It takes a big man to admit his shortcomings, and at a well-packed, chiseled 96 pounds of muscle and bird-hunting energy, this 5½-year-old (that’s approximately 40 human years) Labrador retriever is a big man.
Hi everyone, Dingus here and I sure do appreciate all the emails to Dad and posts on my Facebook page asking when my next column would appear. Well, with another year of adventures waiting for me at Martz’s Gap View Hunting Preserve with my friend Remington Pope from Pottsville, the turkey who owns me has had me in training the last few months since the end of spring gobbler season.
Now, everyone knows that an old dog can’t be taught new tricks, but, hey, I’m most definitely not an old dog. In fact, I’m always looking to improve my game, and while fully realizing that I’ll never be the equal of my late, great brother and mentor Coleman, retrieving has been the weakest area of this retriever’s performance.
I was 8 months old when, after taking the lead from Coleman, I retrieved my first pheasant. It was done as much to impress him as it was to please Dad. Brother and I made quite a pair the rest of that season and the next, but I began to backslide the following year, my first as a solo act.
No matter what Dad tried to make a game of fetching and how much patience he showed, when it came to bringing a dead bird to hand, I was dropping the ball, or to be more accurate, the pheasant. Sniffing out and finding birds was second nature and holding until told to flush them was my strong suit. Unfortunately, retrieving was on again, off again.
Then, just as he had done over the years when needing training advice for Jeb and Coleman, Dad reached out to his longtime friend and nationally known dog trainer and champion breeder Joe DeMarkis of Shogun Kennels in Pottsville. Both Joe and his wife Cheryl know what a strong hunter I am and how much I have a Lab’s trait of wanting to please.
They also understand that, through no fault of my own, I have a trace of stubbornness that is also a trait of Labs. All of that made me a prime candidate for a training technique known as “Force Fetching.”
“I like to call ‘Force Fetching’ a gentler approach to training, and the single most important thing is not to rush any of the steps,” DeMarkis told my Dad. “Never move to the next step until the previous step is complete.
“When training, never use an object to retrieve that the dog associates with fieldwork, and the training should be done at home, not in the field. As with any type of training it is important to never lose your temper.
“Training should be firm and decisive, but the dog should not feel it is being punished because a fearful dog will not learn. As the dog learns each step and obeys your commands it should receive praise, but wait until the training session is finished before giving it a treat.”
For my “Force Fetch” training Dad used these commands: Fetch, hold and out. When we hunt he uses these commands: Find it, stay and in my hand.
DeMarkis uses seven steps when teaching “Force Fetch” training and each has elements of instruction within the step. Steps are comprised of accepting the object, carrying the object, fetching the object, obeying commands without fetching, lengthening the distance of the fetch, picking up the object and fetching and finally fetching an object associated with training such as a canvas dummy or frozen bird.
I guess Dad is pleased with my progress because just the other day I overheard him talking to one of his friends about giving me a chance to hunt fall turkey this year. He shot three fall birds hunting with Coleman, so I know my work is cut out for me.
At the same time, I’m ready for the challenge.
For information about “Force Fetch” training, contact Joe DeMarkis of Shogun Kennels at jdemarkis@verizon.net, (570) 628-5067 or www.joesdogtraining.com.
(Dingus is owned by
outdoors editor Doyle Dietz)