument, and then carry on.

As I always say, the proof of the pudding.............

Smokeybear - I see what you mean - on the gun dog forum I am on they are talking about the dreaded not to be mentioned e-collar and when I said that there were better, more positive ways to train a dog not to chase deer - I got one person saying I was new to the gun dog world and had no right to comment! - I have the right to say that there are different methods.

I didn't go on saying that they were all wrong - just what I thought..

Scary people they are - I think I may hide for a while..

I have seen you there...................

It sometimes helps to remember that not all dinosaurs are extinct!

TBF you will find lots of examples of how people train with positive reinforcement if you look....... (hard)

Are you on that forum too?

*Not all dinosaurs are extinct* - got it, birds and crocs still exist

Yes, been there several years, I don't post much, but I pop up every now and again, I have several friends on there.......