Any views expressed here are purely my own and are based upon research, talking to extremely experienced gundog handlers and most of all, my own personal experience. I have trained other working dogs and pet gundogs and have naturally drawn upon that experience here. I must also say that, although I have owned 3 other breeds, I have never come across a dog like a Barbet (well, my Barbet anyway.) I have found it well-nigh impossible to interpret her behaviour in training sessions at times. A very fine line has to be drawn between not pushing her hard enough and pushing her too hard; she also appears to get bored very quickly. I have no way of knowing if this is typical of the breed although comments from other owners in this and other countries lead me to believe that my experience is in no way unique.
Before you even get your Barbet puppy (assuming you DO want to train it to the gun .... and even if you don't! Read this .... it's a real eye-opener and I only wish I'd come across it sooner in my life with dogs
My opening gambit is …‘training can never be started too soon’. This might appear controversial; in the past it has been the received wisdom that training a gundog should not be started until the age of 6 months. I cannot see any logic or indeed any reason at all why this tenet should be adhered to. Why waste much of a pup’s most formative period allowing it to ‘do its own thing’ and possibly picking up bad habits? Of course this does not mean you should be undertaking intensive retrieve training, or indeed formal training of any kind with an eight-week-old puppy!
All training of a young pup should be in the form of play and games and should be fun for both pup and handler!
YOU WILL NEED : a rope slip lead, a whistle and a canvas puppy dummy (although improvised 'dummies' e.g. rolled-up socks, are fine to start off with) There are scores of online suppliers for these items, but do shop around as the cost for identical articles varies tremendously. If you are fortunate enough to be able to shop at any of the myriad Game Fairs or Shows that take place around the country in the summer months you are likely to pick up these things at bargain prices. The gundog whistles come in various pitches – the 210½ and 211½ Acme gundog whistles are probably the most common.
FIRST STEPS :
THE RECALL & THE PLAY RETRIEVE
I am expecting these activities to be carried out with the pup of 8+ weeks. Accustom your pup to both verbal commands and whistle commands from the outset.
WHISTLE COMMANDS - It is usual to use several repeated “pips” (3 or 4) on the whistle for THE RECALL or “Come!” command and a single pip on the whistle for the “SIT!” (later “Stop!”) command. DO NOT blast the whistle …. gentle pips or 'toots' are what is required. A dog has sensitive hearing and it is absolutely not necessary to blast the whistle – especially when the dog is only a few metres away. Save the loud blasts for if you should ever really need them!
Firstly, never give the pup a chance to disobey a command (easier said than done I know!) To begin with never call the pup unless it is already coming towards you. This may seem a little pointless, but by so doing you are reinforcing the action with the command. So …. out in the garden, run away from the pup and as it starts to chase you, call “come!” and give 3 or 4 pips on the whistle. When the pup reaches you make it a pleasant experience and give it a big fuss. In the extremely unlikely eventuality that the pup is distracted on the way and stops to investigate an interesting smell, continue running away and, if possible, hide behind something. A very young pup will be insecure and will soon come running if it finds itself on its own.
Another opportunity to teach the recall is at feeding time. If the pup is already in the room, move away slightly, say “Come!” and give several very gentle whistle pips (remember, you are only a few feet away) as the pup arrives put down the food bowl. I am referring to the first few days in the new home here – at this stage the recall is the most important thing. Once the pup is coming readily for its food when it hears your command “Come!” followed by the whistle you can introduce the “SIT!” command as well. As the pup arrives raise one hand above your head, flat palm outwards and give the command “Sit!” It is likely the pup will look up at your hand and sit naturally. You can reinforce the effect by holding the food bowl up high if necessary. The whistle command for “Sit!” (later on referred to as the STOP WHISTLE) is usually a single gentle 'pip' or 'toot' and can be introduced gradually along with the voice and hand signal.
For those of you who have, perhaps, not trained a dog before, let me give some very important general advice here! Do not ever have a 'conversation' with your puppy when training it. Saying “Hi there Meg, come on over here Meg and have your dinner then, there’s a good girl!” is pointless – the dog will just become confused. “Meg, come!” is quite sufficient to get the pup to come to you. Another tip - if a command is not obeyed, do not keep repeating it over and over again. If you do this you are teaching the pup not to obey a command when given and are reinforcing this negative response.
NEVER chide the pup for picking up or carrying an article in its mouth (however precious the article) - take it calmly and gently from the pup and give it an acceptable article!
Having read the books mentioned on these treaining pages I would recommend training the "Hold" as a separate exercise BEFORE starting the PLAY RETRIEVE. Try a variety of articles and start indoors-- a puppy dummy (see LINKS page for suppliers of whistles and dummies), tennis ball, dog toy, rolled up old sock etc. can be used. AFTER you have a well-established "hold" you could start a few "play retrieves" but DO NOT OVER DO IT!! Sit down on the floor and roll the ball or gently toss the dummy away from you and encourage the pup back to jump all over you(!) when it has fetched the dummy/ball. Make a big fuss of it but do not be too quick to take the article from the pup. NEVER play this game for more than a minute or two at a time to start with, and if the pup is not keen, stop the game immediately and try again another day. It is important to try to instill a love of retrieving but I repeat – it must be done only in the context of play with a young pup and after it has grasped (sorry about the pun) the "hold!!
KEEP IT SIMPLE, USE MINIMUM NUMBER OF WORDS and ALWAYS USE THE SAME COMMAND FOR THE SAME ACTION
